It can be seen that Interactive Whiteboards are certainly a form of technology which benefits student learning and classroom management in an educational context. They appeal to all learning senses of individual learners (Felder, & Solomon, as cited in Aldred, 2010) as they enable the use of visual aids, hands-on experiences and can also incorporate auditory components. Interactive Whiteboards offer opportunities for students and teachers to;
- Showcase videos, pictures, information
- Participate in interactive whole class activities
- Develop units prior to use
- Access a variety of resources
- Record prior documents for review
This last point provides a number of benefits to teachers and students as this enables the use and review of documents. Documents that involve students interaction can be later accessed to provide evidence of student knowledge and understandings. Along with the potential to identify where individuals are progressing and struggling.
Interactive Whiteboards also provide means of engagement through the opportunity to include ICT's, group collaboration, a variety of learning experiences, a wide range of activities and resources, hands-on practices and non-accademic focused activities (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999). Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999) suggest that “students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks”. It is for this reason I am able to see value in the use and inclusion of Interactive Whiteboards as a supportive tool to learning within classroom settings.
During my placement experiences I have worked with and made use of Interactive Whiteboards within lessons. I noticed that students were excited to use the Interactive Whiteboard and engaged in experiences which made use of the tool. All students were competent in it's use and were able to teach me how to navigate around documents and internet websites. It was clear through this experience that the use of technology tools within educational settings creates engagement and motivation in learners toward learning. I was able to quickly access documents that provided questions and investigations as well as visual aids that would have to be drawn up and take up a much greater amount of time with the use of a blackboard. This enabled me to put greater focus into the management of behavior and learning.
References
Aldred, S. (2010). Learning style and personality. Retrieved from CQUniversity, FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=44149
Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved from CQUniversity,
FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning, http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Ellie, I have had a similar experience with the interactive white boards, I had never seen one in action till my first work experience day last week. All of my prep group were also very competent at using it and were able to show me how to use its basic functions.
ReplyDeleteHi Ellie,
ReplyDeleteI too have still yet to experience the Interactive WhiteBoard but have heard such great responses from many people from parents, students and teachers. As with working in childcare I am able to talk to many different people who are involved with the boards or have been able to experience them through being a parent and attending parent nights, whereby the teachers got the parents up to have a go to be able to experience what there children will now experience while attending school. More and more schools within Rockhampton have now got the boards but still haven't learnt enough to use them to there full potential. This might be a bit of a proecess for all teachers as there is so much you can do therefore so much more now to learn. These boards are the way of the future and will help children of all ages learn and experience more interaction within there classroom.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteZelina i agree- students are so competent at using the whiteboards, the 'digital natives' theory is certainly evident within younger generations.
Bec, that's great to hear teachers had a night for parents to experience hands-on the types of technology their children would be working with throughout classroom practices. You make a great point that the more capabilities a tool has the longer it will take to become familiar with how to use it. These types of technologies will certainly assist students with their learning and prepare them for the technologies of the future. This can be seen not only through our course readings but with hands-on experience in classrooms.
Thanks for your comments :-)