Journal #4: Interactive Boards

For this journal entry I chose to focus on interactive boards. These are boards that are replacing traditional white boards and chalkboards, and can show a class anything that can be shown on a computer. There are several different types, some of the most common are the SMART Board, Activboard, and the Ebeam. The interactive boards are useful for a variety of reasons; lessons can be recorded on them and saved for students that may have been absent, built-in maps, teaching whole group computer or keyboarding skills, digital story telling, brain storming, creating project calendars, diagramming activities, teaching steps to a math lesson, and many other uses. Most of the threads dealt with one of two topics in regards to the interactive boards: first, whether or not they are necessary and cheaper alternatives, and second, different ways in which to use them and what teachers find most helpful about them. For the first set of arguments, most teachers agreed that they are not necessary, but they are extremely nice to have. The same argument kept coming up over and over again, "for the last century kids have had the ability to come to the front of the class and interact with the board." However most teachers would agree that the SMART Board is a far cry from the traditional chalk board. There were also several cheaper alternatives to the SMART Board that some of the teachers swore by, such as the wireless projector. For the second set of threads concerning the different uses and the most common functions of the interactive board, comments varied drastically. Some of these teachers claimed that its most important function was simply being turned on, that the white board is only a mouse touch away and that they can interact with it by simply touching it. Some teachers claimed that they couldn't give it up. Other teachers reported using it to create graphic organizers for reading, making concept maps for science lessons, and using it for all math lessons. Still other felt that the greatest advantage was that of being able to seamlessly integrate video and interactive websites into the classroom lesson plan. Some teachers encourage adding audio clips with Audacity, showing video using Smart player so you can pause and annotate and capture to NotebookOne thing that fairly common among all respondents was that students love to play games on it.