Choosing the Right Interactive Whiteboard for a WOW! Experience

In today’s publication, we want to share with you how to choose the right interactive whiteboard for a WOW! experience.

21st-century technological advancement has improved connectivity to knowledge and entertainment through the various digital devices readily available. Today, everyone is connected to the global world through their digital devices. An interactive whiteboard creates infinite space for learning, which resonates with students who are used to being connected to the world and beyond, hence making it one of the efficient tools teachers use to get the attention of their students in the classroom environment.

An interactive whiteboard can be seen as a large display surface (a bigger version of the computer) that has the functionality of touch recognition. Put simply, it is a touch-screen computer with a very large screen whose image is shown from the computer with the aid of a multimedia projector.

Teaching with an interactive whiteboard is an evolutionary process. Teachers will probably begin by reproducing what they were doing on a conventional whiteboard. As they explore various features of the technology and gain in confidence the extent to which they use the interactive whiteboard, tapping its potential will increase (Peter Kent)

Finding the right interactive whiteboard for your classrooms is one thing; another thing is how to fully maximize the use of the interactive whiteboard so as to have a ‘WOW’ experience. This article seeks to give you some insight on how to achieve this.

The following activities help you get the most out of the interactive whiteboard.

Everyday Teaching Using Interactive Whiteboard

The very first step as a teacher is to teach your students how to use the interactive whiteboard, no matter their age or abilities. This is because they are already familiar with other digital devices they use, either at home or at school. Familiarization with the interactive whiteboard would be easier, and everyone would get to enjoy the experience. Teach them how to hold the stylus pen and write with their fingers too, the right amount of pressure they should put on the board, and the functions of the icons on the toolbar that are suitable for the learning process.

Incorporating interactivity into teaching

Start the class as you would when using a whiteboard or a chalkboard; however, incorporate the features available (this includes images, videos, etc.) in the interactive whiteboard either online or offline during the class session. You can make it interactive by introducing interactive lessons (group or individual activities) whereby students can leave their seats and work directly on the interactive whiteboard. You cannot overestimate the exposure and excitement it is for these students as they expand images or graphics, discuss and annotate images, label photos, and swipe photos. This makes learning fun and interactive.

Below are a few teaching strategies you can use to get the most out of the interactive whiteboard:

Information Display

The display is the hook that grabs students’ attention. This can easily be achieved by creating an array of material for a lesson, e.g., a picture from the Internet, text derived from a Microsoft Word file, graphs from spreadsheets, and teacher and student annotations on the objects. Teachers can easily introduce text, sound, video, graphics, and interactivity based on the tactile nature of the board. The students’ experience with their computer games and TV enables them to easily engage with this style of teaching.

Record lessons

Every lesson can be recorded and played back, or even printed and shared among students. Teachers can use this feature to record their notes and lesson activities using screen recording tools and be able to build a resource for themselves over time for future purposes.

Review

The review is an important part of teaching. While some students get bored during review sessions, some actually grasp the subject for the first time. Review sessions are made easier because the lessons have been saved. This allows students to relate to the graphics originally presented, which makes their memory more effective.

Gamification

Education via games such as rearranging jumbled texts or objects or drag and match is possible, as is learning of grammar and pronunciation, etc. The teacher can effectively use the games to teach the kids new skills if they are properly prepared and presented. The internet provides thousands of excellent, fun, and educational games and quizzes.

Here are some suggestions:

• Scholastic’s interactive whiteboard webpage has games for students aged 8–18 on science, history, poetry, fiction, and much more.

• PBS Kids games for K–5 are mostly on grammar, vocabulary, and spelling, such as “What’s Wrong with This Picture?” and choosing the correct word in a sentence to win a Frisbee to throw to the dogs.

• The mainframe has math games that help students visualize math problems, making the concepts easier to understand.

• MapMaker from National Geographic, in which you can go around the world with the touch of a finger. It opens the door to different countries, cultures, and landforms with maximum entertainment value that no one will forget.

Group activities

With group activities, every student has a chance to answer questions, give suggestions, and participate in the lesson. This format encourages collaboration. Students who are usually praying they’re invisible all of a sudden see how they can contribute and join the fun. There is no longer the terror of being wrong because all participation is valuable.

Online activities

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel just because you have new teaching technology in your school. There are many online interactive activities that have already been invented and tested in the classroom. They include:

• National Library of Virtual Manipulatives offers ready-made digital tools in algebra, geometry, and data exploration that can be handed straight to your students.

• Starfall.com offers multimedia books with narration ready-to-go.

• Interactive Whiteboard Resources from Topmarks is an index of websites, Internet-based resources, and online activities.

Styles of Learning

Among the top uses of an interactive whiteboard in education is to successfully accommodate different learning styles. This is because audio learners can use recording tools, tactile learners can touch and manipulate the board, and visual learners can easily track what is happening as a lesson progresses. Facilitating different learning styles is a superb way of demonstrating the use of a whiteboard in teaching.

Our brand of interactive whiteboards is simple and intuitive and has been designed in such a way as to offer you a long-lasting experience by offering your school the latest and most responsive touch technology, which supports an active and inspiring learning environment.

Choose right, choose Lead Interactive Whiteboard and have a ‘wow’ experience.