Interactive Whiteboards
Just as I was beginning to warm to interactive whiteboards I saw this video … http://www.readme.com.au/flash.html .
I think we are really missing the point with the IWB technology … I don’t think that filling in a cloze passage on an interactive whiteboard (or in front of a computer screen for that matter) is going to improve student literacy more than students using the good old pencil and paper.
Labels: digitally disruptive, Interactive white boards, IWB
posted by The Constanti Blogs at 3:04 pm
2 Comments:
This is precisely why I detest IWB! Yet some educators and administrators are so quick to jump on the bandwagon. I have seen a few demonstration lessons presented by teachers in so-called lighthouse IWB schools and, each time, I was embarrassed for the teacher leading the lesson. Not only were they apparently unaware of how bored and disengaged their students were, but each lesson was completely sabotaged by (IWB/teacher) 'chalk and talk'.
Schools are investing thousands of dollars in IWB only to use them as glorified blackboards at the expense of computer technology for students. And why? Because, unlike computers, with the purchase of IWB comes the promise of teacher training in using the software. And when teachers are provided with training, they're more likely to use the technology.
So who cares what impact if any the investment in IWB is having on student learning? So long as all teachers are using this new fandangled technology we can call our school a beacon in innovative chalk and talk!
I couldn't bear to watch the whole thing the whole way through. This represents the worst of IWB implementation - and completely misses the point of how technology can be interwoven with learning. I had to laugh at the term "battery hen learning" on individual PCs. One can only imagine that they think that this style of lesson is the way we use computers in schools, as opposed to getting the kids to construct meaning and create their own products in an individual way. My school and I have IWB's at our disposal at my school and I do believe they can be an effective tool if used well (isn't all technology?) but this example was dreadful. Much better to use the IWB as a "just in time" learning tool and an effective way of modelling information literacy skills.
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