IWB and learning

[ndawson]

I fully appreciate the classroom management advantages of the IWB giving the teacher instant access to a rich variety of resources. Can any experienced users comment on how the use of the IWB facilitate student learning. Is the learning process different or enhanced in the IWB equipped classroom?
I'm looking forward to your responses.

[Liam OMarah]

Hello and welcome to the Planet forum [clap]

One article that springs to mind which might assist (and I know this isn't quite what you had in mind) is one of our early 'Featured Teachers' from Lancashire, UK. Brendan is a Mathematics teacher and he had some very inspiring comments, as so did his head, on how the Activboard and software facilitated learning.

Here's the link, (http://www.prometheanplanet.com/uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.2466) which is on the UK/International Planet site.

There are also plenty of case studies on the corporate site if you need any further information, but hopefully some other users will reply as well?!

[LisaD]

You also might want to look at some of the videos of teachers teaching in Activclassrooms in the section of Promthean Planet US called: Teacher Feature. It's nice to see and hear from the teachers themselves as well as watch the student interaction.

There are at least 10 of them there.

See: http://www.prometheanplanet.com/us/server/show/nav.933

Lisa

[Peter_Kent]

I fully appreciate the classroom management advantages of the IWB giving the teacher instant access to a rich variety of resources. Can any experienced users comment on how the use of the IWB facilitate student learning. Is the learning process different or enhanced in the IWB equipped classroom?
I'm looking forward to your responses.

Hello and Welcome, I like people who talk about learning and teaching seperately. There should be more of it.

I have been using IWBs for around 6ish years now and their greatest impact on learning is via their impact on teaching.

Research over the past few years indicates clearly that the most significant influence on student learning outcomes is the quality of the teacher, interestingly the the second most significant is the way the school is lead.

IWBs, as a tool, can enhance significantly the quality of teaching in a wide variety of ways,( If you are interested I can go into this in greater detail), and therefore the level of student outcomes within the class.

In terms of strict 'learning applications' of an IWB, they exist but ......... I usually ask teachers how often have they seen traditional whiteboards or blackboard used for 'learning' applicatons.

The ideal classroom in my mind is where there is an IWB and a good number of student computers within the one room, so both the teaching and learning are enhanced by technology. However as most of us live in the real world where we have to make a choice between an IWB or a pod of computers. In my mind this choice is simple, go with the IWB every day of the week as it is the quality of the teaching which is going to have the greatest impact on student learning.

I hope this helps

Peter

[wilcogirl]

Wow all great valid comments, and I so agree with all of them. I have been using the activboard for about 2 .5 years or so. Although I consider myself to be a very dynamic teacher with all of the tricks I use in the classroom the student engagement and involvement that I have seen has been quite extraordinary. I have just recently moved from as mainstream high school to an all gifted school and when I say gifted, they are also privileged as well and have many more experiences. The shock value that you bring to the classroom with the use of IWB is amazing. I feel that the students become more focused and the activities become richer as you integrate the technology with the learning. I feel that it has helped to raise the expectations of the learners.