Interactive White Boards

Technology in the classroom has come along leaps and bounds; blackboards to whiteboards, and the introduction of the Interactive White Board is helping further the educational experience for pupils.

I have not really used an Interactive White Board (IWB) before this course.  I have seen it being used in classrooms, but I've never had the opportunity to give them a try.  From my own research and talking to other trainees, there are different options when it comes to using an IWB, as a number of companies provide software and hardware.

For the purposes of this blog, I am going to focus on the SMART Technologies software and equipment, mainly because this is all I have had the opportunity to use and explore.


The software - SMART Notebook - is fairly easy to use. I personally found that having a few minutes to play around with the software, exploring what it had to offer, was very helpful.  I was able to learn how to do a number of things that may have taken me much longer to find out if I had not been given the initial opportunity to explore the software.

The following video (created by SMART Technologies) gives a teachers view of why the SMART board is so easy to use.

The Software


The SMART Notebook software can be described as being very 'Paint-like' in the way slides or pages are created/presented, but this I guess adds to the simplicity of its use. Even though I do say that it is simple to use and to create resources, this doesn't mean it isn't susceptible to going wrong.  Files may not load, or aspects of the file may not work; because of this it is important that teachers are prepared for every eventuality.  Having a lesson plan with a contingency in place, appropriate resources that do not required any technology in order for the teaching to take place, is key to ensure that the children's learning does not get disrupted or interrupted.

There are a number of different ways you can use the SMART Notebook software to create resources.  In our recent ICT workshop we were given the opportunity to create a small interactive resource to give us a chance to acclimatize ourselves with the software.  We were introduced to the 'Rub and Reveal' method of creating a resource.

This would involve placing pictures or words onto the slide and then 'painting' over a word or picture so it is hidden.  What would happen next is that the class would be asked what is missing; after some discussion and a decision on the answer, the teacher would then remove or 'reveal' the answer using the eraser tool on the whiteboard.

This is a very good resource for younger pupils and would hopefully encourage discussion within the class.  I found that creating this resource from scratch was challenging, especially given the time constraints we had.  I came up with a resource that used the 'Rub and Reveal' technique we had been shown; but also incorporated images that also had a sound attached to them.  I felt that this would add another dimension to the interactive element of the resource - having the picture covered over, playing the sound attached to the picture and then having the class guess what the sound is representing.  It's a simple idea that I believe would be perfect resource for a Foundation Stage class or even a Yr 1 class, due to the simplicity of its presentation and the task it sets out.

The Hardware

The SMART board hardware has been making its way into classrooms for some time now and the majority of schools in the UK now have an IWB as part of their learning resources.  The board gives you the opportunity to write on top of the slides, adding notes and children's contributions to the screen so everyone can see them.  This will give the class the time to take in what other members of the class have said and hopefully inspire them to also contribute to the discussion.

Again, the IWB hardware is not free of issues.  The main problem that most teachers come across is the calibration being off on the board and not everyone knows how to fix this.  An issue like this isn't the end of the world though; it may just be that when writing on the board the image you create appears to the left or the right of where you are writing.  This isn't the end of the world though, it would just be a case of adapting, and knowing where your writing will end up on the board.

And finally.........

In the end, I believe that Interactive White Boards are going to be around for a long time to come and hopefully as time goes by, this technology is going to get better and better.

Later Days,