Interactive whiteboards - do you use them?

[Jen1]

We are looking at purchasing interactive whiteboards and I would like to know who has them and more importantly do they get used? Please select the answer that best fits your situation.
Thanks very much
jen

[Lis]

Hi Jen, We dont have the interactive whiteboards, but I know they are on a wish list and I think they would be used often if we did have one, good luck
Lisa

[RosalieM]

We have only progressed this term to whiteboards (from chalk boards). No idea when we'll get an interactive one!!

Our Kindergarten teachers have them and use them all the time. Whenever I've talked to highschool teachers about the data projectors and other 'technology' they say it takes up too much of their lesson time to set it up and then if it doesn't work all the preparation time has been wasted as well. Perhaps if you got one it won't get used much to start with, but over time as new teachers come in who are more familiar with all that technical stuff they will make good use of it. That's just my thought though. And if you do get one, make sure the teachers have training on it so when they do want to use it they know how to and don't think it's too hard. We got data loggers and they hardly get used because the teachers had a really short 'training session' which was pretty much a case of "This is a data logger. Turn it on here, plug it in here, and here are the probes" and so they didn't get a whole lot out of it because they don't have time to re-learn everything when they want to use them.

[kimmy]

We have these in two out of five labs and teachers wish that we had them in all five labs. We have data projectors in the other labs. The Interactive Whiteboards are great. i think that they should be in every class room, not only in the labs. There are many different experiments that can not be done due to lack of equipment and or cost which than can be shown so much better with this technology and it makes life for the teachers which then comes back to us so much easier. My vote would be yes get one. You will not regret it.

Kimmy

[Lyn]

Our first set of "smartboards" were installed in the year 7 classrooms. The rest of the school now has smartboards installed. All the teachers had a number of training sessions in the use of the boards. The boards are used every day. They are great for DVD's and if you still have videos of any description there are outlets for plugging in video players. Teachers download their lessons from their USB's. The CD-ROMS that come with most textbooks can also be uploaded in case the cherubs have left their textbook at home. You can access the internet for a variety of things. We have blinds in some of our labs which are useful for darkening the labs when watching educational DVD's and videos and end of term light entertainment. We retained one of our whiteboards in the physics lab as there was a fair amount of wallspace and installed small (900cm x 1200cm) whiteboards next to smartboards in the middle school labs. The Biology lab and the Chemistry lab each have a doublesided whiteboard (about half size or smaller) on wheels. The teachers insisted that some sort of whiteboard was absolutely necessary for when there were power blackouts or when the NT school network was down. There has been the ocassional glitch in the system but so far teachers are loving them and using them as they would a normal board. The electronic pens in four different get a good workout as does the electronic eraser.
Lyn.

[lizzieb]

Hi Jen,

Tamworth High has 2 in the science block, used every day.
Farrer doesn't have any, but I understand the plan is to install some after the lab refurb (due to finish end Feb).
From my perspective it seems the students are more engaged in class, and lessons run more smoothly. Everyone in the room can see clearly, and more often than not the teachers encourage the students to be actively involved with the smartboard. The teachers particularly like using programs from Clickview.
Also, many of the younger kids have been used to working with them at Primary level.
Now that the computer packages are starting to be rolled out to the Yr 9 classes, I notice that the teachers are finding even more interesting ways in which to integrate these in the labs with smartboards.

[Jen1]

These comments are great!
I really appreciate people sharing their experiences with me.
Please keep them coming folks.

[franco]

Hi Jen,
We have them in 2 out of 3 physical science rooms. Not sure how many they have in biol, but probably about the same. They are in use almost daily though not by all teachers - some have taken to them like ducks to water, some perhaps need a bit more training and time to come to grips with the technology.
They're great for Clickview and Powerpoint presentations but ours are mainly used in place of the fixed whiteboards.
A big plus is that they can be clearly read even from the back of the labs.
From what I've seen and heard from the staff who do use them, they are definitely an asset.
Cheers,
Fran

[dime]

As we do not yet have any, and having read your comments, do I understand correctly that TVs are no longer needed?

[Jen1]

A dvd/video player can be connected to the interactive whiteboard or a dvd can be played through a laptop computer that is connected (and you need a laptop to run the interactive whiteboard).
From my understanding, if this is all you use a tv for then it can be replaced by the whiteboard and you will have a much bigger screen than a standard tv. However, if you use the tv as a reciever for tv programs eg to watch the cricket, then the interactive whiteboard will not replace it. You would be able to recieve the program on the tv and then connect the tv to the whiteboard to show the program on a bigger screen.
We dont ever use our tv's as recievers of programs and they are not even connected to an ariel so this isnt a concern for us.
hope this makes sense
jen

[Lyn]

We kept our TV in the middle school prep room for use in case the smartboard system spat the dummy and also have a TV stored in the Biology prep room in case it is needed at any time in the Senior science labs. Teachers kept saying they won't be necessary now we have smart boards but the TV's have been there for emergencies and also when some teachers can't figure out how to connect the video player to the smartboard.
Lyn.

[dime]

Thanks for your replies. We don't use the TVs as receivers either. Hope we can get some of these smart boards, as they sound great!

[Willk]

Hi Jen,
We have one here in science and it is used as an interactive board by just one teacher - others just use it as an "expensive" white screen for DVD's, clickview and the like. The primary school has many interactive boards and use them most of the day.
Cheers for now,
Karen

[SGG]

Hi Jen
The Science dept was one of the first to get Interactive Whiteboards in the school 4-5 years ago (this is my 3rd year). They got a full system where not only could the computer in the lab (and therefore the web) be put through the whiteboard, but videos could be put in video machines in the library and "piped" to the specific whiteboard when wanted. Science staff have developed resources to put lessons through the computer onto the whiteboard and you can save any "written" work from the board (brainstorming) back onto the computer. They say that board has helped streamline their teaching to get more done, include more resources and present them in an interesting way.
Some points to consider :- there are now other products that turn an ordinary whiteboard into an interactive one far cheaper than this system.
-we have had trouble with the "components" in the whiteboards which have been extremely annoying for the teachers (the writing runs off/ slopes at the edges/ can't touch exactly where you were before) so that some of them have been replaced (no charge!) Definitely need a backup whiteboard in the room (preferably on the wall).
- there is a thought among some teachers that it cements the "teacher centric" way of teaching and that they should not be called "interactive" as they don't promote this style of teaching Just some thoughts, and not necessarily my own! Hope it helps. Sue G

[Rowyrow]

We have one in our one and only science lab with plans to have them in every lab when they are built. There is a desktop computer permenently connected to it along with a microscope and VCR, DVD's and any web based videos and demonstraitions are played through it i.e u tube science demos. We have them in our ICT rooms aswell so teachers can demonstrait on screen what students should be seeing on thier own screens. We have them in every general purpose classroom, but i guess thats the advantage of building a school from scatch in this day and age, the only classes that dont have them are the Art room Tech shed and home economics room. Everyone loves them!I however don't know how to use em
AFter re reading this I guess it's the projector that gets used the most not so much the actual interactive white board function.

[vlclabbie]

The voting is interesting! Obviously schools with them use them regularly for the most part.... or they don't have them. Sounds like a good investment going on the voting. We have one in our science lab & it gets used nearly every lesson. It stays set up & the teachers just use their lap tops to hook up at the beginning of the lesson. Not much setting up that cuts into preparation time!

[fiona]

Hey Jen

We have interactive whiteboards in all 3 of our labs but I must say they do not get used very often. Our physics teacher found it incredibly useful, used it every lesson, recorded his lectures on it (don't ask me how) and sung its praises regularly but he resigned last month so it hasn't had much of a work out since. The other senior science teachers are of the older generation and don't really feel comfortable using the interactive whiteboards. The chemistry teacher said to me that she is retiring in a few years and just doesn't feel like its worth it.

The junior science teacher likes playing dvds on it but ours is a small school and if teachers want to use laptops they have to supply their own. He doesn't so he only uses it when can borrow a one.

Peace
Fio

[Labbie]

It would be so good, to re do this survey, now so many of us have had refubishments. Ours are used every day. But a year ago which is when the survey was done, we did not have any.

[dime]

Yeah, us too. We now have four in the four refurbished labs. Used all the time.

[sunray18]

We are gradually installing them in each science Lab as the school can afford. The teachers use them all the time.
After seeing a demonstration of the Virtual physics programs from The Logical Interface, I am pushing for them to be installed asap.. this virtual software works on an ordinary whiteboard, but works much better with interactive....
hey guys you HAVE to see this stuff.. brilliant especially 'Krucible' ...