Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom

I really enjoy using interactive whiteboards.  I feel as though they are a fun way to display information and get students involved.  If used the right way, information can be portrayed as more than just a glorified PowerPoint.  Smartboards feature many useful tools that can be incorporated into classroom lessons. At the same time, if you just wanted to write on the board, like you would a regular whiteboard, you could do so without using all of the features and tools. For these reasons,  I would like to have an interactive whiteboard in my future classroom.

Not only are there many different features and tools offered in the Smartboard software, but it is also more fun, for both teachers and students, than standing in front of a blackboard writing notes or reading from a PowerPoint presentation.  Some major advantages of using an interactive whiteboard are that they get students involved and they are more fun than listening to the teacher talk. The whiteboards also provide many different tools, such as interactive games, a magnifying tool and shape making tools.  Another advantage is that I could image capture the slides to save and later print, email, or post online for the students' notes.

While I do believe there are many advantages and that students would find using an interactive whiteboard fun, I also believe that there could be some disadvantages.  While teaching my lesson in class I noticed one major disadvantage.  While students are coming up to the board to participate, the other students may be goofing around, talking and not paying attention.  To solve this problem, however, I would provide the class with a printed out copy of the activity so that all students can participate at their desks while others come up to the board.  Also, some time is wasted when students are coming up to the board.  I would have to have a line already forming to move them along more quickly.  Because of these issues, students may not be fully engaged in the lesson.  However, if I plan more carefully and have desk work for the students to be doing it may help keep the students involved.  Another difficulty is that some fonts, colors, and sizes are difficult to read.  However, this is easily fixable by adjusting the size or color.  As the teacher, you just have to know your students and your classroom, and be able to adjust and adapt your lesson adequately to fix these issues.

Other than a few issues, I believe that students will be more engaged in class with the use of interactive whiteboards.  Overall, I feel as though interactive whiteboards are a great classroom tool.  They have many useful features that can make learning more fun, for both students and teachers.  For theses reasons I would like to have an interactive whiteboard in my classroom.