IWBs in Secondary: Where is the Interaction?

Here is a presentation I made for the 21st Century Learning conference in Hong Kong.

The key idea is that IWBs are a great tool, but they aren't inherently interactive. Interactivity really depends on the teacher and the pedagogy used.


12 comments:

Nergiz Kern said...

Hi Jason
I've read your post at Classroom 2.0 regarding whether IWBs are necessary. I find you presentation very enlightening and well-done.
Thanks for sharing it with us.

Nergiz Kern

Danny Nicholson said...

This is a great presentation. Thanks for sharing!

takefive said...

I just got my IWB and I have worked hard at learning how to use it most effectively. Specifically I agree with your assessment that after the novelty wears off, it is harder to motivate to continue.

Not because you don't see more possibilities. But rather because it takes so much time.

Do you see any connection between establishing contact with other teachers that use IWB and their continued innovation? What means do you think is most effective to do that....a blog reader so you can keep up with what others are writing....something like Twitter or ING?

Thanks for the great slideshow..I think it surfaced many questions and had some great ideas.

Isabelle Jones said...

This a great post and a great way to get teachers to reflect on their own use of the iwb.
Your presentation, with its thought-provoking pictures will certainly be shared wih my colleagues...

Isabelle
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com

TechNorth said...

I've made the same observations. HS teachers tend to lecture more and use IWBs (SMART Boards in my situation) as an expensive mouse and projector screen. Elem teachers seem to find the interactivity a natural fit with their teaching - and the student's learning - style. I know there are notable exceptions but it does point out that effective use of IWBs requires training, encouragement and time. FWIW, the K-5 teachers I've worked with tend to prefer ACTIVboards.

Jason de Nys said...

Thanks everyone for the kind comments!
marsha, having just come from a conference I agree that communicating with other users is invaluable. www.promethean.com has a very active community of ActivBoard users with a great forum for ideas. I don't know what Smart have but assume that since they are the other 'big' player in the market they have something similar. Of course, classroom2.0 is also a great forum and there is a smartboard ning http://smartboardrevolution.ning.com/

一個IT人 said...

Hi, your presentation is really great. I've been in the show too. In fact, I work in the IWB company Asia in Hong Kong. I would like to keep in touch with you, please e-mail me, cecilia.tsang@promethean.com. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Great presentation. I wish I was in the audience. I like that you make the distinction between interacting with the board and interacting with the learning. I think this would challenge many users of the boards to rethink their use.

Unknown said...

may I please use you presentation in my workshop for my district IWB users? You have really captured the reasoning behind the use of IWB in the classroom.

Jason de Nys said...

@Randy. Go ahead, the slideshow is CC. If you go to www.slideshare.net where I'm hosting the slideshow you will be able to see the comments that I made that go along with and flesh-out the slides.
@everyone else, thanks again for your positive comments.

Anonymous said...

A few people were asking about practioner communities to get past the novelty phase and share best practices and ideas.

I work for Promethean and we have three sites that might be worth a look at. The Promethean Planet has around 150,000 teachers signed up and has a very busy forum.

http://www.prometheanplanet.com
http://www.prometheanlearning.com
http://blog.prometheanplanet.com

There is a link to this blog and this excellent article. It is such a key issue for everyone to help move on the pedagogy.

I know people have mentioned SMART - but I am not that familiar with what they offer in terms of a community - but there is certainly no lack of ideas out there.

Unknown said...

Great video. People need to question how they use any technology. Like most things, don't believe the hype. I discuss drinking the IWB Kool-Aid here: http://techteachengage.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/are-iwbs-worth-it/