Blog 4: Interactive Whiteboard Research Base (iBook)

As technology advances, the more influence that it will have upon the education within a classroom.

With this increase in technology, it causes teachers to stay up to date on current technologies which means extra training. In the iBook by Blanch O'bannon, "Effective Use of Interactive Whiteboards" discusses the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom and how they have effects on student achievement.

According to O'bannon, interactive whiteboards provide a way for the teacher to "create interactivity for your students to get them actively involved with the learning". Some ways that interactive white boards have been proven to have positive effects on students learning is through: highlighting, coloring, annotating, or zooming content, hiding/revealing texts, matching items, importing pictures, shared reading, peer teaching, providing feedback, and by utilizing student response systems. There are many instructional benefits to using interactive whiteboards such as being an active learning, classroom management support, lesson organization, and flexibility with lesson materials. There are some instructional challenges with using interactive white boards in the classroom. Teachers need to be trained in using interactive white boards, if the teacher doesn't know how to use it correctly it can cause classroom management issues. With this issue and lack of knowledge on using the white board, the teacher could waste time trying to get the whiteboard to work instead of teaching the children the material that they need to know. Research shows that in order for the interactive whiteboard to be used appropriately and successfully in the classroom then there needs to be training before.

After reading Chapter 1, it was made very clear to me that interactive white boards can support academic achievement in students but it can also be very difficult to use. If a teacher is trained correctly then it can be a positive addition to the classroom. I hope to have the proper training in the use of interactive whiteboards so I can use it to support my students learning.