Interactive Whiteboards PD 15.09.14

I attended a professional development staff meeting for 60 minutes this afternoon on Interactive Whiteboards. It was presented by a rep from Electroboard and covered the Smart Notebook toolbar and creating interactive tasks.

At first glance the Smart Notebook software strikes me as being very close to Powerpoint in nature...the problem with it is that it isn't cloud based and doesn't promote collaboration. In order to be effective in today's classroom it needs to be accessible by more than one student simultaneously and available 24/7 - not just when an individual has access to the school server.

As our school is new to IWBs, I was fortunate enough to grab the Smart Notebook files from a couple of different schools that had had them in classrooms for years, in order to see how they were being used. Uses ranged from sharing links to websites, links to videos, to homemade matching games, memory games, to displaying contracts for children to work on, replicating worksheets for children to 'interactively' complete, and even to embedding photos of actual worksheets for students to copy and complete in their books - an expensive way to save paper? Most teachers and students I have asked opinions of describe the use of IWBs as similar to having just a non interactive projector. In fact my own class prefer to use the keyboard and mouse of their own computer connected to the display rather than the touch facility of the IWB. We constantly use the board in this manner, to share and feedback on the students own work - I could do this with just a projector, for a lot less cash...

I am really interested to see some activities that are collaborative, rich and engaging, high up on the SAMR Model and would love to check some out from other sources...leave suggestions in the comments if you have any cool recommendations!

I really don't want to be stuck in a situation where I'm standing out the front of the class teaching to the IWB, or having a child take that role - I'd much rather have students using 1:1 technology to create than have 29 students watching 1 person doing the interacting. If the case is put forward that group work would enable this, then possibly a mobile touchscreen tv would work just as well.



I'm sure this is possible - I'm just yet to see it in action. Was pointed in the direction of 

http://www.seeshareshape.com.au 

and 

http://www.tes.co.uk/

and I am keen to get into these and look around at what's on offer that is beyond substituting a paper activity with a digital activity, or making something that looks cool but really lacks substance in a pedagogical sense. I'm yet to be convinced that the student's learning will be enhanced any further than simply using a projector and a computer, in conjunction with 1:1 devices? 

There are a couple of negative blog posts below that unfortunately sum up my feelings at the moment...I found them worth a read...there is plenty out there on the positives of IWBs - but then again who is going to admit they may have been an expensive purchase that promotes out of date pedagogy?

http://theinnovateeducator.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/gary-stager-finally-shares-why-he.html?_sm_au_=iHVPfsD72W1070JM

Steve