Interactive White Boards (continued)

In response to my post on IWBs, Joy Wolfe writes:

Thanks for blogging a response to Mr. Ferriter’s seemingly ignorant bashing
of the use of IWBs.  Amen to what you wrote!  When I first read the article,
I was extremely frustrated.  It saddened me that Mr. Ferriter seemed to have
had little training in the use of his interactive board and apparently also
had no support as he attempted to use it. 

Last year I wrote a proposal that would allow the funding for all classroom
teachers in the two schools with whom I work to have IWBs installed in their
classrooms.  This proposal included a tremendous amount of research, and it
was fortunately funded.  I was then tasked with training and supporting
teachers as they used them in mathematics instruction.

Last month I presented my final report on the project, which showed
tremendous gains in the objectives that were taught with the white boards in
conjunction with my support and the use of manipulatives and student
discourse.  My district has now fortunately decided to roll the project out
to other schools.

In my opinion, support and training really are the key to the success of
this new technology.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your insights.

Joy Wolfe
PAEMST, NBPTS
Math Facilitator
Rogers Public Schools

Of course IWBs  can enhance lectures and help make them more interactive, but there is no reason to limit them to just that. Note that in this successful project, the IWBs were used in conjunction with manipulatives and student discourse. There are no guarantees, of course, but every technology in the classroom can potentially be used in this manner to improve instruction.

–Henri