Interactive Whiteboards: The Advantages and Disadvantages

Interactive whiteboards are tools that are used in the classroom to link a computer to a projector and a touch-sensitive screen. This allows the user to control the input device and the computer functions via the touch screen, while projecting the computer images on a large surface. It is ideal for education settings e.g. in classrooms.

Whiteboards can be seen as the newest type of top class technology and are slowly being implemented in the top schools who are able to afford them as well as in disadvantaged schools by receiving these boards from the government. Although these interactive white boards can be seen as “the best technology”, there are both advantages and disadvantages of these boards which I will discuss in the next few paragraphs to follow.

The advantages of the interactive white board should be quite obvious and we might even think that there will be far more advantages than disadvantages, although, we have to take into account that we live in South Africa where technology are not as developed as in the rest of the first world countries. The advantages are thus as follows:

·         Students will be more engaged and will participate in classes.

·         The teacher can make the lesson far more visual and interesting by being able to show video’s and to go onto the internet to show images and information.

·         There are a far larger range of activities that the teacher can do with the learners.

·         By encouraging the children to be interactive the teacher will be able to keep the learners’ attention.

·         It is faster for a teacher to write (type on the interactive white board) than to write on a white board or a chalk board. This saves a lot of time.

·         A big advantage is the large amount of information that can be displayed at once and not to wipe things from the board the whole time to make space for new information.

·         The teacher doesn’t have to print a stack of papers to hand out in class with the activities on, as everything will be displayed on the white board.

No matter how many advantages the interactive white board has, there will always be disadvantages as well and especially in a country such as South Africa. The following disadvantage can be identified:

·         South Africa’s electricity supply is not as trustworthy as in other countries which mean that power failures might restrict effective learning.

·         These interactive white boards are relatively expensive and the software must be updated on a regular bases.

·         A technician should also be appointed as to sort out any problems that might occur during a normal day’s class.

·         These boards can easily break or dysfunction in which case there must be switched to the old technique of white or chalk board writing.

·         Some teachers will not be able to work with these interactive whiteboards and they might be technology disabled.

·         Teachers might have to attend workshops on how these white boards work which will take up their free time and weekends.

·         Learners will not always have a smartphone or tablet that can interact with the whiteboard.

Now that all the advantages and disadvantages have been identified, it is easy to see that implementing interactive white boards in South African schools are not an easy task and that we have to take all the factors, which may play a role, into account.

Getting you learners to engage in the class room

Unfortunately we, as teachers, practice a profession where learners are normally not very excited to be taught. If we want learners to experience a positive learning environment we have to be creative in teaching our content in such a way as to get our learners to actively engage with one another.

I recently read an article written by Abby Wills (2015) where she explained how she turned her noisy, restless and distractive class into an environment where learners cooperate, learn from one another and learn how to be careful in the things they do. She made them aware of the fact that they were very noisy and changed the whole experience of learners by applying a very simple concept. 

We, as student teachers- aspiring to become the teachers of the future, can learn a lot from this simple example. If there is one important thing that we can learn from this story is that we, as teachers, need to use our creativity to change and to enhance our classroom experience for our learners. We can do this by bringing in fun activities which the learners will love as they are actively involved in these activities.

If there in one thing I learned from our PGCE classes, it would be that learners want to feel included in a classroom and you can achieve this by letting them choose the rules of the classroom- let then decide what they want and don’t want you to be- just make sure that you do define the boundaries before you let them set up the classroom.

Learners also needs to feel included by having an open room for discussions. Foley (2014) recognises this as an important aspect for effective learning. He also states that a teacher should be available, approachable and accessible. He also made an important point about the resources that we use in the classroom and that these resources should enhance the learning process. He suggested that we can use resources such as multimedia, charts, people, learning objects, posters, charts and models and stated that we can use fun things such as a birthday calendar to make our classrooms a bit more exciting.

To sum it up- by being creative, we can use simple activities to keep learners’ attention and put them in charge of their own responsibilities. We just need to think outside the box!

A student teaching a teacher?

This is not entirely what the article on critical digital pedagogy, written by Sam Hamilton suggests, but it might be what educators think when we speak about teaching digital pedagogy in such a way that students teach themselves and use digital technologies in such a way as to be able to add on to what they are learning in class.

We live in a world where technology is all around us and where the teacher does not fulfill the same role as he/she did a few years ago. In the olden days the teacher was the one who knew everything and the student was the one who knew nothing. There was merely a transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the student; whereas in today’s life we get students who question our teachers and question the topics covered in their subjects. It is important to note that students are not trying to be disrespectful by questioning everything; they are just trying to enhance their learning and are doing so by reading up on the subject on the internet. 

I remember one of my lecturers told us that we must exploit the knowledge of our learners when we teach them. It is true that a teacher can’t know everything in the world and sometimes it is necessary to turn to our learners for answers as they are one of our most valuable resources, together with textbooks and the internet. In some cases learners are faster in accessing the internet then you would ever be.

Also, in most cases, it is better for the learners to discover something on their own and to be faced with problems, since this is how long-term learning takes place. In today’s life, learners should focus their attention on their own education as they have the power, together with the online world, to develop and shape their own learning.

A final point to state is that we should not exclude learners when we decide on which digital technology to use in the classroom as we shut off the most important element in our classroom- the learners! We should let them choose what works best for them and if we don’t limit them, we might see new technologies developing as they are shaping their learning is such a way as to get the very best learning experience out of their time in class.

Techniques of how social media can be used in the classroom

“Social media is here. It's just another resource and doesn't have to be a distraction from learning objectives. Social media is another tool that you can use to make your classroom more engaging, relevant and culturally diverse”.

These are the words of Vicki Davis, a digital pedagogue enthusiast. As I read her article “A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom”, along with the article “Social Media Can Be Your Ally “written by Nicholas Provenzano, I realised that there are thousands of ways in which social media can be used in the classroom to enhance the learning experience of students. And as a future South African teacher, specialising in accounting and business studies, I thought some of these social media techniques could come in handy in my class next year.

The following few techniques have come to my mind as I was thinking about which techniques I can use to improve accounting and business studies by using social media. I came to the conclusion that these are two difficult subjects and that I should use different methods of social media, in such a way as to improve the learners ability to learn. So I have come up with the following ideas:

•          Learners can tweet on the work that they have done in class and their peers can comment on their tweets or ask questions and start a conversation on how they understand the work. Learners can also ask each other about their views on the work.
•          Learners that are shy can use twitter during class time to ask questions and to get answers from peers or from the teacher.   
•          Learners can engage with each other and with the teacher after school by using facebook or twitter to ask questions if they are unsure of something and especially the day (or night) before a test or handing in a project.
•          A teacher posting a comment on social media benefits all as every learner can get access to the same information and parents can also view the post and carry the message over to their children. This saves the teacher a lot of time as responding to each and every email takes up time and effort and it’s usually the same questions that get asked over and over again.
•          When learners post tweets and comment about what they have learned in class, parents can view it and see if their child is keeping up with the workload. This is also a good means of comparing their child to the rest of the class to see whether the child’s progress is on standard. If they notice that the child is struggling, they can arrange for extra help at a very young age.
•          Learners can be given a task of writing a blog every second week on their thoughts of how they feel about the subject, what they have learned and with what they are struggling. The teacher- that would be me- and their peers would be able to comment on their blogs and maybe give advice or ask similar questions. This is also a great place where parents would be able to track the progress of their child.
•          A group can be formed on facebook where the whole grade can join in as to check up on how the other classes of, for example accounting, are progressing and whether they are doing the same things in class and whether their teacher might have mentioned a better way of understanding or had given a better example for something. 
•          Teachers can also share information with each other on social media about their subject content or even just on ways of disciplining ones class that have proved to be working.
•          Learners can be asked to make a YouTube video on different sections of the work and their peers will be responsible for commenting on their video, to give ideas for improvement and to criticise their video by using valid statements.
•          Homework tasks will be put on platforms such as twitter and facebook so that learners can quickly go back to check if all their homework is done for the day.
•          A social problem can also be addressed by using something such as an accounting project to let learners create an idea on blogger for a fundraiser and to set up a budget for the event. The most popular idea (voted by people from outside and their peers) will win a prize and the idea will be practically implemented to raise money for a social issue.
•          Instagram can also be used to gather pictures (maybe one picture per week) to compile a project on their idea of the micro-, market- and macro environment in business studies.

These are all wonderful ideas that will excite the children and enhance their learning experience, but it is rather important to note that parents are very protective over their children and some parents wouldn’t want their children to be posting and tweeting on social media. For this reason one has to make sure it is soci

ally acceptable to connect online with the learners and the parents must also be aware that their child and his/her teacher are connected on social media. An easier and perhaps more acceptable forms of social media for children are ones such as Edublogs, Kidblog and edmodo or Faketweet. These sites will expose children to the online society but without putting the child in danger. As you progress in teaching your learners about social media, you will also be able to teach then about the dangers and the effects of using social media in the wrong way. This will prevent children from making mistake later in their life- which could cause them to lose their job.  

Digital Pedagogy VS Online teaching

In a recent article I read written by Sean Michael Morris, there was a dispute about whether digital pedagogy and online teaching is the same thing. He concluded his article by saying that the answer to this question was NO.

I think when most people hear digital pedagogy, they think that it means learning through technology, and this is most definitely not the case! Online teaching is nothing but a mere method of teaching, as is teaching a subject in a classroom is, with the only difference being the fact that it is available on the internet and that you might have never met your “online teacher”. According to Morris (2013), teachers are not yet ready to teach online and I fully agree with him. Firstly, online teaching- the way in which it is set up at this stage- is not interactive at all and no learner will receive any better education than what they will receive in most classrooms. A learner’s engagements in classrooms with fellow students are also not limited to academic interaction but also to learn about each other’s cultures and ways of doing things. We do learn a lot from our fellow classmates by going to school and learn how to become a citizen in our community. Now none of this can be learned by watching a few YouTube videos. Another important point is that with online tests, it is difficult to determine whether a student has learned as tests are online and the info can be searched.

Now back to the digital pedagogy. Digital, in digital pedagogy, means to make use of electronic elements. This means that technology is used as a mere tool to enhance the learning process. Pedagogy, on the other hand, is the instantaneous, momentary, vital exchange that takes place between both a learner and a teacher or between two learners. It also means to teach in such a way so that learners are willing to open-up themselves for lifelong learning as they will engage with each other and with their subject content. They will be willing to learn as they would enjoy what they are doing and the teacher will entertain them by practising different types of digital pedagogy as to keep the learning experience enjoyable.

Finally, to become pedagogues is not something that usually happens overnight. It is a process that one has to go through and there are no available resources that can teach one how to master this skill. It is something which you will learn through experience and through daily practice. In a second article written by Jesse Stommel, she says: “The digital pedagogue teaches her tools and doesn’t let them teach her. So you must use what is available and not looking only at the available technology, but looking at the ways in which they can creatively be used in a classroom.

I hope this helps you to notice the difference between online teaching and digital pedagogy as well as the difference between using technology and practicing digital pedagogy.  

“Teaching without digital technology is an irresponsible pedagogy”

“Technology is NOTHING. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them” – Steve Jobs

As I read an article written by Fyfe (2011) I could relate to the fact that we live in an ever changing world and with the technology growing so rapidly, we need to incorporate it in every aspect of life. Even more so, we need to use it to our advantage in our workspace! That’s why we- as teachers- should also jump on the technology wagon and steer our learners to be technologically equipped.

The quote by David Parry that states: “Teaching without digital technology is an irresponsible pedagogy” is a very true and very real fact. Technology is part of the way in which learners grow up these days and iPads, tablets, smartphones and laptops can be found in almost every learner’s backpack. They live in a time where technology is the key to their future, and yet still, we as teachers fight with them to leave their electronic devices at home. As the teachers of the future, we should be the ones encouraging learners to engage with all the technology options which is available to them. We should teach learners about social media, about the internet and about how to access information in an easy way! If technology is the language that learners understand, then why not use it to teach them? And by technology I’m not only referring to power points and pictures on the board, but rather to interactive whiteboards, to giving them tasks in class where they can do research on their devices and to  let them engage with each other, to ask questions and to think critically about what they have found.

Resources such as YouTube videos can also play a critical role in education as concepts and real life situations are regularly better understood by practical examples. A video, for example on the working of a human heart, will add much more value to a learner’s understanding than reading a bunch of difficult concepts in a textbook. Other forms of technology should also be employed such as podcasts, social media and skype.  We have all these astonishing information and tools at the tips of our fingers, so why not use it to its full potential?