I've been using interactive whiteboards for some time now but have discovered lately that I'm not as enthusiastic about this technology as I was at the beginning. I think one of the reasons why I've become reluctant to use the whiteboard in my classroom is because it tends to make my classes very teacher-centric. After all, it requires that I stand in front of my class and deliver the old chalk and talk ... well ... click and talk. Yes, the board is very interactive but mostly for the person actually using it - the teacher. Once the novelty wears off, the students just treat it as yet another teacher tool.
So, I've started using some strategies that counteract that reluctance and minimize that sense of teacher-centred classroom and content delivery. First of all, I've stopped using it myself and, instead, have been giving my students opportunities to present their work using the interactive board. It also works well for group projects because group members can jump in at any time and take control of the presentation by tapping the screen. There's no more need for three or more students to crowd around the computer.
Currently, I'm working on a new strategy which essentially entails making individual students responsible for teaching specific parts of a longer lesson/topic. Everyone has a chance to present their work and use the technology while contributing to what is essentially one project. After March Break, I will be saving all their work as image files and putting it on Flickr so that they can be easily accessed. In addition, once the slides are on Flickr, every student will be able to comment on the work of his/her peers. The conversation that begins in class will continue online even after we move on to another topic.
I'm not sure how effective the above strategies are in helping sustain a sense of community. They have certainly made me embrace this amazing technology again.
Does anyone have any other suggestions on how to sustain a sense of community and eliminate the teacher-centred approach?
Keywords: community interactive whiteboards student-centred
Comments
I had the very good fortune of starting my classroom teaching in a room with a SmartBoard/ceiling mount projector. My first 3 years teacing were spent in that environment, and I'm sure that experience shaped my opinions.
To me, the biggest advantage such a tool brought was a more "coaching" dynamic in my classes. When students were experiencing trouble with something (I taught high school media arts, computer science, and History in this lab) I would have them move from their work station to the board and "talk me through it". Other students who may have been having the same trouble, or who were just voyeristic, would stop what they were working on and join in, if it suited them. Learning became very public in the class, and some of the best teachre-student dialog would happen from the questions student would pose (usually as a follow up to the first students "presentation"). It was a great 3 years.
The renewed interest in smartboard's (I guess I should use the generic "interactive whiteboards", but the Smart Technologies factory is just a few kilometers from my home, so I need to feel loyal to the local economy :-) seems to be coming from the Math areas - usually centered around the use of Geo Sketchpad as a dynamic tool. If more classes are successful in getting the funding they need (still a daunting task) I hope that teachers will spend some time exploring how the pedagogy can shift as well as the tool set. Shift happens...