Reflection 5: (Podcast) It's Elementary #43 Interactive White Boards

It's Elementary #43

In this podcast, they discussed interactive white boards and the benefits and problems in the classroom. They talked about three types of boards; Smartboard, Eno board (I don’t know if that’s what they were saying or how to spell it but that is what it sounded like), and Promethean boards.

The Smartboard is touch sensitive and handy because you don’t have to travel from the computer to the front of the class for lectures. You can simply touch the internet controls from the whiteboard. I see this being helpful in middle school and high school when teachers do more front of the class lectures, but in grade school I don’t think it would get quite as much use. One teacher who has a smartboard in her kindergarten class says she likes it but instead of being tied to her computer like with a projector or powerpoint, she is now tied to the board. She also said that having a smartboard in her class makes it harder to avoid “taking charge” verses letting the kids lead their learning. The board does however record what is done on it so you can quickly find where you left off. The boards also can be installed to slide up and down. That way kids can view them from the seats or from sitting on the floor. The speakers of the podcast informed the caller of a took you can purchase that allows you to walk around the room and still be able to control the smartboard but it is very expensive. One common problem they discussed that I find a bit humorous is that they tend to have problems with subs who use dry erase markers on their smartboards! One difference between the Eno board and smartboard is that the Eno can function as a regular white board as well. The teachers who had them in their classroom said they were convinent but they questioned whether or not they were worth the cost.

As a side note the teacher who called in mentioned that her kindergarteners do not have desks or tables in the classroom, they always sit on the floor. I do not know how this can be beneficial to the students. How do they do any of their writing activities and assignments?