English Virtual Community

Though the technology has been around for more than two decades (IWB  was released in 1991), its use has only grown exponentially over the past few years. Fundamentally, an IWB combines a dry erase whiteboard with an LCD projector and is usually mounted on a wall or floor stand. Powered by easy-to-use software, the whiteboard becomes a computer screen viewable by an entire classroom.   The projector projects the content from a onto the surface of the board while the teacher controls the content either with a pointer or a touch of the hand instead of a keyboard and mouse. The combination of software with the projector results in much more than simply a projected image. An interactive whiteboard can be a cost saver as this technology demonstrates how one computer can provide learning stimuli for a whole classroom. This is more cost effective than equipping an entire IT room, or every student with a laptop. Examples of the features available when using an inte...

Interactive whiteboards have become more prevalent in classrooms. These whiteboards offer an alternative method of teaching by physically engaging students. The touch sensitive screen on interactive whiteboards provides teachers with a learning tool that can bring an entire class together.  Why Use an Interactive Whiteboard? ESL teachers can use online literacy activities and games that have been pre-made (See suggested links below) and specially designed for interactive whiteboard lessons. However, if a teacher is interested in creating their own activities they could try using "Microsoft Word" and "Paint". Using them on the whiteboard, students will become familiar with these common computer programs and are able to show creativity in their work. Some literacy activities the teacher can create with the students are:  1. Cloze activities (fill in the blanks). 2. Highlighting ("Paint" highlight pen). 3. Handwriting ("Paint" with writing ...

Cambridge University Press offers in its website a series of videos tutorials which demonstrates how to use an Interactive whiteboard.may help teachers in the use of IWB. To launch the videos, click on this LINK

" All that glitters is not gold " may be applied to Interactive Whiteboards (IWB). Today, I have read an article by Gavin Dudeney which has arisen a debate on IWB. Gavin is not very enthusiastic about this tool ;however, below his post (click HERE ) there are some other experts' opinions - Graham Stanley's, among others - who are not so pessimistic and mention the point that "Training is indeed the key to using the IWB". The big danger using IWB is using this kind of tool only to show Youtube clips (a bit like buying a Jaguar just to take a trip to the corner shop). Personally , I completely agree with Graham. If schools want to incorporate new technology to language classes, teacher training is essential. Oh, but the teacher trainning should be given by an experienced teacher, not the IWB maker.