INTERACTIVE WHITE BOARDS, FOR OR AGAINST?

Reasons against using interactive whiteboards

 Tight budgets

Interactive whiteboards are not cheap, and many educators believe that students are better served by allocating funds to teacher salaries.

Traditionalist educators

According to Education Week, one of the biggest complaints about interactive whiteboards is that they are often underutilized by poorly trained or technically-challenged teachers.

Reasons in favor of using interactive whiteboards

Powerful visual tools for teachers

Using interactive whiteboards, teachers can create lessons that incorporate video, moving diagrams, and online content to help explain difficult material and to keep students engaged.

Ability for students to interact

Students can interact in a variety of ways with whiteboards, including writing on them, manipulating objects in matching or sorting games, or voting on answers with the help of handheld devices.

Display student projects

Interactive whiteboards allow teachers to showcase projects that students have created using software such as PowerPoint. These types of projects may look more impressive on a big screen, and most students enjoy seeing their work displayed in this fashion.