Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Keeping up with the times: IWB

So here I go again - talking about something that I know very little about and trying to sound intelligible whilst doing so. But, as always, a few google searches later and I feel like an expert.... 

Apparently interactive whiteboards are the future of teaching and any school who does not employ this tool, is moving back in time. (I have to admit, I sometimes wonder whether or not stagnation is really such a bad thing, but then I hear my mother's voice telling me only dead fish drift with the stream.) So in the spirit of constant change and innovation, I shall now fantasize about all the way in which I could employ this tool in my specific fields of teaching: Business Studies, Life Orientation and Mathematical Literacy. 

In all of these subjects, the demonstration of topics and seeing the bigger picture of “Where does this fit in the global environment?” can be problematic and an interactive whiteboard does definitely hold a lot of promise in addressing these types of questions. Enabling students to interact with the board also speaks to different learning modalities and will without a doubt will encourage their engagement with the subject. Engagement with social media platforms are also simplified and can thus be incorporated in more and more classes.

Another thing that I think will benefit many schools, is the fact that in a one-computer-classroom, an interactive whiteboard will enable all the students to engage with the technology without having individual access to a computer. This might even save on development costs for the school and I think the government should definitely investigate this option.

All in all, I think that interactive whiteboards will revolutionise education in South Africa, if only we can muster up the guts to actually employ them in our classrooms.

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