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Are Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) a waste of money?

I have been lucky enough to have an interactive whiteboard since starting my NQT year in 2004. In a cover lesson a couple of weeks ago, I realised how ingrained in my thinking it has become as I reached to click the non-existent 'next page' button on the battered old white board. However, given the considerable cost of IWBs, are they a waste of limited funds?

First of all then, a question: how could an interactive whiteboard help this teacher?  (Click on question to watch a video) [1]

Clearly, IWBs are not a panacea for bad teaching. It is very possible to teach bad lessons using one. I know; been there, done that. I asked some of my Year 9 students what they thought of the IWB. One boy wrote:

You can almost see him grasping for a reason in this - he knew that it is was good but he wasn't really sure why. Moreover, the comment of 'now and then' was considerably less enthusiastic than I had expected. TA lot of the research into whiteboards at the moment stresses their importance for motivation. This is supported by my personal experience. However, this must be more than a gimmick. How quickly, in an age of ever advancing technology, will the novelty of pens that 'don't run out' wear off? How quickly, to borrow a pun from R. Huggins will they become 'board'? 

Two girls in the class wrote that they "dislike[d] the board because the teachers are more on the board than teaching us". To be fair, both girls were laughing as they handed it in, but I think there is much truth in what they say. In some ways, an IWB almost encourages bad teaching by supporting excessive teacher talk. It is easier to keep them interested with images on a screen, and the temptation therefore is to talk for longer. Similarly, how many lessons up and down the country are being interrupted by wobbly wires, software crashes, or un-oriented boards.

Teachers obviously need to be comfortable and confident with the IWB technology if they are to use them effectively. However, more than just technological competency is required. BECTA state that:

In this way then, if IWBs are not to be a waste of money teachers must strive to use them in a variety of ways that will engage 'a range of preferred learning styles'. Similarly, as has been mentioned on this thread, there must be a continuous push to open the technology to the students, to make it a shared, interactive resource rather than teacher only tool. 

Nevertheless, there is perhaps a caveat to put here. Clearly it is important for the interactive white boards to be used interactively whenever that can help learning. However, even if the board were rarely, perhaps never used interactively by the students, there would still be a case for them. One of the biggest benefits of an interactive whiteboard is the ability to quickly plan a striking lesson using a variety of media - visual and auditory. Moreover, it is possible for this to be in front of the students almost immediately. Lesson questions, objectives and starter activities appear on the board at the click of the button, leaving the teacher free to meet and greet students.

All these things could be done with a laptop and projector shining onto a traditional whiteboard. Limited interactivity in terms of annotating could be done with a traditional whiteboard pen. This is indeed how I taught in my first half-term before the SMARTboard was properly set up. You do lose the flexibility of the range of interactive tools (i.e. highlighters, drag and drop), you lose the pleasingly immediate action of the board, and it becomes an even greater distraction with the teacher frequently having to return to look at laptop screen and keyboard. 

Clearly the IWB is the better product but is it worth the extra money? If there is money available then every teacher who wants one should be allowed one. They are not a waste of money, but they might not be the best way to spend limited resources. If it is a case of having a projector for every department or an IWB for every other department then it would be best to go for the projectors. That being said, if anyone tried to take my IWB - I'd fight 'em!

16 things to do with an
interactive whiteboard

1. Make a starting screen for your lessons with the lesson question, aims, and instructions for a starting activity.

2. Play songs/speeches with the lyrics/word on the board and on sheets for the students. Get students to annotate on the board and in books.

3. Take a vote with the board. For example, divide your board into four sections with the names of four possible husbands for Queen Elizabeth. Get the students to form a line, set the pen to 'smiley face' and one by one get the students to press in the box that they think is best.

4. Scan in students work - either as a motivational reward, or to break down what they have done well.

5. Type in card sorts for the students to drag and drop.

6. Scan in textbook cartoons - using photoshop cut them up into card sorts, or get the students to vote for happiest/saddest moment etc.

7. Using photoshop cut out people from images. You can use these as decoration, or ask students to imagine the rest of the picture.

8. Draw a straight line, add in evenly spaced bars, insert two pictures linked to the topic. Have a quiz - each time a team gets a question right, their picture moves forward.

9. Refer back to work that you have done before - bring up their annotations, votes, card sorts etc. 

10. Hide information behind pictures, or behind white pen marks - when you rub it off it is clearly magic.

11. Buy contentgenerator software to play boys versus girls penalty shootout quizs. (Be prepared for the noise).

12. Download (subject to copyright) countdown music, mission impossible music, mastermind music. Add a couple of images of google search to make a nice plenary/starter.

13. Use a flash extract program to add flash animations to your presentation. Take care with copyright issues here. [3]

14. Get students to circle parts of a picture. Make it simpler for them by holding the pen and telling them to use the back of their nail.

15. Take time on making your resources look good. Use google image search for striking pictures, download interesting fonts, use colour. 

16. Save all your resources into organised folders - you will rapidly generate a huge number of lessons that you can re-use/improve.