How Interactive is Your Whiteboard?

What three key concepts or ideas did you learn?
One idea that I learned from the article was the various questions that I should be asking myself regarding my students' interactions in the classroom. I do a couple of these already. I do allow my student's to elaborate on discussions even though they may not necessary be on the more focused track. I also ask students to summarize what they learned from the lesson that day. The students generally explain it very well and it allows their peers to hear it in their peers' words instead of mine. I do also ask questions that are complex for the whole class. Some students contribute and we go from there. I might have to ask additional probing questions to help out the discussion.

The next idea that I learned was about the nature of the interaction. I knew obviously that lecture and various levels of scaffolding existed, but I did not know the degree to which they were broken down. It makes a lot of sense. It starts as controlled by the teacher and as the concept is learned, ideally the students should take more if not all of the control.

The last idea that I learned from this article was that the research found by Tanner and Jones was that the amount or the depth of questioning was decreased by the use of the IWB as well as the classroom is more teacher centered. I have not had experience using the IWB, but I thought that it would make the curriculum more interactive for the students an the curriculum would be covered more in depth and not superficially focused. That was interesting to me, but I guess, in a way it is true because during our own class, Gambill has been more in control since this is new material for a lot of the students. Likewise it would be like that in a elementary
classroom.

Do interactive communication tools lead to interactive learning?

I think that communication tools can lead to interactive learning if they are used correctly. After reading the article about the IWB, it makes sense. The IWB is another tool that can be used to interactively engage a whole class, however the teacher needs to realize that it is not going to run the show itself. A lot of preparation and thinking needs to take place by the teacher in order to design the lesson on the IWB correctly. As discussed in the article, the teacher may start with a lecture, but in order for the lesson to be trully interactive for the students, they need to be in control and need to be communicating and reflecting on the content being focused on. If the teacher is merely using the IWB as a screen to just project text or pictures with no other ideas in mind to interact the whole class, than the IWB would not be being used correctly as an effective communication tool. I am sure that it takes a lot of practice by the teacher to use the IWB effectively. I am thinking for a young elementary class like first grade. The teacher needs to be sure that the lesson is not just hitting the "surface ideas", but finding an even balance that they are learning the new material but that they are contributing to the lesson and most importantly interacting with each other. I do not have access to a Smart Board, but teaching first grade this year I think that it would be very interesting. I know that I have a friend that teaches first grade and has a smart board in her room and she says, "That it is amazing to see the students learn with it help." The other thing that she said is that the students by the end of the year can help to explain how to use the board and can help substitute teachers use the board. Crazy, huh?

How can educators be sure to use interactive communication tools to the best potential?

I did talk about this a little in the answer to the above question, but I will discuss a little further. I think that it is important that the teacher does not use the communication tools as just as a superficial tool. Teachers need to plan a thoughtful and question provoking lesson for the students, so that the tool aids in their learning process. The second thing that should be taken in to account is that the students should be in control as much as possible. They should be asking questions to one another and debating or answering each others' questions. I questioned this process for "brand new material", but there is appropriate means of scaffolding that the teacher can use to help with students' understanding. The last thing that should be done to use interactive communication tools most effective is that other interactive programs should be used along with the tool to engage the students and encourage communication and reflection by the students. Such programs could include: Inspiration, a website, a web quest, and an interactive power point presentation.