In my previous blog post, I talked about disadvantages of SmartBoards in a classroom. Some disadvantages included cost of interactive whiteboards and sometimes efficiency, with lightbulbs running out for example. Lack of teacher training on how to use SmartBoards was another disadvantage.
Another perspective of interactive white boards I would like to explore is whether or not they will continue to be placed in classrooms, or if other technology, such as iPads, will replace them in the future. I found one interesting article that talks about this situation. It can be found here. It mentions that when people say that iPads will replace SmartBoards in classrooms in the future, those people do not fully understand all that interactive whiteboards can do. It says that even when teachers think they use their SmartBoard to its full capacity, there is still so much more that the Board can do that they do not even know, just because they were not properly trained on how to use it or an unwillingness to use the Board to its full potential.
The article mentioned one thing that I found very interesting. It said that in the future, these two types of technologies will not necessarily "replace" each other, but that they will be used together in the classroom. It said that, "The SMART Board, for example, is a collaborative space, while iPads are largely individual spaces." I agree with this statement. When I think of how I want to use a SmartBoard in my classroom, I mostly think of group activities where everyone is involved in the SmartBoard lesson and students have a chance to work interactively with the Board, while other students watch this interaction and learn from this. When I think about iPads and how I want to use those in a classroom if I have them, I think about students mostly working individually on this technology. They could also work in groups using iPads, but I picture each student having their own individual iPad that they can work on.
The article also gave some great ideas about how these two technologies can be used together, which I loved!! One idea it gave was that when using these technologies together, students can record their own responses on their iPads and then these responses can be sent to the SmartBoard. Other students can learn from these responses and it can be an environment where the class goes over the responses together, and it was a great way to use technology because they worked individually on their own iPads and then as a group, focused more on the SmartBoard and what it can do.
Of course money is always an issue when talking about integrating new technology into the classroom. I found one blog post that talks about SmartBoards vs. Apple TV/iPads in classrooms. I had never before heard of Apple TV being used in a classroom, but after reading this blog post I think I am going to look more into it because it sounds like an awesome type of technology. The blog can be found here. It talks about using Apple TV and iPads together in a classroom. Apple TV is a small device that connects to your projector. From this connection, your iPad screen can be projected. So essentially, if you can do almost the exact same things you can do on an iPad that you can do on an interactive whiteboard, Apple TV is smaller and more affordable than a SmartBoard. This blog says that Apple TV and an iPad together cost $518, while an interactive whiteboard costs $1100. The blogger mentions that this cost of the interactive whiteboard does not take into account installation or wall mounting hardware. Then the blog talks about an entire school installation of these different types of technology. For 25 Apple TV/iPad installations, it would cost $12,950, and for 25 interactive whiteboard installations it would cost $27,500. So clearly as you can see, using Apple TV and iPads is a much more cost effective use of technology in a classroom.
The blog also talks about how iPads have an advantage because they can be passed around the class, as opposed to interactive whiteboards which are set on a wall and cannot be passed around for obvious reasons. In addition to using the iPad to be passed around in the classroom, they can also be carried outside of a classroom and be used to take pictures or videos. When I was at a middle school last semester, I saw firsthand students use these features of the iPads. They had to do a project of some sort and were working in the hall and they documented their progress by taking pictures on the iPads. So if you were to be doing this in a class and also had Apple TV, a teacher could just hook up that students iPad to the Apple TV and project it so that the entire class could see those pictures. This technology allowing students' and teacher's iPads to be hooked up to the projector could be so useful in a classroom.
Personally, I think that interactive whiteboards will definitely be around for the next 10-20 years in classrooms. I think they have a lot to offer educationally and if teachers can really get to understand all the available features of interactive whiteboards, they can greatly enhance the hands on learning in a classroom. I think as time goes on, more and more classrooms will be getting class sets of iPads. I think they are very useful tools in the classroom and they are great because they allow each student to be able to learn using technology, which can enhance their learning. Eventually, probably in about 20 years, I think iPads will be in every classroom, or some sort of technology like iPads, and then interactive whiteboards will start to make a decline. I think technology like Apple TV or something similar that may come out in the future will replace these interactive whiteboards. It will be interesting to see what happens!
No comments:
Post a Comment