Ucan do IWB’s

Tips for the newbieInteractive Whiteboard User

The Board: Hardboards

• Promethean boards use this technology• The board has a circuit within the board• It requires the use of a pen to work

The Board: Ultrasonics• Mimio boards use this technology

• The Mimio pen sends out ultrasonic and infra-red signals which are picked up by the sensor bar

• It requires the pens to operate

The Board: Resistives• SMARTBoards and Teamboards use this

technology• A membrane is laid over a hard printed

circuit• It can be operated with a pen or finger

Use the Students• The best resource in the room are the

students who view the board like a hawk each day waiting for the teacher to slip up

• Get them to show off by explaining how to do things

• Ask them to be your scribe• Have a reward for the best IWB tip of the

day from a student

Get Calibrated• To get started on any IWB you need to make

sure that the pen or input tool makes a mark at the tip of the tool. This is called calibrating the board

• If you write and the writing appears somewhere else on the board then you need to calibrate the board

• Each board has it’s own method for calibrating. Other teachers or students should be able to help to learn to calibrate your board

Write Big Everywhere• The IWB allows you to shrink your work and

move it all round the board• It also allows you to write over everything

else on the board• Be bold, use this functionality to add

content and move it to where you want and at what size to place it

Use the Undo Button

• Unlike traditional whiteboards where you erase your mis-thoughts the IWB allows you a second chance at everything

• Using Undo, (usually a backwards facing arrow is much quicker and more accurate than using the eraser even though the IWB has one of these too)

Use The Pages• Unlike traditional whiteboards you don’t need

to erase the work on the board to fit more on• Dependent on the IWB, you just need to add a

page or flipchart for that next bit of work• Don’t forget that you can just as quickly flip

back and forth between the pages or flipcharts to remind the little darlings what you have really covered

The Bigger Picture• All IWB’s have a gallery of images and

interactives that can be used to make even the most basic page attractive

• Take some time, (or get a student to explore for you), these galleries

• Remember too that you can always “Search” the galleries

Hit The Net• No matter what you are talking about in class

you are sure to be able to find something related to the topic on the internet

• Displayed on the IWB you can then draw all over or annotate these sites, (heck you can even copy and paste from them)

• Oh it also works on DVD’s too and you can even use the IWB capture tool to grab the evidence

Get Things Straight

• With an IWB you never need rulers again, just look out for the line tool and use it to draw your straight lines

• Oh if you want to keep in shape then look no further than the IWB to be able to draw the perfect shape for you

Clones Rule• Once you have created an object, written a

phrase or made a sound on the IWB you can clone it as many times as you wish

• This is great for maths work or literacy stems or pictorial presentations

Don’t Be A Tool• Within the gallery as well as neat images

and animations you will also find some great tools just crying out to be used such as;

oRulersoTimersoDiceoCalculators

Layer It On Thick• All IWB’s work in layers with each input be

it pen, text, image etc having their own layer

• Content can be moved up and down between layers which enables you to display or hide things

• When needed content can be locked in position

Update Your Image• IWB’s are great for visual literacy and digital

cameras are everywhere• Digital microscopes make the invisible visible• Visualisers and webcams enable everyone to

see• Everyone can manipulate their image, online

or offline• Go Flickr

Get With Community

• Each of the major players have online community spaces for sharing things

• Other support groups exist o IWBneto Interactive Whiteboard Challengeo Interactive Whiteboard Revolution

Don’t Get Flustered• Every novice IWB user has those moments

when it would definitely have been much easier to have just told the students what to do

• Be re-assured that the time you take to come to grips with these infernal devices is time well spent

• Use the age old adage and just count to ten, some dear little student will have figured it out by then

An IWB Won’t Make You A Better

Teacher