Subscribe to SuperTECH News SuperTECH NEWS is the quarterly newsletter of the BLEgroup. The mission of the BLEgroup is making education more effective with technology. The BLEgroup is the schools’ industry expert and the industry’s schools expert. The BLEgroup provides : Technology planning and management services to schools Market research and implementation services to the the education industry The purpose of SuperTECH NEWS is to provide education decision makers with concise information that allows them to make informed technology decisions to impact instruction, management and communication. This is information you can use on Monday morning. Editor, Kathleen Florio Web Design, Charlene Polanosky Publisher, Eliot Levinson

Our September issue theme is Interactive Whiteboard. Choose from the following articles:   The BLEgroup and Its Services: The BLEgroup is a company composed of some of the most respected CIOs and instructional experts in K–12 schools throughout the country. We are known as the schools’ education industry expert and the education industry’s school expert. We offer technology and management expertise to school systems. We can assess where your school system is and exactly what you need to do to implement instructional and back-office systems. We provide management support to implement effective technology-delivered programs as well as interim personnel and project management.   The BLEgroup also helps education firms develop and deliver high-quality products and services to schools through our CIO and instructional leader focus groups and follow-on services such as management of pilots, white papers, project management, and implementation support. Eliot’s Sound Bite: Interactive Whiteboards Are Transformational Change, Not Fashion Mode Interactive whiteboards signify the visible beginning of the change from print to digital instruction. Interactive whiteboards are to teaching what spreadsheets were to finance. Transforming technologies such as the spreadsheet and autoCAD automate data entry and replicate on computers what people previously did manually, except the processes are done more efficiently and accurately. The fact that the whiteboards are easy to use and address basic instruction is what makes them viable tools to change the nature of how instruction is delivered. The argument over whether interactive whiteboards create better test scores or a high return on investment is almost irrelevant. The important thing about them is that the process of teaching is now changed; it is informated—that is, it translates activities into usable digitized information—just like the rest of American industry. With interactive whiteboards as the entry point for digitizing instructional planning and delivery, we can expect to see a large number of related activities such as online management of the instructional process and establishment of libraries of digitized materials, including video. The platform of interactive whiteboards will enable one of the fastest changes in the nature of teaching and instructional materials ever seen. Theme of the Month— In this issue of the newsletter, we look at interactive whiteboards, the easy-to-use classroom technology that some people hail as the best way to get teachers hooked on using technology for lesson planning and instruction. We discuss the basic components, how the technology can be used, potential benefits, costs, and suggestions for how to get the most from your investment. For a different take on this hot technology, we present an opposing view that dismisses interactive whiteboards as “glorified transparency technology” that adds no real value to the classroom. Products—SuperTECH NEWS looks at three leading manufacturers of interactive whiteboards for the education market and describes their latest offerings in basic components, software, and peripherals. Best Practices—Here we describe how teachers in Minnetonka Public Schools, a suburban district outside Minneapolis–St. Paul, find creative ways to use interactive whiteboards in their classrooms. After success with a small-scale pilot several years ago, Minnetonka teachers have embraced the technology so enthusiastically that some say they wouldn’t teach in a classroom that didn’t have an interactive whiteboard. The district is now using whiteboards across the curriculum, from kindergarten through high school, and some teachers believe it’s making a real difference in student learning.     We want to hear from you. What do you agree and disagree with on this issue (we will post comments from readers in the next issue). Please write us at eliot@blegroup.com. DID YOU MISS AN ISSUE? You can read past issues of SuperTECH NEWS relating to NCLB online: May 2007 - Focus: Data Management August 2006 - Focus: Professional Development April 2006 - Focus: 1:1 Computing

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THEME: Interactive Whiteboard

An interactive whiteboard is a touch-sensitive digital whiteboard connected to a projector and a computer, allowing users to not only create and view images, but also interact with them in various ways. Interactive whiteboards have become the fastest-growing segment of the education technology market, but some people think their value is greatly exaggerated. The question for education decision-makers is this:

• Are interactive whiteboards a way to transform teaching and learning or are they simply an unnecessary and costly automation of the classroom?

In this issue of BLE SuperTECH NEWS, we outline the basic elements of interactive whiteboards, discuss pros and cons, and suggest how to get the most out of this technology. We describe the products of three leading manufacturers in the education marketplace and report on a successful implementation in the Minnetonka Public Schools near Minneapolis–St. Paul, where teachers in almost every classroom have added interactive whiteboards to their teaching routine.

Why the buzz? Thousands of classrooms in the United States have interactive whiteboards, and the number is expected to skyrocket over the next few years. Why are they so popular? One reason is that many people see them as the ideal entry-level way to digitize education and get teachers excited about using technology for lesson planning and instruction. The interactive whiteboard is easy to use and lets teachers replicate what they’ve been doing for years while standing at the chalkboard; but with its underlying technology, teachers also have powerful digital capabilities at their fingertips—literally.

The basics. A basic system includes three components:

• the whiteboard itself, which looks much like a traditional whiteboard but allows students and teachers to interact with it electronically;
• a projector; and
• a desktop or laptop computer that links with the projector and the whiteboard wirelessly or via a USB cable.

Teachers use their computers to develop their lessons; the operating software that comes with the whiteboard enables images in those lessons to appear on the whiteboard and also enables the interactive capabilities. Depending on the model, users can write on the board with a finger or a digital “pen.” They can write on a blank “page” or over any image that’s projected on the whiteboard. The pen may also have computer-mouse capabilities to execute commands with a click or a touch on the board.

The following peripherals complement the basic system:

• wireless electronic tablets that allow the teacher to control the whiteboard from anywhere in the classroom, and
• wireless response devices that allow students to electronically answer a question, with results appearing on the screen either anonymously or by name. These devices increase student engagement and enable teachers to determine what students are learning.

Along with the operating software, manufacturers in the education market offer software that helps teachers easily create electronic lessons by providing thousands of downloadable images; subject-specific tools, such as digital protractors; and links to standards-based resources and lessons. With an Internet connection, the whiteboard becomes a large-format viewing surface for any image, text, audio file, or video file available on the Web.

In the classroom. The capabilities of the interactive whiteboard translate into some powerful possibilities:

• Storage, collaboration, and recycling of education materials. High-quality units and resources can be stored, catalogued, and shared among teachers. The capacity is available to develop a full curriculum and hand it to a new teacher for use.
• Student participation. In addition to writing on the whiteboard as they would on a traditional chalkboard, students can interact via the touch-screen capabilities (including drag-and-drop) or a remote-response system.
• Annotated lessons. Writing directly on the images on the whiteboard, teachers and students create annotated lessons that can be saved or printed for future reference—for example, if a student needs repeated instruction or would like to review material before a test. This capability also reduces or eliminates the need for students to take notes during class.
• Remote access. Uploading digital lessons to the Internet enables students, parents, teachers, and others to access them via a district or school Web site. Students who were absent can see exactly what they missed.
• Formative assessment. The optional remote-response devices provide an easy way for teachers to conduct formative assessments or surveys of student preferences or opinions.

At this time, the effects of interactive whiteboards are documented by considerable anecdotal evidence but limited hard evidence. Both proponents and detractors offer very strong opinions.

What proponents say. Advocates of interactive whiteboards tout all sorts of benefits. At the top of most lists is improved student engagement—particularly for whole-class instruction. At a panel discussion at the 2007 convention of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), Bailey Mitchell, chief technology and information officer for Forsyth County Schools in Georgia, said he became convinced of the technology’s effectiveness when he saw students interacting with it. “I saw student engagement like I had not seen with other technologies we’ve deployed,” he noted. And an article in Education Week quotes Paul Vallas, former CEO of the School District of Philadelphia, as saying, “There’s nothing to keep the students more focused in the classroom than having a laptop in a classroom with a whiteboard.”

Effective users of the technology claim that lessons move along more quickly, reducing boredom. The various elements may also address students’ differing learning styles, including visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. (An example of a lesson that includes a kinesthetic element would involve having children touch words on the board and drag-and-drop them in the correct order to create a sentence.)
 
Here are some additional benefits that many people cite:

• Capacity for teachers to digitize lessons. Interactive whiteboards enable teachers to enter the digital world by doing work that is core to their business. Teachers can create and save lessons in a computer file for later access and repeated use. Lessons can also be printed.
• Increased teacher collaboration. The ease of use, combined with the ability to save and e-mail files or upload them to a district Web site, increases the likelihood that teachers will share their best lessons with colleagues.
• Increased teacher creativity. With access to limitless resources, including those on the Web, teachers can come up with innovative ways to present traditional instructional content.
• Improved classroom management. Because teachers do not have to turn their back to the class but instead can control the whiteboard from their computer or a mobile device, they can more easily monitor students’ behavior.
• Special-needs accommodation. The technology provides numerous ways to accommodate students with special needs. For example, font and image size can be increased for students with visual impairments; and students with poor motor skills can participate via the touch-screen capability.
• Leveraging of technology. For classrooms with just one computer, the interactive whiteboard enables all students to benefit simultaneously from computer technology, including access to Internet resources.

One possible benefit that can’t be documented at a significant level is improved student achievement. Much of the research in this area is anecdotal or based on a small sample. The research cites significant improvements in factors such as student engagement and teacher collaboration, but whether this translates into better test scores is debatable.

What detractors say. Despite the purported benefits, many educators dismiss interactive whiteboards as fancy overhead projectors that add little value to the classroom. At the CoSN panel mentioned earlier (notably titled “The Great Whiteboard Shootout”), Bob Moore, executive director of information technology for the Blue Valley School District in Overland, Kansas, said his district rejected a proposal to spend $4 million to install interactive whiteboards in 1,000 classrooms. Although an advisory committee was initially excited by the product’s potential, they were unimpressed after seeing a demonstration by a teacher who was considered one of the district’s most effective users of the technology. Moore reports that after the teacher left, one of the committee members expressed the consensus view by saying that all they’d seen was “glorified use of transparency technology.”

Moore asserts that teachers—not tools—are at the heart of effective teaching. Some teachers will perform poorly no matter what tools are available; and others, as Moore puts it, could be “in the middle of a cornfield and [be] outstanding.” Moore says there’s a danger in “looking at a technological tool as a transformative agent. Changes in the way we think or changes in practice that can be enabled by technology are transformative. But the technology itself is not.”

Here are other downsides that detractors cite:

• Initial costs. Costs for a typical classroom set-up include the price of the interactive whiteboard, which averages about $1,400, and the projector, about $1,200. Schools may be able to use their existing projectors, thereby eliminating that cost; but the cost of a teacher computer or laptop should be added in.
• Replacing damaged units. The surface of the whiteboard can be scratched or otherwise damaged, necessitating the expense of replacement.
• Need for recalibration. Freestanding models need to be recalibrated when the board is moved so the images are not distorted. Some teachers stop using their boards because they don’t want to bother with recalibration.

 
Addressing the cost issue. SMART Technologies Inc., a leading provider of interactive whiteboards for the education market, suggests that the cost per student is much lower than the cost of a wireless laptop cart with 35 laptops, or even the cost of textbooks. Calculated on the basis of 35 students, 6 periods a day, over 3 years, SMART’s bottom line is $8.09 per student for the interactive whiteboard, compared with $61.52 for the laptop cart and $25 for the textbooks. (Details of the calculations.)

Getting the most from the investment. If a district does decide to invest in interactive whiteboards, a number of things can help make the investment worthwhile. The following suggestions include observations from Nancy Knowlton, CEO of SMART Technologies, as expressed in an article on the company Web site:

• Availability. Permanently mounting the whiteboard on the classroom wall makes it readily available, increasing the likelihood that teachers will actually use it.
• Connectivity. An Internet connection in every classroom expands the number of resources a teacher can tap into, enhancing the value of the whiteboard.
• Ubiquity. Using interactive whiteboards across the curriculum, in all subject areas, establishes the technology as part of the instructional toolkit and encourages teacher collaboration.

Key points. Here are some additional things to keep in mind:

• Be clear about how the technology relates to your mission. Is your purpose to change the culture of your school or district? To improve instruction as it relates to standards? Know your purpose before you purchase.
• Choose the right vendor. Product descriptions may suggest that the major brands all have the same basic components. However, it’s worth the effort to investigate vendors in depth. Training, customization, and quality of software and service are not the same, even if the marketing materials suggest that they are. Be thorough and find the right match between your district and a vendor who will meet your instructional and service needs. Think in terms of a long-term partner.
• Implement gradually. Begin with a few teachers and let their success spread interest among their peers. Allow several years for full implementation.

Now that we’ve covered the main points about interactive whiteboards, let’s look at some leading products in the education market and learn from an example of best practices.

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PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS: Interactive Whiteboard

Note: The BLE Group does not endorse any of the examples listed below. These products and services were chosen to give a representative sample of what is available.

A handful of companies dominate the market for interactive whiteboards in K–12 education. Here are three:

• PolyVision
• Promethean
• SMART Technologies Inc.

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BEST PRACTICES : Minnetonka Public Schools

Interactive whiteboards are helping to transform teaching and learning throughout Minnetonka Public Schools, a district with 7,700 K–12 students in suburban Minneapolis–St. Paul. In five years, more than 80 percent of the district’s teachers have chosen to use interactive whiteboards, transforming the nature of technology integration in the district.

Consider these classroom scenarios:

• In a high school physics class, students’ eyes are riveted on a large, wall-mounted interactive whiteboard as they watch a video clip of a motorcyclist racing off a ramp. The teacher stops the video with the cyclist in midair and then uses a wireless “pen” to draw a line on the whiteboard indicating the trajectory of the flight. With a protractor, she measures the angle between the ground and the drawn line, makes a few more markings on the whiteboard, and explains how to solve the presented problem.

• A 5th grade teacher displays a series of fine art landscape paintings on an interactive whiteboard and asks students which one best fits the setting of the novel they are discussing. Using one of the projected paintings as the background, students come up one by one and use digital “markers” to draw buildings and other features that they think should be added to the landscape to make it look more like the setting in the novel.

• In a special education class for autistic children, students use their fingers to move images around the interactive whiteboard, matching pictures of faces with the word happy to indicate their understanding of this emotion. Later they watch a video of themselves in a small playgroup. As the teacher leads a discussion, she pauses the video and writes words in “thought balloons” over the image on the whiteboard to show what the students might have been thinking and feeling as they were playing.

The interactive whiteboards—specifically, SMART Boards from SMART Technologies Inc.—are just one component of Minnetonka’s commitment to technology. But Dave Eisenmann, the district’s technology curriculum integration specialist, believes they’ve had a transformative effect. “I credit the SMART Board as being the catalyst for an increased appetite for technology in the classroom,” he says. The technology is easy to use, he notes, and teachers “quickly go from seeing it as a digitized overhead projector to seeing it as a tool for increased student engagement.”

The groundwork for this transformation was laid in 2002, when the communities served by the district passed a $30 million referendum to fund technology spending for the next 10 years. Around the same time, a district staff person saw a demonstration of the SMART Board at a national conference, purchased one, installed it in a school computer lab, and asked teachers if they’d be interested in using it. Eisenmann, a 6th grade science teacher at the time, was one of 11 teachers who participated in a pilot using the interactive whiteboard.

Based on the pilot’s success, the district added 45 more whiteboards the following year, setting off a groundswell of enthusiasm. By the start of the 2007–08 school year, Minnetonka will have installed 330 interactive whiteboards, covering every core subject area in its K–8 classrooms, as well as elementary art and music, and high school science and math. The coming year will see the technology’s expansion into world language, social studies, and language arts classrooms at the high schools.

According to Eisenmann, the technology’s ease of use accounts for much of its popularity with teachers. He compares it to using a touchpad on a laptop. “You don’t need any special tools; you can just use your finger [instead of a mouse],” he says, or one of the simple wireless writing and marking devices that work with the SMART Board. He notes that many districts have invested a lot of money in technology, but devices sit unused or are not used to their fullest potential because teachers are intimidated by the technology or unconvinced of its value. In contrast, teachers in Minnetonka have quickly moved from simply learning how to use the interactive whiteboard to talking in broader terms about best instructional strategies and most effective uses of technology in the classroom. “A number of our teachers say they would quit if they had to move to a classroom without a SMART Board,” Eisenmann says.

Eisenmann cites many examples of why teachers love their interactive whiteboards, including the following:

• They appreciate the convenience and time-saving element of being able to store their daily lessons in digitized form and to add resources as needed.
• They enjoy the ease of sharing lessons and learning from one another.

But perhaps the most important plus factor is the perceived impact on student learning.

In a 2005 article in School Administrator magazine, Superintendent Dennis L. Peterson says one teacher in Minnetonka reported that “using the interactive whiteboard has had a bigger impact on student learning than anything else she has experienced in her 15 years in the classroom.” And a physics teacher in Minnetonka who administered pre- and post-tests from the Force Motion Concept Evaluation, a national physics test, reported impressive quantitative data. Before the district implemented interactive whiteboard technology, students’ post-test scores were typically about 10 percentage points higher than their pre-test scores. With the interactive whiteboard technology in place, the difference has jumped to 45 to 48 percentage points. Eisenmann acknowledges that it is difficult to attribute the increase to a single cause, especially since Minnetonka has many initiatives in place to improve student achievement. But he’s convinced that the whiteboards are a major factor.

Minnetonka uses its interactive whiteboards with ceiling-mounted projectors that were already in place in every classroom in the district. The district chose to mount the whiteboards on classroom walls rather than using portable models, which “can get bumped and moved around,” Eisenmann says. The district installs the software that comes with the whiteboards on all classroom and lab computers, and teachers can also load it on their home computers.

The impact of the interactive whiteboard extends beyond the classroom in Minnetonka. Teachers upload complete lessons, including all audio and video components, to the Internet, where students who were absent or who simply need additional instruction can access them via the district Web site. The whiteboard technology, combined with the district’s Internet portal technology, creates an e-learning tool that effectively brings the classroom to the students’ home computer.

Eisenmann has one piece of advice for educators who are wondering if interactive whiteboards are a worthwhile investment: “See it in action. I can talk about what an interactive whiteboard is, but until you actually see how it can enliven a classroom, you won’t understand its power.”

For video clips of the scenarios described in this article and other examples of how teachers in Minnetonka are using interactive whiteboards, go to the Minnetonka site.

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