All of us can remember sitting in class, watching the back of our teacher’s head as they laboriously fill up a board with information you can barely read through sleep-deprived eyes.
The attention span of school students is only getting shorter, with iPads and other technology making some traditional teaching methods seem uninteresting and outdated.
Enter interactive whiteboards.
Quickly being adopted in schools and universities around the country, the large interactive displays can be connected to a computer or used with inbuilt software, opening up endless teaching possibilities.
Here are 5 ways interactive whiteboards transform the classroom:
Increase student engagement
When students feel part of the learning process, they are more attentive, absorb more information and ultimately get more out of classes. Any teacher knows they are onto a winner when students are having fun and don’t even realise they’re learning. Interactive whiteboards are a more exciting way to present lessons, and allow for the seamless integration of pictures, videos, learning games – just about anything!
Effective lesson planning
With the capacity to connect to cloud technology like Google Drive and Dropbox, or simply display files stored on a computer, interactive whiteboards streamline the teaching process. Lesson content can all be stored in one place and displayed easily and effectively in front of a class. This gives teachers total control when planning lessons, and reduces learning barriers presented by traditional teaching materials.
Cater to different learning styles
As research increasingly highlights the different ways that people retain information, teachers are looking for more methods to accommodate different learning styles in the classroom. With interactive whiteboards, auditory learners benefit from video explanations that once would be confined to a textbook, while visual leaners can see maps, graphs, illustrations and photos in more detail. Students can even interact with the content through touching, writing and drawing on the board, ensuring that everyone in the class is engaged in their own unique way.
Foster connections in the classroom
Interactive whiteboards in the classroom turn the one-way presentation of information into a more dynamic learning experience. Participation no longer has to mean a student putting up their hand in fear of saying the wrong thing. From joining in learning games to connecting to the whiteboard from their own computers, the collaborative nature of the technology breaks down barriers among students and teachers.
Facilitate flexible teaching
With the capacity to connect to the internet and virtually any other device (from cameras to microscopes), interactive whiteboards allow teachers to adapt to changes in lessons, quickly display complex responses to student questions, create and print worksheets on-the-go and endless other possibilities. What once would’ve taken up valuable teaching time can now be effortlessly integrated into lessons.
As the advantages of this technology become clearer, schools and universities are bringing their learning environments into the 21st century and revolutionising the teaching process with interactive whiteboards. Our range of BenQ interactive flat panel boards have all the features needed to increase student engagement, build meaningful connections in the classroom and streamline the teaching process.
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