Edweek published an article on the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom, and the big takeaway was that the skill of the teacher matters more than the quality of technology used. Um... yeah. Big surprise guys.
It always amazes me that people expect technology to play a role in the classroom that it doesn't in other areas of life. Think about it, when you got email, did the program making you a better communicator? Probably not. Did you naturally understand how to manage it, or did it take work to? You get out of a given technology what you learn to put into it.
But in education, we seem to think that investments in hardware and software will automatically lead to better learning. We've got to find ways to not only create great technologies, but also to teach professionals how to integrate those great technologies into their practice. Further, we've got to start making the effective, innovative use of technology a standard for excellent teaching.
As Patrick Ledesma of Fairfax County notes in the article, “an IWB is just a tool, and if it’s not used correctly, you can’t blame the tool, you have to blame the user. [...] If you’re a teacher who used to lecture at a chalkboard, you’ll do the same with the IWB.”
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