[Yr7-10it] Tools for Interactivity (Was: Missed the boat?)

[Dr Paul Chandler]

Folks,

In contributing my 2c worth, I'll probably come away with a case of
foot-in-mouth, but there's a couple of points which I think are worth
picking up on.  I'm writing from the perspective of a classroom teacher
(which I was until the end of last year), not from my present position of
being a researcher.

. to me, IWBs are glorified data projectors.  To accompany a
data-projection, the operator (teacher or student) can do their
song-and-dance act 'at' the point of projection rather than at the
keyboard
. in an effort to be 'converted' to the benefit of this, I have attend
several conference presentations and workshops by teachers on IWBs.  I
have been disappointed.
. nevertheless, there are a few functions of some of the IWB software (not
the board itself) which do allow for greater interactivity which is
otherwise hard to replicate; a _few_ that I remember being impressed with,
but can't remember the detail now.
. there is _serious_ research into IWBs in the classroom (not by any team
that I am involved with), and I know that there are documented cases where
the teacher's interactive teaching has improved because of the technology

In all, I think its a mixed bag of outcomes; just unfortunate that it's an
expensive mixed bag.

What I have a passion for, though, is being able to genuinely increase the
interactivity in a classroom which might otherwise consist of students
operating 'in their own space with their own PC/laptop'.  What I think is
worth discussing is the software (and maybe hardware) and the
teacher-tactics which can help vitalise teaching/learning from this
perspective.  If tablet PCs or IWBs are on the list, so be it.  For
myself, I would nominate:
- vnc or other 'throw the student's screen onto the projector from where
they are' technologies
- moodle workshop
- coword and copowerpoint (http://cooffice.ntu.edu.sg/coword/)
- blogging (and related technologies)
- creation of wikis

Other suggested inclusions?  Or comments?


-- 
Dr Paul Chandler
Research Fellow
'Multimedia grammatical design and authoring pedagogy' (Kahootz) project,
School of Education, University of New England

located at Australian Children's Television Foundation
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e-mail: paul.chandler at une.edu.au
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