Rock and a hard place

Earlier today Shelly Terrell tweeted that she would prefer to see schools invest in mobile technologies than in Interactive White Boards (IWBs). Here's what she said: "Personally, I feel $$ better spent on mobile devices in classrooms vs IWBs." Actually, I can see her reasoning behind this, because although I have observed some excellent learning and teaching using IWBs in some schools, they are few and far between. Many teachers I have watched tend to use IWBs like an expensive display board. They won't let smaller hands anywhere near it. Perhaps the boards are positioned wrongly on walls so the kids can't reach them, as in Neil Selwyn's account Revisiting the promise of digital technology in schools. Perhaps the teacher simply wants to maintain control of the classroom, and feels that letting kids interact with the screen might unleash some kind of diabolical anarchy. Kids at the front of the class? Never! They should be sat down behind their desks, listening quietly, making notes! 'Elf and safety mate. Perhaps the teacher thinks the kids might damage the board, because after all, IWBs can be expensive to repair? Sticky fingers all over the board - not on my watch my friend. Or perhaps, most likely, the teacher is too hard pressed for time to dream up activities in which the children can actually leave their seats and interact with the resources on the screen.

It's a shame, really it is. When kids are allowed to interact with the IWBs in the ways they were intended to be used, there is a great deal of excitement, and a lot of engaged learning. When they are not allowed to touch the screen, it becomes just another teaching tool, and it's a 'so what?' from the class. I have seen both in the classroom, and I know which one I prefer to watch.

Mobile phones are different. Many children have them, and they are very adept at using them, but usually only to send texts or access their Facebook accounts. How many of them would actually consider using their phone to access learning? And waht's worse, many schools have imposed a ban on mobile phones in the classroom, because they consider there is greater potential to disrupt, bully, subvert or otherwise use the devices in ways too nefarious to mention.

Perhaps Shelly meant that schools should invest in iPads, or the more affordable mini-iPads? (er, I mean iPod Touches) Now there's an idea. I can think of a whole raft of ideas for learning activities using iPods as a tool. Then there are games consoles such as the Nintendo DS with its Pictochat features. We could go on - the world, as Del Boy once said, is our lobster.

Here's my take. It would be a shame to abandon the Interactive White Board in favour of mobile devices, just because many teachers can't seem to use them in an engaging way. The same could apply to handheld mobile devices, if teachers haven't got the time to think up good uses, or there is not enough cash available to purchase them because - well, the budget has all been spent on installing IWBs that are not gong to be used properly. Hmmm. I think we're caught between a rock and a hard place. Anyone know a way out?

Image source by Rob Schenk

Rock and a hard place by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.