Interactive whiteboards are tools that are critical to a student's learning of a concept. Not only are they "cool" and fun to use, but they add a level of interactive capability that a teacher could not use without the board. It gets kids up and thinking as well as interacting and actually doing something. It offers many great programs and software that are included with the interactive whiteboard. For me, learning how to use the technology was not that complicated, I just get caught up with some of the little details (like clicking the arrow again after creating a text box). I really enjoyed learning how to use the Smartboard and am so glad I did learn.
They are great tools to use in the classroom, especially with the toolkit that comes along with the software. There are so many great interactive and flash files on it! Unfortunately, the program is hard to use if the computers are slow or if the software doesn't get updated. Also, when putting it in a classroom, it might be difficult depending on the age level. Kindergarteners must be able to reach it so it cannot be too high, and also, it gets tricky when trying to keep it stabilized. If it is a portable interactive whiteboard, you might have to orient it every time it gets bumped.
Last semester I taught a lesson on measuring to the nearest inch. I could have used a setting in the software that would have allowed me to put a ruler on the whiteboard, and let the kids come up and actually measure an object on the screen with that ruler. Also, I did a lesson on symbols on flags. I can let the students in a class create a flag that represents our entire class on the whiteboard.
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