Are interactive whiteboards a thing of the past?

Not so long ago interactive whiteboard were the next big thing. Every classroom was throwing out their old wall mounted whiteboard and replacing it with a shiny new interactive whiteboard. Interactive whiteboards made learning more fun! They gave students the opportunity to absorb information in multiple formats which helped to increase retention and synthesis of information. They also helped to increase participation, allowing students to participate in the learning and collaborative seasons. All in all interactive whiteboard are just better than standard whiteboard in a teaching environment. But are they now dying out? Are there some new products on the block that are about to knock the interactive whiteboard off the top spot. Let’s take a look at some of the new products that are trying to take on the almighty interactive whiteboard.

The Electronic copy board

Thinner, lighter and loaded with advanced features including faster scanning time, quieter operation, lower energy consumption and magnet-attachable surface. Simple push-button operation makes it easy to save notes exactly as they have been written; notes can be saved in color using a USB memory stick or directly to your PC or Mac for editing, emailing or inserting into other documents. Notes can also be printed out in either black and white or colour. Electronic copy boards are basically a massively upgraded whiteboard. It allows anything written on the board to be saved and sent to any device. So in the modern day where many classrooms now use iPads instead of pen and paper, this could be a very useful system. It allows the teacher to send the day’s classes to each student’s iPad for revision and study purposes.

Interactive screens

Designed for education, interactive touchscreens have found their home in the classroom. They have none of the disadvantages of projectors: no obscuring shadows and no issues with bright light. Interactive touchscreens allow teachers to focus on what really matters: communicating ideas to their students. Similar to smart phones, interactive touch screens can access app stores where many different kinds of teaching apps are available to help learning become more fun and interactive.

Interactive tables

Interactivity, ease and design are three words that define an interactive table, a multi-touch equipment that combines micro technology to the concept of design and usability. Interactive tables differ from interactive whiteboards as they promote even more interaction and collaboration from the students. Students can work together or individually on the interactive table using educational activities, applications and tools. The multi-touch interactive table allows multiple learners to simultaneously use individual tools, web browsers and resources as their personal efforts move the group toward accomplishing a common goal.

With so much new technology coming out every day it seems the interactive whiteboard may be coming to the end of its life. If you are a teacher please let us know your thoughts about this topic in the comments.