| Virtual Whiteboards: The Ultimate Anytime, Anywhere Tool | |
| Author: Donna Lenaghan, Miami Country Day School | November 4th, 2008 | |
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| Virtual WhiteBoards: The Ultimate Anytime, Anywhere, Anybody Tool By Dr. Donna Lenaghan Director of Technology for Miami Country Day
School.  Four initial confessions by the author, 1) I am not an early adopter but somehow I forgot that and it's one of the best things I've ever done, 2) I believe in 21st Century learning now; 3) I advocate that schools should reflect the real world; and 4) I know that necessity is the mother of invention. Four questions for the reader; have you ever 1) had your boss request the impossible? 2) thought that multimedia projection is one of the most important steps for effective technology integration? 3) recently seen a professional presentation (outside a school setting) where the presenter wrote on a board? or, 4) heard the saying "teachers, never turn your back on your students"? If my confession and questions intrigue you, read on to find out why and how we did what we did at Miami Country Day School. In June 2007, Miami Country Day School's (MCDS') visionary Head of School, Dr. John Davies, asked me to recommend a strategy to "warp speed" MCDS' integration of technology into the curriculum. MCDS was a 1-to-1 school and a few teachers were using tablets. Since I knew that the major reasons teachers do not integrate were: a) equipment not reliable and available, b) lack of training and support, c) lack of time to develop meaningful lessons with technology, and d) lack of incentives, I was confident that 'b' & 'd' were "no problem" because this was an initiative from the boss. Thus, MCDS and a few courageous and patient partners (Toshiba, SoftChoice, and CreativeTechnologies) started on the road of invention toward virtual whiteboards. A virtual whiteboard is a tablet PC with wired and wireless connectivity to a projector and a multimedia podium with a docking station. MCDS added a sound system with ceiling speakers to enhance the learning experience. Since I was not an early adopter, there had to be a really good rationale for me to produce "out of the box". I found several compelling reasons. Firstly, the virtual whiteboard solution costs several thousand dollars less, per room, than an electronic whiteboard solution. Secondly, I have often cringed in faculty training sessions and classroom observations when teachers spoke to the board not their students, or appeared to be cemented to one spot in the room (sometimes the back of the room due to the junction box location). In some cases I have seen teachers needing to wear sunglasses or a ball cap to protect their eyes from projector bulb blast. The motivation to find an alternative to electronic whiteboards was fueled by a passion to consistently provide reliable, realistic, and effective teaching and learning environments and our philosophy of education. The electronic boards constantly needed resets, pen replacements, and supplies. Twenty percent of our help desk calls were electronic boards. The virtual white board was more consistent with MCDS' student centered learning environment, wherein teaching and learning is a face to face, dynamic, human interactive processes. Virtual whiteboards enable teachers to explore and capture teachable moments with two way communications and shared power. 21st Century learning mandates the TC6; technology literacies, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, citizenship, content master and career preparation. The virtual whiteboard concept is very consistent with TC6. Tablet/laptop projection is used in most workplace settings (more than electronic boards). It is a natural medium for collaboration since students and teachers can pass, or gather around, the tablet. A tablet provides immediate group editing and visual reporting capacity during creative and critical thinking sessions. An unexpected benefit of whiteboards is the manner in which they have transformed the outcomes and process of our administrative and community meetings by means of collaborative functionality. In essence, virtual whiteboards sessions have replaced flip charting sessions.  When the power of wireless projection from anywhere in the room is combined with the inking function in tablets and Microsoft Office, handwritten notes formerly placed on a board can now be created anywhere in a room and be immediately captured, saved, re-used, and distributed to those absent. Free specialized programs such as Equation Writer, Flash Cards, Snipping Tool, Ink Desktop, Physics Illustrator, Writing Recognition, and Web Search are valuable assets for teaching and learning. In addition, one of the software interface programs that controls many electronic boards works with the tablet as well as its specialized tool bars and voting devices. Furthermore, the newest generation of tablets is touch enabled. When these features are combined with a multimedia podium and a docking station, a teacher can effortlessly move from a wireless brainstorming session into a docked streaming video presentation. The entire learning experience is dynamically transformed. A final, most compelling, reason to use a virtual whiteboard is the dynamic shift of power that occurs when the student's tool of choice (tablet) not teacher's (board) becomes a pivotal variable in the learning process. Describing this dynamic, one teacher remarked, "The kids love it so much because they can write on it. It makes it more fun to work that they don't even realize they are learning" and "I find that it helps the students focus more and the kids really gravitate to it as if it's second nature to them." With these motivators in mind, MCDS, after an initial pilot in a few classrooms, launched the three year mission to make every classroom and conference room a multimedia learning space. In the first year, ceiling projectors were placed in each room. Over two years as a part of our refresh cycle, all teachers were issued tablets instead of desktops. After the three year period, as the leases on the electronic boards expire, a multimedia sound system and teaching podium (provides wired and wireless capabilities) will be installed in all classrooms. Most teachers are thrilled. However, a few fondly remember the "good old days" of electronic boards and strongly regret the change. For every regretter, we have dozens of teachers who are creating learning magic with this new technology. "I love being interactive with my students. It happens so often it seems like they use it more than I do. It also allows me to learn new ways of teaching to reach my kids." "We love how much the kids can participate with the tablets. Sometimes the kids get bored with traditional learning methods and this helps to get them more involved." With virtual whiteboards, MCDS is very 21st Century! Dr. Donna Lenaghan is a creator of learning environments with technology who advocates the effective, efficient and ethical use of technology in teaching and learning. She is an international speaker, consultant on technology infrastructure and educational integration, and Director of Technology for Miami Country Day School. Miami Country Day School is a private, non-denominational, co-ed JK-12 college preparatory school near Miami Shores, just north of the city of Miami, Florida. It was recognized by Toshiba for the Tablet Integration with Projection (TIP) Innovation and Intel for its technology integration into learning. Each classroom at MCDS is equipped with desktops, laptops, and tablets for students to use. Technology classes are required for students from kindergarten through seventh grade. |
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