Interactive Whiteboard Use

I was very excited about all the possible interactive whiteboard uses that we learned about in class this past week. I think one of the reasons is that it coincided,coincidentally, with the start of my volunteer position in a classroom at the John A Coleman School that relies heavily on its Smartboard to maintain student attention, to magnify images and print for children with visual impairments, and to enable nonverbal students to participate in class.

 For example, when Joe mentioned that a student who cannot point can still manipulate the Smartboard using something other than his pointer finger, such as a tennis ball, I got very excited and starting thinking up ways that one of the kids, J., a nonverbal boy with limited mobility and no use of his fingers  could use a tennis ball attached to his handbraces (Ah the wonders of Velcro!) to manipulate the Smartboard. 

To answer the weekly questions, I think that Smartboards are both instructional technology and adaptive technology, because they can clearly be used as a mode of presenting information to typical learners, but they can also be used to enable students to participate in classroom activities who might not otherwise be able to participate,  and they can magnify texts for students with visual impairments, and hold the attention of children who have difficulty attending. The goals of using this technology are to make information exciting and accessible to students with a variety of learning needs and strengths. It can also be used as a reinforcer for students in order to motivate them to express particular behaviors or work

I think that it is highly accessible to a majority of students. For example, a Smartboard could be an "even playing field" for Sarah to participate in class activities if adaptions were made that enabled her to touch the board itself. She could click on items, use the board to read aloud things that she had typed on it, and if the board were used to ask the class questions like the Math Tunnel Questions demonstrated in class, she would be able to particpate in that activity and be further included. Smartboards would also be useful for Rebecca, as they can be used as a visual display of information. If she were having difficulty accessing auditory information, she could read that information on the screen, and if images were presented on the screen to illustrate the information, it would help her access it even more. Because Luke is a technology guru, the use of a Smartboard might help him overcome his reticence to take risks and participate in classroom discussions. 

I would like to learn more about how to use the Smartboard to teach children who have profound intellectual disabilities, and how to integrate audio information into presentations. I saw how Joe included videos and  audiofiles into this Smartboard presentations, and would love to learn how to do that!