Francesca Panzica, Italy
I have been using an interactive whiteboard since November and I must say that my experience is highly positive. It is a wonderful tool to enhance teaching, it increases children's (and teacher's) motivation and permits children to have a multisensorial approach to learning and lots of fun too!

 
Thom Palmer, England
My classroom has an interactive whiteboard in it, and it is the largest teaching surface I have. I have been using it as a way to connect my teaching in the classroom to resources that students can find online, as well as a way to guide students through my lessons without having to decipher my handwriting. Though it feels like sometimes I'm teaching through a video game, I can see the students who are used to using these boards achieve, as they are able to connect with what is on the board.
My experience hasn't been that positive with the board, however, as it has been very tempermental with its ability to sense my touch. If I had a new computer base with which to operate the whiteboard, I do feel this would clear up a great deal of my frustration with using the board. Schools should know that these whiteboards need to be supported by a decent main computer, and the technology cost of installing them should also include the purchase of new computers, especially if the computers in use are over five years old.

Zainab Ibrahim, UK
Using the IWB, or smartboard, is the best thing that has happened to me in 15 years of teaching, especially getting the students to actually work on the board and share their answers with their classmates and using various CDs or online materials which the whole class can share on the board. I will tell all teachers GO FOR IT!!!

Sally Welsh, UK
I've been using a smartboard since September and I've found it really useful. With beginners I used google images a lot to show pictures of shops, jobs etc. At Christmas we watched Mr Bean on You Tube when I couldn't lay hands on the video. It's useful to use instead of an OHP if you want to give feedback on a worksheet ss are working on. The notebook software is good for matching vocabulary with pictures/ definitions.

James Abela, Malaysia
I used them in my teacher training and there were pluses and negatives... I found the pen itself was pretty tricky to use for writing and the software had quite a few quirks, but it did provide some real advantages because slides could be prepared in advance and appeared instantly in class, you could bring out pictures very quickly and instead of using the pen you could type, which for me was quicker (I'm a touch typist). You could also use it to play video-clips and movies, which was great.

Camino Arredondo, Spain
I am a naive IWB user and I am still discovering the huge ammount of posibililities it brings into the class. Students are not only more motivated, but also more willing to participate. There is no more boredoom at English class. Students seem eager to do their work. The IWB allows you to bring the whole world to class and deal with it at your whim. Don't hesitate, go for it!!

Ahmed Ibrahim, Bahrain
We got one in my school recently. The students ask me to go to that room instead of staying in the normal class, but I feel I am very much afraid to use it!

Francoise Pistre, France
I have had one in my class for three years, and use it actively, although not as "interactively" as I should. This is because it takes a really long time to get a lesson fully ready when one wants to use the IWB at its best. So I use the software that goes with my Promethean IWB (called Activstudio) and all my lessons are "home made" with this software, which is fabulous. I have had and still have to prepare all the pictures and sounds I need for the software, which takes quite a long time too.

Still I couldn't do without my IWB now. i miss it when something goes wrong and I cannot use it.
I have found that children and teenagers pay much more attention to the lesson because they all look in the same direction and do not have to look in their book, and because they are actors of their learning. One difficulty, from my point of view though: the IWB tends to become an end in itself if one is not careful and hides the main aim of our teaching: communication. For example, if children work on the IWB (move words to match them with pictures for example) they are more interested in the movement, the action than in the words sometimes, and those who are not so clever at learning English remember only the examples they have worked on.

Still, i think when we study a new dialogue, with the help of the illustrations I put on the IWB and the sound coming together with the pictures, I think they remember the intonation and the dialogue as a whole much better than when they had to look in their books and listen to the cassette recorder. I guess you understand by now that I am an IWB fan!!

Sofia Duborjal, Portugal
I started using IWBs this year and I'm extremely excited with the project. Not only has it brought students' motivation back, but it has also allowed them to manipulate electronic resources - most of them don't have a computer at home. The variety of exercises and games you can do with IWBs is endless. My school has also adopted e-books, which can be easily adapted to these new technologies. It's a real revolution - go for it!

Jo Molyneux, UK
I must say that I have worked with an 'interactive white board', but I would also suggest not to 'over use' it as it becomes a novelty. Research has shown that students will become passive learners as it has a tendency to rely exclusively on visual learning.

Claudia Oliveira, Brazil
I've been using the IWB for about two months now and I must say that I'm absolutely amazed at what we can do with it. It opens a world of new possibilities in class and my students do feel more motivated to learn and participate. I'm still learning how to take full advantage of this new tool and sometimes I feel there's a long way ahead but the path is really worthwhile. Go for it!

Nojavan, Iran
Every new technology can enhnace the teaching process, but I as an English teacher, teaching English for more than 18 years, believe in three major factors to teach effectively: a blackboard, a piece of chalk and an energetic teacher!

Juan Antonio, Spain
I've been using a data projector and a computer in class for a few years now and find that the IWB might be interesting but fail to see the real difference. Can anybody please talk about this and other possible uses that are really different from just having the computer and projector. Thanks.

Ivana Chmelarova, Czech Republic
With the smartboard/IWB I can use the materials (exercises, pictures, etc.) I created last year because it is easier to find them in the computer than in the paper files...The biggest advantage is that you can display the pictures on the board in such a size that everybody can see the details. What is more, there are a lot of functions you can use, to play with the pictures and texts, to combine them, re-process them, to move them, all that in front of the students, who love the fun element in the class. Last but not least, if you work with pictures in the textbook, you never know whether the students are with you or not... But if all eyes are directed to the board, you know that they follow what you say or do, and you have eye contact and instant response. These boards are the best thing since sliced bread!

Adriana Lima, Brazil
It's been less than a month since IWBs were installed in our school and we were really amazed at first. We need to cut up less paper and save preparation time, which is the time we take before class getting our things together. On the other hand, some students complain about the pen's noise on the board and the light irritates photosensitive eyes. The projector's light also gives me headaches a few times. It's difficult to look at the students with that light facing me.

Shaun Dowling, Brazil
Like almost everyone my experience has been positive. There are various stages of learning with this learning tool. The first being getting used to the hardware, i.e. how do I save things, turn the thing on, be careful with the pen (if you have one). Then there is the software. After that you have the links with the internet and this broadens your teaching startegies even more. You can blog better, use pictures, youtube (as Sally mentioned), wikispaces, the list is limitless and you can see them all on the board - like a big cinema but interacting with them. I agree with Jo that you can overuse the board and your classes can become teacher centered if you start enjoying the boards more than your students. The aim is to get the students to come up to the front and use them themselves.

Anthony O'Driscoll, Spain
I've done the training courses in using the IWB, BUT I have never used it with my classes because, basically, I would not feel happy just walking into a class, relying on the hardware and/or the software working as it should, and then finding something had gone wrong with any part of the equipment. So, it would, basically, mean I'd have to prepare two classes instead of one, for every IWB class. In addition, all the things you can do with the IWB are great IF you have the time necessary to prepare your flipcharts for a lesson - I remember one of my colleaugues on the training course spent a total of 15 hours preparing his 5-10 minute presentation...!

Adriana Schwartz, Brazil
Hey, there's really no comparison between the IWB and any other tool, like a projector, computer, tv, etc. I used to have all these things available, but now I have the IWB (wow, it sounds like an advert!). And really, I need no more. If I need any pictures, instead of looking at magazines, cutting, and things like that, I can just get them from the 'library', or find one on the net and use it in my flipchart. I can save my lessons! Well, so many advantages...