The Pros and Cons of Interactive Panels in the Classroom

Before making a major technology purchase, it’s essential to evaluate whether there are advantages or disadvantages of each, especially in the context of education. Utilizing interactive classroom panels can have many benefits that range from reducing the time spent on lesson preparation for teachers, to aiding students to gain confidence at their job and taking a more interest in their own learning. The potential drawbacks include the cost of the product and the amount of time needed to adopt every new technological innovation.

Six Benefits of Utilizing Interactive Panels to Enhance Classroom Learning

We believe that the most exciting aspect of interactive panels not the technology, but the inventive ways teachers are using the technology in their classrooms to aid their learning and teaching goals. Here are five advantages that teachers using our panels have observed in their classrooms:

More Interaction and Collaboration. Multi-touch capabilities interactive displays give more students are able to move around the display and collaborate. Teachers have shared with us that students are able to collaborate in groups, share their works with classmates and edit their writing together or design projects in real-time, and much more.

Improved Student Engagement. Teachers who utilize our panels say that the BYOD connectivity and the simple screen sharing applications help transform their classrooms and keep more students involved. Students can snap photos of their work using their tablets or phones and then upload the image to the screen to discuss in class, or get coding experience within the class, or use games-based learning to strengthen a particular idea. Teachers can use the panels as a teaching stations that can be used for both advanced learning for students who are not yet finished as well as for remediation. As a bonus, students are more enthusiastic and teachers can are able to save time and money because they don’t need to print numerous copy of the worksheets.

Improved Support for Different Learning Styles. Studies show that, even though students are able to learn in different ways but all students benefit from learning new information in various forms. For a long time, teachers have been concerned about whether or not they’re engaging multiple types of learning in each lesson. This isn’t easy to manage when you’re a single who is trying to provide the best service to more than 25 students. Our teachers have informed us that incorporating auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning methods is much more natural using their interactive displays. Teachers can integrate multiple media sources into one display, conduct surveys, and provide students with hands-on training to avoid excessive direct instruction.

Classrooms that are more inclusive. We frequently receive feedback from resource and administrator teachers who say the interactive panel has improved their special education classrooms. This is exciting for us. Teachers specifically, credit the feature to write as well as the adjustable, mobile stands that can be moved upwards and downwards to accommodate different heights or requirements for class structure and create a more classroom environment where students are able to speak their mind and more access to the panel for them to express themselves.

More flexible learning environments. Teachers have shared with us that they are satisfied with their interactive panels as they feel they are more flexible when it comes to teaching. Teachers can go deeper into a subject which students have an interest in directly from the screen, walk around the room , while managing the presentation via their smartphones, receive immediate feedback, take formative tests and then securely hand the screen over to their students to work in small groups or for student-led discussions.

More Efficiency for Teachers with a Short Time. Through our program, instructors can plan lessons on their own from any device (no need to carry the laptop of their school between the two locations to create lessons at home!) and then show the lesson on the class’s screen. Teachers can also create and improve their library of resources and lessons such as recorded presentations which they can access in the event of having to go out. There’s no need to create an entire set of worksheets for the class at lunchtime or having to make extra lesson plans for the substitute.

Potential drawbacks to implementing Interactive displays in the Classroom

While there are many advantages for making use of interactive display in the classroom which include increased collaboration as well as students’ involvement in their education However, there are some possible negatives, or at a minimum, concerns that schools will need to consider prior to purchasing a display.

Price. The most significant factor for many school districts is the total cost of technology. Interactive displays tend to be more costly initially than projectors or interactive whiteboards. However, interactive whiteboards may cost more when you look at the their total cost of the ownership. Cords and bulbs that need replacement as well as IT time and maintenance on a regular basis all contribute to the initial cost and there are significant differences in the competitive landscape between interactive whiteboards as well as interactive multi-touch displays. In general interactive whiteboards are outdated technology that is difficult to use in classrooms.

The need for technical support. After cost school district officials and IT professionals are most worried about how simple the solution will be to implement. Although it might seem that the most advanced technology will require a complex infrastructure that relies on the time of IT departments but the opposite is to be true.

The need for teacher training. Because Interactive Whiteboards and projectors have been available for more than a decade most teachers know how to utilize the technology which is why it might appear that these devices need fewer training sessions. Teachers’ training is always useful and that’s the reason we provide professional development services that assist schools to get maximum value from their investment. We will also work with your team that makes the decision to gain the support of IT and teachers, and decide on the best method to incorporate the latest technology, without disrupting the classroom prior to when the purchase is finalized. We know that the decision to buy the latest technology in the classroom isn’t a single-minded decision. it affects every aspect of your classroom every day.

Naturally, the true advantage of our product is that anyone can switch to our panel and start working with them straight away, and later increase their expertise and knowledge as they are able to. Because our panels are simple and run IQBoard software, there’s no requirement for teachers to build an entire library of lesson plans or other resources completely from scratch. Use what you’ve made previously and engage in your lessons using the educational suite of software as you’re able.