Educators wishing to innovate with technology in their classrooms face tough decisions, particularly when dealing with tight school budgets. For example, both the iPad and the SMART Board open up interactive learning opportunities for students. But with SMART boards being so expensive (usually many thousands of dollars), sometimes it’s an “either/or” choice between purchasing an interactive whiteboard versus purchasing several iPads. Which do you choose?
IPEVO believes you shouldn’t have to choose one over the other. You can afford all the iPads your students need and still have budget left over for an interactive whiteboard by choosing the IS-01 Interactive Whiteboard System. This inexpensive system turns most any flat surface into a whiteboard you and your students can interact with — and at only $149, it’s thousands less than a SMART board.
There are benefits to an interactive whiteboard, including effective whole-class teaching and multimedia engagement for dynamic interactions. By involving students at the board, you’re increasing their agency, their risk-taking, and their reasoning skills. You can also spark classroom debates by presenting multiple student solutions to problems (as in math). It’s also really useful and stimulating to switch between using the whiteboard as a whole-class presentation tool and then as a learning tool for students to produce their own work for the benefit of themselves and the rest of the class.
Teachers are finding that iPads can also deliver fruitful interactions in a different way. Multiple students can participate on iPads at their desk, instead of having only one or two students at the front of the room. The teacher is also free to walk around the room and engage his or her students without being “tied” to the board. And with Apple TV and a projector, multiple student iPads can be projected onto the screen and switched between for the benefit of the class. There is also an entire universe of learning apps available on iPad that might be harder (or impossible) to project and use on an interactive whiteboard.
The key takeaway here that veteran teachers know full well — and something which ed tech researchers have concluded — is that multiple approaches to learning are best. Combining technologies can motivate and excite students, and variety staves off tedium and eliminates the frustration that comes when a student doesn’t “get it” when only one teaching method is used.
By saving thousands of dollars with IPEVO’s IS-01 in place of a SMART board, educators can purchase their needed iPads plus enjoy their own interactive whiteboard, an extremely effective (and fun) presentation tool and learning tool. Basically, you can have your cake and eat it, too!
Why sacrifice one for the other when you can have both? IPEVO’s mission is to deliver affordable teaching technology so no student is left out, and that’s what you can achieve with the IS-01 Interactive Whiteboard System. Check it out and imagine the possibilities.
