Interactive White Boards

Interactive White Board

An Interactive Whiteboard (IWB), is a large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. A projector projects the computer's desktop onto the board's surface where users control the computer using a pen, finger, stylus, or other device on the IWB. The board is typically mounted to a wall or floor stand.

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Classroom Benefits of Interactive Whiteboards

• Because interactive whiteboards are so like conventional whiteboards, they can help even technophobic teachers to use this medium with ease for presentations from the front of the room. 
• They help in broadening the use of e-learning because they rapidly demonstrate the potential of alternative modes of delivery.
• They make it easy for teachers to enhance presentation content by easily integrating a wide range of material into a lesson, such as a picture from the internet, a graph from a spreadsheet or text from a Word file, in addition to student and teacher annotations on these objects.
• They allow teachers to create easily and rapidly customised learning objects from a range of existing content and to adapt it to the needs of the  class in real time.
• They allow learners to absorb information more easily.
• They allow learners to participate in group discussions by freeing them from note-taking.
• They allow learners to work collaboratively around a shared task or work area.
• When fully integrated into a VLE (virtual learning environment) and learning object repository there is potential for widespread sharing of resources.
• When used for interactive testing of understanding for the entire class, they can rapidly provide learner feedback.



Basic Types of IWBs

1. Resistive - When contact is made to the surface of the touchscreen, the two sheets are pressed together, registering the precise location of the touch. This technology allows one to use a finger, a stylus, or any other pointing device on the surface of the board.
2. Electromagnetic - These whiteboards are similar to traditional whiteboards in that they have a hard surface and can be drawn on with normal pens.
3. Infrared - These whiteboards have a hard writing surface with infrared laser scanners mounted in the top corners of the board that detect pen movement. To work interactively they require special felt pens, each of which has a uniquely encoded reflective collar that the lasers use to register its colour and position.​
4. Ultrasonic - ​​​Ultrasonic Whiteboards consist of a bar that is secured to an existing non-digital whiteboard or an older interactive whiteboard system. The portable bar projects the image from the computer onto the whiteboard screen, at which point the user can interact with the environment using an electronic pen.