Interactive Whiteboard or not?

A recent twitter conversation got me thinking. The Interactive White Board (IWB) is now an almost required staple of the "modern" classroom, but do we really need them?

I must give full disclosure here-for the longest time, I was an IWB devotee. I championed them to anyone who would listen. I would talk of how kids got more multisensory learning and more interaction with the material.

Then, I saw them in action fully for the first time. I saw the glitchy, expensive items being used more as a glorified chalk board rather than a true interactive tool. Some teachers even used them as a "Special activity."

Yikes.

When it was being used as an interactive tool, it facilitated my least favorite, but most widely used model of learning-the "Sage on the Stage" variety. All direct instruction, students watching and using the board one at a time. When they were talking strategy and asking each other questions, the students were hushed and told to "watch!"

Hrm. Is that the purpose of interaction? Is that the full purpose of an IWB? To encourage students to go up to the board one at a time and "interact" with a piece of hardware?

Where is the use for open ended problems? Where is the use for student driven learning?

Most times, when students ask to use the IWB, they "play" with the fun functions of the pens. Nothing else. No problem solving, no real learning, just pure, unadulterated fun.

For me, I prefer the "Coach in the Corner" model of teaching. I give them the tools and then allow them to take charge of their own learning-I'm there to help, but I don't have all of the answers. They need to find those out for themselves and rely on each other to help them through. A classmate is a resource-but I'm there to help and guide.

The IWB doesn't support that in the way I like to see it happen.

It's awesome to project the computer onto the board. It is awesome to be able to touch and drag and do all of these other things, but when you really think about it, does it make students more dependent on teacher for all of their knowledge rather than make them more independent?

I assert that it does make students more dependent. We have a generation of students that are not independent learners. They don't know how to collaborate, explore and find creative solutions to problems. How do IWBs help these students to gain those essential skills that they are missing?

That's the 7,000.00 question.