As a teacher, your ultimate goal must be to keep your students engaged throughout the class. But, that’s not always the case.
Recently, the attention span of students has decreased a lot. As per the data, a student’s attention span is about 10 to 15 minutes, which is way too less than expected. The reason behind such a short attention span is the way you deliver your lessons in the class.
In this digital era, where students are exposed to mobile phones, tablets at their home, giving lessons on a blackboard may sound very boring to the students. Digital board for teaching is the solution!
Digital Board, also known as Interactive Flat Panels (IFPs) solves the problem of less attention span and makes the lessons more fun and engaging for the students.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the following things:
#1. What are digital boards & how do they work?
#2. Features and functionality of digital boards
#3. Benefits of digital board in education
#4. Impact of digital boards on teaching and learning
#5. How to choose a digital board for teaching?
What are Digital Boards?
Digital boards aka Interactive Flat Panels(IFPs) are a digital substitute to the traditional blackboards, whiteboards, and projectors. A digital board is a touch-sensitive interactive screen that shows text, photos, videos on its screen.
Images & videos help in instantly grabbing students' attention and help them visualise the concept better. Digital boards provide a space where students and teachers can collaborate and interact with digital resources in real-time.
Features and Functionalities of Digital Boards for Teaching
The main objective of digital boards is to enhance the learning experience. Here’re some key features and functionalities of digital boards:
- Interactive Whiteboard Functionality Digital board contains colourful boards where you can write, draw, annotate, and manipulate digital content with just a few clicks.
- Multimedia Integration Interactive flat panels seamlessly incorporate videos, images, animations, and other multimedia elements. This makes it easy for the students to watch the concept-related videos and images on the screen.
- Cloud-Based Collaboration Digital boards allow you to access the previous lessons and share the lessons with the students across devices and platforms.
- Assessment Tools In the digital boards, there are assessment tools such as interactive quizzes, polls, etc. These tools allow students to understand the concept more better.
- Screen Mirroring You can mirror your desktop or mobile screen directly onto the digital boards. This fosters collaborative learning and a seamless flow of information.
Benefits of Digital Board for Teaching
Following are some of the benefits of digital board:
- Increased Student Engagement
Digital boards gamify the concept and make the learning more fun and engaging. It makes it easier for students to visualise the concepts which leads to increased student engagement.
- Enhanced Collaboration and Communication
Digital boards facilitate collaboration between you and your students. Students can work together directly on the flat panel. This helps in fostering teamwork and communication skills.
- Improved Learning Outcomes
Human mind has the ability to visualise things and memorise the visual content for a longer term. Digital boards allow you to deliver content in a visually-rich manner (images & videos) which improves the learning experience of students.
- Increased Teacher Productivity
Digital boards don't only benefit students, it also helps you in streamlining lesson planning and delivery. You get access to a wide library of digital resources to prepare your lessons easily.
- Differentiated Instruction
Digital boards contain various tools and resources such as multi language features that allow you to deliver the lesson in your native language.
Impact of Digital Boards on Teaching and Learning
Digital Boards can highly impact the teaching and learning. Let's see how:
- More Dynamic and Engaging Lessons Digital boards enable a more dynamic and engaging learning experience. Digital boards create a fascinating and enjoyable atmosphere for students.
- Deeper Understanding of Complex Concepts Images, videos, and interactive activities may help students grasp compact concepts easily.
- Improved Critical Thinking Skills Interactive elements and collaborative exercises allow students to think critically, examine data, and solve issues creatively.
How to Choose a Digital Board for Teaching?
There are numerous digital boards available in the market. Which one is best for you depends on your needs. Here’re some key factors you must consider while choosing a digital board for teaching.
- Size & Resolution
Before you start looking for a digital board for teaching, it is necessary to consider the size of your classroom and the typical viewing distance for students. We suggest HD or 4K resolution digital boards because resolution impacts image clarity.
- Touch Technology
Digital boards must have a sharp touch capability with minimum response time. Multi-touch features of digital boards allow multiple users to interact simultaneously. A must consider factor is the level of interactivity required in the classroom.
The Senses interactive panel features a sharp infrared touch capability with a response time of 0.4 seconds. The panel supports multiple touchpoints for writing and operating the system.
- Software Compatibility
Make sure that digital board is compatible with the educational software products you intend to use. Some boards include pre-installed software, while others support open-source software.
- Connectivity Options
Select a board with the necessary ports and connectivity choices to connect to your current devices (laptops, tablets, etc.). Wireless connectivity can also be useful for screen mirroring and creating a flexible learning environment.
- Budget
Digital boards require a significant investment and hence it is necessary to determine your budget and compare features within your price range.
- Warranty and Support
Warranty and support is something which shouldn’t be ignored at all. Before you make your final decision, consider the warranty length and after-sales support offered by the manufacturer.
Senses Electronics provides excellent after sales support.
Additional Considerations
Conclusion
In today’s era, digital boards are a must for teaching. You must consider implementing it in your classrooms.
Digital Boards (Interactive Flat Panels) can transform the teaching and learning. There are numerous benefits of using digital boards in your classroom including increased engagement and collaboration, multimedia integration, visual learning, increased productivity, etc. Let’s create a more engaging and enriching learning experience for all students.