How To Choose an Online Whiteboard

Writing on a whiteboard or grease board is an easy, direct way to share information or concepts with others. In the 2000 elections, the late Tim Russert made the simple whiteboard famous as he used one through the wee hours of Election Night to describe the shifting electoral map for viewers. Schools that sign up to use the online whiteboard found in the IQity's Learning Management System take this concept forward into the information age, and find that their teachers and students can connect online to share concepts and ideas together in real time. Not all online whiteboards are suitable for educational use, so educators must choose carefully.

Connecting Users

The online whiteboard is obviously a valuable tool for teachers of e-learning classes, allowing them the same functionality as a classroom whiteboard. But an even more valuable function of the online whiteboard is that multiple users can add their thoughts and perspectives to the board in real time. Online whiteboards therefore facilitate class participation. They allow students to ask and answer questions and they allow teachers to gauge each student's level of involvement. The IQity Learning Management Suite's online whiteboard is called LiveBoard because it also has audio and video capabilities as well as chat functions that facilitate teaching and learning.

Ease of Use

There are several programs available that feature online whiteboards. For example, Scriblink.com and skrbl.com provide free online whiteboard programs for individual and business use. These programs can help fill a temporary communications need, but they are not ideal for classroom use. One problem is that each time the group uses the online whiteboard, a lengthy log-in process is required. The teacher must log on the site, establish an online whiteboard, and then invite each individual student by emailing the web link to that specific whiteboard. Valuable class time would be consumed just by getting all students on the same electronic page.

Multiple Users

Once the students have been invited to the online whiteboard site, the free version online whiteboard available at skrbl.com allows only the teacher to write on it. Students can see it, but they can't participate. For $10 a month, an upgraded version is available that allows as many as five people to write on the online whiteboard. For a class of more than four students, that would be insufficient.

For classroom purposes, an online whiteboard system that accommodates multiple users like the IQity Learning Management Suite is clearly preferable. The Instant Messaging feature of the IQity Learning Management Suite permits teachers and all students to communicate in real time via the whiteboard to talk about the subject matter of the class. Students simply go to the classroom to participate.

The IQity Learning Management Suite's LiveBoard allows teachers to webcast live. Students can see the teacher and online whiteboard at the same time. This enables the teacher to present information both verbally and on the whiteboard, and pose questions that the class can answer or discuss in writing via the online whiteboard. In addition, teachers can use LiveBoard as an assessment tool to both quiz and poll students.

Group Projects

Students can also use the IQity online whiteboard for group projects with other IQity users, making shared projects easier to facilitate and harnessing the power and ideas of the group. Content on the whiteboard can be saved so the group has a record of its work. Because IQity Liveboard is on the Internet, it increases the reach of any group beyond the physical walls of any traditional classroom to opens up group discussion to other schools and e-learners anywhere.

Costs

IQity is free to schools and school districts. To see how your school can use IQity's e-Learning Management Suite, click here to request an online demonstration of IQity guided by one of our elearning experts.