Blackboards and whiteboards are integral parts of conventional classrooms. In a conventional learning environment, teachers or instructors use a blackboard or whiteboard to share information, instructions, and ideas with a large number of students at once. In a digital learning environment, instructors and educators use online whiteboards or digital whiteboards just like conventional blackboards and whiteboards.
The interactive whiteboard software is designed as two-dimensional display tools with touchscreen interfaces. The teacher can write information and create designs on the online whiteboard using a stylus and similar tools. Also, they can make the online whiteboard visible and accessible to students by enabling the screen sharing option.
According to Technopedia.com,
“A digital whiteboard is a two-dimensional display space utilizing the digital design. In contrast to traditional whiteboards, where physical media like markers are used to construct content, digital whiteboards typically involve a stylus or other tool for users to create digital writing, drawings, or designs. Digital whiteboards are also known as electronic whiteboards.”
Many educational institutions leverage the benefits of online whiteboard to switch from conventional learning to online learning. They also have the option to choose from a wide range of digital whiteboards and online whiteboards. As one of the hottest trends in online learning, online whiteboards help educators to enhance the learning experience of students in the virtual learning environment in a number of ways.
8 Benefits of Online Whiteboard to Boost Online Learning Experience
The new-age online whiteboards enable teachers to write information and create designs using a stylus. The teachers can use the stylus to change and update the content visually from time to time. Also, they can use the whiteboard’s touchscreen interface to share content and information with students in a variety of formats – images, audio, video, and infographics. The multi-format content and course materials make it easier for students to understand concepts and retain information through their preferred learning style.
Foster Real-Time Collaboration and Engagement
Often parents cite the lack of face-to-face interaction as one of the major disadvantages of online learning. The online whiteboards help educators to address this shortcoming of digital education. In addition to sharing the interactive whiteboard with students, the teachers can enable students to write, edit, and draw directly on the whiteboard using styluses. The sharing and access options help teachers to facilitate real-time interaction and collaboration in a virtual classroom, along with making online learning more interactive.
Most students these days access eLearning solutions on their smartphones and tablets. Hence, they find it challenging to access the resources shared by teachers during online classes. As mentioned earlier, online whiteboards allow educators to combine learning materials in multiple formats. Also, an educator can leverage multimedia content and high-quality content available on the internet. He can collect information from credible online sources to reduce the time and effort required to create online lessons. The students can access the whiteboard to collect online resources without any hassle or delay.
In a traditional classroom environment, a whiteboard helps teachers to share the information and ideas with all students uniformly. The whiteboards ensure that the same information is conveyed to each student in the same way. The online whiteboards help educators to share information and ideas uniformly with students in the virtual learning environment. Many teachers use interactive whiteboards to keep online lessons and lectures organized and structured. The students also have the option to copy, share, or print the information exactly after the whiteboard session.
Update and Annotate Documents
While using online whiteboards, teachers can use existing documents or create new documents. The smarter teachers boost the learning experience of students by creating and annotating documents dynamically by leveraging the editing options provided by the digital whiteboards. The sophisticated digital whiteboard software allows teachers to add comments, notes, explanations, and remarks to digital documents in many forms – hyperlinks, presentations, video links, and presentations. A teacher can leverage the options to convey information clearly and concisely while enabling students to access additional information and content.
Option to Save and Reuse the Whiteboards
Many online learning solutions allow educators to use digital whiteboard while teaching through video conferencing. The eLearning solutions are designed with features to record and store multiple versions of the whiteboard throughout the video conference. Hence, the teachers can include multiple versions of the whiteboards in the cloud-hosted digital library integrated into the digital learning software. They can retrieve and use the recorded files in the future to reuse the same whiteboard for multiple classes or sessions.
Implement Blended Learning
Many educational institutions these days adopt blending learning models to bridge the gap between conventional and virtual classrooms. They can easily implement blended learning by integrating the elements or features common in traditional and virtual learning environments. Online whiteboards are much more sophisticated and advanced than offline whiteboards. But an educator can use digital whiteboards just like conventional blackboards and whiteboards. Hence, online whiteboards help both teachers and students to switch between conventional and virtual classrooms.
Curtail Online Learning Time and Cost
According to a study conducted by John Kenny and Andrew Fluck of the University of Tasmania,
“It took instructors an average of 10 hours to plan an hour-long online lecture, compared to eight hours for an in-person lecture.”
There are multiple benefits of online whiteboard, educational institutions have been using it for several purposes. The online whiteboards help educators to reduce the time and effort required to plan online lectures. The teachers can use interactive whiteboards to bridge the gap between conventional and online learning. In addition to facilitating real-time interaction and collaboration, they can use combine a variety of educational resources. Also, an educational institution can easily reduce online learning costs by opting for eLearning solutions featuring built-in digital whiteboards.
The learning management system (LMS) and virtual classroom software developed by Mintbook come with built-in online whiteboards. The educator, instructor, or trainer can access and use the interactive whiteboard software as a native feature of the eLearning solutions. They can share information and interact with students simply by enabling a screen sharing option. Also, they have the option to record and save the edited version of the whiteboard while using the solution during video conferencing.
