The past decade has seen an increase in the number of schools adopting IWB
technology for their classrooms. IWBs have been credited with increased student
engagement and content retention almost everywhere they have been implemented
around the globe. Still, schools have continued to decry the high cost of
obtaining IWBs, with their ICT practitioners suggesting cheaper alternatives.
Lack of appropriate guidance has meant that schools continue to miss out on
opportunities to bring about change in the educational sector.
Contrary to what school-based ICT experts will suggest, quality IWBs save
money in the long run. Education authorities and governments around the world
have invested billions in terms of infrastructure and policy support to help
revolutionize the educational sector. However, schools and other learning
institutions that have implemented a single IWB for one classroom have helped
accelerate this revolution, which is a big difference compared with the
billions of dollars being spent to revolutionize the classroom.
Digital schools have the advantage of a well-developed resource pool
consisting of parents and surrounding communities that significantly lower the
initial cost of acquisition of IWBs. This, coupled with increased efficiency
and access to the networked world on the internet, make IWB technology more
affordable and efficient to maintain compared with other options.
The key to the technological revolution is to look at the whole scene from
a bird’s eye view. When you look at the scene in terms individual, IWB
installations in classrooms, the amount can be staggering even for a single
school with several classrooms. However, this is a small amount to pay when
considering the overall technological impact on efforts by schools and
education authorities to bring about fundamental classroom evolution.
Another important facet of the discussion is the role of IWB manufacturers
and application developers. IWB manufacturers and developers are tasked with
the responsibility of coming up with cost-effective solutions that will make
the IWB more affordable and technologically advanced. An acceptable return on
investment for IWBs is dependent upon quality equipment and technology that
enables learners to gain knowledge in ways that older technology would not have
made possible.
Older IWBs will likely be phased out by schools to give way to newer ones
while embracing complementary technology such as the Cloud and BYOD policies.
Investments in school-owned servers and equipment that offer free application
upgrades will create a long-lasting growth spurt in educational technology that
has been predicted to last for more than a decade.
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