"Come on baby, light my fire"

One form of technology that I have found to be quite useful inside the classroom is a device called a Promethean Board. These are interactive whiteboards that have several capabilities which allow educators to present materials in new and interesting ways. The use of a Promethean board provides educators with several resources, place students in a more active role inside the classroom, and provide students with a great deal of interaction that promotes skill development.

When using a Promethean board learning possibilities of students become endless. Educators are able to use supplementary software called “Active Inspire” to create presentations. These presentations can be organized with use of slides and these slides make up presentations called flip charts. There are countless flip charts/lessons already available online. There are also several resource packs, supplementary activities, and several web links available for educators. However, I have found that the best way to effectively use this device is to experiment and find what best suites learners.

My research has provided several sites that do just that. Two sites that I have found to be useful include Promethean Planet and Promethean World. Both sites provide a great deal of information and allow for educators to exchange ideas. I prefer Promethean plant and use it often when preparing lessons. This site allows users to register free of charge and provides assistance to all aspects of boards. I used this site to download “ActiveInspire” on my personal computer which allowed for more freedom when working on lessons.
The advantages of using this device and its software are endless. Students really enjoy when materials are presented on these boards and are always excited to use the board themselves. The only disadvantage I have noticed deals with the board’s software. Presentations that have been created using older versions of software often encounter problems when powered by newer software. These problems are easily solved when these materials are converted into the most recent version of available software.

This tool is very useful inside the classroom due to the fact that there are always new ways to use boards when presenting materials to students. The usefulness of the board still depends on the amount of time spent experimenting and researching for new uses. Once educators have mastered new uses of the board they are able to present materials in an innovative way and in some cases able to teach these skills to students.