Teaching online and whiteboards
Quite often shifting from face to face to online also requires finding ways to recreate certain activities or teaching practices that can seem difficult away from the classical classroom setting. Using whiteboards is one of those things. Sometimes you really need a whiteboard to explain something or share some ideas and despite the many ways that can be done using other online tools the magical appeal of seeing something on a whiteboard is hard to replace. This cheat sheet is for those who still want to use a whiteboard in their online delivery.
Those you already have
For simple solution using whiteboards you can utilize tools that are already available to you for example Zoom has a whiteboard you can share with your students, you can write, they can write, it can be saved. If you have your class working in separate groups on Zoom each group will have their own whiteboard they can use and save. Yes, I agree that it is not the most sophisticated whiteboard in the world but for simple things is quite useful.
Microsoft Office365 also has a whiteboard you can create and share. You will find it in your Office365 tools, you can create a white board and share it with a link with your class. You can also use your mobile device to write and share your Microsoft Office365 whiteboard (especially if you want to use as stylus to write or draw) so check it out.
Need more sophisticated ones?
But you are looking for more than just being able to draw and write on a whiteboard. You are looking for something that allows more collaborative work and perhaps a few extra things to make it more engaging.
Well, if there is something that has been growing in popularity in the last few years are tools for working collaboratively online so these are just a few you can explore:
Whiteboard Fox and Witeboard are very similar to both the Zoom or Office365 board but as are free and sharable with a simple link they make a very good alternative if you are either not using Zoom or don’t want to use Office365.
Check these pages to know more:
https://witeboard.com/f73846f0-82c9-11eb-b921-b97fd5ede763
Then you have the ones that allow more collaboration, and a suite of other tools not just draw and write however most of them do require a subscription. Since the majority offer some kind of free version or test drive, test and see what suits before deciding to spend money.
Twiddla – This collaborative whiteboard has been around for a while and it offers quite a large range of options you can use for your collaborative activities from the usual whiteboard to sharing webpages, documents, images, pad and even an audio channel for collaboration.
Limnu – Is a nice collaborative space and aside from the usual things it offers a video chat so you can collaborate “in person” even when you are in very different places.
Miro – Again, a really good collaborative tool not just whiteboard it has a very extensive set of templates you can use to organize your activities. Although it is easy to use it does take a little bit of time to get your head around the navigation but once mastered it is a really great tool.
Stormboard – This is more a tool for people that need not just collaboration but a place to meet, organize and streamline projects. It also integrates with a range of other applications from Trello to Teams.
Explain Everything – Another one that has been around for a while and very popular for teachers. It clever as it starts up with a little “how to” tour to show you what you can do with it. It has been one of my favorites for a while.
As I said there has been a big demand for these kinds of tools, especially in the last year with so many people working and learning remotely, therefore this list is just a very small sample of what you can find and I am certain that many more will appear in the near future so keep your antennae’s up.
Happy Teaching!
Some interesting articles about interactive and collaborative whiteboards
Using interactive whiteboards to orchestrate classroom dialogue
How Online Whiteboard Promotes Students’ Collaborative Skills in Laboratory Learning