14 Oct 2015

Education ministry’s pilot project on the use of interactive  whiteboards well known as smart-boards has received a positive feedback from  schools. 

The schools,  which the project was piloted from in Kweneng District, all preferred the whiteboard as opposed to the traditional chalkboard.

Deputy school head of Kwena Sereto Junior Secondary school, Ms Happy Ledimo, said they got a positive feedback from teachers , particularly for subjects such as Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. 

Teachers reportedly observed that the smart-boards allowed them to display quality diagrams for class presentations and at the same time aided students to be attentive during lessons.  

They also noted that  participation during class discussions improved immensely as most students were interested on showing off their ability to use them.

Another observation was that some students were drawn on to participate so as to develop the skill to use interactive whiteboards and generally this resulted in students focusing during lessons as this interactive whiteboards lead to most lessons to be learner centered. 

A senior teacher of science, Ms Marvis Mere at Kwena Sereto said students had developed interest in lessons since the introduction of smart-boards. 

She said smart-boards allowed them to source information from the internet through the WI-FI connection, a development that came along with this pilot project.  

This, Ms Mere said, provided detailed syllabus material to students, which could have not been covered well in textbooks.

Earlier Ms Ledimo said they had realised that interactive whiteboards required teachers to have a well organised lesson plan. In the long run, the tool will help teachers to be  prepared for the lessons well on time. 

Also, the lesson plans could  be saved for later use or could  be improved rather than starting from scratch.  If used correctly the new tool could improve  service. 

In addition, interactive whiteboards were said to be durable under good management and monitoring.

The pilot project started in September 2012 by the Ministry of Education and Skills Development with the aim to roll them out to other schools country wide if the project is a success. Ends