How accessible are interactive whiteboards (IWBs) for partially sighted and blind learners?
This page is based on research carried out in early 2011 which shows that IWBs offer a limited amount of accessibility for partially sighted learners, and very little at all for blind learners. Their evolution over the last few years has not improved the level of accessibility.
What is an interactive whiteboard?
IWBs have been around for over a decade, and are widely used in education. They evolved from blackboards:
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Blackboard - uses chalk, not much colour, no ability to save work.
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Whiteboard - uses felt-tip pens, more colours, no ability to save work.
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Flipchart - uses felt-tip pens and sheets can be torn off and saved or transcribed.
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Copyboard - whiteboard with a one-way connection to a computer. Anything shown on the copyboard can be saved to the computer and then printed.
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Electronic whiteboard - virtual version of a whiteboard (e.g. Microsoft NetMeeting).
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Interactive whiteboard - touch-sensitive whiteboard with a two-way connection to a computer. Information from the computer screen is transferred via a projector to the whiteboard and activities carried out on the whiteboard can be saved by and reacted to by the computer.
Interactive whiteboards require a computer, a projector, a touch-sensitive whiteboard, software and cables. The whiteboard can be of two types:
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Soft - resistive membrane. Use fingers or a stylus that can represent pens of different colours via software selection. Movement is tracked by detecting the pressure of the stylus object on the surface. Cheapest to buy and easiest to damage - and damaging the surface means the whole thing needs to be replaced.
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Hard - impact-resistant. Use special pens that are tracked magnetically or via lasers. Most expensive to purchase, but the surface can be replaced more cheaply. Pens cost more, too.
IWBs are expensive, costing around £3,000 for a full system (very roughly, £1,000 for the whiteboard and £2,000 for the projector). Recent innovations include interactive projectors that can use an interactive pen on any surface, and a number of projects using a Wii remote and a standard whiteboard or tablet computer screen to form a cheap IWB.
Why use an Interactive whiteboard?
"Studies have found them to be highly motivating and learner-centred when integrated innovatively." Source: Joint Information Systems Committee document Interactive whiteboards in education (PDF,52kb).
They are expensive, but on top of the features of a traditional whiteboard, they offer the possibility of:
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Integration - materials from different sources (text, graphics, videos, web pages) can be brought together in one place.
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Interactivity - the display can be manipulated by interactive pens or fingers (multi-touch), facilitating active learning and group working.
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Communicating - work can be saved and then printed, emailed or uploaded.
The amount of flexibility and interactivity depends entirely on the imagination and expertise of the teacher. For example, in an activity about food health, labelled images of food items could appear haphazardly on the whiteboard, and children may be asked to come to the board and drag an image into a "healthy" or "unhealthy" box.
Accessibility issues
Two ways that IWBs may be useful to partially sighted learners are:
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Their very size - can be over 100" diagonal - means they can display highly magnified images.
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They offer a variety of means of interaction, and do not rely on keyboard or mouse.
However, the increased emphasis on visual information works against blind learners. Even if a Word document that is displayed can be emailed to a blind learner, this loses the interactive nature of the whiteboard. Also, any annotations or amendments to it will be captured by the whiteboard software and not in the original document.
Most whiteboards come with software, which has to be used to display information, and may also include lesson plans, images and other resources. Work can be created using standard applications such as PowerPoint, and then imported into the whiteboard software. None of this software is itself accessible (I looked at ActivInspire v1.5, released in Dec 2010 by Promethean, and found this to be the case).
Whiteboard software incorporates a number of tools (eg on a hard board, graphics of coloured pens may be used to change the colour of the interactive pen) whose outcomes may not be captured for a blind user.
Some whiteboard software includes handwriting recognition, but this is very basic, and letter by letter as you write the characters. Handwritten annotations are saved within the whiteboard software and not as separate images, and cannot later be converted by Optical character recognition software.
The best way to improve accessibility for a partially sighted learner is to find the best viewing position, and consider lighting levels and glare. IWBs often need to be used in a darkened room, which can cause problems for some partially sighted learners.
Possible routes to better accessibility
All the suggestions below lose the interactive element, which is one of the main benefits of an IWB. Although mini-displays are available and could be used to mirror the main display, they are very expensive.
Hard copy version of whiteboard content
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Issues for partially sighted learners: Only useful for a minority of partially sighted learners.
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Issues for blind learners: Braille labelling only appropriate for some learners. Requires a lot of time and probably needs the help of a support worker.
Echo whiteboard content onto a second screen attached to a monitor arm
Echo whiteboard content onto laptops used by each child
(Requires school technicians to gain access to the teacher's computer)
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Issues for partially sighted learners: Could then use personal screen preferences or magnification software. Teacher would need to clearly communicate which area of the screen they are dealing with.
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Issues for blind learners: Complicated and time consuming. Teacher would be limited in what resources they could work with.
Resources
Some whiteboard manufacturers offer free resources, for example Promethean Planet.
Author: Steve Griffiths, Digital Accessibility Development Officer
Date: May 2011