can someone explain to me why interactive white boards are so essential?

[vvvodka]

because i truly think they are a waste of resources.

CatherineMumbles - the short answer to your question would be 'no'.

The long answer would be: teachers, first & foremost, are expert in their specialism, be it primary-based, or, usually at secondary level, subject based.

We are usually quite good at learning new stuff, & it's an ongoing requirement for any teacher.

So yes, it is likely that any new teacher will be required to find their way round an IWB (& it's not difficult - my 5 year old ds is a whizz on mine).

But no, it doesn't mean that teachers will be 'deskilled'. If my IWB breaks down, as it does fairly regularly, due to my schoool having notoriously poor IT support, I have no problem with re-jigging my lesson. It won't be as good a lesson, & for that matter I'm quite likely to turn to the kids & say 'Right, IWB's down, apostrophe revision...INCOMING!' & abandon my planned lesson entirely...

If we weren't able to deal with the unexpected we'd be in the wrong job...believe me, the odd techno-crash is the least of my worries.

Even with good IT support, teachers may have to do without their IWB at short notice if the bulb goes without warning, which it usually does. You can't keep spare ones in stock because you can't predict when the bulb is going to go - some last a few months, some for years and suppliers won't guarantee them for more than 90 days. The company we use most are very quick & usually get them to us by next day, but it usually means at least 2 days before it can be replaced (you can't do it till after school in case it breaks as they have mercury vapour in) Teachers normally just shrug & change their lesson plan. As raven says, they are very adaptable!