Some applications for a Whiteboard

I must admit, I have never been a huge fan of virtual whiteboards, always assuming they were more trouble than they were worth, especially if we want our students to participate collaboratively in a whiteboard activity.

However, in the current stage of alternate instruction, in which we are conducting classes synchronously at a distance, the virtual whiteboard has become quite attractive, especially if we can customize the layout and provide organized and scaffolded activities for students to complete, either individually or synchronously in small groups.

This week we focus on creating a virtual whiteboard in Google Slides and provide a few examples of what you might have students do in this environment. What follows are more suggestions for whiteboard activities, supplied by Kate Paesani:

Jigsaw Activity

• Divide a text or topic into segments (e.g., by paragraph; based on characters from a novel; etc.)
• Group students together and have them list as much information as they can about their assigned topic/text segment (e.g., Group 1 works on paragraph 1; Group 2 on paragraph 2: etc.)
• Regroup students with one member from each of the original groups; each person then shares the whiteboard from their expert group
• After each person presents its assigned topic/segment, the group decides which idea from each topic/segment is most important and puts that on a new whiteboard to present to the entire class

Brainstorming / Identification of Key Terms

• Create a different whiteboard for each key concept (e.g., interpersonal, presentational, interpretive communication)
• Have one group of students work with a whiteboard and brainstorm as many ideas as they can about the concept
• Groups move on to the next whiteboard and they identify the 5 most important ideas from the initial brainstorm (they can put these in a different part of the slide or highlight them in a different color)
• Groups move again and identify the 3 most important ideas from the 5 identified in the previous activity (again, they can move these to a different part of the slide or highlight in yet another color); that group then presents the concept to the rest of the class, explaining why the 3 ideas are the most appropriate for defining the concept
• This activity could be used with lower-level language learners to build vocabulary lists and circumlocution skills

What other uses can you envision for using whiteboards in your classes?