iwb

48% of primary schools in the Netherlands has access to one or more IWBs. This is a strong increase over last year, then only 11% of the schools had a digiboard.

And if managers in primary educations manage to realise their ambitions and policy intentions, digiboards will be available in 83% of the primary schools in two years' time.

(source: Four in Balance. ICT-Monitor 2008)

Comenius Course on web 2.0 and modern language teaching: 
'Designing activities for the 2.0 Language Classroom'
 
In conjunction with the Utrecht University Summer School the Faculties of Education of Heidelberg and Utrecht Universities of Applied Sciences offer a 7-day, international course exploring WEB 2.0 applications such as Wiki and Weblogging, real-time communication (Videoconferencing and 3D Virtual Worlds) and the LanguageQuest format for integrating the World Wide Web into classroom teaching.

Besides, the course location in the brand-new building of the Faculty of Education in Utrecht, the Netherlands, allows for demonstration of good practices of and personal training in the use of Interactive Whiteboards.

Intended participants are practising (student) language teachers, teacher trainers and materials developers.

More information available here

NB.
Teachers who would prefer a course exclusively on the use of Interactive Whiteboards in (language) teaching are advised to register for the course:

'Using Interactive Whiteboards to support discipline-specific pedagogies'

Euline Cutrim Schmid and Ton Koenraad will coach break-out sessions specifically for language teachers atttending this course.

More info here.
Or download this flyer with information on both courses

Ton Koenraad, Course Director

IWBNet will host the First NZ and AUS International IWB Conference at Westlake Girls High School in Auckland on 24, 25 and 26 September 2009.

The conference will be truly international with presenters coming from New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom and South Africa.

Focus: (Maximising the Educational Benefits of your IWB)

The focus of the conference will be to challenge and encourage teachers to maximise the benefits of their IWB by pushing the boundaries of their IWB practice whether they be beginner, intermediate or advanced users.

Some of the topics being covered include:

• Middle Syndicate Maths
• Practice Turned Upside Down
• Beginners Guide to IWB Usage
• Don’t reinvent the wheel, just learn to change the tyres!
• Whiteboard Wizards – Making the most of your peripherals
• Poetry and your IWB
• Maths Trails with a Difference
• How to get the reluctant teacher using their whiteboard through numeracy and literacy resources
• Meeting the Needs of all Learners
• Teaching Geometry and Measurement can be fun
• But What About Senior Maths?
• Websites to use with an IWB
• Information Skills and your IWB
• Teaching Spatial Patterns and Skills to Senior Geography Classes

CALL for Presenters – if you would like to present at the First NZ and AUS International IWB Conference in Auckland in 2009 please contact val@iwb.net.au – you will be sent a Presenter’s template to complete.

Aim of the project is to train language teachers to implement European Language Portfolios via Interactive Whiteboards in their classrooms. The Interactive Whiteboard plays an important role in the activELP project and thus the tasks prepared by project partners for the trainer training including quizzes, web references, internet research and access to various resources such as video clips, sound tracks... etc. which can be dealt with most effectively via Interactive Whiteboards.

For further information on the project please check the projectwebsite: www.activELP.net

Several colleagues who visited my workshop on IWBs at the Levende Talen conference were interested in joining a CoP on the subject. I used the Xmas holidays to build the site, get some content together and invite people to register.

If you do not read Dutch, not to worry I will mirror stuff that has a potential international interst on this blog.