Jamboard - The Digital Whiteboard

I am sure by now most teachers have used or at least heard about Jamboard. This is a Google tool that allows the user to:

• Add sticky notes, drawings, images, text and more.

• Search Google and insert images or webpages.

• Move images, texts, notes and drawings around on the screen easily.

• Drag and resize text and images with your fingers.

• Share your "jams" with others and let them collaborate. 

It is a really useful tool for students to be able to interact with worksheets and projects (i.e. posters) as a digital whiteboard. As all Google Suite tools it saves automatically and teachers and students can work at the same time. Teachers can easily set up a Jamboard slide for each student to complete work on. This is much easier to keep an eye on students progress for one page tasks rather accessing their Google Slide work through Google Classroom.

From my experience, my students love being able to search google images right in the app to find pictures to illustrate their writing tasks. It also works really well during brainstorming sessions that would typically be written up on anchor charts to be hung up in the classroom. Students can use Jamboard to autonomy to present their work similarly to how a teacher would with text, pictures, drawings, and sticky notes.

Jamboard's are also manufactured to be brought into a classroom similarly to SMARTBoards and can be a physical smart board. While this is a pricey option, if your school uses Google Suite as your online learning platform, teachers should try Jamboard as an online version of a white board or black board that everyone can collaborate on. 

Lauren (OTECC) @NU