What is the purpose for whiteboards? or Creating and Inequality of Access

I’ve used whiteboards a lot in teaching LAs. I’m usually very visual when learning and teaching. I view whiteboards as a common work place for people to visually share their ideas with their groups so they are “on the same page” so to speak. Yet I almost always have groups present their whiteboards as well. Therefore I see two roles that whiteboards can take:

1. Shared workspace

2. Presentation spaces (economical poster-boards)

In this clip from Tuesday of E2, table 6 is working to understand the refrigerator scenario. The clip is about half and hour into the process. For approximately two minutes prior to this clip, Linda has been explaining and revising her diagram which she had been working on privately in her notebook for several minutes prior to explaining it. During Linda's explanation, Lezlie asks a lot of clarifying questions and thoughts on how to revise the diagram. Liz listens but doesn't ask a lot of questions. This clip is longer than the key exchange (which occurs at :53) because I want to show Liz's body language which I think conveys a lot about how she is feeling.

There are two things that strike me about this clip. First, Liz and Linda appear to be operating with two very different understandings of the purpose of whiteboards. Liz appears to have the first purpose listed above in mind (whiteboards as shared workspaces). She views the whiteboard as a place to write down ideas so they can be shared by the group. This is supported by the fact that she is constantly writing and erasing things on the board, and often trying to draw other group member's verbal descriptions on the board. On the other hand, Linda appears to agree more with the second purpose of whiteboards (they are presentation spaces). Therefore she is unwilling to put what she considers to be a unfinished product (her current diagram) on the whiteboard. For Linda, the workspace, or place for ideas which are in development, is her notebook. I think this relates to the idea which Rachel has mentioned earlier (here) that some students want time to think about their ideas privately before sharing with the whole class. For Linda, writing in her notebook appears to be the opportunity to think privately before writing on the whiteboard which would be producing something for "public" consumption. I worry that, as instructors, our use of gallery walks and whiteboard presentations has prevented students like Linda from using the whiteboard as a group workspace.

The reason I am concerned about this is the second thing that strikes me about this clip. There appears to be an equity issue centered around the whiteboard and it's use or lack thereof. One of the reasons that whiteboards work so well as a shared workspace is that they are centrally located and encourage big writing which everyone in the group can see. When everyone in the group can see the visual representation of what is being discussed then everyone has the opportunity to equally participate in the discussion (I'm not saying that using whiteboards will lead to full and equal participation for every group member, only that it provides the opportunity for this). When Linda switches to using her notebook as the workspace she affects the access other members of the group have to the discussion. For Lezlie this change is not very noticeable since she appears to have no problem seeing the diagram over Linda's shoulder. Yet for Liz the change is profound. Because the focus has moved to Linda's notebook, Liz can no longer see what Linda and Lezlie are pointing to and therefore cannot follow the discussion. Liz tries to address this by asking Linda to redraw her diagram on the whiteboard, but Linda's discomfort with putting an unfinished product on the whiteboard prevents her from following through on Liz's request (Linda very likely does not realize that Liz can't see and therefore is probably not intentionally blocking Liz from the conversation). I think Liz's feelings of not being part of the discussion, her repeated attempts to reengage in the conversation, and her eventual disengagement from the conversation are visible in her body language.

As Rachel pointed out, it is also possible that it is not Linda's view of the purpose of whiteboards but her familiarity with writing in her notebook (from her previous experiences in PbI) which creates the inequality of access.

I think this clip suggests that while as instructors we may want to use whiteboards for both of the purposes listed above, our use of whiteboards as presentation spaces may inhibit some students' from later using whiteboards as work spaces. I think this clip also suggests that inequality in access to a tool can influence participation.