What’s so special about an interactive whiteboard? In its most basic sense it is a glorified touch-sensitive panel for a huge, projected image; a magnified reproduction of your computer desktop. So, whatever you can achieve on your computer can be replicated on the big screen, with plenty of extra facilities thrown in, such as colour pen markers to add pointers or notes to whatever is on screen. There are even software tools to mask parts of the screen you do not want the students to see - yet. All this adds professionalism and impact to your delivery.

Students at Thomas Telford School in Shropshire welcome whiteboards as their teachers’ professional tool and also look to them for some entertainment, which increases teachers’ status. Students, like everyone else, enjoy slick, colourful and evocative images and it makes sense to capitalise on this.

There is an element of showmanship in classroom performance because a relationship with a whiteboard is quite physical. With outstretched arms we can perform our “magic” and begin to educate and entertain our willing audience.

The initial benefits include the presentation of slide shows, documents, web pages and CD-Roms to name but a few of the activities you might already be appreciating on your desktop computers. Having an interactive whiteboard can be like having a magic wand. Imagine pasting your most relevant teaching materials into page after page of an everlasting notebook that stays safe and sound on your school network. This is what we do with our curriculum materials at Thomas Telford.

As you delight your audience with each vivid page, you can illustrate and add notes and overlaid diagrams to the screen using your electronic pens and colour markers. You can even move or erase them, leaving your original material untouched.

You can write with your finger or a pen and the software can even turn your writing into the text of whatever font you desire. And when the presentation and obligatory encore is over, all of that work can be saved on the school network or intranet, possibly for use by another class, by a student who missed the lesson, or for revision.

Pages can be converted to a website with a click of a button and then accessed by your students at home. Think what this can do for inclusion, for example. It also opens up excellent opportunities for revision. Once you are fluent with the technology, lesson preparation and delivery become more effective and convenient as all of your resources are centralised in one area.

Of course, the relationship doesn’t have to be strictly one of performer and audience. Depending on your teaching style, you may want to involve your students in your presentation, allowing them to make contributions and suggestions. They will find this exciting and motivating, and it brings in students who might otherwise not be interested.

Advanced whiteboard functions now include the computer memorising “every move you make and every breath you take”, as if an invisible helper has recorded the event. This allows your tutorial to be played back time after time. However, additional preparation and practice before recording a teaching session are essential.

You may have detected that I enjoy this teaching tool. I have been using whiteboards since 1997 and they have had a massive impact on my students. In technology lessons, I have taken the next step and developed material on CD-Rom. Called CAD CAM Cookies One and CAD CAM Cookies Two, these two discs support teaching computer-aided design and manufacture in schools. They are designed to be used by other technology teachers on interactive whiteboards with their students.

Essentially, the layout of any interactive CD-Rom for display on an interactive whiteboard has to have a simple structure. For each CD-Rom there is only one layer of depth, so that students (or teachers) cannot get lost in an endless series of mouse-clicks to get to the information they require (see sample lesson). It is a successful formula and keeps the students focused. Backgrounds should be kept black as this suits a projected image.

To be successful with an interactive whiteboard, teachers need confidence, which comes by guidance from colleagues and in-house training sessions.

The best way to gain confidence is through practice - by making mistakes and learning from them. Soon you will be sleek in the use of the board, eager students will gratefully absorb your rich lesson content and you will become a better teacher. Steer clear of cynics who can drag you down, and keep well informed about the latest developments in ICT through the pages of publications such as The TES and Teacher magazine. Teachers are bombarded from all sides by a plethora of so-called “ICT solutions” for the classroom. It is important that we listen to advice but make our own decisions. In my experience, the evidence supporting the beneficial effects of interactive whiteboards is irrefutable. Cost cannot justifiably be cited as a reason to avoid its adoption as the price is dropping.

Jonathan Boyle is head of key stage 3 design and technology at Thomas Telford School. This year he won the Secondary Subject Teacher category of the ICT in Practice Awards, organised by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta,) and supported by The TES and BT CAD CAM Cookies One is published through the Design and Technology Association, 16 Wellesbourne House, Walton Road, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire CV35 9JB. Price: pound;5 Tel: 01789 470007.CAD CAM Cookies Two, with new projects for whiteboard users for key stage 3 technology, will be out later this year. The on-screen videos can show you how to use ArtCam for Education software. ArtCam is part of the national CAD CAM Initiative, and all schools can have this free. Materials to print out will also be included.www.ttsonline.netwww.data.org.ukwww.becta.org.uk