So I just tried Jamboard out – something that other people have used in presentations, and I have interacted with. I have always thought it is pretty nifty, and something that I think I would use in my class. Now was a great time to try it out.
It’s…. not bad. I like it. I do. But it absolutely is not a game changer for me. I think there is a lot of potential for it. If I was someone who had embraced Jamboard right from the beginning of the school year and actively found ways to do everything through it, then I might have more use for it.
I ended up sharing my Jam with one of my colleagues and having them kind of try to do stuff in it. This person often describes themselves as “technologically incompetent” and they did just fine with it (with some of my guidance). This is good news, I suppose. The big problem for me is that I found that Jamboard sort of just serves as a substitution for things that I already use. In other words, I don’t necessarily think Jamboard is bad, and I do encourage people to use it if they are looking for some interesting ways to spur student collaboration. But for me, it didn’t offer me any sort of game-changer. I think it will be a pass.
Some ideas that I worked with:
Brainstorming – gathering and colour-coding ideas is pretty simple here
Graphic Organizers – with collaborative projects, I think you can definitely organize some things with your group quite easily (I instantly thought about using it to breakdown character traits)
Visual Graphics– you can definitely create some good visual aids to help with some concepts (maybe something like mindmaps)
I definitely did not spend as much time on it as I could have, and I am certain that there are way more things that you can do with it. With that said, I don’t think that Jamboard has as much as it could have. I just wish there were a few more things to manipulate and a little more variety when it comes to customizing the board.
If you have tried it and like it, please let me know how I am wrong!
Rob's Teacher Blog 
Hi Rob,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Jamboard. I have dabbled in it a little bit but like you I haven’t fully bought into it. I believe I could do many of these things with Notebook. I do like that it is connected to all the google programs which makes it easier for students to access. However, I do think I would need to do a lot of teaching around expectations and appropriate use before students could use it.
Kendra
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I totally agree with the “had embraced Jamboard right from the beginning of the school year and actively found ways to do everything through it, then I might have more use for it” sentiment. I often find myself overloaded with new technologies, but then fail to implement them fully because I didn’t spend the time to learn their capabilities. Interested to hear if there is a particular tech tool that you plan on using next school year.
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Hi Rob,
I appreciated your honest opinion of Jamboard. I have only interacted with this app in one of my grad classes and have not created anything myself. Like you, I struggle to embrace a new tool if I am already using something with similar capabilities. That being said, I had a colleague tell me the other day that they loved it. I will let you know if they present new findings that convince me that I need this tool.
Bev
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Just because others are doing doesn’t mean everyone has too. Sometimes I find that there is an overwhelming expectations that we use technology regularly in our classroom. I agree if we have effective learning tools already why push to do more when we don’t necessarily have the time to practice ourselves.
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