Interactive Whiteboard Technologies

Reports on research projects which aimed to capture, analyze and communicate the complex
interactions between students, teachers and technology that occur in the class room using
interactive whiteboard technology.

Moss, G., & Jewitt, C. (2008, February). Pace, interactivity and multimodality in teacher design of texts for interactive whiteboards in the secondary school classroom. Paper presented to Pedagogies for Interactive Technologies: Whiteboards and Visualisers conference, Institute of Education, University of London.
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a781200493~db=all~tab=content~order=page

Abstract
Teachers making texts for use in the classroom is nothing new, it is an established aspect of pedagogic practice. The introduction of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) into UK secondary schools has, however, impacted on this practice in a number of ways. Changes in the site of design and display—from the printed page or worksheet and the blackboard to the electronic site of the screen, together with easy access to multimodal resources, including colour, image, sound and movement—bring new potentials for teacher text design for IWBs. The texts designed and used with IWBs can be viewed as a meeting point for the agenda of educational policy, the interests of the commercial sector, teachers’ pedagogic concerns and the facilities of technology. Pace, interactivity and multimodality are converged on by policy and research literature as key benefits of IWBs for pedagogy. In this article, we discuss teachers’ design of IWB texts with a focus on these three resources. Drawing on three illustrative examples of IWB use in secondary schools maths, we examine how these resources are articulated and mediated in the classroom through teachers’ text design. We highlight the role of teachers in digital text design and the potential of text design as a pedagogic tool for change (and non-change). We conclude that pedagogic text design for IWBs would benefit from a more nuanced approach to these (and other) resources that foregrounds pedagogy and backgrounds technology.

Slay, H., Siebörger, I., and Hodgkinson-Williams, C. (2008). Interactive whiteboards: Real beauty or just “lipstick”?.
Comput. Educ. 51, 3 (Nov. 2008), 1321-1341.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2007.12.006

Abstract
There has been extensive investment by governments and individual schools in interactive whiteboard technology in developed countries premised on the assumption that their use in education will impact positively on learners’ achievements. Developing countries, such as South Africa, keen to raise attainment among their learners are following suit. While at least one of the nine provinces in South Africa had undertaken pilot roll-outs of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in schools, the Eastern Cape Department of Education commissioned a feasibility study to determine teachers and learners perceptions of the potential benefits and drawbacks of using interactive pen technology, specifically the eBeam, in their teaching and learning environments, before embarking upon a large scale roll-out. This paper reports on a case study of three government schools and highlights the learners and teachers’ enthusiasm about the ”big screen” and the multimedia options, but also raises concerns about the lack of ICT literacy displayed by teachers and learners and the cost of technology. As most of the benefits mentioned by the teachers and learners seemed to accrue to the use of the laptop and data projector combination and most of the drawbacks emanated from the use of the interactive pen technology itself, we suggest that it may not be expeditious to attempt to ”leap-frog” the use of interactive technologies. Instead we suggest that an evolution of ICT related pedagogy is necessary to make optimal use of interactive pen technologies such as the eBeam and that teachers should be offered technologies, not have them imposed upon them.

Rudd, T. (2007). Interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Future Lab Report.
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/other/whiteboards_report.pdf

Intro
The key aims of this report are to extract some of the key findings relating to the use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in UK classrooms from the research literature. From these findings we then extrapolate some of the key issues and debates in order to put forward some initial recommendations relating to more effective use, and also some ideas and suggestions for potential future developments in terms of teaching, training, use and design of IWBs. This report was written …to support a jointly hosted debate for policy makers, developers, researchers and practitioners, entitled: ‘Do IWBs have a future in the UK classroom?’, held in London on 24 May 2007.

Hennessy, S., Deaney, R., Ruthven, K., & Winterbottom, M. (2007). Pedagogical strategies for using the interactive whiteboard to foster learner participation in school science. Learning, Media and Technology, 32(3), 283–301.
http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/istl/LMT_IWB.doc

Abstract
This study aimed to extend the currently limited understanding of how pedagogy is developing in response to the influx of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in schools in the UK and some other countries. A case study approach was employed to investigate how experienced classroom practitioners are beginning to harness the functionality of this technology to support learning in science. The methods included focus group interviews with four secondary science departments, plus lesson observations and interviews with two teachers and their pupils.
We analysed the data from a sociocultural perspective on learning, focusing on the strategies that teachers used to exploit the dynamic, manipulable objects of joint reference and annotative tools afforded by the technology to foster the cognitive, social and physical participation of learners in whole class activity.

The case study teachers demonstrated contrasting approaches to designing and supporting activity in which pupils shared, evaluated and developed ideas using the IWB. Pupil manipulation of objects on the IWB was deemed desirable but – along with pedagogical interactivity – was constrained by systemic school and subject cultures, curricular and assessment frameworks. Observed and potential opportunities for active cognitive and social participation are outlined.

Kennewell, S. (2006). Reflections on the interactive whiteboard phenomenon: a synthesis of research from the UK Swansea School of Education. http://www.aare.edu.au/06pap/ken06138.pdf

Abstract
It is unusual to focus educational research on a particular piece of equipment, but the interactive whiteboard (IWB) seems to have a pedagogical and cultural status which makes it different from other new pieces of ICT equipment. It particular, it has been enthusiastically adopted by nearly all the teachers who have one installed in their classrooms, and is sought after by most of the teachers who do not currently have access to one. A group of researchers has formed within BERA New Technologies SIG, covering several projects in the UK which have been funded to investigate, directly or indirectly, the impact of the IWB on teaching and learning.

Armstrong, V., Barnes, S., Sutherland, R., Curran, S., Mills, S., & Thompson, I. (2005). Collaborative research methodology for investigating
teaching and learning: The use of interactive whiteboard technology. Educational Review, 57(4), 457–469. http://www.interactiveeducation.ac.uk/Publications/Armstrong%20&%20Barnes%20-%20proof.pdf

Abstract:
This paper discusses the results of a research project which aimed to capture, analyse and communicate the complex interactions between students, teachers and technology that occur in the classroom. Teachers and researchers used an innovative research design developed through the InterActive Education Project (Sutherland et al. , 2003). Video case studies were carried out in four classrooms, focusing on the use of interactive whiteboard technology for teaching and learning. The case studies were analyzed using StudioCode, an analytic tool which allows researchers to mark and code segments of video data into categories and themes. Teachers developed coding systems drawing on the learning aims and objectives of their particular lessons.

The case studies illustrate that the introduction of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) into the classroom involves much more than the physical installation of the board and software. Teachers are the critical agents in mediating the software, the integration of the software into the subject aims of the lesson and appropriate use of the IWB to promote quality interactions and interactivity.

Beauchamp, G. (2004). Teacher use of the interactive whiteboard in primary schools: Towards an effective transition framework.
Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 13(3), 327–348.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14759390400200186

Abstract
The growing use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) in primary school teaching forms part of a number of initiatives within the schools of the United Kingdom to develop the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. The IWB presents both challenges and opportunities to teachers, particularly in terms of staff development and training. This study uses classroom observation and semi-structured interviews with teachers now working in a recently built, technology-rich primary school to develop a generic progressive framework and developmental model for schools introducing the IWB. This framework can be used to assess and guide teacher progress on the continuum towards becoming a ’synergistic user’. As teachers make this transition there is a fundamental requirement to adopt an interactive teaching style, alongside the gradual development of specific ICT skills. The study also examines implications for teacher education and training for schools, both prior and subsequent to the introduction of the IWB into classroom use. These include specific technical and pedagogical competencies which need to be addressed for effective interactive use of the IWB in classroom teaching.

Tanner, H., Jones, S., Kennewell, S., & Beauchamp, G. (2005, July). Interactive whole class teaching and interactive white boards.
Paper presented at the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australia Conference (ERGA 28), Melbourne, Australia. http://www.merga.net.au/documents/RP832005.pdf

Abstract
In England and Wales, National Strategies promote pedagogies that emphasise interactive whole class teaching, although this is not defined precisely. In recent years major investment has been made in Interactive White Boards (IWB) and, whilst they do not determine pedagogy, as cultural tools they tend to support and encourage whole class teaching. This paper discusses the nature of interactive teaching and suggests that deep rather than surface features of interaction must be addressed if learning is to be improved.