Now that you have an IWB in your classroom you can sit back and watch student results improve right? Well, not quite. As with any new technology, teachers have to receive professional development in order to use IWB’s effectively. As described by Kohler et al. (2005, pg. 742), it is important to have an understanding of how pedagogy and content relate to technology in order to be a good teacher (referred to as technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK)).
Unfortunately, it appears that many teachers in Australia do not have TPCK when it comes to IWB’s because they aren’t receiving the professional development they require (Jones and Vincent 2006, Cuthell 2003, pg. 5). Technology ineptitude has in fact been documented as a concerning problem of IWB use in schools (Friedman 2010, pg. 50).
Fortunately there are a number of methods and resources available to improve a teacher’s capacity to use an IWB. Murcia and McKenzie (2009, pg. 28) outline a number of initiatives that support effective IWB use including: providing teachers a supportive learning framework; enabling collaboration with colleagues to develop skills; and, providing expert advice when required. Mentoring programs where teachers learn from their colleagues have also been shown to be very successful (Jones and Vincent 2006, pg. 9). There are also a number of online training resources available to teachers including interactivewhiteboard.net.au and Education Network Australia.
Never the less, schools may have to be patient to see the results of their investment. On average it takes teachers three months of training to learn how to effectively use an IWB (Cuthell 2005).
References:
Cuthell, J. P. 2003. Interactive Whiteboards: new tools, new pedagogies, new learning? Reflections from teachers. 23 p.
Cuthell, J. P. 2005. Seeing the meaning. The impact of interactive whiteboards on teaching and learning, Proceedings of WCCE 05, Stellenbosch, South Africa. Available online at: http://www.mirandanet.ac.uk/vl_blog/?page_id=296
Jones, A. & Vincent, J. 2006. Introducing interactive whiteboards into school practice: One school’s model of teachers mentoring colleagues. In Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Adelaide. 9 p. Available online at: http://www.aare.edu.au/06pap/jon06333.pdf
Koehler, M. J., Mishra, P., & Yahya, K. (in press). Tracing the development of teacher knowledge in a design seminar: Integrating content, pedagogy, and technology. Computers and Education. p.740-762.
Murcia, K. and McKenzie, S. Finding the way : signposts in teachers’ development of effective interactive whiteboard pedagogies. [online]. Australian Educational Computing; Vol.24 No.1 p.23-29, July 2009.
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