Effective practice in technologyenhanced learning: interactive whiteboards - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 41

3 Effective practice in technology-
enhanced learning: interactive
whiteboards
Overview
This chapter critically assesses the impact of technology on learning and the extent
to which there is evidence that technology can enhance learning. It will examine
how technology can aid the concentration, motivation and engagement of learners.
Attention is given to interactive whiteboards in particular, as Higgins et al. (2007: 221)
argue that this technology, perhaps more than any other to-date, has had the widest
impact and may be the 'most significant change in the classroom learning environ-
ment' in recent years. As interactive whiteboards are a multi-sensory learning tool, so
they have the potential to stimulate deep learning. Other technologies such as mobile
technologies and learning platforms are referenced in Chapters 8 and 9.
Introduction: using interactive whiteboards
An interactive whiteboard can be described as a 'large, touch-sensitive board which
is connected to a digital projector and a computer' (Becta 2003: 1). It is able to run
interactive software, connect to the Internet and produce sound. The advantage of
an interactive whiteboard over just a computer and a projector is the interactive ele-
ment. Through tapping on the screen for control, it is possible, using a special pen
or finger, to move objects about; highlighting, dragging and dropping and, most
important, it provides interactivity for pupils at the screen, unlike a data projector.
In the UK policy-makers' commitment to integrating this technology in schools
was matched by financial aid. By 2004 the UK government had invested £50 million
in interactive whiteboards (DfES 2004). The UK government investment in technol-
ogy was reflected globally, amidst a belief that failure to adapt might lead to social
and economic disadvantage (OECD 2002). It led to the UK being one of the first
countries to adopt interactive whiteboards along with America, Australia and Canada
(Koenraad 2008) in the early 2000s, although originally, interactive whiteboards were
invented much earlier - in 1991 by SMART Technologies Inc. (Somekh et al. 2007).