Effective practice in technologyenhanced learning: interactive whiteboards - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 47

conditions for engagement can be further optimised by using [interactive white-
board] tools to provide even more focus by capturing specific moments of the process
for replay or zooming in on particular phenomena'.
By facilitating replays of events and reviewing of processes - for example, with
animated demonstrations of models - so Glover et al. (2007) argue that interactive
whiteboards provide added educational value to classrooms. The visual representation
of complex concepts which pupils can physically manipulate on the screen deepens
learning and promotes metacognition, through multimodal and kinaesthetic engage-
ment. The software allows for recap and reinforcement through the flipchart feature,
which facilitates the teachers' ability to easily 'flip freely back and forth between
screens' (Somekh et al. 2007: 156). Consequently,
. . . the flow of the lesson was not purely linear; teachers moved backwards
and forwards through the content and process of the lesson by scrolling docu-
ments, selecting PowerPoint slides, and 'flipping' through pages of the 'flip-
chart' software provided with the interactive whiteboards.
(Kennewell 2004: 12)
In addition, Glover et al. (2007) found that, when teachers commented on
replays of flipcharts that pupils had created, this contributed to pupils' involvement,
motivation and self-confidence. The flexibility of using a wide range of Web-based
resources that can be applied, adapted, customized and reused (Kennewell 2001) was
found to encourage and help teachers to prepare lessons with respect to structuring
information and planning comprehension checks (Smith et al. 2005). One conse-
quence of such preparation was the reporting of better behaviour (Moss et al. 2007).
Interactive whiteboards and a consideration of possible disadvantages
However, despite the added value of interactive whiteboards reported above, a number
of disadvantages have been found. First, the centrality of the teacher is often reinforced
and there can be a reliance on delivering whole-class teaching with a didactic approach
in which the interactive features of the technology are not optimized. The relationship
between the technology and teachers' preferred style is examined more closely in the
pedagogy section of this chapter. Further, irritations reported by pupils due to techni-
cal failure or lack of interactive whiteboard skills from teachers and/or learners them-
selves have been reported by Hall and Higgins (2005). Interestingly, a higher lesson
pace, while considered earlier as a benefit, may be also a disadvantage, especially for
weaker students (Kennewell 2004) and students with physical disabilities (blind and
hearing impaired) (Somekh and Haldane 2006; Somekh et al. 2007). Similarly, Moss
et al. (2007) observed that in some cases the increased lesson pace was used for disci-
pline purposes, to keep pupils contained rather than to enhance the learning process.
Interactive whiteboards and teachers' professional development
The introduction of any technology into teaching is multi-faceted as it requires train-
ing both technically and pedagogically. There is the technology (functionality), the
potential educational benefit (affordances) of that technology and the way technology