image by Sean O’Sullivan
A recent study suggests that the use of interactive whiteboards (IWB) can improve learner achievement by 16%. This could be good news for those schools seeking to improve the number of learners achieving 5 A*-C grades grades, particularly the current crop of National Challenge Schools.
The study would suggest that by focussing upon the effective use of a widely available piece of technology, schools and pupils can improve their performance. This positive news, however, should be tempered a little because the study also shows that some inappropriate use of Interactive whiteboards may have a detrimental effect for some learners (see previous post). So, with appropriate staff training or CPD, schools could make better use of their IWBs and anticipate improved levels of achievement for their learners.
Training, CPD, of course, costs money but in this instance, it would seem to be money well spent. National Challenge Schools may already have budgets to help them improve the attainment levels of pupils. For all staff and schools, the upcoming ICT CPD for staff initiatives could help provide the necessary input.
So if you find yourself with an ICT CPD budget or an upcoming INSET day and you’re not sure what to do with it, spending part of it on improving the use of Interactive Whiteboards might be worthwhile.
For interactive whiteboard training in UK, you could do a lot worse than contact Danny http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/about/
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The research also indicates that some teachers do worse with the IWB than without – hence your comment about the need for CPD, agreed! But there is another side, isn’t there? It seems to me that what the research is actually saying is that a teaching tool well used is effective. Well, no surprise there. My point would be that this doesn’t have to be about Interactive Whiteboards but about a more general point of effective application of appropriate technologies. I think, of much more interest, are the three transformative applications identified within the study – especially the nature of using dynamic student feedback effectively and the visual nature of learning. I’m afraid remain unconvinced that IWBs are inherently beneficial – with or withour good CPD!
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by deerwood: Published a new post: Using Interactive Whiteboards to Improve Achievement http://tinyurl.com/yfafas5...
Many thanks for the link and recommendation
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Danny Nicholson, Doug Woods and Jen, breizh2008. breizh2008 said: RT @dannynic: RT @deerwood: Published a new post: Using Interactive Whiteboards to Improve Achievement http://tinyurl.com/yfafas5 [...]
@NickPack You make the very good point about the effective application of appropriate technologies. The effective use of technology can be brought about by CPD for staff. I think this study illustrates how effective use of the IWB can bring about improvement in learner achievement and also the importance of training in their use.