The impact of ICT in schools - a landscape review - nationalarchives ...

classroom practice (or not). Small-scale studies, in
term of timescale and data-gathering instruments,
provide useful snapshots, but any perceived impact
should be examined more closely to determine
whether or not it withstands the passage of time.
The review of the literature undertaken as part of
the Higgins et al. (2005) study states that IWBs can
help teachers to improve the quality of their
presentations, increase pupil involvement through
interaction with the technology and each other,
raise pupil motivation, extend communications
skills (speaking and listening), make the
curriculum more relevant and immediate through
presenting concepts in novel ways, facilitate group
work and cross-curricular links and increase the
efficiency of knowledge transfer. In primary
schools, visual representations on IWBs can help
pupils grasp abstract ideas, bridging the
concrete–abstract gap, and allow teachers to
increase the pace of lessons (Ofsted, 2004a).
A study of primary pupils’ responses to aspects of
ICT found that they believed that IWBs made them
think more deeply about their learning, that is,
there was a metacognitive impact. They provided
real, concrete examples to illustrate or stimulate
discussion points, facilitated remembering and
helped them to concentrate. In other words, the
pupils thought that the boards helped teachers
explain concepts more effectively (Wall et al., 2005).
The technology supported collaborative working in
line with social constructivist principles, encouraged
the contribution of ideas, sharing of tasks and
generated knowledge and understanding.
Reluctant readers and mathematicians were more
motivated (Ofsted, 2004a) and, in special schools,
IWBs were found to help autistic pupils work
together in, for example, literacy lessons, where
digital photographs were used in combination with
the IWB to stimulate involvement (Ofsted, 2005).
These benefits were found where IWBs were
effectively integrated into classroom use, but
there is also evidence that their availability and
the skills of teachers in using them were
frequently limited (Beverton et al., 2005; Smith et
al., 2005). The message is that the acquisition of
interactive whiteboards must be accompanied by
good training provision in order that staff can
develop both the technical skills required to make
them function effectively and an understanding of
how best they can be integrated into learning and
teaching, both generally and in relation to specific
areas of the curriculum; this does not always
happen (Ofsted, 2005). Somekh et al. (2006) noted
that the use of IWBs was more sustained and
widespread in primary than in secondary schools
and, in turn, skill in using them was consistently
higher in primary schools.
Miller et al. (2005), in investigating how ‘best
practice’ teachers used the interactive whiteboard
in mathematics and modern foreign languages,
concluded that three features encouraged pupils’
motivation in lessons. Firstly, the lesson was
organised such that there was an interactive and
participatory focus on the IWB throughout and
that, secondly, the combination of visual,
kinaesthetic and auditory features led to intrinsic
stimulation. Thirdly, lessons using the IWB took a
stepped learning approach – that is, concepts or
new terms were presented in a logical way, in
small steps rather than leaps of understanding,
and these were supported by regular feedback,
either from the software or the teacher.
Other features of the enhanced learning classroom
included teachers who recognised that planning
and preparation were key, and who selected tasks
carefully, both for appropriate content and to
encourage pupil–pupil and pupil–teacher
interactions. Pupils in such classrooms were
familiar with working constructively with others to
develop their own and each other’s knowledge,
understanding and skills.
Miller et al. (2005) identified three stages in the
development of teachers using IWBs. Initially, they
made some use of the IWB but only as a visual
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