Initial Teacher Education: Enriching and Extending Partnerships

Impact of smartboards on teaching and learning
The teacher candidates felt that smartboards had clear
benefits and a positive impact on student learning and
engagement. The smart technology was used in different
ways in subject areas such as music, social studies, math,
and language. All groups concluded that students
communicated and collaborated well during the smartboard
lessons. The participants, as new teachers, valued the
influence that the technology had on increasing student
attentiveness during lessons and decreasing classroom
management difficulties. Similar positive attitudes and student
results have been reported by Clemens, Moore, and Nelson in
a web-based publication: “100% of the participants preferred
using the smartboard and other forms of technology as
opposed to traditional paper and pencil methods of
instruction” (2001).
Topics of teacher candidate inquiry projects
Of the fifteen project groups, ten decided to focus on the
impact of using the smartboard, an interactive white board
technology, on student learning. Two groups examined united
streaming software. One group looked at the influence of
podcasting on student communication, and one group
reflected on using blogs with junior or intermediate students.
Another group—with teacher candidates placed in a school
with limited use of technology and associate teachers who did
not attend the conference—studied the use of power point
software and its impact on student learning.
In April all project groups returned from their practicum
placements and presented the findings from their reflective
inquiries to the university community. All teacher candidates
described how the engagement of students, from kindergarten
to grade eight, increased when a particular form of
technology was introduced into classroom lessons on any
subject.
The inquiry we undertook to examine the impact of
smartboards on student learning proved to all of us that
they not only provide interactive and great visuals that
engage students but that by having students interact
with the smartboards, we observed increased critical
thinking skills and retention of knowledge by our grade
4 and 5 students. In addition to student learning, the
inquiry project brought our division closer together.
Being a new school, this project provided a vehicle for
all of us to connect and learn more about each other.
These inquiry projects were influential in providing evidence
of the benefits of using technology and of building strong
collaborative relationships among teachers.
Challenges
Accessibility of the technology is always an issue for teachers.
Some of the teacher candidates reported that they were eager
to use the technology during their practica, but that it was
unavailable in their schools. There were also reports of
difficulties that some groups had using the selected
technology. One example was the blogging group that sought
permission from the administration for students and their
teachers in the intermediate division to create blogs about
their current research in social studies. The day before the
class was going to post the blogs online, the administration
said that they needed more information about safety concerns
around blogging. Although the teacher candidates and
associates gave the administration articles and websites about
the value and safety of blogging, by the time permission was
granted the practicum placement was finished. As a result of
this experience, teacher candidates realized that teachers and
administrators need to continually seek out professional
development and also be supported as they increase their
awareness of the value and safety of using technology in the
classroom.
The value of teacher candidate inquiry projects
The inquiry presentations showed that the reflective inquiry
was beneficial and assisted participants in understanding the
value of technology in student learning. Participants also
gained appreciation for the need to have mentors and mentees
collaborate when implementing new tools in classroom
learning and practices. One associate teacher said,
Mentoring should start in pre-service
McCann, Johannessa, and Ricca (2005) believe that new
teachers benefit from a broad network of contacts with peers
and external resource people, as well as former associate
teachers. In this regard, the relationships supported during
this project have laid foundations for future mentoring and
collaborations between associate schools, teachers, and
teacher candidates.
32 | Initial Teacher Education