The Interactive Whiteboards, Pedagogy and Pupil Performance ...

Illustrative Case Study. Example: Using a Scanner to Share Work in an
English Lesson
In this English class, the topic focused on the use of rhetorical devices in
persuasive speech writing. The teacher scanned into her laptop one of the pupil’s
speeches which was then displayed on the IWB. This provided a focus for
classroom discussion and for the pupil herself to comment on what she had
written. In the same lesson, the teacher also showed the class another piece of
work she had scanned in from a Year 10 pupil on a similar topic as an example of
the sort of standard she wanted them to aim for. She read it through and then
asked the pupils to comment on why this speech was successful and what sorts
of devices had been incorporated
Summary
At a general level, the positive aspects of the peripherals seen in use were:
• To enable the teacher to move away from the front of the classroom;
• To reduce the potential for the IWB to be used as a focus for ‘chalk and talk’
style teaching in which the teacher dominated the classroom space both
through talk and fast pacing of resource use;
• To enhance student autonomy and control in the classroom.
The negative aspects of the use of peripherals mainly related to the technical
difficulties associated with the use of laptops. These included:
• The need to re-calibrate teacher laptops and the IWB at the start of each
lesson when teachers frequently moved from class to class;
• Students’ use of non-networked laptops which could not then interface with
the board, or where it took them a long time to log on.
This discussion also highlights that in a secondary classroom the full potential of the
IWB does not necessarily rest with its touch-sensitive surface, but rather with the
size of the screen and the various ways in which the screen’s contents can be
manipulated. This kind of manipulation can be enhanced through judicious use of
peripherals. However, to date there does not seem to be any clear policy advice on
which peripherals enhance IWB use most effectively. Current patterns of use are
often restricted to a particular school or department, rather than developed more
widely. Most teachers do not seem aware of what is available and do not always
know how to make full use of the peripherals they do have access to.
This review of the range of texts and peripherals seen in use demonstrates that the
introduction of an IWB does not in and of itself transform existing pedagogies. The
capacity of IWBs to support, extend or transform existing pedagogies depends upon
the teacher's intent and the ways in which they exploit the resources they have
access to.
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