The Interactive Whiteboards, Pedagogy and Pupil Performance ...

Annex B
Literature Review
‘Although, as yet, ICT is by no means at the heart of our education system, it
is now widely recognised as an essential tool for learning in the twenty-first
century. Indeed, it is vital that today’s children are enabled to take advantage
of lifelong learning if they are to survive the constant pattern of change that is
likely to mark their working lives. This means not only being comfortable with
ICT as a medium, but also being able to exploit its potential to the full and
understanding the ways in which ICT can make learning more effective.’
(Ofsted, 2004, p6)
‘A number of commentators have suggested that we can look at responses to
the impact of ICT as falling into two broad camps. The first sees ICT primarily
as enabling us to do things we have previously done better, e.g., more
quickly, more efficiently, in greater depth or breadth. The second views ICT as
enabling us to do qualitatively new things which fundamentally change the
nature of old ways of thinking, including our underlying conceptions and
purposes.’ (Bonnett, 2001)
Introduction
The aims of this literature review are to:
• Review existing research literature on the impact of ICT use in pedagogic
settings, factors that help determine variation in its uptake and current
understandings of best practice.
• Review existing literature on the policy context for ICT use in schools, including
the range of policy initiatives which have advocated or sponsored ICT use in the
secondary sector, the funding streams in which they have been embedded and
any previous evaluations undertaken.
• Review current developments in the hardware and relevant software, which
shape interactive whiteboard use in schools.
The primary purpose of such a review is to establish links between the conceptual
framework of the Interactive Whiteboard, Pedagogy and Pupil Performance
Evaluation and work already undertaken in the fields outlined above. The review
provides the detailed background to the day-to-day operation of the research, and
equips the research staff with a fuller understanding of what is at stake for whom in
the introduction of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) to schools at the current time.
Whilst the main focus of the literature review rests on the introduction and use of
IWBs in particular, this is understood as the latest manifestation of a more general
policy for ICT in schools. The turn towards new technologies is explored in relation
to three distinct communities: government and the agencies it has sponsored to
foster uptake of the new technologies in school, the private sector which provides the
81