This report describes a case study, in which the researcher investigated the integration of electronic interactive whiteboards (IWBs) into classrooms at a well-resourced South African high school. Consistent with the findings of other studies conducted to date, learners and teachers at the school generally believe that IWB technology enhances various aspects of the teaching-learning process. The frequency and nature of IWB use across the school was found to vary greatly between subject departments and from one user to the next within subject departments. In comparison to IWB use in schools overseas, as reported in the literature, general IWB utilisation was found to be relatively infrequent and superficial in nature, with only the basic features and capabilities being widely utilised. In terms of the progression models that have been proposed for IWB integration, it appears that, overall, this school has not advanced beyond the initial stage of integration described in each of the respective models. This study attempted to determine why such a well-resourced school has not progressed further with the integration of IWBs in the five years that have passed since IWB technology was first introduced there, in spite of the fact that the teachers appear to recognise the value of the technology and express the desire to improve their use of the IWB. Results suggest that the major factors responsible for retarding progress are inadequate training and the lack of time available for teachers to explore the potential of IWB technology and build up a bank of useful resources. These issues appear to be linked to inadequate research and strategic planning on the part of the school management team. In conclusion, this report proposes a strategy for the integration of information and communications technology (ICT) into South African high schools, with a view to promoting the integration of IWBs in the long term. The essence of the proposal is that teachers should make use of a data projector, which projects its image on to a conventional whiteboard writing surface. This approach would allow teachers to take advantage of the visual features of ICT they most readily recognise as beneficial when they first use IWB technology. The aim of this strategy would be to encourage teachers to improve their ICT skills and grow in confidence in the use of ICT in their lessons, while minimising the cost involved in allowing them to do so. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

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Strategies have been put into place to affect improvement in science achievement, including the use of Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) in science instruction. IWBs enable rich resources, appropriate pacing, and multimodal presentation of content deemed as best practices. Professional development experiences, use of resources, instructional practices, and changes in professional behavior in science teachers were recorded. Also recorded were differences in the engagement and motivation of students in IWB classrooms versus IWB-free classrooms and observed differences in students' problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. Using a mixed-method research design quantitative data were collected to identify achievement levels of the target population on the assumption that all students, regardless of ability, will achieve greater mastery of science content in IWB classrooms. Qualitative data were collected through observations, interviews, videotapes, and a survey to identify how IWBs lead to increased achievement in third grade classrooms and to develop a record of teachers' professional practices, and students' measures of engagement and motivation. Comparative techniques determined whether science instruction is more effective in IWB classroom than in IWB-free classrooms. The qualitative findings concluded that, compared to science teachers who work in IWB-free settings, elementary science teachers who used IWBs incorporated more resources to accommodate learning objectives and the varied abilities and learning styles of their students. They assessed student understanding more frequently and perceived their classrooms as more collaborative and interactive. Furthermore, they displayed willingness to pursue professional development and employed different engagement strategies. Finally, teachers who used IWBs supported more instances of critical thinking and problem-solving. Quantitative findings concluded that students of all ability levels were more motivated and engaged in IWB classes. Best practices distilled included combining IWBs with handheld peripherals to maximize assessment; the determination that formal professional development is more effective than peer coaching; that effectively managing an IWB classroom is as vital as learning how to use board itself; and that IWB teachers should be able to modify resources to tailor them for the circumstances of their classroom.

The purpose of this mixed methods study was twofold. First, the study assessed whether Davis’ (1989) Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was useful in predicting instructional usage of the interactive whiteboard (IWB), as reported by K-8 teachers. Second, the study set out to understand what motivated those teachers to use the IWB for classroom instruction, and to further describe the ways in which they used them. Through surveying 155 teachers and 40 administrators of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) schools, the researcher used multiple regression and moderator analyses to examine whether the TAM model helped explain teachers’ reported teacher-centered and student-centered instructional IWB usage. The researcher followed this by oneon- one interviews with 5 of the teachers surveyed. With the data gathered from the interviews and open-ended items from the original surveys, an analysis using qualitative methods was performed. The results from the qualitative analysis were then used to help refine and explain the quantitative findings. The results of the study’s quantitative phase indicated two variables adapted from the TAM, teachers’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the IWB, contributed to the prediction of teacher-centered instructional usage of the device. Further it was found that the perceived usefulness variable contributed to the prediction of student-centered instructional usage. Moderator analysis indicated the variable for teachers’ IWB technological pedagogical content knowledge, adapted from Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) technological pedagogical content knowledge framework, moderated the relationships between the variable perceived ease of use of the IWB and teacher and student-centered instructional usage respectively, as well as between the variable perceived usefulness of the IWB and teacher-centered instructional usage. The qualitative phase results revealed those teachers surveyed used their IWBs in a variety of ways for both teacher-centered and student-centered instruction. Teachers frequently reported they were motivated to use the device by its overall user-friendliness and its utility as an instructional tool. Central to the teachers’ discussion of its utility were ways in which the tool positively impacted the students during instruction. Specifically how it engaged students by attracting their attention, keeping them focused, and offering them a better way to learn. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The aim of the offered dissertation is an attempt to create a material for teaching how to solve mathematical word exercises at an elementary school. This document is based on theoretical knowledge. The theoretical part of the dissertation documents the evolution of the mathematics from the antiquity untill these days. Basic information necessary for the development of an interactive textbook is grounded on theoretical findings in interactive boards and word exercises that have been published recently. The educational material was created in the program Activstudio 3 for the boards of the Activboard type and practically tested with the 8th grade students at the Plesivec elementary school. The other aim of this work is to see the response and attitudes of the students toward this kind of classwork, if it can help them to better grasp the word exercises solutions and to provide the teacher a useful tool for their work with an interactive board, since to create such a groundwork for the lessons by themselves can be very demanding on their time needed for the preparation for their lessons.

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TITLE: Possibilities of interactive whiteboard in education ABSTRAKT: The dissertation is focused on the usage of didactic technology especially interactive whiteboards in education of mathematics in elementary and secondary schools. The theoretical part deals with particular types of whiteboards and software of different companies. It introduces the basics and possibilities in use of interactive whiteboard in education of mathematics. The dissertation also contains processed and practice-tested lessons created by ACTIV Studio software for the chosen subject of the mathematics curriculum - Sets. This effort should be a good inspiration for all pedagogues in their initial work with interactive whiteboards. KEY WORDS: Information and Communication Technologies, interactive whiteboards, ACTIV Studio, Mathematics, advanced method of education

The main aim of this diploma thesis is to describe the advantages and disadvantages of using interactive whiteboards in the Czech language lessons in the first grade of primary schools. The thesis contains a theoretical part that includes the first three chapters and a practical part that composed of two chapters. In the first charter of the theoretical part is presented the historical development of interactive whiteboards and its gradual implementation into teaching process. The second chapter provides an overview of the requirements that every teacher should take into account when using interactive whiteboards. In the next part are presented most frequently mentioned advantages and disadvantages, both from the perspectives of teachers and students. The main data sources of educational materials are described in the third charter that also contains the specification of different exercises. The practical part of the work is based on the own research that was realized through a questionnaire among 50 teachers. The subject of the fourth chapter is a detailed description of the various questions and also the presentation of the results. Fifth charter focuses on analyzing of the results and there are also introduced the recommendations which, in the author's opinion, should lead to more effective way of teaching with interactive whiteboard.

Although school systems have made investments in technology with the intention of raising student scores on state and national tests, improvements in student achievement have not always followed. The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher librarians' use of interactive whiteboards to improve student literacy. This qualitative case study was guided by the theory of social constructivism, wherein individuals learn through interaction with peers and knowledgeable others. The research questions were focused on how teacher librarians integrated multi-literacies and technological skills into pedagogical goals. Data were collected from a 4-member focus group interview, a questionnaire delivered to a subset of 3 teacher librarians, and public documents of the school system. All data were color-coded and analyzed for emergent common themes. The findings indicated that although the teacher librarians used interactive whiteboard technology to teach multiple literacies and technological skills to students and fellow teachers, 2 of the 4 participants did not use all of the interactive whiteboard tools. Based upon the findings, a professional development project was designed to improve educators' technological and multi-literacies skills in the school system. Recommendations include creating a repository of technology rich lesson plans, and expanding collaboration among educators. Increasing multi-literacies and technological skills may lead to positive social change through the enhancement of students' literacy and technology skills at school and for future employment.

Low-income students and blacks make up nearly half of public school students, and on nearly every indicator of educational access, particularly technology, these students have less access than white affluent students (Darling-Hammond, Zielezinski, and Goldman, 2014). The National Center for Education Statistics (2005) reported that teacher quality and missed opportunities to learn accounted for 93% of African Americans, and 87% of Hispanics performing below proficiency in mathematics. Students that do not master mathematics standards by the end of compulsory education are less likely to complete general mathematics courses in upper secondary school and beyond successfully (Levpušček, Zupančič, & Sočan, 2013). Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) can support student engagement, interest and possibly increased achievement in mathematics if used effectively. The purposes of this study were to (a) examine the perspectives of secondary mathematics teachers with regard to the use of IWBs for teaching, (b) determine how secondary mathematics teachers in one school district use the IWB to guide students toward mathematical proficiency, and (c) consider how secondary mathematics teachers’ perspectives in one school district were influenced by 1st order and 2nd order barriers to technology integration. The following factors were considered when examining the context needed to better understand the complexities using IWBs effectively in mathematics: (a) Niess et al. (2009) Mathematics Teachers’ TPACK Development Model, (b) Miller and Glover (2005) stages of IWB use, and (c) Ertmer (1999) first-order and second-order barriers to technology integration. The data revealed that at each stage of IWB use (a) supported didactic, (b)interactive, and (c) enhanced interactivity, teachers faced a unique combination of first-order and second-order barriers to IWB integration that affected how IWBs were used for teaching mathematics. The results of the data suggest that as barriers are resolved at each stage of IWB use, the likelihood mathematics teachers will effectively use IWBs to teach mathematics will increase. Suggestions including administrator support and modifying professional development practices are included to provide educators and policy makers the practical knowledge needed to inform sustainable plans for integrating IWBs effectively.