Abstract:

The frame of this paper is an interdisciplinary educational assessment research around the specific contributions and didactic excellence of the interactive whiteboards use in the ordinary classroom. The study is based on the incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies -ICT- specifically Interactive Whiteboard -IWB-, in 14 kindergarten and elementary schools of Catalonia. It began in 2008 receiving the competitive call founding of the Spanish National Research, Development and Innovation Plan -R&D&I-, belonging to the Innovation and Science Ministry of the Spanish government.
The introduction of ICT in schools appears as an endless source of opportunities to educative innovation to transform the ordinary organization and educative space- surroundings. IWB have rapidly become an integral feature of many classrooms, but debate continues regarding the pedagogical implications of its use. This paper reports on an in-depth case-study focused both in learning processes and the educational relationship applying a qualitative methodology by systematic observations method in catalan classrooms (Kindergarten and Elementary Education).
The main objective of the study was to find out teachers’ role and how they use the IWB in their teaching methodology, whether if they use it to make a speech, to generate students’ questions, or just in the same way they used to use the blackboard. We also focused on the activities’ content, the way that teacher carried it out through their teaching strategies, and which use of the installed IWB’s own software and extra software elements are applied by teachers. Concerning to the students’ role we concentrated on which kind of learning practices they use to do using IWB in classrooms and what are most common pupil’s behaviors.
Data analysis offers evidence that teachers are not producers of their own activities when they use the IWB, and most of them are just consumers of Internet material. There is a clear relationship between the use of IWB in classrooms and enhanced pupils’ motivation and their attention into the content of the lessons. Furthermore we conclude that IWB use in classrooms can provide an appropriate environment to encourage the creation of a shared space and the generation of a fluent oral communication involving both teacher and pupils in the learning process.

Keywords:

Interactive Whiteboard, improving classroom teaching, interactive learning environments, educational relationship, teachers and students’ role.