Abstract:

The Department of Education in South Africa has substantially invested some money in the introduction of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in classrooms. Effective adoption of IWBs in classrooms can assist in enhancing learner engagement and increasing educational quality in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The study explored mathematics teachers’ attitudes towards the use of IWBs when teaching mathematics in South Africa. A quantitative approach was employed with 87 mathematics teachers from purposively selected schools from Gauteng, East, West, and South of South Africa. Semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews were employed to collect required data for this study. A questionnaire with closed questions was used for data collection. Data were analysed using SPSS22, which is a quantitative analysis program. The findings from this research established that teachers’ attitudes measured by enjoyment, motivation, perceived value, and self-confidence are a very important factor for teachers’ choices of using interactive whiteboards. The study recommended that for effective use, teachers need to receive continuous support in the schools where IWBs were installed. The findings of this study offer valuable insights, such as adding knowledge into the role of attitudes in IWB adoption and affirming the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) model as one of the models that can be used to ascertain their intention for adoption.

Keywords:

Interactive whiteboards, mathematics education, attitudes, teaching, theory of reasoned action.