Interactive Whiteboard Research

I reviewed chapter 1 of "Engaging Learners with Interactive Whiteboards" by Blanche O'Bannon and Misty Anderson. The purpose of an interactive whiteboard is to enhance your students' learning environment by having interactivity during your lesson. Although many school systems have started using interactive whiteboards, there is little research on the effects they serve in engaging students. The three main interactive whiteboard companies are Promethean, SMART, and Mimio.

Effective Use
It has been proven that an effective use for student learning is having the interactive whiteboard features combined with sound instructional strategies. Some important features that ensure effective use of the interactive whiteboard in enhancing students engagement is having students highlight, draw by circling key words or phrases, annotate, or zoom throughout the lesson. Students can hide and reveal answers, drag, drop, or match items such as definitions that make learning fun. Pictures and multimedia content can be helpful in engaging students. In addition to this, collaborative problem solving by shared reading and peer teaching is an effective way to use your interactive whiteboard in the classroom. Teachers are able to provide visual feedback by using interactive whiteboards to fill in the correct answer or visually work through a problem. Students are able to have a response system that is used for classroom purposes such as surveys, polls, and quizzes.

Instructional Benefits

Several students using the interactive whiteboard to fill
in the food chain.

Research that has been done on interactive whiteboards within the classroom have concluded that there has been improvements in the following areas:

• active learning 
• classroom management 
• lesson organization and flow 
• flexibility in handling lesson materials 

Instruction can also be enhanced by various techniques and strategies that increase students' attention, motivation, participation, and collaboration.

Student Achievement 
There have been some inconsistent findings when research has been done on interactive whiteboards and student achievement. However, one study that was conducted  by Lewin, Somekh, and Steadman (2008) revealed that there were positive gains in literacy, math, and science for students ages 7-11. These findings were related to how much time was spent teaching with the interactive whiteboard, and the gains were from children average or above average ability. There was little effect on lower achieving students. In 2009, Marzano and Haystead conducted a study and concluded that three features of the interactive whiteboard were statistically linked to achievement:

1. student response systems 
2. graphics and videos
3. reinforcer properties

Although there have been some inconsistent findings, these are two great examples of student achievement using the interactive whiteboards in classrooms.

Student using the interactive whiteboard to fill in the time.

Instructional Challenges
Although many teachers now have interactive whiteboards in their classrooms, not many teachers use these boards effectively. The most common issue is that teachers only use these interactive whiteboards to project information or materials, and disregard the interactive aspect that students can engage in and benefit from the most. Another challenge is when the interactive whiteboard fails to cooperate with the lesson that the teacher has planned due to technological issues. This can be frustrating and time consuming to get fixed during class. Because of this, many teachers stop using them because of the risk of technological malfunction. Many school systems lack the technology support staff that helps teachers when they have questions or problems with their interactive whiteboards.

Teacher Training
Teacher training on how to use and incorporate interactive whiteboards in the classroom is the key to overcoming instructional challenges. Teacher training and professional development is fundamental on the effective use of interactive whiteboards. Training should start in teacher training programs and continue into the school setting. Teacher training should include the use of online manuals, videos, and webinars. The frequent use of interactive whiteboards is positively related to teacher competencies. The more teachers use interactive whiteboards in their classrooms, the more research will be done on the effects on student learning from this type of technology.