Abstract:
As computer-related technologies continue to evolve teachers face constant pressure to accommodate and implement new technologies into their repertoire of teaching pedagogies and techniques. This paper investigates the impact on teachers and their teaching following the acquisition and installation of six interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in one Victorian secondary school. The report concentrates on the perspectives of the teaching and senior administrative staff, and is an analysis and discussion of data relevant to these perspectives gathered as part of a larger ongoing project. Data was collected through whole-staff questionnaires, focus group interviews, observation and video-recording of lessons in which teachers used IWBs, and subsequent video-stimulated interviews with these teachers. Findings are related to a range of issues including teachers being stimulated to modify pedagogical strategies by the potential of an innovative technology and then grappling with the practicalities of infusing the use of a new technology into daily teaching practice, problems of technological access and malfunctions, and teacher perceptions of the benefits to students from the innovative IWB technology.