In May 2007, Smart Technologies organised a seminar in the Microsoft School Technology Centre in Brussels, Belgium. The aim of the meeting was to familiarise teachers and other interested parties with the practical applications of the SMART interactive whiteboards. Participants included teachers who actively use the whiteboards in their teaching practice as well as a number of speakers who drew on the enhanced applications of interactive whiteboards.

A number of real life activities and applications were presented both by the representatives of SMART Technologies and hands-on users of interactive whiteboards. Herman Vermeiren, head teacher at Vrije Basisschool 'De Minnestraal' in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, gave an overview of the use of interactive whiteboards in his school. He presented an interesting approach of introducing whiteboards in the school and he referred to the experience of using the whiteboards in teaching and learning.

In this article Herman Vermeiren describes how interactive whiteboards were introduced into his school and the impact of their introduction.

1. Implementation

Our primary school which consists of 345 children is situated in the suburbs of a small Belgian village, Lebbeke, near Brussels. Lebbeke is located in a rural district in the East of Flanders. Our mother-tongue is Dutch, however French is also on the curriculum as a second language starting from year 5. At the moment there are 7 Smart Interactive whiteboards starting from year 4 (students at the age of 10)

The implementation of the interactive whiteboards came about in two phases.

• Phase 1: Two teachers who are involved in teaching students at the age of 10 (year 4) attended a seminar about the introduction of interactive whiteboards at a resellers information centre. They became very enthusiastic about using Smart Board to support the learning process and immediately envisaged the direct benefits of using interactive whiteboards during lessons. A few months later two Smart Boards were installed in their classrooms, which turned out to be beneficial both for students and teachers. 
  
• Phase 2: Colleagues were intrigued by the enthusiasm of those two teachers and started to ask a lot of questions about the interactive whiteboards. The subject turned out to be a hot item during breaks and staff meetings.  These teachers who were the pioneers in using the interactive whiteboards gave instruction lessons to interested colleagues from their own school as well as to colleagues from other schools. On demand of staff more interactive whiteboards were introduced in the classrooms of year 5 and 6 from the subsequent school year. However, there were some obstacles with regard to the introduction of the interactive whiteboards. These referred to financial constraints since interactive whiteboards are still quite expensive. The financial means for the purchase of interactive whiteboards were allocated by the school itself. However, it required the transfer of funds from the previously planned investment to a different one.

2. Rationale and benefits of using an interactive whiteboard

Adding visual support to the learning process

According to learning theories there are two kinds of learning individuals. Those who learn by hearing (left brained person; auditory students) and those who learn through images (right brained person; visual students). In short, the left hemisphere of the brain is dominant for languages (verbal learning) and the right hemisphere is dominant for visual imagery (non-verbal learning). With the arrival of interactive whiteboards teachers can add visual support to the learning process. The distinctive feature of interactive whiteboards includes the possibility to show images which cannot only move but also produce sound. As a result, interactive whiteboard can be compared to a modern ‘cinema’ which is extremely appealing to students.  In comparison with traditional whiteboards, it can also be regarded as a big computer screen and a touching panel in one. Hence, students have the possibility to ‘touch’ the object they are studying, revolve it and see it from a different angle, which is often the case in geometry; in other words, they can visualise and understand the concepts easier. Interactive whiteboards are also very colourful and provide the teacher with a unique possibility to print out the handouts directly from the board. This immediately raises students’ interest and equips them with the printed material from the lesson, which additionally fosters the development of visual thinking skills. The visual component has been one of a number of criteria an interactive whiteboard should meet.

More involvement, enthusiasm and better concentration

The interactive way of teaching makes children more involved, more enthusiastic and more concentrated during lessons. The interactivity of the lesson is strongly connected with the ability to use a number of computer-based applications in the teaching process including internet-based activities and resources. Obviously, this is not new as computers are recognised as a teaching tool in all countries. However, with regards to interactive whiteboards we can talk about enhanced interactivity. Students can touch the interactive whiteboard with their fingers or answer the questions by writing the answer on the board, all of that without any need to use the keyboard or mouse which somehow limit students’ ability to express freely.

The nature of interactive whiteboards allows for stimulative teaching in which everybody is equal since all students respond to the provided stimulus. This can be achieved due to the increased interest in interactive whiteboards. Such interest raises from the fact that it is a relatively new teaching tool, students are frequently not familiar with. As a result, the pupils expect something new and fun at the same time. Such demands can be met by re-designing and re-structuring the learning process which can be done with the help of interactive whiteboards. The process of teaching in which interactive whiteboards are used is focused more on teaching students how to learn, how to ask questions and how to find answers to such questions. In other words, it provides a stimulus for children to develop, to grow and to succeed in the future. It also has positive effects on behaviour, motivation, and enhanced communication and processing skills as students who are truly interested in the subject learn faster and more effectively.

Interactive whiteboards can help to motivate different types of learners.

Some pupils are intrinsically motivated to learn on their own, others require extrinsic motivation such as incentives, rewards or teacher-defined goals.

• Intrinsically motivated learners enjoy demonstrating their knowledge on the interactive whiteboard as a means of showcasing individual achievements
• Extrinsically motivated learners are enticed by the “wow factor” and are motivated by the enjoyment of using the technology
• Interactive whiteboards are dynamic and compete successfully with students’ favourite consumer technologies (e.g. PC games, cell phones, MP3 players) and help to keep students focused and on task.

Use of multimedia resources

Interactive whiteboards enable teachers to use multimedia resources and the Internet with an entire group of students, which is particularly useful when teaching ICT skills. Interactive whiteboards allow computer-based learning without isolating students in front of individual computer screens. Their large, visible workspace encourages a higher level of student interaction in both teacher-directed and group-based exchanges.

Multimedia and interactive content on interactive whiteboards is engaging and motivating for pupils and teachers. Also, children have some influence on the content of a lesson. It is vital to note that the main role of the teacher changes from the traditional role of instructor. The teacher becomes more a facilitator now as his/ her main role is to facilitate the process of learning. Let’s imagine an activity in which students are asked to put the historical events in order of their occurrence. The list of such events could appear on the board together with the timeline. Students’ task would be to drag the event and place it on the timeline. The teacher’s role would be to encourage students to make reasoned decisions, however it’s the software which is responsible for providing students with the correct answer or checking if the answer given is correct. Consequently, students learn from each other, interact with other students and can ask the teacher for clarification whenever it is needed. The teacher is no longer the sole-knowledge provider, therefore the relationship between the pupils and the teachers changes. Hence, students are provided with an opportunity to learn more effectively as the barriers between the teacher (the master) and the pupil (the subordinate) change dramatically.

Gains in preparation time

There are a number of other advantages with regards to the use of interactive whiteboards. One of them concerns the reduced lesson preparation time. The interesting feature of the interactive whiteboards is that they allow teachers to create stimulating and engaging activities. Also, given the fact that such activities are created by other fellow teachers, a modern teacher is equipped with a huge number of interactive exercises. The simplest activities can be prepared within a couple of minutes and ‘hot potato’, the teacher-oriented software, seems to be an invaluable tool here. Once the exercises are prepared, the teacher can modify or adapt them easily to the needs of the class. As a result, such exercises can be re-used, which means that there is no need to spend extra time on preparing new teaching resources. Even though one might think that this may lead to repetitive and boring lessons, in reality this is not the case. One exercise which has proved to be interesting to a group of students will most likely be also attractive to another group of students. Apart from exercises designed by teachers, there is also a vast repertoire of other teaching materials. These can be easily downloaded from the Internet. They are also attached to the course books. Consequently, teachers can approach their lessons in a different way, give livelier lessons and add more variety to the lessons, as well as make use of cross curricular approaches.

The interactive whiteboard has also proved to promote good behaviour in our school by making use of the ‘traffic light tool’. The idea behind the tool which aims to introduce the elements of discipline is extremely simple. Whenever students are on task, an image of traffic lights appears on the interactive board. The teacher has the possibility to change the colours of the lights depending on the behaviour of the students. Whenever students are on task, the light is green; if they start getting too noisy, the light changes the colour into amber. And, finally, when the students are totally distracted the colour changes into red. This is a clear indication for students that the amount of playtime at the end of the lesson will be diminished. The software and the image of the traffic lights can be accessed from http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/other/flash/traffic.swf

The interactive whiteboards have been used in our school for more than two years now. Working with an interactive whiteboard has been a truly refreshing experience in our school. It allows a teacher to engage fully in the process of teaching and learning. Even though we had to overcome the financial difficulties at the very beginning, I can only say that it was worth the effort. The students achieve better results and are more willing to learn. They enjoy their lessons and know that each lesson will be different. Teachers, on the other hand, can focus more on individual needs of their students. Also, they can reduce the lesson preparation time whereas the quality of teaching is maintained at the very high level. This can be proved by excellent exam results of our students. I strongly advocate the idea of using interactive whiteboards in the process of teaching.

Links to Smart Board interactive tools:
www.subtangent.com
www.topmarks.co.uk
www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk
www.primaryresources.co.uk/other/flash/traffic.swf

Herman Vermeiren
Headteacher
Vrije Basisschool ‘De Minnestraal’
Lebbeke Belgium
herman.vermeiren@scarlet.be
http://www.minnestraal.be