Abstract

Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are now commonplace in primary schools in the UK. The IWB allows direct interaction with images, text and video on a large touch-sensitive screen. It can provide easy access to the internet and to material entered by a teacher or by children, which can be saved and revisited in subsequent lessons. The IWB seems to have great potential as a tool for supporting a dialogic classroom pedagogy, whether in teacher-led lesson phases or when pupils are asked to work collaboratively in semi-autonomous activity. Yet this focus on the connected nature of a specific pedagogical stance and specific tool use has been given scant attention in a literature that seems dominated by the notion of the ‘transformation of pedagogy’ through technology. This session will explore the idea of the development of a dialogic pedagogy in relation to two research projects that have focused on the use of the IWB in classrooms. In one study, group activity at the IWB in twelve primary science classrooms was examined. The importance of established collaborative practices in the classroom, the type of task at the IWB and the nature of teacher mediation are all issues that were highlighted in considering how the groups interacted at the IWB . In the second study, the developing pedagogies of three teachers were examined in relation to their use of the IWB . This project, which included extensive inter-connected research and development activities in addition to the collection of video and other data, indicates that IWB use can be instrumental in promoting dialogic approaches in the classroom. However, an in-depth knowledge of IWB functionality appears to be less important than teacher understanding of how the tool might serve a dialogic intention in teaching and learning.