The Four in Balance Monitor  is an annual research report, commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Education. It gives educators and other interested parties insight into the use and benefits of ICT in education. What trends can be distinguished? What do teachers and school managers think about the pedagogical possibilities of ICT? What is the situation regarding the ICT skills of teachers and pupils? 

As an ICT-E consultant I appreciate its longitudinal dimension: it provides realistic insights and shows developments and trends in educational practice (see e.g. this previous blogpost). Driven by my current interest in the use of IWBs I selected the following paragraphs:

Effectiveness of interactive whiteboards uncertain
In the United Kingdom, a great deal of research has been done on the learning effects of interactive whiteboards compared to blackboards (Somekh et al., 2007). Although it has been shown that using an interactive whiteboard can have a positive effect on learning results, the occurrence of such an effect depends on more factors than solely the use of this technology.

Benefits of using ICT
It has been established that after two years of lessons with an interactive whiteboard, pupils are between ten weeks and five months further in maths than pupils who worked with a blackboard. This applies to pupils who are already good at maths. Pupils who are behind in maths in fact profit far less from the use of an interactive whiteboard. Paradoxically enough, the use of interactive whiteboards in chemistry lessons has the opposite effect;
pupils who performed badly in the first instance caught up amply with their more “chemistry-oriented” classmates. These examples show that it is important to ask not only whether interactive whiteboards (and other ICT applications) are effective but also to consider who benefits from their use and under what circumstances.

Instruction and interaction
One advantage of using interactive whiteboards that is often mentioned is that they can give an interactive impetus to whole-class teaching. Although interactive whiteboards offer options for involving pupils in the lesson more actively – because they can use the whiteboard themselves, give presentations, do exercises, and make a contribution by means of voting panels – in practice these options are only used to a very small extent (Levy, 2002, Fisser, 2008).
Small-scale experiments with work on an interactive whiteboard show promising results. Pupils who work in small independent groups on maths problems, for example, are active, motivated, and involved when they work together on problems using an interactive whiteboard. They also get better marks for maths (Coetsier, 2009). A study of history teaching using with an interactive whiteboard show that pupils who used it were better able to apply their historical knowledge at other times and places (De Kock, 2008).

The results of research on the use of interactive whiteboards support the general principles for effective use of ICT. If the teacher has digital
learning materials that are of real practical use and has been properly trained in using them and in the pedagogical possibilities, then an
interactive whiteboard can be beneficial for the teaching/learning. If these conditions are not met, then there is little or no added value in using an interactive whiteboard.

These findings match well with conclusions  I reached in my metastudy of research reports on IWBs in Education (Koenraad, 2008)

 The English version of the ICT-Monitor is available for download here

With the growing number of organisations that ask me to support their implementation activities for interactive whiteboards I am frequently confronted with the issue of the incompatibility of content for the current whiteboard brands (also see this earlier blogpost where I referred to this problem). Various bloggers I follow of course also report on this. I am passing on the start of a 2009 post on WhiteBoard Blog :

[...]I’ve been thinking over the last few days about the implications of the ActivInspire launch for users of other boards. And I think it’s pretty big news for everyone who uses an interactive whiteboard.

The launch of the Personal Edition of ActivInspire is quite a major thing and is an interesting development by Promethean to open up their resource library to everyone, something I’ve always felt that they wanted to protect for their boards only.

Now it should be possible for the user of any interactive whiteboard to download and run ActivInspire Personal Edition on their board legally. This gives them the basic whiteboard tools, plus more importantly access to open and use all of the Promethean flipcharts available on Promethean Planet, and on other websites (such as mine)...

Find the original and more here

Invited by the ICT-coordinator of the LanguageCenter of Tilburg University I recently did a presentation on IWBs for the centre's team. A number of boards will be installed there shortly and the session therefore was meant as a warming-up session to present some features and their application specifically for language teaching.
I was pleased to hear that the implementation plan also involves further professional development. After all, as I also concluded  in my metastudy of research literature (Koenraad, 2008) on added value and effects of digiboard use, qualitative good training, closely related to the subject being taught, is of vital importance to enhance chances to create and optimalise added value of IWB use. Check out the pdf-version on SlideShare .

Remarkable development in the IWB-market.  No special boards needed anymore to create interactive surfaces. Read more here

Thanks to Rich White on Twitter

In conjunction with the Utrecht University Summer School

the Faculties of Education of Heidelberg and Utrecht Universities of Applied Sciences offer a 7-day, international course exploring WEB 2.0 applications such as Wiki and Web-logging, real-time communication (Videoconferencing and 3D Virtual Worlds) and the Language Quest format for integrating the World Wide Web into classroom teaching.
Besides, the course location in the brand-new building of the Faculty of Education in Utrecht, the Netherlands, allows for demonstration of good practices of and personal training in the use of Interactive Whiteboards.

Intended participants are practising (student) language teachers, teacher trainers and materials developers. Dates: 10-07-2010 - 16-07-2010
More information and registration at: http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/index.php?type=courses&code=S5
Persons eligible for EU Comenius Grants can apply at their National Agency for compensation of costs for travel, accommodation and fees for this course. The deadline for grant applications is January 15, 2010, but please confirm with your National Agency for country-specific deadlines.

N.B. Participants who would like to extend their visit to the Netherlands can apply for an additional period of campus accommodation at 135 Euro per week.

Have you seen the great work that Joe Dale does with interactive whiteboards? Joe, a former middle school teacher, has recently taken up a post with CILT, the National Centre for Languages, London..

 In this Teacher TV link he stimulates Year One primary teacher Lise Bosher to to improve her presentation skills using ICT.

After observing one of Joe's classes, Lise returns to her own classroom to put the presentation technology she has learned into action

Find Joe's blog here.
http://joedale.typepad.com

Dutch schools are quickly embracing the use of interactive whiteboards and many of them procured one or more last year. Of primary schools, 67% already have at least one interactive whiteboard (increase in past year: 19%); the percentage is even higher at secondary schools (93%), an increase of 33%. There has also been a major increase at vocational schools (27%) up to a total of 67%.

If the schools’ own forecasts are accurate, virtually every primary school(95%) and secondary school (98%) will have one or more interactive whiteboards within two years time. At vocational schools, less of an increase is expected (from 67% in 2009 to 76% in 2011).

Source: Four in Balance Monitor, 2009

On a more personal note: informal reports during private conversation with schoolmanagers and practitioners indicate that -despite availability- language teachers' actual IWB-use lags behind colleagual practice in other departments.

TESOL CALL-IS EVO Sessions

 Have a look at these excellent and free opportunities for online professional developement, offered by TESOL.

For IWB-related professional development I point to 2 courses in particular:

One on Interactive Whiteboards: the pedagogy, the tools and resources. More info on Smart Teaching here:

http://evosessions.pbworks.com/Smart_Teaching_with_IWB

Also useful in relation with IWB-use, IMO, a course on Images and Education. Sign up for the Images and Educaton  sessions  on Jan 4th, 2010 at http://images4education2010.ning.comhttp://images4education2010.ning.com

The WordAhead site allows you to choose from hundreds of words to review in video format. Each video uses graphics, text, and audio to describe the word, give it's definition, and present the word in various contextual situations to provide a deeper understanding of the word. You can also view the videos in fullscreen which is great for displaying on the SMARTBoard.

Source: Teachers love Smartboards

Just passing on these suggestions made on the ICT-section of the Primary Languages site:

[...] With just some very basic techniques, the interactive whiteboard can be used for a wide range of enjoyable and challenging activities: The children (and I) enjoy moving words, sentences and pictures around the board for labelling pictures or to construct sentences. Such fun! (Cathy O'Brien, Leading Practitioner from Abbotts Primary, Collyhurst Manchester).

Try using the interactive whiteboard to highlight linguistic features in different colours. This simple idea is ideal for use when encouraging children to develop their knowledge about language. 

Invite the children to the interactive whiteboard to 'make' a pizza - this activity also presents good opportunities to talk about weights and quantities with the support of images. Follow these steps:

• Display a range of pictures of different toppings and large pizza base on the whiteboard.
• Following your instructions, children come to the board to move different toppings onto the base to create their own pizza, pronouncing the names of the toppings they have chosen. 
• The children could then ask classmates to come up with a name for their pizza or to suggest other toppings that they would prefer.
• This could lead into a class discussion around which foods the children like and healthy eating. Together you could conduct a survey of opinions to display as a graph or chart on the whiteboard.
• Children could go on to make real pizzas in pairs or small groups, using digital cameras to take photos of the preparation. These images could then be included in a Powerpoint presentation with simple instructions showing how it was made... and eaten!

Making links

ICT has a huge role to play in helping you to forge cross-curricular links. Numeracy, literacy, investigative skills, design technology, art and music can all be combined with languages using ICT. Working across a range of subject areas, children can use equipment such as digital cameras and camcorders, and hone their skills using programmes such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word.

For instance, this video clip of work around the artist Kandinsky on the Training Zone shows a class exploring the links between art, shapes and language. For further examples of opportunities for cross-curricular links, visit primary languages ezine issue 6.

Ask children to research the weather in Mallorca, Hamburg and Nice using the internet - this could lead to a presentation about weather in different parts of Europe, perhaps with weather charts imported into a simple PowerPoint presentation.

Spin and Spell  is a nice website for  practising English / American spelling skills.

Challenges are presented as pictures combined with audio. Input of answers is IWB-friendly.
A basic set of words are covered, organised in 5 lexical sets such as Food, Transport and Animals. 
Target group seems to be young learners of American English.

On Saturday, September 12, Ton Koenraad presented a paper at the EUROCALL 2009 Conference, reporting on progress of 2 IWB projects.

The projects were briefly outlined and current status reported:  Euline Cutrim Schmid's research project on IWB-training and the Community of Practice and resources development (at this site).

Thanks to the cooperation of the Spanish branch of the SMART company a SmartBoard was provided to also demonstrate some of the IWB affordances and their relevance for language education.

For more information see the abstract here or download the PPT. 

The paper 'Interactive Whiteboards in educational practice: the research literature reviewed' has been made available for download here .  This publication was planned as background information for the Utrecht University Summerschool course 'Using Interactive Whiteboards to support discipline-specific pedagogies'.
A recently published Dutch version, produced for the Expertise Centre on DigiBoards at the Hogeschool Utrecht, was well received.
Kennisnet, the Dutch National Schoolnet referred to it and on some Edublogs the study was characterised as 'worth reading' (ICT op school) and 'balanced report' (Wilfried Rubens)

A similar study, focussing on IWB-use specifically in language education is under construction.

Contrary to expectations (mine at least) the bad economic situation also seems to affect some sectors of the educational domain. My own Faculty management reports such heavy weather that I was given to understand that (international) co-financed project work was no longer financially interesting/feasible. On top of that, the number of subscriptions we got for our international IWB summercourse was also not sufficient to at least have a break-even result.

So - as it appeared not only to our own regret-  we had to cancel it. Meaning we will have to wait another year to see such happy faces in a group of participants.

 Finally, to end the academic year on a more positive tone, we also started a NING group specifically for Dutch MFL teachers.
And furthermore, allow me to indulge in sharing some personal news.  Although I had to forego my holiday in Italy due to troubles at work I was offered this lovely house near Montpellier in France.

So the historical words of our national soccer hero (and philosophical guru :-)),Johan Kruyff, apply again: every disadvantage always comes with an advantage!

Enjoy your holidays!  

"2Simple French" is a software suite with lots of activities for learning French with a special focus on  vocabulary.

This is how the publisher 2Simple , winner of the BETT 2009 Award for ICT Company of the Year, describes the contents:

• The French units including ‘My Family’, ‘Animals’, ‘Food’ and ‘Colour’ are enhanced with interactive games for the whole class, pairs or individuals as well as activities to explore French culture.
• 2Simple French also has many creative screens where children use tools, clipart, French phrases or free typing to create cards, cartoons, diaries or posters to apply the language they have learnt.

I can recommend viewing the video as it provides a good impression of the activity types and their contents.

Click here for an overview of 2Simple French

Euline Cutrim Schmid and I share an interest in promoting the pedagogically sound use of IWBs in language education. We collaborate in many ways, sharing relevant research data and papers. We also develop and run training sessions for teachers. And we are partners in the Utrecht Summercourse team. 
A recent initiative for a short term project, the co-production of a conference paper,  can now materialise as our paper proposal on IWBs in language education was selected for presentation at the EuroCALL 2009 Conference in Spain. Here is the abstract.

Abstract: The research literature points out several positive pedagogical benefits of Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) in education, such as a) facilitating the integration of new media in the regular language classroom, b) enhancing the scope of interactivity and learner engagement in the lesson, c) supporting the development of so-called “electronic literacies”, and d) meeting the needs of students with diverse learning styles (aural, visual and kinaesthetic) through the use of multiple media. A review of the recent research literature shows that for IWB-use to contribute to the improvement of student attainment teachers’ pedagogical views, knowledge and media literacy are important factors.
As IWBs also gradually find their way into language classrooms across the world, the investment in good quality training on the pedagogical use of this technology becomes increasingly important. The more so since the current, relatively rare documentation and research of IWB-practices in modern language education has also triggered the debate on the potential threat of this technology to the principles of communicative teaching. Central in the concerns expressed by a number of researchers and educationalists is the question whether use of IWBs in the language classroom will lead to a return to the whole-class teaching of the last century?
This paper discusses possible ways of exploiting electronic presentation technologies to support the development of a pedagogical practice based on a socio-cognitive view of communicative teaching, which is in line with the latest developments in language teaching research and practice.
The illustrations are drawn from a professional development project in Germany and a Dutch initiative to remedy the shortage of good practice descriptions and publicly accessible IWB-materials for modern foreign languages. The German study investigates English teachers’ pedagogical needs and developmental paths as they integrate interactive whiteboard technology into the curriculum. The study is being carried out in the form of seven in-depth longitudinal case studies with English teachers at different levels of technology expertise and teaching experience.
The presentation of this paper will be supported by a live demo on a Smart Board.
 

SpellingCity, you guessed it, offers spelling practice.

The SpellingCity software recently won the honour of being "SMART Board Ready" as they've redesigned all of their activities to work by touching or dragging objects. Their games will also be revised so that they can be displayed in full-screen!
Next to online spelling test, there is TeachMe. It spells and displays the word in ways that stimulate memory for visual and verbal learners. And all sorts of other activities such as WordSearchhat, UnScramble, WhichWord?, Sentence UnScramble and MissingLetter.

Source:  Teachers Love Smartboards

This item in the April issue of the EU Schoolnet newsletter struck me:

A European Schoolnet interactive whiteboard working group intends to find common areas of concern, sharing experience, highlighting policy and identifying examples of innovative use of interactive whiteboards in the countries represented by the group (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom).

The working group will publish a set of case studies on the introduction and use of interactive whiteboards, highlighting examples of:

• current best practice
• the challenges faced by schools in countries that are at an early stage of introducing these technologies
• schools that have implemented similar pedagogical approaches using a range of alternative technologies.

During its work, the group will also:

• examine different strategies for the professional development of teachers in relation to interactive whiteboards
• encourage interactive whiteboard vendors to make content more widely available via the European Schoolnet's new learning resource exchange service for schools
• investigate how issues related to interactive whiteboard use can be addressed more coherently at a European level.

I intend to find out more about this initiative as I think these are welcome goals and also because I am curious to find out why  the Netherlands, where IWBs are currently rapidly gaining popularity in Education,  is not participating.