iwbinpractice

With applications by practitioners from  a great variety of EU countries (n = 8) and beyond (n=2) this edition of the Utrecht SummerSchool again promises to be an interesting event for getting ideas on and sharing knowledge about innovative language teaching.   

Still some places available but...the registration deadline (May 31)  for this Comenius course is approaching fast now.

More information and registration at: 
http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/index.php?type=courses&code=S5

'Designing activities for the 2.0 Language Classroom' is offered by the Faculties of Education of Heidelberg and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences in conjunction with the Utrecht University Summer School.
The course is one of the results of the EU-project 'MICaLL'. (also see Dooly, M. (ed.) (2008) Telecollaborative language learning. Moderating intercultural collaboration and language learning. A guidebook to moderating intercultural collaboration online. Bern: Peter Lang.)

This 7-day, international course explores WEB 2.0 applications such as Wiki and Web-logging, real-time communication (Videoconferencing and 3D Virtual Worlds) and the LanguageQuest 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. We are proud to have Euline Cutrim Schmid  share her IWB-expertise for a full day .

And, BTW, Euline is also partner in our EU-project application. 

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.

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.

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.