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.
 

 Passing on some sites suggested by Elizabeth Caspari to the Smartboard Revolution NING community:

Downloadables for French, Spanish, German:
http://technology.usd259.org/resources/whiteboards/smart-lessons/fo...

This site also has Powerpoints. For Smart Notebook files, do an advanced search under Modern Foreign Languages and interactive white boards:
http://tre.ngfl.gov.uk/

Commisioned by Kennisnet, the Dutch national e-educational service provider for schools, I participate in a programme of the Faculty of Education of the Hogeschool Utrecht to introduce school ICT-coordinators to the pedagogical use of IWBs.

As these trainings take place across the country naturally I am confronted with a variey of IWB hard- and software. Consequently I try to include materials developed for various file formats in my presentations. Hence I keenly follow the interoperability issue with regards to IWBs. It is with renewed hope :-) that I pass on the message published at opencourceschools below:

European governments and organisations are helping to make it easier for schools and colleges to share resources and use interactive whiteboards.
Becta has made a technical specification available for a common file format for interactive whiteboards, and a viewer application and further support will follow in autumn 2009.

Check out the full post here

NB. Next to a course on Web 2.0 for Modern Languages we also run an international course on the use of IWBs in specific disciplines.

More and more great sites are popping up that allow teachers to search for and use quality images inside the classroom.

Using related images on digiboards in the language classroom is a great way to:

•  engage students and provide a supporting visual aid to the subject matter.
• use as a trigger and support  for fluency activities

Check out these resources for starters:

• UVic's Language Teaching Clipart Library
• edupics.com
• Pics4Learning

Source: Teachers love Smartboards

What with the scarcity of shareable open source IWB-content, particularly for Modern Languages, I am happy to pass on this blogpost at The Whiteboard Blog as it looks such good news! 

I have always been a big fan of both Smart Notebook and ActivStudio/Primary. I am less of a fan of the software that runs on other interactive whiteboards. They just don’t have the useability that I am looking for. I have also found that these the makers of these boards have not really invested in developing banks of resources for their users. Try looking for a Hitachi flipchart anywhere online and you’ll see what I mean.

The solution for users of these boards was either to struggle on with the software provided with your board or purchase a third party piece of software such as RM Easiteach. The third option was to use Smart Notebook or ActivSoftware in breach of the user licence - which is not something you should really be doing.

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).

ActivInspire also opens (and converts) Smart Notebook files (for now). So whiteboard users running ActivInspire can pretty much get access to the majority of IWB files available on the Internet. For example on my site I have files I produced only as Smart - those files can now be used by any ActivInspire user. How long it will be before Smart releases a update patch that stops Promethean from opening their files, only time will tell. I hope they don’t - I’d like to see resources made more open for teachers, not locked into proprietary formats.

 For teachers in schools that have mixed platforms, and I have been in many, it can be a real problem to have materials you have written to use on the Smartboard in your classroom only to find the room you are now timetabled in has a Promethean board - or a Hitachi board etc. Schools could now put the personal version on all computers to give teachers a common platform which they could use if they wish.

It’s worth making clear that the Personal Edition of ActivInspire is a cut down version. It does not have all the tools that the full version has. You can see a comparison chart here. It does not have design mode, or desktop annotation, or screen recorder. There’s no handwriting recognition, or dice tools or on-screen keyboards. But these are often tools people can do without. And if you do llike the software the school can purchase the full version of the ActivInspire anyway.

More on this at the Source: The Whiteboard Blog

TeqSmart is a compagny that promotes the use of Smart Boards in Education. They also produce templates advertised as Learning Objects. According to the firm they ...[] are designed to take full advantage of the capabilities of the interactive whiteboard. Our current Learning Objects include more than twenty-five interactive maps, manipulatives, games and templates. Designed for teachers and students they are fun, easy to use, and simple enough to support any teaching style.

Learning Objects allow teachers and students to exchange ideas. They contain interactive information built in multiple layers that can be compared, contrasted and enhanced. 

So far I could find only one product 'the word bucket' that they advertise as cross-curriculum and that possibly could be of interest to language specialist (although the picture, IMO, suggests only a trivial contribution to the educational process...)