Guidelines
In 2010, the IWB Working Group work is developing guidelines that will be of interest to policy makers, teachers, educational researchers and equipment providers:
 

 

Guidelines for Effective School/Classroom Use of IWBs (EuSCRIBE project)

The IWB Working Group, with the support of four IWB vendors (eInstruction, Mimio, Promethean Ltd., SMART Technologies) has developed Guidelines for Effective School/Classroom use of IWBs. This work was led by Diana Bannister at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK under the project name EuScribe - European Schools and Classroom Research on Interactive whiteBoards in Education.

Aim of the study

The aim of these guidelines is to develop an international understanding of how, in practice, the use of IWB technology should be employed to deliver educational benefits. A further aim is to ensure that these technologies are fully exploited in support of learner outcomes.
The guidelines enable Ministries of Education that are introducing IWBs to take advantage of lessons learned from other countries’ experiences in order to maximise national investment strategies and achieve value for money in the following ways:
  • The study can influence the types of technologies purchased by facilitating a better understanding of what functional requirements are required for different educational scenarios and contexts.
  • The study can underpin training programmes by ensuring that users of IWB technology are informed on how to make best use of IWB resources.

Methodology

The methodology adopted for this study include: a literature review; interviews and discussions with both policy-makers and IWB suppliers; interviews with individual practitioners across Europe and discussions with focus groups of teachers in different countries; and visits to schools in Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and the UK.

Findings

The seven themes below have emerged as the key headings from within this research. The EuSCRIBE project demonstrates that effective implementation of IWB technology links many aspects of whole school development and can be the trigger to address curriculum innovation and improvement. Each of these guidelines has been presented in turn with the questions and discussion that have been gathered with the support of practitioners who shared evidence of their work with the EuSCRIBE team.
    1. Leadership and Organisation
    2. Purchase, Installation and Maintenance
    3. Access
    4. Classroom Management
    5. Learning and Teaching
    6. Training and Continuing Professional Development
    7. Resources

The full EuSCRIBE report and guidelines can be downloaded here.

Making the most of your Interactive Whiteboard is a shorter version of the guidelines that can be downloaded here. The guidelines have been translated in Czech, German and Italian.

 

IWB Procurement Guidelines

The IWB Working Group, with the support of four IWB vendors (eInstruction, DYMO/Mimio, Promethean Ltd., SMART Technologies) has developed IWB procurement Guidelines. This work was carried out by EdICTs, a UK educational consultancy organisation.

Aim of the study

This study includes desk-based research that consolidates information from both Ministries of Education and IWB vendors, supplemented by vendor demonstrations and documentation and a programme of online questionnaires and telephone interviews. These guidelines support purchasing decisions in a number of ways. For example:

  • How to judge when a school or other educational institution has reached a sufficient level of technical maturity to make best use of the technology.
  • Which technical functionality supports what specific educational scenario or context.
  • How the technology can support different teaching and learning strategies.
  • Functional requirements and technical specifications (including minimum technical requirements, and product warranties)
  • Implementation guidance, including training requirements.
  • Guidance on obtaining and sharing content.

The full IWB Procurement Guidelines report can be downloaded here.

A shorter version of these guidelines are currently being prepared for small scale procurement exercises.