Getting the Most From Your Interactive Whiteboard Investment: Three Guiding Principles for Designing Effective Professional Development

Abstract

The adoption of interactive whiteboards (IWB) in many schools outpaced the delivery of adequate professional development on their use. Many teachers receive IWBs without adequate training on methods to use the technology to improve their instruction. Consequently, IWBs remain an underutilized resource in many classrooms. Teachers who are given IWBs require purposeful, scaffolded, and sustained professional development to maximize the IWB's potential. This article identifies three promising professional development practices for teaching educators how to use IWBs effectively. The literature describing effective technology professional development suggests it should (1) build efficacy by scaffolding the instruction of new tasks, (2) establish long-term collaborative partnerships among teachers, and (3) include positive supervision that encourages teacher self-reflection and measures student engagement with digital media using the IWB. Professional-development designers can increase the effectiveness of their instruction by incorporating these principles into their training.

Exploring the Effects of Professional Development for the Interactive Whiteboard on Teachers’ Technology Self-Efficacy

“…They include (1) sustaining a cohesive and directed program of professional development over a period of months or years, (2) designing professional development that invites teacher collaboration and includes teachers in positions of leadership, and (3) scaffolding teachers' learning by ensuring they master basic skills before attempting more complicated tasks (DeSantis, 2012;Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001). By creating professional development that includes these characteristics, designers can maximize the teacher learning that occurs and increase the likelihood that the professional development has a positive effect on teachers' instruction.…”

“…Unfortunately, professional development offered to many teachers is ineffective. It has been posited that professional development can be made more effective by emphasizing one specific technology for an extended period of time, including opportunities for teachers to learn from each other in localized contexts, and organizing the learning in ways calculated to help teachers build technology self-efficacy (DeSantis, 2012). This paper shares the results of a research project conducted to determine if professional development with these attributes assists teachers with developing the skills required to integrate technology during instruction.…”

“…This paper shares the results of a research project conducted to determine if professional development with these attributes assists teachers with developing the skills required to integrate technology during instruction. This project involved the creation of a professional development program with the characteristics described in the literature as being most effective (Brinkerhoff, 2006;Cantrell & Hughes, 2008;DeSantis, 2012;Doppelt et al, 2009;Walker et al, 2011). This mixed-methods and design-based study identifies changes in technology self-efficacy and technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge among forty-one teachers following their participation in sustained, collaborative, and scaffolded professional development for one rapidlyembraced technology, the interactive whiteboard.…”

“…Hierarchical administrative governance, isolated teacher planning schedules, and historical professional isolation conspire to inhibit professional development designers who desire to facilitate teacher collaboration during professional development (DuFour, 2011). These elements are frequently compounded by teachers' resistance to collaborative efforts out of fear that it could cause them to lose autonomy and the freedom to select their own instructional methods (Musanti & Pence, 2010).Despite these challenges, designers that include these characteristics in their professional development reap significant benefits (DeSantis, 2012). Teachers that participate in collaborative professional development report a higher degree of career satisfaction and are less likely to abandon the profession (Fulton & Britton, 2011).…”

“…Wang et al, 2004) and by determining teachers' possession of the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge required to integrate a technology (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Teachers that maintain a high degree of technology self-efficacy are more likely to use new technologies during their instruction (DeSantis, 2012;Holden & Rada, 2011;Overbaugh & Lu, 2008). Similarly, teachers that possess elevated levels of TPACK are also better positioned to integrate new technologies in their classrooms (Mishra & Koehler, 2006;Polly & Brantley-Dias, 2009).…”