Open Collections

Robins, Rebecca E.

Changing information and communication technologies (ICT) are radically altering how people navigate their world. Our students are adept at sending emails, texting friends and surfing the World Wide Web, but only within the last five to ten years have schools begun to improve the ICT available to them. As new ICT are incorporated into schools, it is important for educators to understand how to utilize their capabilities. Recently, Vancouver schools have begun to purchase interactive whiteboards (IWB). Initial observations from teachers reveal that it seems like student engagement is increasing with IWB use. Perhaps more important is the question is teaching and learning shifting in response to IWB capabilities? Current research discusses the IWBs multimodal potential, including visual, auditory and tactile, that support student's learning. In addition, the research shows that teachers need a certain level of technological competency in order to fully incorporate these learning modalities and maximize the interactivity. This interactive nature has the potential to support our students' meaning making process in language arts by supporting critical literacy strategies, multi-literacies and reader response theory. Teachers who are knowledgeable about these possibilities will be able to more fully resource their students and support their learning. As an example, a design for IWB unit plans is included to assist other teachers who wish to incorporate the learning modalities and interactive nature of the IWB into their classrooms.

Text

University of British Columbia. LLED 590

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0078067

Education, Faculty of; Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of

Graduate

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