Interim reports of Heidelberg and Utrecht IWB projects presented at EUROCALL 2009, Spain

1. Using Interactive Whiteboards to
Support Learner-Centred Approaches
to Language Teaching and Learning
Euline Cutrim Schmid & Ton Koenraad
reporting on 2 related projects:
• Professional development (Heidelberg, Germany)
• Sharing Materials &
Practices (Utrecht, NL)

2. Hogeschool Utrecht University of Applied Sciences / Fac. Education
E-Learning consultant & teacher educator
(MFL pedagogy / CALL)

3. Pedagogical benefits of
Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs)
Helps integration of new media in the regular
language classroom
Enhances scope of interactivity & learner
engagement
Supports development “electronic literacies”
Helps to address diversity in learning styles
(aural, visual and kinaesthetic)
Can contribute to student attainment
IF…

4. Shared concerns & rationales
Important factors for successful
introduction of IWBs:
- Teacher is KEY: pedagogical views, knowledge
and media literacy
NEEDed: (Cutrim Schmid, 2008; Gray et al. 2005; Koenraad, 2008)
- Quality training
- Materials & inspiring
practices for modern
MFL Pedagogy
- Support for p2p learning

5. Research project (2009 – 2011):
Towards a Model of Interactive
Whiteboard Training for Language
Teachers
Euline Cutrim Schmid
University of Education
Heidelberg, Germany

6. Project information (1)
Characteristics of CPD-Model :
- “bottom up” approach to teacher professional
development in CALL
- a pedagogical framework based on a socio-
cognitive view of communicative language
teaching.
Research Team:
- Junior Prof. + student teachers
- nine practitioners

7. Project information (2)
Key Questions:
- What teacher competencies are needed to use IWBs
towards a socio-cognitive view of communicative language
teaching?
- What kind of technical and pedagogical support is mostly
needed by teachers in this process?
Research Methods:
- in-depth longitudinal case studies
- ethnographic research instruments: classroom observations &
field notes, video recordings, in-depth interviews and video-triggered
reflective dialogues with the teachers

8. Interim Results (1)
Teacher competences:
- adapt / design interactive IWB materials
- manage IWB-based activities to activate ALL
learners
- coherently integrate various multimedia
resources (pace, cognitive load and active processing of content)
- enhance IWB functionality using peripherals
- finding and evaluating ready-made, usable
materials

9. Migration needed for NEW, IWB-
related Competencies
FROM a print-based approach and related
black/whiteboard activities such as:
- annotate grammar rules,
- grammar exercises
- vocabulary items
- worksheets (scanned documents or MS Word files): fill-in-the-
gaps vocabulary & grammar exercises)
TOWARDS use of multimodal resources
provided, such as annotation tools (e.g. shapes,
lines), variety of colour, fonts, images &
integrating internet resources

10. Characteristics of Training
Replacement of “top-down” technological one-day
workshops with “bottom-up” training that:
supports refinement of pedagogical practice
stimulates collaboration with experienced teacher trainers
or colleagues
has a sound theoretical basis and a clear pedagogical
framework
focuses on teachers’ immediate pedagogical needs &
contextualized examples, related to actual work
provides teachers with enough opportunities for gradual
accumulation of knowledge and experience within their
constraints of time and energy.

11. IWB-Project @ CALL-in-Practice

12. IWB4MFL CoP
Goals:
- Sharing materials, practices &
practitioner knowledge
- Contributing to initial Teacher Ed. & CPD
(Meskill et al., 2006; Preston et al.,2000; Koenraad, 2005)
Activities:
- Teacher Ed. Curr. Development
- Materials, Expertise & Partner spotting
- Resources development
- Blogging
- Formation Editorial Team
- EU project application

13. IWB4MFL CoP (2)
Website Components at CALL-in-Practice:
- Resources:
. Practice portraits
. Repository of IWB files
. Annotated links to external resources
. Research reviews & references
Introduction to IWB4MFL
Weblog Tool for Multilingual Blogging Circles
(linking MFL and L1 teachers & resources)
Workflow for Teacher Ed. mentoring

14. Check out the 2010 Edition!
Comenius Course: ‘Designing for the Web 2.0 Language Classroom.