Promoting teacher and school development through co‐enquiry: developing interactive whiteboard use in a ‘dialogic classroom’

Abstract

This paper reports on the work of a teacher–researcher collaborative group in the UK, who explored the idea of ‘a dialogic approach’ to classroom interaction and examined its relationship to use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) in orchestrating classroom talk. We focus on how the co‐inquiry process within this group led to the articulation of frames of reference that acted as a basis on which to consider and develop pedagogy in relation to the use of the IWB. Concentrating on one teacher in the group as an illustrative case, we illuminate the ways in which her evolving understanding of the dialogic approach impacted on her use of the IWB in her classroom, influenced the group’s deliberations about the role of the IWB and underpinned subsequent staff development in her school. We conclude that a simple conception of transforming learning through the introduction of classroom‐based technologies cannot explain the evolution of classroom practice. Instead we invoke a more subtle and synergistic relationship between teachers’ pedagogic intentions and their growing perception of the relevant affordances of the IWB. Further, we suggest that school development of the use of particular classroom technologies must be based on a clear view of effective pedagogy.

Keywords:

• interactive whiteboard
• dialogue
• pedagogy
• co‐inquiry
• dialogic approach

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the UK Economic and Social Research Council for funding this project in 2007–2009 through a Research Fellowship grant awarded to the second author (ref. RES063270081). In particular we wish to thank Diane, Lloyd and Caroline for their unstinting contributions to all aspects of the project. For further information and links to professional development materials derived from the project, go to: http://dialogueiwb.educ.cam.ac.uk/

Notes

1. A full account of the nature of our collaborative, dialogic theory building process and research methodology can be found in Hennessy et al. (2011, in press); here we provide a brief overview.

2. In the UK, a detailed assessment of a child with additional educational needs is recorded on their IEP; instituting such a plan usually enables the allocation of additional resources to cater for the child’s needs.

3. The most apparent links from these strategies to the three central components of Appendix 1 are indicated through the numbering system shared across the tables (‘Scaffolding’ in Appendix 2, e.g., links with the three central components of dialogue presented in Appendix 1).