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In this manuscript, we introduce four philosophical camps and provide bulletin board and classroom decoration examples of how music teachers can visually communicate their teaching philosophies to their students, parents, colleagues, and administrators. The categories emerged from our review of bulletin board examples created by our music teacher colleagues and include (1) music, emotion, and expression; (2) praxialism; (3) extramusical benefits; and (4) social justice. Bulletin boards may indirectly represent teachers' philosophies when compared with explicit curricula, such as lesson plans, textbooks, and other instructional materials. However, teachers can foster holistic learning experiences for students by harmonizing their implicit messages on bulletin boards and classroom decorations with the explicit curriculum.

The aim of higher education is to make the student the protagonist of their learning. In this context, the researchers must create appropriate scenarios that enable students to explore and develop critical thinking both independently and cooperatively while making use of information technology. This paper presents a model of pedagogical practice in the subject of Introduction to Research Methodology (IRM) based on the construction of literature maps applying John W. Creswell's research design theory through the use of virtual whiteboards. 120 students from the seventh cycle of the study plan of the School of Architecture of the National University of San Agustín participated. As a result, the model used in this paper enabled students to collect and organize the data necessary to formulate their research and develop critical thinking based on scientific knowledge. In this process, it was possible to reflect on the importance of emphasizing the development of critical and creative thinking skills in order to create literary maps that contribute to the comprehensive education of students. It should be noted that students are obliged to be protagonists in the construction of their knowledge especially in subjects that develop competencies related to scientific research.

Bulletin boards are ubiquitous in residence halls and may not always capture students' attention, but when they do, they have the potential to engage students in meaningful learning experiences. Our study explores how arts-based methodologies can be used in student affairs and higher education research to expand possibilities for practitioners to understand what students want to voice and to assess student learning directly. We worked with four student participants to set up a photovoice project in tandem with a university's residential curriculum. In this article, we share findings from the photovoice project and apply a learning framework to analyze the deep learning that residents experienced. Findings reflect shared identities of the student-participants, the style of articulation they chose to voice their experience, and demonstrations of deep learning. This article explores how photovoice methodology's participatory, artistic approach shifted power from researcher to participant, disrupted the normative gaze of higher education professionals, and legitimized students' affective experience, helping them navigate institutional identity to maximize the Intelligibility of their voices. Student-participants in this study utilized photovoice to communicate their experience and demonstrate their learning to residence life staff in ways that exceed traditional data collection and assessment methods. [Discussion questions developed by Adrienna Chapparro.]

This article explores the library space needs and wants of graduate and undergraduate students at a medium-size state University in Southwest Florida. The researcher conducted a sequential explanatory mixed methods study in which they administered a survey to all currently enrolled graduate and undergraduate students at the university and followed up with semi-structured interviews to better understand students library space needs/wants and how those elements contribute to student success through a lens of academic and social engagement. The researcher identified several library space needs that were common to both graduate and undergraduate students including: comfortable and functional furniture, a variety of study spaces including a mix of individual and group spaces, conducive noise levels, technology, whiteboards, windows to let in natural light, seclusion food and drink options nearby, safety and security, adequate lighting and electrical outlets, and effective wayfinding. An additional need of separate graduate student space was also identified. Findings from this study can help inform the design of library spaces to better support student success through engagement.

A traditional tootling procedure was implemented along with a public posting component to determine the effects on academically engaged, disruptive, and passive off-task behaviors in four general education high school classrooms. Students in the traditional tootling phase were instructed to report on their peers' positive, prosocial behaviors. At the end of the class period, the teacher read through the tootles and added the total toward the group goal. When the class achieved their goal, they were rewarded, and the goal was reset. During the tooting with public posting phase, the teacher or primary researcher posted the tootles on a designated bulletin board. The results indicated that increases in academically engaged behaviors were maintained in both phases, whereas disruptive and passive off-task behaviors decreased. The differences between phases were minimal, suggesting little additive effect. Social validity measures indicated that intervention was acceptable in terms of effectiveness and utility. This study suggests the benefits of implementing tootling in a high school setting, demonstrating increases in classwide academically engaged behaviors.

The study investigated the constraints and performance gap analysis of lecturers in Utilizing smart boards for improving students? engagement, motivation and learning outcomes in technical education courses of Nigerian universities. Five research questions guided the study while the hypotheses formulated were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Population for the study was 135 experienced and less experienced lecturers in the universities that offered vocational and technical education programs. There was no sampling because of the manageable size. The instruments for data collection were structured and non-structured questionnaire. All the researchers partook in the data collection while weighted mean and improvement need index were used to answer research questions and t-test was used to test the hypotheses formulated. The study found that lecturers lack skills and competencies in setting up, operating and solving technical problems arising from Utilizing smart boards for teaching technical education courses. The study also revealed that lecturers need improvement in Utilizing smart boards for improving students? engagement, motivation and learning outcomes in technical education courses. Recommendations include: that all the skills and competencies identified should be packaged into training program to retrain theses lecturers through workshops, seminars and short term training in the tertiary institutions.

In the case of Chemistry subjects at the higher middle level, students tend to have a low performance in terms of academic exploration, either because of lack of motivation or lack of preparation in previous courses. In order to improve not only the academic performance of students in some topics of thermodynamics, but also the quality of teaching, this work proposes the use of some technological tools and practices combined with a constructivist methodology for teaching learning the subject heat capacity at constant pressure. A didactic sequence is designed that includes the use of interactive board as a learning teaching tool, as well as a teaching sequence that did not include the use of the board, to determine the influence of this tool on academic performance. To assess the scope in learning teaching, a questionnaire was designed, which was previously validated with groups of university students. The evaluation was designed for the topic of heat capacity, thus identifying the main alternative conceptions of students, the degree of learning regarding thermodynamic concepts in order to compare the pre- and post-teaching knowledge applied. The results of the post-didactic sequence evaluation, from the point of view of the student who learned using the interactive board, identify an improvement in understanding the main topics, a better willingness to work in the classroom, the ability to molecular representation of phenomena and an improvement in their verbal expression.

Background: Migrants are the key population for tuberculosis (TB) transmission in China. However, it remains unknown how many migrants have received TB education and through what means. Objectives: To identify the rate and methods of TB education among migrants in China by using nationally representative data. Method: This study used secondary data analysis. The data were derived from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey 2014-2017. A total sample of 745,926 migrants was included in the following analysis. Information on TB education was collected through a self-report questionnaire. We used hierarchical logistic regression models to explore the relationship between the independent variables and the receipt of TB education. Results: Only 30.4% (n = 226,458) received TB education. Among all age-groups, participants between 65 and 69 years old had the highest TB education rate (33.4%). Bulletin boards (86.5%-91%), media (73% to 86.7%), and books/magazines (59.2%-67.4%) were the most common ways for migrants to receive TB education. Conclusions: Our study showed the rates of TB education in each region of China and indicated the significant disparity among the seven regions. Traditional media, off-line medical consultation, community advocacy, and bulletin boards should be the primary methods of delivering TB education. TB education campaigns targeting migrants with a low socioeconomic status should be actively promoted.

The interactive whiteboard is an innovative technological tool that is becoming increasingly popular in educational settings. Using two different methods of instruction--traditional and interactive--this study aims to investigate the effects of the interactive whiteboard on classroom interaction, student achievement, and student attitudes. Drawing on a quasi-experimental research design, this study divided fifth-grade students from a primary school into experimental (n = 32) and control (n = 34) groups. The findings indicate that the achievement of the experimental group in the post-test is higher than in the pretest after students learned with the interactive method of instruction. In addition, the difference between the attitudes of the two groups is statistically significant. The interactive method of instruction can improve classroom interaction compared with the traditional method. Finally, the relationship between interaction and student achievement and attitudes is positive, especially for the student-student and student-tool interactions.

When used in a sensible way, Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) are supposed to motivate and engage students in learning in the classroom. Thereby, they might also stimulate students who are usually more restrained, such as more anxious students. However, the body of research on the impact of IWB lessons is rather small. The present study investigated whether a 45-minute lesson with the IWB compared to a conceptual identical 45-minute lesson without the IWB would support learning and motivation within the subject English as a foreign language for German students. Moreover, the study examined whether the 45-minute lesson with the IWB compared to the 45-minute lesson without the IWB would be better able to counteract the detrimental effects of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA). One hundred and two eighth graders from two secondary schools in Germany took part in this study and were either taught with the IWB (condition IWB; n = 53) or without the IWB (condition No-IWB; n = 50). Results showed that students in the IWB condition stated to be higher motivated and performed better in a vocabulary test than their counterparts in the No-IWB condition. FLCA was negatively correlated with performance in the vocabulary test. Other than expected, learning with the IWB did not compensate the detrimental effect of FLCA, meaning that learning with the IWB was more beneficial than learning without the IWB irrespective of a student's FLCA. Implications of the study will be discussed.

With the aim of improving the teaching and learning of chemistry functional groups, a didactic strategy was designed based on real-life situations. This strategy was used at the high school level, in the subject of "Chemistry II." One group of students was taught functional groups using interactive board software through different dynamics (experimental group), and another group was taught traditionally (control group). Learning was evaluated through a series of questions, exercise solving, and scientific problems. Results indicate that the group of students in which the interactive board software was used achieved higher learning levels in comparison to the control group, which was traditionally taught.

It is observable that display boards are being applied widely by primary schools as visual representations for teaching and learning about the stated fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. The research presented by this article is based upon analysis of 27 display boards from primary schools across England, including findings from in-depth interviews with three primary school teachers. We wanted to identify and to understand how discourses of British national identity such as monoculturalism and multiculturalism are reified by schools and teachers through the imagery used on primary school display boards in the representation of fundamental British values. Our research makes an original contribution to the debate on teaching and learning about national identity, by offering empirical evidence both of representations of fundamental British values and of teacher interpretations of the policy.

Picture boards as a visual support aid for in-lab demonstrator briefings were deployed for a single experiment in both the first and second year undergraduate practical classes. The boards are easy to create and provide an alternative, more accessible and 'presentation friendly' perspective of the laboratory manual associated with an experiment. The use of the boards during instructor briefings helped generate confidence and familiarity with the experiments to be performed and this type of demonstrator briefing was preferred to the traditional, more verbal style being used in other experiments. Utilization of the picture boards was also proven to help the students to process the pre-experimental and instructional information associated with the laboratory manual and practical operations.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the attitudes of elementary education students towards the use of Smart Board (SB) in lessons. The study is based on the associational survey model from quantitative research methods. The study was conducted on students attending at 4th to 8th grades of three schools, both primary and secondary stages, in Malatya province during 2016-2017 academic year. "Smart board attitude scale-SBAS" by Sad (2012) composed of 10 items and 5-point Likert scale was used in order to collect data. The result of the study revealed that elementary education students have a positive attitude on smart board usage in general. There was no significant difference in terms of gender while there was a significant difference in terms of the number of students in the classes, school type and grade.

Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are a billion-dollar industry. Their prominent position in classrooms, frequently the single display to share digital information, draws attention to their influence on teaching and learning processes. This research presents a case-study of a Canadian college with over five years of IWB experience. Findings show that despite implementing best-practices, most instructors underutilize IWB capabilities. This research concludes that the IWB contribution to student learning has been limited with potentially detrimental impacts on student perception and comprehension given the smaller size of IWBs and their lower mounting position when compared to traditional projection screens.

This article is drawn from a study conducted to explore how assessment conversations, a type of informal formative assessment, can support science learning in a technology-aided seventh-grade classroom in Northern California. The classroom setting where the study took place used interactive whiteboards in conjunction with the inquiry-based activities, but what made the learning useful were the conversations in which the teachers and students were all engaged. For this study, the author identified the discussions between the teacher and the English language learner (ELL) students in terms of assessment conversations, using the ESRU cycle (Elicits a question; the Student responds; the teacher Recognizes the student's response; the teacher Uses the response) and then analyzed the language used in the assessment conversations utilizing the Systemic Functional Framework (SFL). This study is rooted in three major bodies of literature: (1) formative assessments for learning; (2) sociocultural theory of learning; and (3) SFL. This article highlights the main concepts from each of these areas and discusses how each area informs the author's study of assessment conversations. By analyzing instances of ESRU cycles and examining the language used by the teacher and students in the ESRU cycle, it has been demonstrated that assessment conversations can be operationalized for ELLs in a middle school science classroom using interactive whiteboards.

The aim of this study is to reveal Computer Education and Instructional Technologies student teachers', who are in a distance teacher education program, perceptions on past, present and educational technologies of future via infographics. In this study, 54 infographics, which were created by student teachers who were enrolled in Special Teaching Methods II course at spring semester of 2013-2014 academic years, were analyzed. The infographics were analyzed via document review technique. These themes are "Educational technologies of past" (f = 241), "Educational technologies of present" (f = 240) and "Educational technologies of future" (f = 158). Student teachers mentioned the most frequently "CD" (f = 34) and "Television" (f = 32) oriented to educational technologies of past. The most frequent views on educational technologies of present were "Smartboard" (f = 24) and "Online Courses" (f = 23). The most frequent opinion of student teachers about the educational technologies of future is "Holograms" (f = 26) and "Virtual classroom" (f = 22).

This study determined the viewpoints of teachers from different branches on using the interactive boards placed in classrooms in high schools, which are expected to replace the classical boards in the context of FATIH Project by the Ministry of National Education. Single Review Model was used in the present study where 21 teachers participated from different branches of high schools and the installation of interactive boards was completed in Fall Season of 2013 to 2014 Academic Year. The data of the study were collected by using the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel interactive board attitude scale consisting of 10 questions. The data were examined by using descriptive and content analysis methods and the findings were listed and tabulated according to the questions of the scale. When the results were analyzed, it was observed that the teachers who participated in the study made use of the LCD panel interactive boards technologies frequently in their classes for educational activities such as presentation of slides and digital books or showing of films, videos, pictures, etc. Despite some infrastructural problems and lack of software, they stated that the advantages brought by the use of interactive boards in education were more than the drawbacks, and it was adopted by almost all teachers. However, in order to place the use of interactive boards in the desired level for all teachers, more than one in-service training are needed to cover the needs that are determined in the present study.

The purpose of the present research was to reveal students' perceptions regarding the use of the interactive whiteboard in the mathematics classroom within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 58 secondary school students (5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades) to collect data. The data obtained were encoded and interpreted using the content analysis technique within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model-3 components. Students' perceptions were divided into categories of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived negativities, which were names created by the researcher. Based on the findings, it was revealed that the participants had positive perceptions of the use of the interactive whiteboard in the mathematics classroom. Specifically, they found it beneficial because it enabled students to better understand the course, enabled students to be engaged in a meaningful learning and effectual engagement in the classroom, increased students' concentration, and saved time. It was concluded that the participants found the use of the interactive whiteboard useful and easy. Thus, they accepted this technology.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of using the interactive whiteboard in mathematics teaching process on the 7th-grade students' achievement. This study was conducted as experimental design. Experimental and control groups were composed of 58 7th-grade students from one school in the 2015-2016 educational year in Ankara. As a measurement tool, an achievement test developed by the researchers was used as the pre-test and post-test. An education program which included the activities with the interactive whiteboard was developed by researchers. And, this program was implemented to the experimental group 12 hours over 3 weeks. On the other hand, activities for the control group were limited to the blackboard usage. In the analysis of the data, "analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)" was used by defining the pre-test scores as "covariate" variable. According to the findings, it was observed that there was a significant difference between experimental and control groups pre-test average scores. When the difference of pre-test scores under control, it was observed the significant difference between the average post-test scores in favor of the experimental group. These findings show that using the interactive whiteboard in mathematics teaching process has positive effects on the students' mathematical achievement. These results are supported by some other researchers' findings.

It is a great paradox that despite the great importance attached to mathematics education in Turkey, high failure rates are observed among Turkish students in mathematics. For this reason, new applications are implemented in the field of mathematics education in Turkey. One of these applications is the use of technology in mathematics education. Thus, this research aimed to determine the attitudes and opinions of the middle school students towards the use of the interactive whiteboard, which is among the technologies used in mathematics and mathematics lessons. The research is based on a mixed-method research design in which both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The quantitative part of the study was conducted with 726 students, selected via the convenience sampling method, in 4 different central schools affiliated to the Ministry of Education (MNE) in the Karabük province during the 2015-2016 academic year, while the qualitative part was carried out with 20 participants determined on a voluntary basis. The research data were obtained from the "Attitude Scale towards Mathematics," the "Interactive Whiteboard Attitude Scale" and the semi-structured interviews. It was found that the participants in the survey had a positive attitude towards the use of the interactive whiteboard in mathematics lessons and that they were positively affected by the interactive whiteboard in learning mathematics. In addition, it was concluded that participants' attitudes towards mathematics and the use of the interactive whiteboard was above average. It was also found that the male students' attitudes towards the interactive whiteboard were more positive than that of the female students, and the level of positive attitude towards mathematics decreases as the class level increases accordingly. Finally, a low positive correlation was found between students' attitudes towards mathematics and the interactive whiteboard.

There are a limited number of studies about the use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in higher education, specifically in teacher education. This study investigated pre-service teachers' perceptions of IWBs. The pre-service teachers involved in the study were studying in nine different teacher training programs. To achieve this goal, a quantitative survey method was employed. Participants of the study consisted of 367 pre-service teachers, 110 male and 257 female, who were studying in diverse teacher training programs. Data were collected through the "Interactive Whiteboard Student Perception Scale for University Students". The instrument consists of 18 items and three factors. Data regarding the participants' demographics and perceived level of technology competence were also collected. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and ANOVA statistical analysis. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was also conducted to prove the construct validity of the instrument with a large sample. The result of CFA indicated appropriate fit indices for the instrument with three factors. The perceptions of pre-service teachers about the use of IWB were found as positive and high. Pre-service ICT and Physical Education (PE) teachers had the highest mean scores regarding the use of IWB in their courses. Post Hoc analysis indicated a significant difference relying on the department. The results also indicated that there is a significant mean difference between second and third grade pre-service teachers in favor of third grade pre-service teachers. A significant correlation was found between pre-service teachers' perceptions about the use of IWBs and their perceived technology competence.

Among its many affordances, the interactive whiteboard (IWB) as a digital space for children's dialogic engagement in the Foundation Phase classroom remains largely under-exploited. This paper emanates from a study which was undertaken in an attempt to understand how teachers acquire knowledge of emerging technologies and how this shapes their classroom practices when employing technology as a pedagogic tool. The findings of this ethnographic case study show that, while teachers have become technically skilled through continuous professional teacher development (CPTD), they have also begun to reflect more rigorously on constructivism as a learning theory. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations with digital video recordings. Observations revealed a perceived gap in the use of the IWB as a promising space to generate reciprocal dialogue in classrooms to influence curriculum delivery and learning. This paper argues, therefore, that IWBs can become spaces for dialogic engagement to expand learners' participation and higher order thinking skills through pedagogic strategies. Thus, there is a need to introduce Foundation Phase teachers to dialogic teaching methodologies and the potential impact thereof on learner engagement and learning.

The present study aimed at determining high school students' attitudes towards smart board use in biology classes. The study was carried out using the survey model. The study group was made up of 200 high school students. As the data collection tool, the "Student Attitude Scale for Smart Board Use" developed by Elaziz was used. The reliability coefficient of the scale was 0.78, and it was calculated as 0.87 in the present study. The results of data analyses revealed that the students demonstrated positive attitudes in general. Consequently, it could be stated that smart board use in biology classes allows understanding of subjects more easily and rapidly, avoiding time consumption and increasing students' motivation and interest via visual elements. The students' attitude scores did not differ statistically with respect to the variables of "gender" and "smart board use time."

Over the past five years, the interactive whiteboard (IWB) has been massively introduced into schools across the province of Quebec, Canada. This study explores how the IWB is being used, and the associated benefits and challenges. Data on 11,683 students (from 4th year elementary to grade 12) and 1,131 teachers were collected with five instruments: 1) a survey questionnaire for all students, 2) a survey questionnaire for all teachers, 3) individual interviews with teachers, 4) group interviews with teachers, and 5) group interviews with students. Far from calling into question the need to integrate technology into education, the results reveal that certain tools, such as the IWB, may be more complicated and time-consuming to integrate than others. However, despite teachers' reports of technical problems, the IWB appears to have real educational potential.

The purpose of this two-year observational study was to determine if the use of technology and intervention groups affected fourth-grade math scores. Specifically, the desire was to identify the percentage of students who met or exceeded grade-level standards on the state standardized test. This study indicated possible reasons that enhanced conceptual understanding within the study group at a Title I elementary school. Throughout the two-year time period, the classroom teachers created mathematics awareness through technology, teamwork, engagement and rigor. The findings revealed a significant percent of fourth-grade students who used technology and participated in specific learning activities met or exceeded grade-level standards in math as measured by the Washington State standardized test.

The study aimed to explore the trends of the male and female teachers of the basic elementary stages towards using the Smart Board in Bani Kinanah Directorate of Education and the relationship of some variables such as sex, academic qualification, and years of experience. The study sample consisted of (130) male and female teachers. To achieve the objectives of the study, data were collected using a questionnaire to measure the trend towards Smart Board after confirming its validity and reliability; to statistically process data, the arithmetic means, standard deviations, and 3-way-ANOVA were used.The results of the study indicated the existence of a high and statistically significant degree in the trends of the male and female teachers of the basic elementary stages towards using the Smart Board as a whole where the arithmetic mean was (3.79). The results also showed no statistically significant differences at the level of significance (a=0.05) in the trends of the male and female teachers of the basic elementary stages towards using the Smart Board from the perspective of the male and female teachers in Bani Kinanah Directorate of Education according to the variables of (sex, years of experience, and scientific qualification), where the "F" values were not statistically significant.

This study aims to develop training material that will help raise awareness in prospective teachers regarding the benefits of using smart boards in the classroom. In this study, a Type 2 design and development research method (DDR) was used. The material was developed by applying phases of ADDIE--an instructional systems design model. The development process was informed by Mayer's multimedia design principles and Gagné's instructional events. The subject and the target group of the research was defined at the stage of needs analysis. Powtoon, an online content development tool, was used to produce multimedia material with the aim of raising awareness regarding the benefits of using smart boards in the classroom. An expert instructional designer guided the entire process of the material development. Upon completion of the development phase, three field experts were consulted and improvements were then conducted in compliance with their suggestions. Next, the material was presented to 39 teacher candidates. After they reviewed the material, their opinions were collected. These opinions were analyzed under four aspects: message, visual, sound, and overall effect. The material reached its final form following the applications of ameliorations in line with observations conducted during its application and the feedback given by the teacher candidates. Participants of the study stated that the material, on the whole, was impressive, beneficial, and captivating.

The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of the shared use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) on the perceptions, learning processes and performance of learners. It was carried out with lower secondary school students within the context of a class on dynamic geometry. The work is based on a set of indicators and the results were obtained from quantitative data, which was collected through a written questionnaire, and from qualitative data, which was collected through encoded video recordings. These results show that sharing the use of the interactive whiteboard has an impact on the perceptions of learners in terms of the usability and usefulness of the tool, that it encourages interactions between the students and that it seems to have a positive effect on the efficiency of the learning sequence itself.

Recently much have been invested in the interactive whiteboard educational technology in Turkey. The government is still wishful to spread it to schools of all levels. This study tries to understand teachers' and students' attitudes toward interactive whiteboard technology along with differences in attitudes resulting from some demographic factors. Two parallel surveys consisting of 25 items were applied to 255 students and 23 teachers from three private schools. Students from sixth to twelfth grades and teachers from 15 different branches participated in this research study. The results indicate that interactive whiteboards are highly rated by both teachers and students. Students mostly prefer the usage of interactive whiteboards in math courses, and their attitudes differ across their genders and school levels. As students get elder, their positive attitudes toward interactive whiteboard technology decrease, and it has been found out that there is no difference between teachers' and students' attitudes. This study includes some implications for policy makers, educator and researchers.

Educational technology plays an increasingly important role in the teaching and learning process. Successful integration is the goal of any new educational technology. The interactive whiteboard (IWB) can be effectively used by teachers to enhance the effectiveness of their lessons. This study explored the attitudes and insights of Saudi female teachers regarding the use of IWBs when teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). It also investigated possible obstacles they may face during their use of this novel technology. Data was collected by distributing questionnaires to forty three teachers at different girls' schools in Riyadh. The results indicated that participants in this study demonstrated positive attitudes toward using the IWB in the EFL classrooms. The results also showed that teachers consider IWBs to be useful devices for enhancing the teaching and learning process and for designing new instructional situations. IWB-based lessons were perceived to be more comfortable for teachers in teaching English. However, teachers stated that they faced some technical obstacles in their use of IWBs. The current study recommended that EFL classes should be equipped with all supplicants of the IWBs. It also suggested that training is important for teachers to deal with the technological devices. EFL teachers need more training to learn how to resolve technical and system problems; they also need to understand how to use all the options offered by the IWBs.

The aim of this study was to raise the awareness of pre-school teacher candidates within the framework of media literacy the importance of which has been noticed recently in Turkey and which has attracted attention of academic circles as a research topic. In addition, by providing opportunities for pre-school candidates to design materials on this topic, it also aimed to help them practice what they know and internalize the information they would obtain on media literacy. In this regard, the article introduces the notice board practices of media literacy theme performed by teacher candidates for pre-school students and their parents. Teacher candidates made their own choices on designing notice boards either for children or for their parents. Encouraging candidates to design such notice boards and to use them in training and then in their professional life is extremely important for them both to discover their own creativity and to develop their hand skills. Moreover, dealing with the media literacy theme and expecting them to develop materials by informing the candidates on this issue is a step taken towards raising the awareness of teacher candidates who will educate future generations. From this point of view, it could be recommended to provide practices on board and material development and use within the framework of media literacy theme through in-service seminars for teachers currently continuing their professional life; and to share functional teaching materials among teachers on various platforms (conferences, congress, workshops etc.).

This study explored the potential effect of college students' self-generated computerized mind maps on their reading comprehension. It also investigated the subjects' attitudes toward generating computerized mind maps for reading comprehension. The study was conducted in response to the inability of the foundation-level students, who were learning English as a second language, ESL, in the Community College of Qatar, to achieve the general and specific goals of learning reading. A quasi-experimental pre-posttest design was used. Convenience sampling was used to choose two ESL classes from a sum of five level three classes. The experimental group (n = 14) was taught reading texts via students' self-generated computerized mind maps, and the control group (n = 8) was taught by teacher-generated whiteboard maps. ANCOVA was used to analyze students' scores on the post test. The results revealed significant differences in favor of the experimental group. To identify the experimental group attitudes toward the intervention, a 40-item four-domain questionnaire was designed and administered. The analysis of means, modes and standard deviations revealed that the domains were ranked statistically from the most positive to the least positive opinions as follows: educational benefits, mental benefits, usability, and enjoyment.

This article reports on the findings of a study conducted to investigate teachers' and students' perceptions of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom and to find out differences of perceptions according to some variables such as gender, level of English proficiency, hours of weekly IWB use, and years of teaching experience. Two self-report questionnaires were used to gather main data from 58 EFL teachers and 164 EFL students in a private Anatolian high school in Ankara where IWBs were installed and actively operated by teachers in classrooms. The student questionnaire consisted of 26 five-point Likert-scale items to measure the student's perceptions about (1) Perceived Learning Contribution, (2) Motivation, (3) Perceived Efficiency, and (4) Perceived Negative Effects, whereas the teacher questionnaire included 25 fivepoint Likert-scale items to measure their perceptions about (1) Instructional Effects of IWBs, (2) General Attitudes, (3) Motivational Effects of IWBs, and (4) Need for Training. Quantitative data was further supported by qualitative data gathered from teachers through open-ended questions. The findings revealed that overall both teachers and students have favorable perceptions of the IWB technology and its benefits in EFL classrooms. However, the results of t-test and One-way ANOVA tests showed no significant difference in the teachers' perceptions of IWB use with respect to their gender and years of experience. Female and male students did not have any significantly different perceptions of the IWB technology either. However, the results of One-way ANOVA revealed that students differ in their perceptions according to their level of English proficiency and hours of weekly IWB use. Another finding indicated that teachers with more years of teaching experience had more favorable perceptions of IWBs than less experienced teachers and that teachers who use IWBs more frequently have more positive perspectives on the use of the IWB technology. Similarly, it was found that the more students got involved in using IWBs, the more their perceptions changed favorably. The results of qualitative data also supported the findings of teachers' self-reported perceptions in relation to the general attitudes on the pros and cons of IWB use in EFL classrooms. Another major finding of the study revealed that teachers need training for this technology in order to acquire the essential competencies in pre-service and inservice training programs. Further research in this area could be an investigation of pedagogical approaches to integrate IWBs in the EFL classroom.

The current study described the uses of smart boards in English as foreign language (EFL) classrooms. This study also investigated the role of smart boards in promoting student engagement, the benefits of smart boards for teachers, using smart boards for improving motivation, and smart boards in the service of linguistic and cultural elements. The review of previous studies revealed that smart boards are very innovative and powerful support for language acquisition. Moreover, they increased learning process.

As more and more students with learning disabilities (LD) and emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) find themselves in an inclusive, general education setting, there is a need to find ways to maximize their educational performance. One promising approach is to use growth mindset training to help students move away from deficit thinking and instead use strengths-based thinking. This column explains the meaning of growth mindset theory and includes a rationale that explains why this approach may be particularly beneficial for students with LD and EBD. A brief review of past studies investigating the use of growth mindset that highlights the positive potential of this inexpensive, easy-to-implement approach is presented. Finally, a nine-step process for incorporating a growth mindset into the inclusive classroom setting is provided and tools to be used by teachers working with students with LD and EBD are included.

Given the increased diversity of students within the regular, general education classroom, this article explores the importance of differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all learners in this age of Common Core State Standards. Using digital literacies that engage students, the authors showcase apps and web tools they have used in developing learners' literacy. Most of the recommended apps are free and suggestions are included as to how teachers might use these tools with students of the classroom.

This study investigated the opinions of teachers about using interactive whiteboards with an LCD panel that was installed in classrooms within the FATIH educational project. The study was conducted at six high schools in which installation of interactive whiteboards with an LCD panel in classrooms was completed and teachers who received training in order to use these whiteboards. One hundred and twenty one teachers participated in this study. The data was gathered using open-ended questions. Qualitative data obtained with open-ended questions was analysed using phenomenographic analysis method. Teachers were positive about using interactive whiteboards with an LCD panel in education. Teachers stated that the interactive whiteboard with an LCD panel was used throughout whole course. "Visualization" of an interactive whiteboard with an LCD panel is often expressed to as an acclaimed feature by teachers. The needs to remedy the lack of software and technical problems have been stated by the teachers.

The integration of information and communication technology into early year's classrooms is increasingly important for engaging and motivating digital learners. One of the more promising recent revolutions in educational technology that encourages learner's involvement is interactive whiteboard (IWB). Many schools have accepted IWB as core teaching technology for teaching young children. Yet there has been little research that looks into it especially for teaching science in early year's education. This paper reports on selected preliminary findings from a recent study which highlighted a number of affordances, practices and challenges related to teaching science for children aged five to six years using IWBs. A phenomenological perspective was adopted in this study. In-depth interviews with teachers to explore their individual experiences and perspectives about the uses of IWBs were recorded. Data were collected and analysed according to a qualitative approach. The preliminary analysis of the data summary across the seven case studies revealed that the teachers used IWBs in a wide range of ways with the intention of bringing contemporary content into the classroom and leading to the learning of investigative science. Promoting authenticity and connectedness, multimodality and versatility, and efficiency were the most frequently mentioned by participating teachers. This study also illustrates the disruptive effects of conventional classrooms setting, low technical support and insufficient training towards the process of implementation of IWBs.

Literature on educational technology touts its potential for enhancing student outcomes such as learning, satisfaction, and performance. But are these benefits universal and do they apply to all applications and/or forms of educational technology? This study focuses on one such system, the Smart Board Technology System (SBTS) and the impact its use has on students. Responses from 111 students in a College of Agriculture and Human Sciences at a public university in the Southwest United States yields mixed but encouraging evidence. SBTS use is shown to be positively related to student learning and satisfaction, but not necessarily student performance.

This article will define Web 2.0 and determine if it is "right" for you. The author has been teaching with technology for over ten years and has identified Web 2.0 categories that are emerging in higher educational institutions. A summary of seven categories of the "Education Winners" as well as a comparison of each of the winners will be provided. After reading this article, one should be able to determine if Web 2.0 tools might be of interest to them in using in order to promote learning in the classroom. Moreover, the reader will be able to determine what tools are of interested to them in order to determine where the starting point should be for them and their students.

There is a substantial demand in New Zealand for professional learning opportunities to help early years' teachers to make use of ICT for teaching and learning (Harlow, Cowie and Jones, 2008), and where interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are increasingly being purchased by schools as instructional technologies. This paper reports on the findings of a researcher who was invited by a teacher in a small rural school in New Zealand to describe and understand the use of an IWB with young children aged five to six years. In this paper, the role of the IWB to enhance learning particularly in the use of language, symbols and texts is examined. The research involved collecting data from intensive classroom observation over a week using video and audio recordings as well as student and teacher interviews. Data were analysed using a framework developed by Kennewell and Beauchamp (2007), who identified how teachers used features of ICT/IWBs to enhance learning. The findings indicate that it was the way the teacher integrated the IWB into her pedagogy to improve the learning activities that made the IWB such an effective tool in this classroom.

Many teachers are aware of the benefits of small-group learning. However, implementation, especially in classrooms with communication challenges, can be difficult. For students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) in mainstream classrooms, communication is most often supported through sign language interpreters and captioning. This model of communication through a third party was designed for traditional lecture courses--small-group learning is beyond its intended capacity. The authors present student perspectives on the use of a low-tech tool to facilitate communication for student workgroups with a mix of DHH and hearing students.