IWB's in the classroom!

There was a time when teachers stood in front of the class, with chalk poised on the blackboard while pupils scribbled away furiously.

Now teachers' presentations have tocompete with the expectations raised by the technology children have at home - iPods, Playstations and home computers.
But they do now have their own multimedia technology in the classroom, in the form of interactive white boards (IWBs).These are a virtual one-stop-shop that acts as an overhead projector, television, DVD player, photo album, computer and depending on your software - much, much more.

Ministers were so excited by the technology they gave schools £50m in 2004 to install them in their classrooms. Now nine out of 10 schools use them. But some teachers were not so excited - as it meant they not only had to master a whole new way of teaching but the software and hardware that went with it.

The school I taught at in the UK - Suffolk's Castle Manor School has, like many schools, embraced the technology and now has 25 IWBs.
Every Monday it holds a virtual assembly, featuring student achievements in a news bulletin shown in classrooms on the white board.

But is it useful for the nitty gritty of teaching?

Techno addicts

A study of 267 pupils aged 11 to 18 has concluded that addiction to technology is harming learning, according to the BBC. Researchers from Cranfield School of Management, Northampton Business School and AJM Associates, an academic consultancy, found that technology 'drove a social lifestyle that involved a strong desire to keep in touch with friends'. You can see how it might take the combined might of three research organisations to get to that conclusion.

Their report is called 'Techno Addicts: Young Person Addiction to Technology' and is based on a written questionnaire. Sixty-three per cent of respondents said they felt addicted to the internet and 53% to their mobile phones. Over half spent about half an hour a day on their mobile, while 17% said they spent at least three hours. About 20% said they left their phones on during lessons. Internet use was higher, with over 30% reporting one or two hours' use a day and 26% saying they spent 'up to six or more hours' a day. On average, between one and two hours a day were spent on social networking sites.

Thirty-nine per cent of the pupils surveyed said they thought that texting had affected their written English, and in particular their spelling. Eighty-four per cent admitted copying chunks of information from the internet for homework or projects. The researchers concluded that gadgetry is affecting attention levels ("They are hiding these things under the desks ... they are not focusing on what's going on in class ... They can't get motivated to read for a long period of time"). Dr Nada Kakabadse from Northampton Business School said that pupils were getting into bad habits of plagiarism ("they go on the internet and lift it, rather than reading it and understanding it"). She also raised concerns about text abbreviations, handy for anyone studying language change: "They have invented a new language. This kind of abbreviation they unconsciously bring into their assignments. So they will have difficulty communicating with others and making themselves understood. Of course, language should evolve but maybe not so quickly."

Would research in NZ show any difference here?