I was chatting with a DoS on the IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG Forum* recently. He was looking at how best to prepare his school for the future on a limited budget using the most appropriate technology. He was particularly interested in installing IWBs (Interactive Whiteboards) or something similar.

The Hardware

We agreed that an approach to gradually kit out a larger number of rooms rather than fully kit out a small number is a good one. This would involve providing data projectors for each room, wi-fi throughout the school and a number of laptops. I mentioned that in my personal experience, having rooms fully-equipped with IWBs, but only in one or two rooms means that:

• initial demand to use the equipment from teachers is high and can lead to frustration among those not selected
• training can only be put into practice by a small number of teachers and resources are wasted on the majority
• initial enthusiasm wanes if not harnessed early
• room booking becomes a nightmare
• the technology isn't exploited effectively by those teachers who do use it as there isn't a wave of ideas to share

In addition, I feel (and many might disagree) that most of what you do with an IWB can be done by a projector and a laptop. I feel that the only important advantage that the IWB affords is the ability to face the class more effectively. The importance of this factor increases in proportion to the number of Young Learners you teach!

Another benefit of a gradual, but wide-reaching approach is that you can always upgrade at a later date, meaning that there is no wasted investment (as long as the projectors will work with the IWBs which you invest in in the future).

On the subject of data projectors, I would say that a fitted data projector is quite important, as it doesn't cast troublesome shadows, you don't need to calibrate (the IWB) so often and the projector isn't in the way, right in the middle of the classroom, constantly being knocked by you and your students and trailing wires across the room (which may even be a health and safety issue in some environments.

As an aside, teachers in every centre where I have worked have found CD players to be an uncomfortable interim between cassettes and PCs. When we introduced CD players at our schools, teachers lamented the ability to move about the recording and listen to parts again and many stuck with cassette players as long as they could (students were heard to ask what this "new" technology was). Playing audio on computers overcome this problem.

Speakers are an excellent idea too. I feel very uncomfortable if asked to teach somewhere without them as students have to face unfair challenges in listening. They add to the centre's good image too at limited cost.

The other costs

Your staff may produce their own materials if they have time. Alternatively, many publishers now provide IWB software to complement the core course (such as Pearson Longman's Active Teachproducts). This usually includes CD, Coursebook, Video, Workbook/CD-ROM activities, etc all in the same place. Such software is now much more affordable than it was only 3 or 4 years ago.

It would be useful to have IT support in a larger school, or at the very least, a member of staff who is IT-knowledgeable and can be called on whenever needed (i.e. not a teacher). It might be a good idea to have an IT audit and from the results, provide basic IT training to your staff.

The largest cost, of course, is that involved in developing your staff. However, it isn't necessary to bring in costly external trainers. In my last post, I mentioned a project carried out by Embassy language schools. The aim was to implement a 1-year, non-threatening (and voluntary) teacher training course to develop confidence and competence through the use of "champions" or "early adopters", that is, respected staff members who were enthusiastic about the new medium. The success of the programme was based on one-to-one peer-coaching and non-prescriptive sharing of knowledge and skills.

In the first stage, teachers would watch the champion teach using the IWB (or similar). They would write a reflective journal. Champion and teacher would then create a lesson together. The teacher would then teach a class with the champion in the classroom in a supporting role (with the champion this time writing the reflective journal). This process could be followed up by further observations, a "buddy" system, various "swapshops" and by 15-minute homework slots to maintain confidence. CoPs might form on animation, audio, video, etc

The training was supplemented by (free) general training from publishers keen to win adoptions.

Clearly, a lot of classes need to be covered here and this will cost.

Have you set up classrooms with IWBs in your centre?

What hardware route did you choose to go down? What would you have done differently?

Have you received training? What were the benefits of the way you were trained?

Do you use published software? What do you like using? What would you like to see?

All the best

James

* You don't have to be a member of the SIG to register for the forum, where you will be involved in discussions, questions, idea-sharing and news.

Join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LearningTechnologiesSIG/