The use of interactive whiteboards in urban Gauteng classrooms

Abstract

There are teachers that have technology in their classrooms that is underutilised or not used at all because of factors like technical problems, lack of training or support or teachers’ negative attitudes. This study wanted to determine the impact of the use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in primary and secondary urban classrooms in Pretoria, Gauteng. Interactive whiteboards are one of the technologies that are most commonly used in education worldwide. Technology has taken over our lives and it is becoming more necessary for upcoming generations to become technologically proficient. The overall purpose of the study was to determine the external factors, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, the attitudes of educators and learners towards technology, the behavioural intention to use the technology and the actual use of the technology according to the technology acceptance model (TAM). This was a qualitative case study and the researcher collected data from three secondary and six primary schools in Gauteng. She sent questionnaires to the schools and obtained answers from 30 secondary school and 99 primary school teachers. It was determined that more primary school teachers use the IWBs than secondary school teachers and they also use it more effectively. Most of the teachers find the IWBs easy to use and integrate the technology in their lessons. Teachers also indicated that the IWBs are very useful for saving their work, it helps them make lessons more interactive, visual and interesting and that the use of the technology motivates learners to participate.