Interactive White Board (IWB): Luxury or Hurdle in Kuwaiti Schools (Published)
The use of Interactive White Board (IWB) has spread in the field of education. This study aimed at investigating the attitudes of teachers toward using IWB in teaching. It is a twofold study which attempts to explore the way teachers perceive the use of IWB and pinpoint the obstacles that hinder its implementation in education. It is a unique study which highlights the issue of the availability and free access to abundant advanced technology in Kuwaiti schools, which is faced by several obstacles that put them off using IWB. Data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 36 teachers. In addition, a checklist of structured observation focusing on a number of features of IWBs implementations was used by 20 non-participant observers. The results indicate a general acceptance level of the proficiency in the use of IWB as implemented by observed teachers. In terms of the students’ level of engagement in the learning-teaching process, our findings signal high variability between different disciplines of teaching. Recorded group discussions were additionally analysed qualitatively, the findings of which revealed that using IWB in teaching and learning process is a hindering rather than a facilitating tool. Suggestions are made for further research in the use of IWB considering the variables that hurdle opportunities to utilize advanced technologies within educational contexts in future.
Keywords: interactive whiteboards; teacher attitudes; efficiency of implementation