Technology Shaping a Democratic Classroom
This chapter presents a case study of how the educational potential of interactive whiteboards spread from one teacher to her staff, the district and subsequently to other teachers in a province in Canada. This initiative is unique because of the “bottom up” nature of teachers coming together and sharing their expertise and experience with interactive whiteboards, which in turn inspired other teachers. Over a number of years, Livingstone staff have observed, discussed and documented multiple ways in which IWBs support teaching and learning. These findings have been adopted and improved as the staff collaborate and change their authoritarian style to a more student-directed classroom. This case outlines the power and potential of this type of collaborative, bottom up approach among teachers and university educators rather than the more common “top down” approach typically identified with administrators requiring teachers to use interactive whiteboards.