How teachers and students depict interactive whiteboards and tablet PCs in a 9th grade classroom?

Abstract

This paper describes a pilot project with the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of tablet PCs and interactive/smart whiteboard for 9th grade students and their teachers. The pilot study was designed to explore students’ and teachers’ perceived effectiveness of using tablet PCs and interactive/smart whiteboards. The participants included a total of 136 teachers from various state funded schools and 732 9th grade students, who were provided with tablet PCs and interactive/smart whiteboards and were trained in their use. A survey was distributed to the participants at the end of the semester. This paper describes the pilot project and the survey results. We observed that (a) teachers think that interactive/smart whiteboard would have more impact whereas students consider tablet PCs would have more, and (b) students are more anxious about using tablet PCs and interactive whiteboards during instructional processes than teachers.