How interactive is interactive whiteboard when used in teaching and learning?

The use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in classrooms has become more
common in both developing and developed countries around the world. Much of the early research is on the novelty of the technology. However, there has been minimal research on the unique potential of IWBs. This paper reports a recent study investigating interactivity around IWBs and uses an “interactivity framework” (Sweeney, 2008) to examine how interactive teaching and learning are when IWBs are used in classroom. Based on the literature, interactivity consists of technical interactivity (TI) and pedagogical interactivity (PI). The key research question is what shape of interactivity – combination of TI and PI – exists in the classroom. Findings suggest most of the teaching and learning falls into the low level interactivity and there is no learning episode that achieved the top two levels of the interactivity framework.