Although some studies have widely investigated the use of Interactive
White Boards (IWBs); these have been appeared almost entirely in advanced
countries such as the UK, US, and Australia. There is a significant lack of
research that investigates using IWBs in classrooms in Saudi Arabia. This
study aims to evaluate Saudi teachers’ approaches to using IWBs in classrooms
and identify the problems they encounter when using these technologies. The
study was carried out in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Both quantitative
and qualitative approaches (a mixed methods approach) employed in the current
study by using three instruments. These instruments are Questionnaire (both
paper-based and online survey), classroom observation, and a semi-structured
interview. The Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge framework
(TPACK) Mishra and Koehler (2006) was used in this study as a framework to
aid the understanding of the research findings.
The questionnaire as a quantitative technique was employed in the
first stage (during 2014/2015) to gather quantitative data that were examined
and reported. Then the qualitative methods (classroom observations and
interviews) will be employed by the researcher in the second stage (during
2015/2016). The qualitative data can help to create a clear picture, obtain
more details, and increase the research validity and reliability. Therefore,
the questionnaire was distributed to male and female teachers in primary
schools in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Whereas, classroom observations
and interviews are used with a sub-sample of female respondents because of
cultural restrictions.
587 teachers (286 men and 301 women) from primary
schools in the city of Jeddah completed the questionnaire that designed
especially for this study. The quantitative findings of this study indicated
that 58% of Saudi teachers had fairly extensive practice with using IWBs more
than one year; they sometimes used IWBs in their lessons; they used IWBs with
a few interactive features; they occasionally allowed their students to use
the IWB in their lessons; they classified themselves as competent users of
IWBs; and they used IWBs for the whole class teaching.
However, 43% of Saudi teachers within the sample had
less than 1 year of experience; only nearly 18% of them had daily use of IWBs
in their lessons; and 18% used the IWB as an ordinary white /
blackboard. Remarkably, 18% of Saudi
teachers were the only users of this technology in their classrooms. Only 9 %
of teachers considered themselves expert users of IWBs, and only 28% of them
used IWBs in small groups and with individuals.
The most three difficulties that faced Saudi
teachers in the sample when using IWBs were: The lack of training courses,
then technical problems when using IWBs, and the lack of assistance and
support. In contrast, the three lowest problems were: Students find
difficulties with IWBs, the location of IWBs, and difficulties in integrating
IWBs in teaching lessons.
The findings of this study will add new knowledge
about how primary teachers use IWBs in Saudi Arabia, where a very little is
known yet about technology adoption in this cultural context. Additionally,
it will also provide evidence about how primary teachers adopt IWBs and what
supplementary support may be required to improve the probability of effective
adoption of IWBs in Saudi Arabia. Indeed, examining teachers’ views about
IWBs and their use is crucial because they are the first users of these
technologies in classrooms. Therefore, their opinions are vital to addressing
the strengths and limitations of using IWBs in Saudi classrooms. Moreover,
students will probably feel more comfortable with this technology and be able
to deal with the encounters of the modern environment only when their
educators become more confident in using IWBs and use them assertively and
proficiently. Thus, the present study could add new knowledge about using
IWBs in Saudi Arabia which can be related to theories of technology adoption
to test the robustness of these theories in a difference cultural and
educational context.
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