This article was downloaded by: [University of Sussex Library] On: 29 September 2013, At: 21:26 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Learning, Media and Technology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjem20 Using the multimodal affordances of the interactive whiteboard to support students’ understanding of texts Damian Maher a a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences – Education, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia Published online: 13 Apr 2011. To cite this article: Damian Maher (2011) Using the multimodal affordances of the interactive whiteboard to support students’ understanding of texts, Learning, Media and Technology, 36:3, 235-250, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2010.536553 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2010.536553 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions
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This article was downloaded by: [University of Sussex Library]On: 29 September 2013, At: 21:26Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Learning, Media and TechnologyPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjem20
Using the multimodal affordances ofthe interactive whiteboard to supportstudents’ understanding of textsDamian Maher aa Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences – Education, University ofTechnology, Sydney, AustraliaPublished online: 13 Apr 2011.
To cite this article: Damian Maher (2011) Using the multimodal affordances of the interactivewhiteboard to support students’ understanding of texts, Learning, Media and Technology, 36:3,235-250, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2010.536553
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2010.536553
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Using the multimodal affordances of the interactive whiteboard to support students’ understanding of texts
Damian Maher*
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences – Education, University of Technology, Sydney, AustraliaTaylor and FrancisCJEM_A_536553.sgm(Received 28 May 2010; accepted 25 October 2010)10.1080/17439884.2010.536553Learning, Media and Technology1743-9884 (print)/1743-9892 (online)Original Article2011Taylor & [email protected]
The purpose of the study reported on here was to explore ways in whichthe interactive whiteboard (IWB) can support students’ understanding oftexts. A Year 3 and a Year 4 primary school class in New South Wales,Australia, is the focus of the research. A qualitative case study was carriedout using multimodal analysis focusing on the use of an e-book displayedvia the IWB. The results of the study indicate that the IWB can supportstudents’ understanding of a narrative to prepare them to write a whole-class response through providing increased access to a range of resourcesthat are multimodal in nature. The way the interactive features of the IWBcan facilitate access to multimodal resources to cater for student needs isalso discussed.
The use of texts to support learning in primary schools has been a feature ofclassroom practice for many years (Jewitt, Moss, and Cardini 2007). The textsthat have been used have always been multimodal in nature (Unsworth 2002).For example, picture books which have been traditionally used contain textand pictures with colour. Television is also commonly used and containssound, colour and animation. More recent whole-class technologies, and ofparticular interest here – the interactive whiteboard (IWB), facilitate the use ofmultimodal texts that bring together a range of modes in ways different topicture books and television and can be used to support learning.
In this article, a qualitative case study was undertaken with a Year 3 and aYear 4 primary school class with the ages of the students ranging from eightto 10 years old. The focus of the research was on the use of IWB to supportstudents’ understanding of a narrative text for which they then constructed a
class response. A multimodal approach (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2002; Jewitt2006) is used to examine how a variety of resources, including written text,image, animation, sound (spoken words, sound effects and music) and colour,can be drawn upon by students to make meaning. In this article, ‘written text’refers to the use of words and numbers and is a mode, whilst ‘text’ is a writtendocument and can potentially contain all multimodal resources.
In taking such an approach the key research questions are:
● What modes are offered via an e-book?● What particular modes do the students and teacher respond to?● How might the affordances of the IWB be used in showing an e-book to
further support student learning?
Multimodal texts and the IWB: a review of the literature
Whilst the concept of multimodality goes back further than 1996, it is arguablythe New London Group who gave focus to this concept. In their seminal meet-ing they coined the phrase multiliteracies which has a two-pronged focus:
The first relates to the increasing multiplicity and integration of significantmodes of meaning-making, where the textual is also related to the visual, theaudio, the spatial, the behavioral, and so on … Second, we decided to use theterm ‘multiliteracies’ as a way to focus on the realities of increasing localdiversity and global connectedness. (Cazden et al. 1996, 60)
In developing the concept of multiliteracies Cazden et al. identified six majorareas in which functional grammars, the metalanguages that describe andexplain patterns of meaning, are required: linguistic design, visual design,audio design, gestural design, spatial design and multimodal design (78). Thelast one, multimodal design is different as it defines patterns of interconnec-tion of the other modes. Multimodality includes (but is not limited to) writtentext, music and sound (Van Leeuwen 1999), action (Martinec 2000) and visualcommunication (Kress and Van Leeuwen 1996) as modes.
Through the use of whole-class technologies and the IWB in particular,texts are becoming increasingly multimodal where writing and other modesare combined. In this instance, the IWB screen is designed to be utilised by thewhole class unlike personal computers, which changes the social structuresand relations of the classroom through the collective viewing of the texts. Theways in which students read, write, acquire and evaluate knowledge as well ascommunicate are changing (Leu et al. 2004), and as pointed out by Kress(2010), these changes place new demands on the way meaning is made whichrequire new skills and strategies. Some of these skills include ‘the ability tonegotiate meaning across numerous texts or combine technologies to constructnew meanings’ (Gomez et al. 2010, 22).
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The cognitive demands for students in understanding meaning comesabout because the semiotic resources available in multimodal texts are differ-ent from the ones available in printed and spoken texts thus bringing withthem different potentials for making meaning. ‘This shift from a linguisticfocus to a multimodal one requires readers to navigate, design, interpret andanalyze texts in new and more interactive ways’ (Serafini 2010, 86). This,according to Gomez et al. (2010), requires the reader to become more activein interpreting meaning.
The IWB, which can be used to show multimodal texts, is currently thedefault whole-class technology being installed in many classrooms around theworld. In the UK, for example, approximately 70% of schools have IWBsinstalled in their classrooms. In New South Wales (NSW), Australia, thegovernment has committed itself to ‘provide every NSW public school withIWBs by 2011’ (Iemma 2007, 5). To date about 25% of schools have boardsinstalled in every classroom.
The ability for the IWB to support the understanding and development ofstudents’ knowledge of different text types that contain multimodal dimen-sions of text, image, sound and gesture is known to be important (Rudd2007; Warwick and Kershner 2008). In the NSW English syllabus, it isstated: ‘In recognition of developments in multimedia and electroniccommunication, the syllabus outcomes also address the literacy demands ofviewing and using computers’ (NSW Board of Studies 2007, 5). It is inter-esting to note that even though the syllabus is only three years old the IWBas a technological kit does not feature which indicates how quickly the fieldis changing.
There has been a great deal of research conducted examining the use ofthe IWBs and their potential to facilitate multimodal texts to supportstudents’ learning in the primary school classroom. Shenton and Pagett(2007) focused on seven teachers in six primary schools in the southwest ofEngland and found that the visual nature of the IWB enabled students to usethe material as a stimulus for their own work. Higgins et al. focused on Year5 and Year 6 classes in 12–15 schools in each of six Local Education Author-ities and reported that students in the study commented ‘about “seeing” and“understanding” better when something is simultaneously presented in avisual fashion and then accompanied by an explanation from the teacher’(2005, 51).
In Australia, Schuck and Kearney (2007) focused on 16 classes fromkindergarten to Year 12 and found that multimodal features associated withthe IWB facilitated the recall of students’ learning. In another Australianstudy, Bennett and Lockyer (2008) conducted research in four primaryschools. In this study teachers reported that the multimodal elements of theIWB were able to enhance the learning of their students.
The studies reported here, and the majority of studies conducted on the useof the IWB, have been large-scale studies. There have been very few published
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studies focusing on the specific multimodal features of the IWB and howprimary school students and their teacher interact with them. In this article,such an examination is undertaken.
Methodology
For the study qualitative methodology (Lincoln and Guba 1985; Erickson1986) was used drawing on aspects of case study methods. A number of differ-ent data were gathered throughout the study.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the two teachers at thebeginning of the study which provided information on their experience inusing IWBs. The Year 3 teacher stated she was reasonably confident in usingthe IWB. The Year 4 teacher who was not long out of university stated herunderstanding of the capabilities of the IWB was not as solid as she mightlike. There were discussions with the teachers throughout the study whichallowed for pedagogical changes to be implemented based on some initialanalysis of the data, which related to the types of interactions occurring in theclassroom.
Questionnaires were provided to students at the beginning and end of thestudy. The questionnaire elicited information on students’ prior educationalexperience with using the IWBs. All the students surveyed had learnt with theIWB the year before and enjoyed learning with the IWBs.
Classroom interactions involving both whole class and group work werecaptured using a video recorder. It was important that these students were ableto participate equally in the class activities whilst ensuring ethical guidelineswere followed. The majority of students had permission to be involved in theproject. The two students who did not have permission were seated with agroup who were not recorded whilst the students worked in groups. Duringwhole-class discussions the camera was turned off when the two studentswithout permission interacted with the teacher.
The resource examined is an e-book called 50 Below Zero (Munsch 2003)which the students viewed to respond to was also one of the sources of data.The recordings of the classroom interactions captured from the Year 3 classand the e-book are drawn upon in this article.
Participants
The study was conducted over three school terms with a Year 3 class studentsand their teacher and a Year 4 class and their teacher in a suburban primaryschool in Sydney, NSW, Australia. Here the age range of the students wasbetween eight and 10 years old. The classes were selected for the study as theschool had IWBs in every classroom and the teachers were interested inexploring new pedagogical approaches with their use.
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The activity in which the class was involved was to write a response to anarrative which in this instance was the e-book 50 Below Zero. In NSW, anarrative and a response are two text types that are systematically taught tostudents at various points throughout primary school.
Data collection
Data were collected over three school terms. In total, 12 lessons wereobserved, six for each class. The lessons lasted from between 40 minutes toone hour. The first set of two lessons for each class were observed in Term 2,the second set of two lessons were observed in Term 3 and the final set oftwo lessons were observed in Term 4. In all three sets of lessons the formatwas the same; for the first lesson, the students discussed their text and thestructure of a response and then in groups generated ideas. In the secondlesson, the students bought their ideas together and constructed a writtenclass response.
During the first two lessons the teachers did not use the IWB, instead rely-ing only on resources which included pen, paper and a traditional whiteboard.During the second two lessons the teacher used the IWB for both lessons andthe students used pen and paper to record their ideas. For the last two lessonsthe students generated their ideas using a computer and teacher used the IWB.The reason for these differences across the three lessons was to provide forcomparison in using the different resources. Table 1 outlines the lessonsequence, including the activities and resources used.
The focus of this article is on Lesson 3 where the students viewed thee-book and Lesson 4 where they discussed it and constructed their review.
In organising the study, I worked with the teacher to develop the learn-ing activities that occurred in the classroom. I primarily took on the role ofresearcher although in the final two lessons I directed some of the learning.
Table 1. Overview of lesson activities and resources used.
Lesson no.
Lesson set Lesson activities and resource used
1 1 Class read text, generate ideas in groups. No IWB used.2 1 Class constructs text drawing on group ideas. No IWB used.3 2 Class read text, generate ideas in groups. IWB used for input.
Pen and paper used for generating group ideas.4 2 Class constructs text drawing on group ideas. IWB used.5 3 Class read text, generate ideas in groups via computer using a
word program. IWB used.6 3 Class constructs text drawing on group ideas. IWB used
connected to students electronically generated texts.
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Data analysis
Multimodal theory is used to analyse the data. It draws on Halliday’s (1985)work on systemic functional grammar where language can be viewed as a systemof choices that account for the meanings people make in using that language.According to Halliday, language is functional as it unfolds in the context ofuse: ‘Language has evolved to satisfy human needs; and the way it is organisedis functional with respect to those needs-it is not arbitrary’ (1985, xiii). A func-tional view of language describes its complexities when used in a variety ofdifferent social contexts, recognising that language is a social construct:
Multimodal social semiotics extends Halliday’s theory of meaning beyondlanguage to understand meaning as realised by a range of modes. It starts fromthe position that all modes have been shaped through their social use intosocial resources (although some resources are more articulated than others).Multimodal theory develops social semiotics to show that all modes have beendeveloped as sets of resources for making signs. (Jewitt 2006, 3, originalemphasis)
Modes are shaped by how people use them to make meaning, that is, the socialfunctions they are used for and include written text, image, animation, sound(spoken words, sound effects and music) and colour. Halliday (1985) classi-fied the social functions into three metafunctions. ‘Every sign simultaneouslytells us something about the world (ideational meaning), positions us in rela-tion to someone or something (interpersonal meaning) and produces a struc-tured text (textual meaning)’ (Jewitt 2006, 18, original emphasis). The waysin which the different metafunctions as realised by the various modes asbrought together on the IWB to support student understanding of literary textsare a focus of this article.
Analysis and discussion
In analysing the multimodal features that the IWB facilitates, the focus in thissection is on the types of modalities offered and there is discussion on howthese modalities combine as a way of facilitating student understanding of anarrative. The modes that students noticed and commented upon arediscussed. The potential of the IWB to be utilised in different ways to supportstudent understanding is explored.
The e-book and multimodality
In the lesson reported on here the teacher shows the students the e-book as astimulus for writing a response. In focusing on the e-book there are a numberof modalities that are at play. The different modes examined include images,animation, sound (speech, music and sound effects) and colour.
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Images
Images were used extensively throughout the text. Figure 1 is a screen shot ofthe first page.Figure 1. Screen shot showing an image from 50 Below Zero.
The class discussed the story after they had finished reading it focusing inpart on the use of images. The inclusion of the images added a great deal ofmeaning to the written text. The first image presented informs the reader whenthe story is set, both in regards to the time of day and the season. The imagealso provides information about one of the main characters and where the storyis set. The use of images also conveys a sense of humour as the teacher andstudents discussed in the following extract:
Teacher: It was quite funny wasn’t it? And it’s interesting listening to an Ebook as well because not only have you got the story that you’relistening to, but I guess you’ve also got the …
Peter: PicturesTeacher: That’s right, they were simple, they weren’t very elaborate, but
they were funny.
Historically, before the twentieth century, meaning in printed texts wasconveyed primarily through the use of words (Lewis 2001) although there aresome examples of images being used, for example, Dicken’s novels and‘penny dreadfuls’, which were the forerunner of comics. Throughout thetwentieth century where images were used with text the image was often
subordinate to the text (Bezemer and Kress 2009). With contemporary multi-modal texts such as those conveyed via the IWB, images can carry more ofthe cognitive load in relation to the meanings that can be conveyed.
The animations added ideational meaning by providing what Kress andVan Leeuwen (1996) call narrative representation whereby unfolding actionsor events are portrayed. Information that is being provided via imagesprovides information as to what is happening to the actors and/or what they aredoing. According to Lincoln images create meaning to the text … ‘and thusthere is a functional – in additional to an aesthetic – link to literacy’ (1992, 90).
Animation
The animations added further to the meaning to the text by bringing to life thecharacters in the story where the father moves around the house in a comicalmanner as he sleepwalks.
Figure 2 is a screen shot of an animation where the father is sleepwalkingacross the screen.Figure 2. Screen shot of animation.
The use of animation was commented on by students as illustrated in thefollowing extract:
Mary: The pictures that are animated, I like those.
Movement, according to Martinec (2000), is either directed at anotherparticipant (person or object) or it is not. If it is, it can be assigned to a
movement type called directed. If it is not, it belongs to a type called non-directed. In the story there are examples of both types of animations which areadded to the text to develop the characters in greater detail which are examplesof the ideational metafunction.
Additionally, the same movement may involve a shortening or lengthen-ing of distance between the characters in the story as it does in e-bookwhere the father sleepwalks around the house and eventually outside. Thisis another example of the ideational metafunction being realised (whichtells us something about the world) where the characters are beinggeographically located in relation to each other. Also, movement may berepeated and so provides a cohesive link of repetition, which is an instanceof the textual metafunction. The changing distances between participantsand the repetition of movement were realised through the animations whichwere thus able to provide much information and be realised by all threemetafunctions.
In considering the positioning of the written text along with the imagesand animations, this affects the information value it has (Kress and VanLeeuwen 1996). In English-reading cultures the printed text is read from theleft to the right and so anything situated on the left of the screen or pagetypically has higher information value. In the e-book the images/animationsare alternately situated on both the left and the right of the screen with thetext taking up the other side. In this way both the images/animations andthe text are being given equal value in providing meaning through theirpositioning.
Sound–music, speech, sound effects
The use of sound was another feature of the e-book that was used in a numberof different ways to add to meaning. Music was a key mode. To begin thestory, a short piece of music was played. This served two different purposes.First, it signalled to the viewers that something was about to happen. In thissense it served as an introduction. The style of the music was also significant.It was very upbeat and a little circus-like in nature, indicating the tone of thestory. Here there was a sense created that this would be a lively fun story. Asthe narrator read the story the music played underneath. Throughout the storythis music would come in at an increased volume where the page was turnedthus indicating a point of change to the reader. In this way the music serves tosupport the textual metafunction. Here then, both music and spoken textworked together to create a sense of action and meaning.
The narrator’s voice also added meaning to the story. I spoke with a smallgroup as they were writing their group review about the story. The studentsreacted positively to the multimodal aspect of the story conveyed through theIWB. They commented on the audio features of the story and the way the textunfolded:
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Researcher: What did you think of the way it was read? Was that better thanyour teacher reading it or just different?
Danah: It’s better. Because they had some better noises.Ali: Better accent and better noises. The narrator had more expression
than a normal person reading.Martin: It didn’t sound like normal.Liz: Well it just that it sort of sounded more …Danah: Funny’ cause it was more animated than a normal person would
have done.
The narrator used many elements that good readers typically use to addmeaning to the text. Volume was one feature. As the boy in the story triedto wake his Dad by yelling the narrator so too raises his voice. Here thenotion of social distance using a multimodal framework can be applied. Thevolume of the voice signifies a different kind of social relationship betweenthe person making the sound and the receiver. Here the interpersonalmetafunction is being realised. Tempo was another element that was used toindicate action. During parts of the story where there was heightened actionthe narrator would speed up the reading along with the volume of his voiceand then as a climax would rapidly slow the tempo and volume down. Thevoice was used to articulate sound effects throughout the story. An exampleof this is where the bathtub is filled up and the glug, glug, glug is heard.Here the sound effects of the voice worked in tandem with other soundeffects to provide layered information for the students.
Another feature of sound was the use of sound effects which were used toadd meaning and tension to the story. One sound effect that the studentspicked up on was the sound of breaking objects as discussed in the followingextract:
Teacher: All right. What else is worth mentioning and then we’ll work outhow we’re going to say it.
Al: Like the boy is woken up by his dad is making funny noises.Teacher: Okay. So his dad sleepwalks, ends up in crazy places and the boy
keeps getting woken by strange noises. Okay.Isabelle: He’s snoring.Teacher: Because he’s snoring and then what happens?Teacher: What happened?Nick: Like the cups break and everything.
Here the use of sound effects added to the meaning of the story by addingtension where the coffee cup was seen to move slowly across the kitchencounter and then breaks as was noted by one of the students in the extractabove. The organisation of music, speech and sound effects is a semioticresource that Jewitt (2006) refers to as sound time. This resource of soundtime sits along with the images and animation to provide meaning for theviewer.
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Colour
The use of colour was used in several different ways to help add meaning tothe text. It was firstly used as it would be in a traditional picture book to addideational meaning. First, the overall colour scheme of the pictures is blueand white, indicating that the story is set in a cold part of the year, beingwinter. The use of the black sky and the washed out colours along with mutedshadows also added meaning letting the reader know that the story was takingplace at night time. This meaning was added to by the use of images wherethe characters wore bed clothes, which also provided information that it wasnight time and that the characters were in bed asleep.
Another way in which the use of colour was used was to add to the textualmeaning. As the narrator read the story the particular sentence that was beingread turned blue (see Figure 2). The students commented on this feature:
Jen: You get to read along so if you’re learning to read it helps a lot.Liz: It’s highlighted in blue as it goes.Researcher: And so you were all reading along?Students: Yea.
As the students pointed out they were able to easily follow the text as itunfolded by following the texts as it changed colour. This point was madesalient by the first student Jen, who found this particular feature could help tolearn to read. This is where the use of the IWB in the classroom can assiststudents to learn both the content of the text as well as the structure and gram-matical features in ways that traditional texts cannot through its ability todisplay multimodal texts in interpreting meaning.
Using the features of the IWB
The use of the e-book shown via the IWB means it is far more adaptable thanan e-book shown on a data projector thus providing for interactivity. The typeof interactivity referred to here is what Jewitt, Moss and Cardini call technicalinteractivity – ‘where the focus is on interacting with technological facilitiesof the board’ (2007, 312). Via the IWB, the e-book can be run on either anautomatic setting without any intervention from the teacher or in manualsetting. Figure 3 illustrates the features of the e-book which could be used onthe IWB.Figure 3. Interactive features of the e-book.
In an automatic setting the book could run at a set pace. In this mode thesound could be turned on or off which would allow the teacher or students toread the text. Another button allows for the story to be stopped and started inthe automatic mode which would mean all the modal features could bedisplayed. Being able to start and stop the story where required means thatparticular aspects of the story can be discussed at the point they occur ratherthan having to wait until the end of the story.
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Whilst the automatic mode allows for the story to unfold at a set pace, notall learners would benefit from this. Kozma (1994) referred to the way inwhich the ‘stability’ of the medium influences how learners engage with thecontent. ‘A stable learning medium such as a traditional book gives the teacherthe advantage of being able to change the pace at which content is studied sothat difficult points or concepts can be reflected upon and absorbed’ (Haldane2007, 259).
In showing/reading the e-book using the manual setting and thus control-ling the pace of the story, the teacher could use the controls to turn the pagesto pace the reading of the book at a tempo that would suit the particular groupof students as desired. Sound could also be turned off and on in the manualsetting. Here the teacher is able to choose between different modes that couldbe used to support the students’ understanding of the text. Students with
different educational needs such as students with English as a SecondLanguage (ESL) could benefit from the teacher using the manual settingwhere sound could be removed and the teacher could read the story at aslower pace thus ensuring students’ comprehension of the text.
In order for the multimodal resources to be fully capitalised on in schoolsa number of changes need to take place. First, the vocabulary and, in essence,the approach to literacy education should be reconceptualised. Much of theNSW English syllabus is still informed by traditional grammar, which is amodel of grammar that does not provide for the resources students require toengage with, discuss and make sophisticated analysis of multimodal texts.Secondly, teachers should be trained both at pre-service and in-service levelsto understand new and emerging whole-class technologies and how theirmultimodal nature can be accessed to support students in schools, in particular,through using IWBs. Thirdly, educational designers of IWBs and multimodaltexts as well as curriculum policy-makers can work with teachers to designnew curriculum frameworks and assessments that incorporate the use of multi-modal resources. Without this, educational provision will continue to remainout of step with developments in the wider world (Marsh 2006).
It is important that students are exposed to texts in the classroom that theyare familiar with and engage in whilst in their own homes. As pointed out byFortuna (2007), multimodal texts are daily components of literacy experiencesfor young people. Access to such texts in the classroom can help to providerelevance and authenticity to the learning that takes place. A vast majority ofstudents will work with these types of texts as adults and it is important thenthat they have the opportunity to engage with them in primary school.
In providing access to multimodal texts the IWB facilitates a learning envi-ronment where students can be taught how to engage with such texts. AsWood and Ashfield state, the IWB can be used to ‘enhance and support teach-ing and learning through pupils being actively engaged in their own thinkingand learning and not to simply acquire knowledge and skills …’ (2008, 92).For learning to be active, learners need to understand and produce meaningsin a particular semiotic domain that is familiar (Smith and Wilhelm 2002). Atthe very least, the IWB can be used as a starting point where resources are usedthat are familiar to students so they might in their learning journey be taken toa point of unfamiliarity. Here the teacher can help to students to interact withthe texts by focusing their attention on the various modes and how theycombine to provide meaning.
Conclusions
The IWB is a powerful whole-class technology that enables a variety of modesvia electronic texts to come together to support students’ learning. In this arti-cle, the focus has been on developing students’ knowledge of the features of anarrative so that they could write a written class response to an e-book.
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Through the use of text, sound, images, colour and animation a rich tapestryof semiotic resources was made available via the e-book to allow students toappreciate, interpret and review texts.
Not only does the IWB facilitate an increased range of modes, it alsoallows for a greater level of interactivity than a data projector or traditionalbook. In the e-book, 50 Below Zero, options facilitated by the IWB allowedsound to be included or excluded. The story could also be put on automatic ormanual allowing for a number of different educational uses in the classroom.This could allow students with different learning styles and educational needssuch as ESL students to be catered for.
The students and the teachers involved in the research project were veryenthusiastic about the different modes of e-book. It is difficult to know howall of these different modes combined to assist students in making meaning asthe students did not comment on all the modes examined in this article. Whatis certain is that as the use of the IWB increases in schools, there is going tobe an increased number of electronic texts mediated by the IWB similar to theone examined in this article.
More research and development is needed to provide input into the designof these texts to ensure that maximum benefit is being had. Here the design ofthe texts and how different features can be accessed by the IWB would best beinformed through dialogue between IWB manufactures, writers of electronictexts and educators. Understanding the modes that are available through elec-tronic texts, how students access these and in what combination would alsoassist in producing resources that support students’ understanding of literarytexts. Additionally, providing teachers with greater pedagogical understandingof the multimodal features of these texts, so they can use them to supportstudents’ understanding of different text types along with curriculum reform,would greatly benefit students.
Notes on contributorDamian Maher works as a lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS),teaching to pre-service primary school teachers. His research focus is on how the useof ICT can support learning within primary schools and beyond.
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