Interactive whiteboards in education: a literature scoping survey

Interactive whiteboards are increasing in popularity and prevalence in education. A scoping survey was performed to ascertain the types of documents available from academic databases on the use of interactive whiteboards with school-aged children. More than half of all the identified documents were grey literature: that is, comprised of non-refereed research, descriptive articles, product descriptions, and general opinion. The remaining research-based documents were predominantly descriptive and qualitative. A small number of documents contained quantitative data, and these were mainly survey-based. There were few experimental studies available. The limited number of research studies contrasts with the sizeable volume of grey literature available on these technological tools. There appears to be a need for more experimental research on the purported positive outcomes of interactive whiteboard use in schools such as higher academic achievement and engagement levels.