Project Overview
iTILT stands for Interactive Technologies in Language Teaching, and is a European project which aims to promote best practice in communicative language teaching using interactive whiteboards. Interactive whiteboards may look like normal whiteboards, but they can facilitate the integration of new media in the classroom, enhance learner engagement, support new electronic literacies and meet the needs of students with diverse learning styles. If used well, IWBs can significantly transform the language classroom. For this to happen, teachers need to be given adequate training and support in how to use the tool communicatively, to be aware of strategies and procedures for designing effective IWB materials, and to have the opportunity to reflect on their own practice.
Project Aims
- produce effective IWB training materials for language teachers
- inform teachers of IWB best practice based on research
- provide a support network for teachers and schools
- bring together teachers from all sectors (primary, secondary, tertiary, vocational) of education
- encourage the sharing of example lesson plans
- promote reflective practice with IWBs
iTILT Website
The iTILT project website aims to provide language teachers with a place to go to for professional development, training and support. You will find:
- information about how best to use the IWB in language teaching
- example videos of teachers using the interactive whiteboard effectively in the language classroom
- an online community of educational experts and language teaching practitioners who are using the interactive whiteboard
- guidelines and support for teacher trainers
- resources for teachers (lesson plans, etc.) supporting the teaching of a range of different European languages, such as Spanish, French, English, German, Dutch, Welsh and Turkish
- an open-source archive of example IWB materials
- interviews with teachers and learners about using interactive whiteboards
The website will be of value to all educators interested in effective teaching with IWBs, but will be of particular interest to:
- Language teachers
- Language teacher trainers
- Learning technology specialists
- Decision makers in the field of education
Project Lifecycle
The project, financed under the Lifelong-Learning-Programme (Key activity 2), started in January 2011. In the first months, the partnership developed a training handbook with tips and examples on how to use the IWB in a communicative language class. This training manual includes practical guidelines for evaluating and designing IWB-materials. The handbook will form the basis for the training sessions with the project´s associated research partners conducted in September 2011 in the different partner countries.
From October until June 2012, the project team will collect illustrations of teachers using the IWB in classroom practice. Multi-media documents will be produced including class video clips with teacher and learner comments and related teaching materials to serve as learning objects promoting reflection on IWB use in language education.
These classroom illustrations will then be tested and piloted twice: once with the associated research partners and a second time with the project´s dissemination partners.
The project ends in April 2013. The final website will offer a repository of over 100 learning objects (class video, audio commentary, IWB files) in 6 languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Turkish, Welsh), for different sectors (primary, secondary, university and vocational education).