Improvement of teachers' usage of interactive whiteboards: An application of human performance technologies

The purpose of this study is to develop suitable performance technology solutions for the teachers to improve their perceptions skills of utilizing the interactive boards. In accordance with this purpose, Human Performance Technologies processes have been applied by following analysis, synthesis, design, development and assessment steps. Within this scope, factors that hinder teachers from using the interactive boards (such as information, opportunity and motivation etc.) have been decided and applications of performance technologies that will enable overcoming these obstacles have been designed and evaluated. The methodology of this study has been decided to br Developmental Research. Five branch teachers employed at the "Uluköy Yatılı Bölge Okulu" constitute the research group. The data for this study were collected through observation and semi-structured interviews. Before the application, observations and interwies were carried out to decide the current utilization level of the teachers. Through the acquired data, 1-hour techniqual education, 3-hour example application and written materials have been designed, developed and applied in order to detect and remove the reasons for the performance problems of teachers' use of interactive boards. Observations of the teachers and interviewes have been repeated to find out the change which came out after the application. The acquired data from the study have been analyzed via the content analysis and the descriptive analysis method. After the interceptions, improvements have been observed in the perception of teachers for the potential of the interactive boards in the educational activities. As a result of this improvement, a significant increase in teachers' utilization of interactive boards has been observed. The most significant result by the end of this study is the change in the quality of the teachers' usage of the interactive boards rather than the duration of the interactive board usage. Key Words : Interactive whiteboard(IWB), Human Performance Technologies (HPT)