There has been extensive investment by governments and individual schools in developed countries in IWB technology Developing countries such as South Africa are following the trend Teachers report on the efficacy, flexibility, and versatility of IWBs Learners pointed out the lack of teachers ICT skills, related cost, and reliability disadvantages.

How and why do interactive pen technologies, such as the eBeam, enable or constrain teaching and learning in South African primary and secondary schools? What benefits and drawbacks do teachers perceive when using interactive pen technologies in their teaching? What benefits and drawbacks do learners perceive when using interactive pen technologies in the classroom?

Three schools were chosen for the feasibility study and were given one ebeam interactive pen system by the ECDoE. Teachers were first given training, observed, and finally interviewed

English as a second language teacher Adequate ICT skills Observed 29 6 th graders. English as their second language Lesson 1: read interactive story of Goldilocks and the three bears Complete a worksheet and answer on the board Learners were engaged Lesson 2: learn about components of a story research endangered bears on the laptop Learners were engaged Lesson 3: read the story again and circle the nouns complete a worksheet on nouns Learners were more enthusiastic, but some were quite disruptive

English and Life Orientation class th graders No training- self taught Lesson 1: used Microsoft PowerPoint and Acrobat PDF Reader to discuss linguistic techniques in advertising complete group assignment and share with the class Successful Lesson 2: PowerPoint presentation for rhyming schemes and sonnets learners interacted with eBeam annotation mode Minor struggle with use of pen and eraser Lesson 3: Similar to first lesson. More time interacting with students rather than the board

Economics, Business Economics, and Business Studies teacher th graders Prior ICT training Lesson 1: PowerPoint presentation by teacher Learners chose one South African company and completed a mind-map Lesson 2: students presented mind-map on the whiteboard Lesson 3: learners presented their PowerPoint Throughout the lessons calibration difficulties negatively affected teaching

English, History, and Life Orientation teacher th graders Adequate ICT training Lesson 1: Using Microsoft Word to work through examples of concords Difficulty with handwriting recognition software. Learners often obstructed the projector while writing Lesson 2: Similar to lesson 1 Teacher had major difficulty assembling eBeam and starting programs Lesson 3: Teacher used the projector without the eBeam Unsuccessful

Mathematics and Science teacher th graders Minimal use of computers in teaching Lesson 1: Teacher used Microsoft Excel to teach quadratic equations After calibration problems, teacher decided to use the laptop only Lesson 2: Used PowerPoint and Word to teach about rational and irrational numbers Only used the eBeam as a mouse to navigate through slides, while a student controled the software directly from the laptop

Visibility of big screen Lack of ICT literacy and ICT competency Value of multimedia content Motivational benefit of using of up-to-date technology Interactive affordances Participant preference – IWB vs. laptop/projecto r

Most teachers liked laptop and projector combination Most problems surrounded the pen technology An evolution of ICT pedagogy is necessary Teachers should be offered technology not have them imposed upon