Innovation and education systems: teachers experiencing Interactive Whiteboards

The article aims to provide a critical perspective on the ongoing Information and Communication Technologies’ application in education, analyzing the development of technology-based school innovations and their effective implementation. It presents an evaluation case study referred to an Italian government program for teachers’ professional development aimed to develop and to improve the educational practices innovation through the diffusion and the use of Interactive Whiteboards in Italian primary and secondary schools. The aim is to identify some improvements factors towards different types of technology-based school innovations, taking into account the translation process from the starting of innovation to its implementation. The article provides some reflections to better understand the concept of innovation in education sector, mainly focusing on technological innovations trough the use of new technological tools in teaching and learning processes. It identifies critical success and failure factors for school technology-based innovation, deepening, in particular, teachers’ point of view, investigating their experience in experimenting the use of interactive whiteboard in classroom. The case study provides some empirical findings that underline the crucial role of teachers to ensure the promotion of education systems’ innovation through the use of new technologies in educational practices, as well as the need to provide them adequate professional development opportunities to reduce the still existing digital divide in school systems. This means wonder about what this implies for education and training policies and how policy makers could promote technology-based school innovations, trough suitable institutional and government initiatives aimed to innovate educational methods and practices in order to improve both the services provided to students and teachers’ professional competences.