How teachers with ‘authentic’ expertise fully connect with their students in adapting technology for improved teaching and learning

This article is fundamentally about teachers and their expertise.  The teachers in this research study stood out for the intelligent way in which they adapted technology to enhance teaching and learning, drawing on students’ natural interest in all things digital because it features in all our everyday lives. Is there a causal relationship between improved teaching and learning and the use of technology in schools, or a simple relationship between the number of computers in a school and student attainment?  Research about IWBs (interactive whiteboards) showed no obvious learning gain: teachers spent significant time using them but with less classroom interaction; the research demonstrates that this is ‘inauthentic pedagogy’.  A piece of research undertaken many years ago (Goodwyn et al., 1997a, 1997b) found that a headteacher recommended his head of history as a model advocate for using technology effectively. He had taken all his old notes and turned them into Power Points