The aims of this article are to review the existing literature on the introduction and use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in schools and to summarise the key issues arising from this analysis in order to provide a context for the articles which follow in this special issue of "Learning, Media and Technology." The article reviews the evidence about the initial adoption of the technology in classrooms, the existing empirical evidence of its impact on teaching and learning in schools as well as presenting an analysis of some of the underlying theoretical and conceptual issues.