Interactive whiteboard

First released in 1991 and branded as “SMART Board” by husband and wife team David Martin and Nancy Knowlton, the interactive whiteboard fuses traditional blackboard-style teaching with contemporary technologies and specialized software.  Boards are typically sensitive to different methods of touch, distinguishing between hands and the specialized pen tools. The projector serves as a conduit between the board and a computer, and any changes made on the computer are reflected on the board. Similarly, changes made on the board are reflected on the computer, such as opening a specific program or rearranging desktop icons. Various upgrades on the SMART Board include the ability to detect multiple simultaneous touch inputs and screen recording software. SMART Board is often used in conjunction with SMART Notebook, a software bundle with educational presentation platforms and games specifically engineered for use with the interactive whiteboard (ETEC 510 contributors, 2012). 

Despite considerably marketing hype, interactive whiteboards have been the target of widespread criticism since their proliferation in American schools during the late 2010s due to their high cost (typically from $3,000-$5,000 per unit), required technical training, and clunky software compared to that of a typical desktop computer or mobile device (How Much, 2012) North Carolina middle school teacher Bill Ferriter wrote in a 2010 column,

“Most of the time, interactive whiteboard programs are, in fact, nothing more than vain attempts to buy change. Rarely paired with a clear vision of the classrooms we’d like to see, a set of tangible objectives that can be measured, or any systematic attempts to evaluate outcomes, these high-priced contraptions are sad examples of the careless decision-making and waste that are crippling some of our schools and systems” (Ferriter, 2010).

Smart Technologies, the company behind the most popular interactive whiteboard, has faced significant financial difficulties in recent years, culminating in a CEO change and buyout by multinational electronics company Foxconn (Kiladze, 2011).

ETEC 510 contributors, "Interactive Whiteboards," ETEC 510, , http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/index.php?title=Interactive_Whiteboards&oldid=63450 (accessed May 11, 2018).