SMART Board - The advantages and disadvantages of using a digital interactive whiteboard (in the classroom)

We use smart boards for teaching in the school's computer lab. Basically, the SMART board converts your digital projector/LCD projector image into an interactive whiteboard that can be written.

The SMART Board itself is a touch-sensitive giant screen that connects to your computer. You can use a digital projector to display your computer screen on the SMART Board, as well as software that allows you to touch and interact with your computer.
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  As more and more school boards and teachers invest in data projectors, it raises the question of whether SMART Boards are a good investment. After all, the intuitive touch interface and the ability to write on digital documents [using digital ink] will help us move beyond blackboards, flipcharts and overhead projectors.

Advantage

• With the SMART Board, you can control any application with the touchpad. Therefore, instead of working behind a computer keyboard, you [or your students] can physically interact with the display in front of the classroom.
• You can use digital ink to write in an application, web page or mobile video using any of four color markers or erasers. If the pen is lost, the SMART board will still work. [There are 4 color pen holders and an eraser.] When you take the pen out of the slot, it chooses a color or eraser.
• As with other digital ink software applications, you can save your work to a notebook file and convert your handwriting to text.

Disadvantage

• Hard to write. The biggest disappointment with digital ink comes from the fact that the SMART Board is a front projection screen. This means your data projector is placed in front of the screen [such as an overhead projector]. This means that when you stand between the projector and the screen, you cast a shadow on the screen... just where you want to write. Of course, interacting with the program through the touch screen is cool, but because you often block images, it's hard to write notes.
• Hard to write from
  
  tidy . To be honest, how disappointing our handwriting on the SMART Board is. It's better than our experience with other digital pens [ie i-pens], but the handwriting is still large, blocky and messy. One of the things you have to train yourself to do is not rely on smart boards. When you write on a blackboard or whiteboard, usually place the edge of the palm on the board. If you do this on the touch screen, the cursor will jump to your palm, but it won't run. You must train yourself to write only with the tip of the pen. If we want to emphasize or circle key ideas, the markup works fine, but if you want to edit or modify a 12-point, double-spaced Word document, you have a hard time getting the control you need.
• You still need to move back and forth from the keyboard to the screen. We can launch our web browser by touching the SMART board, but when we need to enter the website address, we have to go back to the desktop and type the URL.
• expensive. The total cost of ownership of the SMART Board can be prohibitive for classroom teachers. The retail price is 77? The [195.6 cm] front projection SMART Board interactive whiteboard is priced at $1,399 [US$] and is funded by the Canadian SMARTer Children's Fund. [www.SmarterKids.org]
• You need to provide your own data projector. A new, good projector will cost about $500 to $1,000. The SMART Board is just a huge touchpad. You need to provide your own projector to display the image on the smart board. [Includes software, connecting cables and brackets.]
• You may need to upgrade to a wireless connection [$199] to eliminate the risk of cable and tripping in the classroom. Screen images and SMART Board touch screens may be damaged. This means that when you try to click a button, the mouse pointer appears a few inches to the side. You must re-tune the hardware that might interrupt the course.

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