1995 called, they want their electronic whiteboard back.
I don’t deny that interactive wall mount displays –
smartboards- -are useful for student engagement in K-12, they provide a good
platform for interactivity within small groups of students. When mounted at a
low level, or on a height-adjustable mount, students can write and participate
with their peers.
Are they worth the cost in Higher Ed? No.
University students don’t walk to the front of the classroom
to write on a board, they sit and stare at the back of the instructors’ head while
the instructor writes on the board, or they update social media and wait for
the end of class.
Smartboards suffer from the same basic design flaw as the standard
whiteboard, which is really just a hypoallergenic chalkboard. Chalkboards were
state of the art educational teaching tools in 1801. If you place a writing
surface on the front wall of the classroom for the instructor, they turn their
back to the students while they write.
Interactive wall mount displays have an overlay for the writing
surface, usually plastic or glass, this can become scratched, dirty and damaged.
Even when new, these overlays tend to reduce the contrast and sharpness of the
image. A typical large interactive display, 70”, will also be too small to be
used as the only display in a 30 seat classroom. In our typical room, it would be
necessary to mirror the smart display to a projector or additional displays.
Sometimes this becomes a challenge, depending on the system’s design features.
Options
Interactive desktop displays have a more friendly form
factor, they are usually placed on a tabletop in front of the instructor as
they face the students, and don’t block eye contact. They can be very flexible
and responsive. We have standardized on an all-in-one form factor PC, the
Microsoft Surface Studio. It has a large fingertip-adjustable mount, and
bright, sharp display. It has all of the multitouch interactivity of the wall
mounted display, high quality graphics, better pen response and faster
performance. The pen surface is durable and glass, easily cleaned of gummy
fingerprints. It’s cheaper, as well, and the display output is easily mirrored
to a projector or an external display.
Interactivity
What about student interaction for our hypothetical
uber-bored University student? Most Higher Ed students come equipped with their
own interactive device, occasionally kept in a pocket, usually held in the hand
constantly. Bring-Your-Own-Device should be a given in University-level instruction, not an
afterthought, or a “someday-we-might-support-this” option. Effort and budgets
should focus on allowing BYOD interactivity in classrooms, not spending limited
resources on plug-in chalkboards.
