Digital Whiteboards vs. Dry Erase Boards

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The modern classroom needs modern learning solutions, and one of the biggest impacts your school can make for its students is upgrading those obsolete dry erase boards. When it is time to make a switch, most schools opt for digital whiteboard technology. Both dry erase and digital boards can be used for whiteboarding tasks, but that's where the similarities end.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Six Ways Digital Whiteboards Are An Upgrade Over Dry Erase Boards

There are several benefits to going digital with your school's lesson-delivering medium. Dry erase boards, chalkboards and overhead projectors have each had their turn in the classroom, but a digital board offers much more than simple lesson presentation. For example:

Digital Whiteboards Are Interactive And More Engaging

Digital whiteboards are interactive technologies - they respond to user commands in a way that dry erase boards obviously cannot. With a large interactive surface to work with, digital whiteboards can drive a variety of lessons and presentations. For example, teachers can incorporate simple activities like fill-in-the-blank labeling, quizzes or games to expand on lesson information. Students can approach the display and use it with simple gestures or taps - just like a tablet or smartphone. Most people get comfortable with the touchscreen display right away and can operate it with confidence. Confident, comfortable students tend to be more engaged learners.

Digital Whiteboards Allow Users To Save And Share Any Presentations

When the lesson or meeting is over, there's no easy option for saving your work with a dry erase board. You can take a picture of it with your own device, but then you've got to share that image from your own device to everyone else's. Not the most efficient or convenient way to handle that, and it could compromise your privacy. Digital whiteboards are designed to circumvent this issue, because you can save any digital whiteboarding session to the display. That's assuming the display has onboard memory to work with. If it does, teachers can save the lesson to pick it up at a later time, or it can be shared with students via e-mail or an app.

A Digital Whiteboard Supports Any Type Of Media For Presentation Purposes

With dry erase boards, you're confined to writing and drawing. And let's be honest, teachers don't have the time for high quality illustration. That limits the visual tools educators have to work with while trying to engage students. Leading interactive displays like the Clevertouch are packaged with excellent whiteboarding software. Clevertouch's Lynx is linked to the display's built-in browser, so presenters can jump online and pull any images, videos, text, or animations to build a compelling multimedia experience. With endless materials to work with, teachers can give their students plenty to look at, listen to and think on. Digital whiteboarding also provides teachers with plenty of annotating tools to work with, too. Ink precisely with pens or stick with markers for a familiar dry erase board feel. There's also plenty of colors to work with and you'll never have to worry about students making off with an unguarded marker.

Digital Whiteboards Make Collaboration Easier To Manage

Digital whiteboards are set up for efficient collaboration, which is one of those things that you just can't manage on a dry erase board. With an interactive flat panel like the Clevertouch, though, the teacher and every student in the class can connect to the display at the same time. Through the display's Clevershare app, up to 50 devices can connect and collaborate. Use this opportunity to have student groups present projects to the rest of the class. Send quizzes to individual students for a quick knowledge check. Or, just distribute the lesson to every student so everyone has the lesson material they need.

Digital Whiteboards Are Easier To Keep Clean

Did you forget to wipe the dry erase board after the lesson? Too late now, it's got a permanent streak on it. If it's cleaned after every use, a dry erase board can last for some years, but it will get dingier along the way. Eventually, an eraser will only push that ink around and create streaks instead of cleaning it off, and some of the ink will end up on clothing, causing stains. Dry erase boards are a bit of a mess. Digital whiteboards aren't. They don't require ink to work and they only need the occasional wipe down to retain their optical clarity.

Digital Whiteboards Are Built For Busy Classrooms

It's tough to keep order in some classrooms, especially among younger students. When chaos is at its maximum, quality digital whiteboards can withstand the stray pencil or flailing hand. Clevertouch digital whiteboards are built with thick glass surfaces that resist puncture and shattering. Durability is one of the biggest differences between low quality and high-quality interactive displays, and the difference could be a greatly extended service life.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Digital Whiteboards Are A Better Fit For Students, Teachers And Professionals

Digital whiteboards do much more than just take notes. They engage with media-rich presentations, give educators valuable lesson-building tools, and make collaboration a better experience for students and professionals alike. They're easier to keep clean and they're designed to last for many years, so digital whiteboards are a long-term investment. If better collaboration, lessons, and meetings are something your organization could benefit from, then it's time to speak with a reputable AV integrator to discuss moving on from your dry erase boards to embrace the power of interactive whiteboard technology.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]