Smart Boards (Interactive Whiteboards)

Interactive whiteboards, commonly known as Smart Boards, represent a significant financial investment in education that frequently did not deliver on their transformative potential. These boards can range in cost from $2,000 to $6,000 per unit, with installation and software potentially increasing the first-year cost to between $4,000 and $8,000. Despite their features for interactive learning and multimedia integration, a 2017 study found that students in classrooms utilizing regular boards sometimes achieved better performance. This was attributed to technical problems and a lack of sufficient teacher proficiency with the technology. This suggests that considerable expenditure was often directed towards technology that was not consistently maximized or effectively integrated into teaching practices.