Currently, there is some talk in my university concerning a change in our lecture rooms from blackboards to smartboards (or other alternatives, such as a smart podium). For that reason, I'm interested in the following:
- Do you have experience in teaching math using smartboards, as opposed to blackboards? Good/bad/...
- Do you have (second-hand) experience in teaching non-math courses using smartboards?
- Is the size of the group of students relevant for deciding to upgrade to smartboards?
- What is the general preference of students in this matter?
- Are there interesting alternatives (other than blackboards or smartboards)? Also alternatives which do not yet exist may be posted, if reasonably feasible.
I decided to post the question here, as I can imagine that similar discussions are being held at other institutions (and the outcome may have a profound influence on how we teach math in the near or distant future).
[Some more background: the specific lecture room we are talking about at my university has a capacity of 450 students; it is currently equipped with 9 big black boards (in rows of 3), all of which can be shown simultaneously as the room is quite high. There is also a beamer which can be used if one lowers the 3 blackboards in the middle, leaving 6 others for simultaneous use with the beamer. A typical course in this room is for 250 up to 450 engineering students - so not for mathematicians]