Okay, I want to know the Straight Dope on why dry-erase marker boards are “taking over” and the traditional slate style chalkboards seem to be going to the wayside. One used to be able to buy a chalkboard at office supply stores, but now, they are all stocking only dry-erase marker boards. snarl…
I love old-fashioned chalkboards. They are fun, attractive, last virtually forever, and are easier to clean. Chalk is extremely inexpensive as well. Ahhh, I remember the good ole days as a kid in elementary school, always eager to volunteer to wash the chalkboards after school, pounding the immense clouds of dust out of the erasers, wheeeeee!
I do not care for marker boards. I find them unsightly, and they seem difficult to clean. The appropriate dry-erase ink often leaves permanent stains on them. aaaack… I have nothing nice to say about marker boards.
I don’t really have an immediate need or use for chalkboard or markerboard, but I am very curious about the whole thing, nonetheless.
also: Are traditional chalkboards still being used in contemporary schools? I haven’t set foot in a school classroom in over a decade.
Here, they use conventional chalkboards in almost all the classrooms, except the computer classroom, it has a whiteboard. But then, my school has a 1970’s vertical projector(or whatever you call in English the things used to show transparencies).
In the local (state) university they also have chalkboards, but it’s the discretion of the teacher to use them. I had one who wrote down the material in transparencies. I hate his teaching methods. He had a medical reason though, the chalk dust gives him asthma.
I think many of already existent schools have the traditional chalkboards, simply because they dont want to spend money to buy new whiteboards.
In the local high school, they have grayboards, which can be written on with either chalk or dry-erase markers. Why they haven’t caught on I don’t know.
As mentioned before, chalkboards are a bit messier. Occasionally, chalkboards need to be cleaned by wiping them off with a wet rag, but a well-used whiteboard pretty much stays clean by itself. Also, whiteboard markers have clearer colors than colored chalk, which is useful when doing sketches and diagrams. However, given the smelliness of whiteboard markers, I would hate to give an hour-long lecture with 'em–I’d be high as a kite by the end.
All in all, I think whiteboards are good for offices and jotting notes, but bad for giving lectures, which is probably why (in my experience) they’re rare in classrooms.
Chalkboards are low tech, and last forever with minor care. Chalk is a cheap and plentiful mineral. There’s no profit in chalkboards.
However, whiteboards get stained. If you don’t take care to erase them daily, some colors and brands of marker are nearly impossible to clean off when the set. Even with regular erasure, they get generally grimy within a few years and need to be replaced. And the markers are a commodity with a good profit margin, plus dry out or get used up frequently.
There’s a lot more money to be made in whiteboards, and so they’re marketed as “better” than chalkboards…
As someone with bad eyesight, I find whiteboards much easier to read. Chalkboards often get so dusty that there is a general chalk haze over the whole thing, and there isn’t enough contrast for me to see the words.
As a teacher, I prefer whiteboards. They are far clearer, can be used for writing on and projecting onto. Some are even magnetic. However, given a dried up squeaky pen, I’d rather use chalk.
Most schools in the UK are using whiteboards now - the children often have small (A4 size) ones for writing answers on and holding them up for the teacher to see (like the old slates I suppose).
Dry wipe markers seem the best. The solvent evaporates almost immediately leaving just the pigment. Wet wipe markers need “washing” off and are not as good.
Is it just me, or have dry wipe pens got better in the last couple of years (maybe I’m getting better at putting the lids on - half an hour in the open and they’ve had it.)
Doesn’t really answer the question, but it may be of interest.
Chalk dust is bad for computers, so rooms with many computers in them will usually use whiteboards. There’s good reasons to want to use the same sort of boards in all rooms (do you carry chalk or markers?), so many places (notably colleges) use whiteboards everywhere.
It’s usually easier for a given person to write on one than the other. The big difference here is resistance: Chalk on slate offers much more resistance than a marker. This is mostly a learned thing, though: I’ve done most of my board work with markers, so my chalk handwriting is messier, but some of my older professors grew up using chalk, so their marker writing is worse. This is another argument for uniformity at a particular institution.
Some whiteboard markers have a hideous odor, and some even require a bucket of solvent to erase the board, but there’s also low-odor markers available at only a slightly higher cost that are almost completely undetectable. I haven’t noticed any difference in the quality. Chalk is probably cheaper, but it’s a minor matter anyway: The $3 set I bought two years ago is only just now begining to run out.
Grayboards are probably so rare because they’re more expensive than either white or black. They would also offer less contrast for either medium, I would assume.
Thanks! Interesting points you folks have made so far.
[li]Chronos, I never thought about the computer thing. :eek:[/li][li]I am highly in favor of bughunter’s allegation, so far. ;)[/li]
AFAIC, whiteboards are as unfavorable as “New Coca-Cola.” I’m sticking with the chalk.
BTW, I have an actual slate-slate like used in the old classrooms, ala “Little House on the Prairie.” It is not an antique, but it is real slate, and is one of my most favorite novelties, in my cache of nostalgia. Here, I’ll prove it’s real slate ::::drags nails across it:::: scrreeeeeeeecccchhhh!!!
To reiterate Chronos’ point, when I asked at my sons school, they told me that they changed over to whiteboards because they integrated computers into the classrooms. The chalk dust isn’t good for them.
I would think that whiteboards would be better for people with respitory problems as well.
As a teacher, I was a bit upset when my classroom was given whiteboards to replace the old chalkboards. Once I used the markerboard for a few days, though, I liked it a LOT better. It is easier to read, easier (I find) to clean, and I don’t have to walk around with chalk dust all over my black pants. The markers do tend to run out rather quickly, but then again, they don’t break like chalk. All in all, I’d never go back to a chalkboard again.
They have taken the blackboards and the whiteboards out of the theatre I lecture in. I have 2 overhead projectors for transparencies and a computer projector for Powerpoint. Curiously, they didn’t ask the teaching staff when they decided to refurbish the rooms (yes, I prefer blackboards). I’d go with Chronos’ explanation plus: the desire to appear high-tech; the reluctance of cleaning staff to get rid of chalk dust; and the fact that I always used to have chalk all over my clothes.
I love the look of chalkboards, but I’m completely unable to use them. Writing on a chalkboard gives me serious heebie-jeebies, even without the fingernail screeching.
The dry-erase board I’ve been using on the fridge for a few years is past its prime, but it’ll only cost a couple of dollars to replace. (Ah, capitalism.)
For those of us who love chalkboards, we can buy chalkboard paint and create our own. With this stuff, you can make the kids’ whole room into one giant chalkboard. Wouldn’t that be killer? (My kids have asthma, though, so they’re out of luck.)
As a management consultant, I couldn’t do my job without a whiteboard and a pack of Expo brand erasable markers. They’re great for writing ‘action item lists’ and ‘work flow diagrams’ and such.
The advantages over chalk and blackboards:
-Easier to read
-More professional - Doesn’t have ‘elementary school’ feel
-Easier to clean
-No chalk dust on expensive suit
-You can project Powerpoint slides on to them
-You don’t have to clap the erasers together to clean them
-Clients don’t get heebie-jeebies from fingernail screeching
-Expo markers can also be used on portable paper and dry-erase tablets.
As a college student, I have lecture classes in rooms with both white and chalk boards. If the chalk board isn’t cleaned completely with water before every class (not just erased with an eraser) the chalk writing is nearly impossible to read from a lecture-room seat. The building I had the chalkboard class in didn’t seem to see fit to supply the room with a nice big sponge, so the prof was in there every afternoon with a wet paper towel from the restroom.
White boards are ten times easier to read as well as color code. Also, my profs liked to fire up the transperency projector right onto the white board and add additional notes with a marker (on the board) at the same time. Many professors seemed clueless as to how to get a projector screen to work
As for markers vs. chalk, it seemed the professors could never find a working marker or a useable piece of chalk, so they just kept markers and/or chalk with them in their brief cases so they always knew what was in supply.
Gotta be careful, though. An aquaintance of mine at a job interview got flustered and wrote on a projector screen with a dry-erase marker. Ruined the thing!
Looks like the whiteboards are winning here. :mad:
[Charlton Heston] You did it! You finally did it! You bastards converted it all to whiteboards! Damn you! Damn you all to hellllllllll! [/Charlton Heston]
Here, I’ll prove it’s real slate ::::drags nails across it:::: scrreeeeeeeecccchhhh!!!