By Danielle Hildebrandt - Staff Writer

         A chalkboard eraser hits the floor, emitting a cloud of chalk dust into the otherwise clear air, “See this?” asked Vicki Root-Wajda, adjunct assistant professor at Elmhurst College. Root-Wajda is one of several EC faculty members that have a clear preference for dry erase boards in place of regular chalkboards in the classroom, a trend that is occurring in classrooms around the country.
         “I hate chalkboards because it gets my allergies going. Most classrooms have chalkboards, unfortunately,” explained Root-Wajda. “I realize that the pens are expensive too and once you leave a marker uncapped-there it goes, but I think that students find it easier to see.”
         Christine Shore, freshman accounting major agrees that chalk is sometimes too hard to read.
         “I like dry erase boards because they are easier to see and they are not as dusty as chalkboards,” she said.
         Though the lines are drawn between chalkboards and dry erase boards, the two forms of classroom presentation have a lot in common.
         Slate blackboards dominated classrooms until the 1960s, when schools began installing steel boards coated with porcelain enamel.
         According to singonsandiego.com, the earliest chalkboard models were made out of wood with black paint mixed with grit, but by the 1800’s slate quarries were shipping large pieces through the railroad.
         In addition, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. was one of pioneering schools in the use of chalkboards.
         According to The Associated Press while dry erase boards became popular in the 1990’s, they are now made from most of the same materials as chalkboards. Both are made with porcelain and steel but while chalkboards receive a “satin finish,” dry erase boards have a “glossy finish.”
         Amy North, a junior accounting major, also prefers dry erase boards.
         “Chalkboards are used more often in my classes. I prefer dry erase boards because they are easier to see and you don’t have the noise that the chalkboards make.”
         According to AP, “While the old-fashioned chalkboard remains a fixture in most U.S. classrooms, school designers have all but eliminated it.”
         This elimination is due to a variety of factors; however, EC education faculty express their views on the subject.
         Judy Fiene, assistant professor of education, and David Victor, director of secondary education also hold a preference for dry erase boards, stating that they can accent topics in different colors so that students can more easily see the visual representations.
         Dry erase boards “offer the option to use different colors so the visual representation can be more detailed,” Fiene said.
         Not everything is perfect in the dry erase world, one drawback to using a dry erase board, as Victor points out, is that the marker ink is hard to erase.
         In addition, questions about the ease and safety of cleaning dry erase boards turn out to be no different from traditional chalkboards.
         Bruce Mather, executive director of facilities management, said that the boards are cleaned with an alcohol wipe, unless someone has written on a board with another type of marker.
         “The only time we use a special cleaner is if someone writes with a permanent marker,” he said. “Then we use a chemical to get that off.”
         According to Dana Kline, supervisor of night custodial, it would be better if all classrooms would be switched to dry erase boards because traditional chalkboards and their dust affect the computers.
         In addition to dry erase boards, computers as visual aids in classrooms are gaining more popularity as professors are utilizing powerpoint presentations and other visual media into their lectures.
         The AP gives one possible reason for this progression.
         “Taking a page from the business world, they’re outfitting most new and remodeled schools with whiteboards, in some cases installing high-tech devices that turn them into virtual computer screens.”
         It may be that the days of chalk and dry erase boards will soon be passing by, as computers take over.
         One such innovation consists of the teacher’s hand functioning as the computer mouse on a touch-sensitive screen. Schools can also buy a device that allows teachers to draw on a board, hit a button, and print copies on a laser printer-or save text and drawings to a hard drive or web server.
         As many schools are unable to afford such an expense, another option includes buying a dry erase board that has “suction cups which simply stick to the board, each of its four markers fitted with a computer stylus,” according to AP.
         While the latest inventions are interesting, chalkboards are still considered a classroom staple.
         “The first American teachers to use blackboards found them helpful in relieving the tedium of writing out sets of math problems for each student… Now that schools are equipped with computers, scanners, copiers and overhead projectors, it’s hard to imagine what a revolution the humble chalkboard was.”
         These new boards, now commonly referred to as dry-erase boards are becoming increasingly popular in schools today, leaving chalkboards in the dust.