Professors at research universities prefer teaching with old-fashioned whiteboards

[GiaGiovanni]

28. LisaLynne, for old timers who've been teaching the same courses for years...

These folks are teaching things that don't change, like basic chemistry, algebra, etc. Courses that actually rely on cultural and social change for content, like the social sciences and some humanities, might actually take to the technology quicker and better. I can understand the desire of the old timers in the maths and sciences to stay with their chalkboards and old notes: since there hasn't been much change in, say, calculus since the time of Leibniz, the only value to the new technology is in replacing one shiny screen with another. And if the former shiny screen is manipulable (you can erase, write new stuff, etc.) while the newer is less manipulable and requires you to dim the room (so your students can't even see you), then you pick the former. I can thoroughly understand that.

And, of course, using technology doesn't mean your students are paying any more attention than they were. While to prof is running through the Power Point, the students are updating their Facebook pages and texting their friends on their phones. Because the room is dim, the professor can no longer gauge for whether or not the students are paying attention.

Just because a technology is available doesn't mean it is preferable or even desirable in a given set of circumstances.