While not without their issues, the recent installation of new videoboards into South High classrooms has come with many new features.

The main differences between the old and new SMART Boards were that the old ones used projector screens, while the new ones have a built-in video screen, which is why they are called videoboards now. The backlight in the new video boards helps students see the board better. They’re also useful for presentations with a screen share feature for Chromebooks. Overall the video boards just make it easier to do things that took longer in the past.

So why are videoboards a problem for some teachers even though they have so many benefits? Math teacher Susan Herrmann thinks the new videoboards weren’t worth it because she thought the old SMART Boards worked just fine.

“I think it’s a little bit frustrating when you know that you’re throwing away technology that is still working and still functioning,” she said.  

Determining the cost of these new videoboards is hard to do. But Google shows the retail price for a single video board is around $3,500. South High technology specialist Ryan Mayfield said the new video boards are a great upgrade and will save South High money because they won’t need to be maintained as much as the old boards. budget.

“The upkeep on these is a lot cheaper than the old projectors. When the bulbs would go out, fans would burn out, and you’d have to just keep replacing them. I think in the long haul, it was a good investment,” Mayfield said. 

Some teachers like the videoboards so far and think they are a great improvement and help their teaching style. History teacher Stephen Ehrstein thinks that they’re an overall improvement, except for minor issues.

“Compared to the ones we had last year, they are a significant improvement, there have been a few problems, mostly minor technical issues, but overall, they’ve been a positive addition,” Ehrstein said. 

The Prop S bond, passed in November of 2018, funded the installation of this new technology throughout Parkway schools. Ryan Mayfield thinks that this has helped the Parkway District a lot.

“We rolled out elementary and middle school first to try to alleviate problems,” said Mayfield. “But obviously, when you’re dealing with that much technology, you’re gonna have some issues along the way. But when they’re working correctly, they’re really, really nice and they’re gonna last us a long time. So they needed it to happen.”