Digital whiteboard: your experience We do need a Whiteboard in our new Meeting room. The question popped up, whether it makes sense to buy a digital whiteboard. We present mostly our results, sometimes we discuss something and and do use Flip-charts to draw something. However, we are not sure if a digital whiteboard would be beneficial in such a setting.

What is your experience with such a device ? Do you use it mostly for teaching or also for classical presentations ? Does it enable more lively discussions ? How much time and training does it need to use it in an efficient way ?
Whether a digital whiteboard is of use depends very much on what you want to use it for. It combines the advantages of a projector (being able to display a range of digital content) with those of a whiteboard (writing in real time). 

In certain circumstances, there is more benefit than simply the sum of the two. I've been in video-conferenced lectures that used them - the actual screen is transmitted, and so is easier to see than a whiteboard captured with a camera. Sometimes it's useful to combine different backgrounds with real time writing, such as writing music on a stave. However, similar effects can be achieved with devices such as an ipad, which would be cheaper.

The downsides are: cost, training needed (and resistance), the start-up time required to get to an operational state, and the inevitable event that someone writes on the board with the wrong pen.

Also, I've found that the software being used on a digital whiteboard can have a major impact on its effectiveness. We got some at school, and a minor software 'upgrade' significantly reduced efficiency and increased frustration.