Students walked into their classes this year and were met with the sight of new SMART boards and computers in their classrooms. But the updates haven’t come without issues, as teachers have been struggling with various problems with the boards. 

“I’m guessing the revamp was part of the bond money for Katy ISD this year,” chemistry teacher Mayra Colombani-Acosta said. “I think the idea is that things need to be updated, and you do need to change stuff once in a while.”

Nevertheless, the change has still been causing hindrances to teachers as the SMART boards malfunction in various ways or just stop working.

“They’re very sensitive, and sometimes I feel like I don’t even touch them and they react,” Colombani said. “What I hear from the kids is that the board is smaller, so it’s harder to see from their places. I’ve experienced other problems with the SMART boards, but those were because of connection issues.”

Colombani is not the only teacher who has been experiencing problems with the new SMART boards. French teacher Teresa Chardola has also had issues while teaching with the new technology.

“Some problems were, the board not responding when I touch it, the board shutting down when it really shouldn’t, and things just not working in general,” Chardola said. “Just different things on different days.”

Because teaching depends so much on SMART board displays, it is not easy for teachers to deliver their lessons when the boards aren’t working the way they’re supposed to.

“It stresses me out that I don’t have everything under control,” Colombani said. “It’s stressful when I have issues like that which I can’t solve, because I’m not an expert in technology. I just want to deliver a good lesson to the kids.”

Regardless of the issues, updates are inevitable, and teachers are making do as best as they can with their new boards.

“It’s frustrating to try to teach when things aren’t working,” Chardola said. “But it’s a necessary change, and change is not always easy.”