We’re all familiar with the CleverTouch, the smart-board in every classroom that most teachers use to project their laptops, show the schedule for the day and play music. CleverTouch boards first appeared at the middle school in 2017, and both campuses have been using them ever since.
But what you might not know is this: many people have differing opinions about the CleverTouch. Some people love it, some people don’t.
Jacob Bryand, Network Coordinator said, “This is the only smart-board I’ve supported. I think it does what it’s supposed to do.”
“A lot of the teachers have issues,” said Bryand. “But most of the issues are on their laptops themselves, not the Clevertouch board.”
Mr. Joe Arredondo, the Director of Information Technology at Milken, feels the same way.
“I’d rather also just use the CleverTouch [instead of a whiteboard] since most of the things we use nowadays are with our computers,” he said.
Many teachers enjoy using it and find it easy to work with. They believe that it has helped project their curriculum and allows for students to visualize the material.
“The most clever ever. The ability to pull up things like YouTube and ChatGPT while we’re learning makes it a lot more fun,” said Rabbi David Saiger, 9-10 Division Rabbi.
Rabbi Saiger also pointed out that the CleverTouch allows students to project their presentations and assignments.
“For student presentations, they use the CleverTouch which makes things easy,” he said.
On the other hand, some teachers do have issues. CleverTouch, it turns out, is not updated to the latest Mac software.
“The company hasn’t updated their software so the updated Mac can’t connect to it,” says Mr. Miller, a Social Studies teacher.
Moreover these teachers find it difficult to work with.
“It’s a little glitchy,” said Mr Miller. “I like the features but it doesn’t work as seamlessly as I hoped it would.”
Some teachers are also a bit unfamiliar with the CleverTouch and its qualities.
“If I experience more of it [the CleverTouch], I think I would use all of the features more,” says Ms. Mega Couch- Edwards, upper school wellness teacher.
Student opinion is more or less the same.
“The CleverTouch works fine when I present it to the class, but sometimes it takes a while to load the screen and I just have to stand awkwardly in front of the class until it loads,” an anonymous student said.
Many students also believe that it is slow.
“I think it has its issues sometimes and slows down class,” says Zeni Davis ‘26.
“At the end of the day, each Board has its glitches, just like all of us” said an anonymous student.