Watching while she erased and wrote more - often erasing before you had time to copy it down? Do you remember the oft illegible teachers writing? It always used to amaze me that these people were teachers, yet I couldn't understand what they were writing.

In my primary school, it was always the teacher's pet that got given the job of chalk erasing. On the odd occasion I got picked, it was just an excuse for me to get out of five minutes writing. And that noise of nails on a chalk board? Man, that was the worst sound and I think we've all had at least one teacher that thought it an amusing way of gaining attention.

In my last year of primary school, we had a whiteboard installed and this was an exciting event for us. All the children clamoured to have a go with the felt tip on the board and wiping was just as satisfying. It was certainly easier to read but just as time consuming as a black board.

Installed in most schools and colleges these days are interactive whiteboards and these have taken teacher/pupil communication to a much higher level. Interaction is now a possibility and teacher preparation has been taken to new heights.

Lessons can be prepared well ahead, removing the necessity for the teacher to stand in front of the board. Numerous pages of text can be prepared on a computer or overhead projector which means you need never miss any part of the lesson again as it will be saved and can easily be retrieved if need be.

Laptops and classroom based computers can be hooked up to the interactive whiteboard, enabling the teacher to skip back and forth between lesson materials. It also allows for the showing of web pages for lesson content and pictures of a quality not previously available.

Charts and graphs are easily displayed on an interactive whiteboard to make instruction and demonstration much simpler. It is even possible for pupils to display their own work this way. Given today's children's fascination for anything that looks like a TV screen, this is an excellent way of keeping them engaged.

As a standard piece of equipment in every type of college, the interactive whiteboard is a helpful tool in practical demonstrations that only have to be carried out once to be shared. I'm sure this will be good news to my son who spent last week's biology lesson dissecting a pig's heart!

Not just an application for the classroom, the interactive whiteboard is an invaluable asset to businesses too. Presentations are clearer, more straightforward and bring a professional edge to the boardroom. Preparation can be made well in advance for those tricky questions regarding possible future hiccups or advantages with graphs showing every possible eventuality.

The use of an interactive whiteboard in the business environment will show strategic planning and forethought with more clarity than any other possible medium. The black board or flip up note pad on a stand looks positively outdated now!

The advancement of this method of communicating information to others has revolutionised teaching in a huge way. It may now be standard equipment but at least the children of today will never have to compete with the fat teachers profile against a black board.