Interactive Whiteboard: Worth It?

     Interactive whiteboards are the combination of a touchscreen computer display and a whiteboard. They are linked to a computer or have their own onboard cpu and can be used in conjunction with the internet or installed software. Many champion them for their ability to combine multiple pieces of technology into a single unit while providing novel classroom activity and interactions. Still many of these "novel" interactions are things accomplishable via other technology, most likely at a cheaper cost.
     Of several uses often enumerated for interactive whiteboards: virtual field trips, use of online textbook companions, pre-made sharable lesson plans, and displaying student powerpoint stick out as things that are easy to do without such a device. Virtual field trips are in essence videos and videos can be show via a projector or tv, the same is true of power points and online resources. Pre-made sharable lesson plans have been something teachers have made use of online for several years now and can easily be used without a giant touch screen. Now this is not to say that the idea of the interactive whiteboard is without merit. People didn't always feel computers would be practical, but as they grew in power and their cost fell the utility of having what as once several pieces of technology in one machine became apparent. However, at this time the sum total of the parts is not greater than them.
     A driving argument for interactive whiteboards are that they are exciting and help capture student attention. I'm sure that the first couple weeks that a student gets to see a teacher stepping away making things flash and more along with the student getting to to a few exercises where they get to use the board are very exciting and engaging but once adapted to the technology, something that current generations are most adept at, then it just becomes another whiteboard. To a person that lived through the 80s the idea that a giant touch screen computer is on their wall is mind boggling, it's like Star Trek come to life,  but to a 16 year old who has had an iPhone since they could talk, it's just another iPhone.  Your power point or video is just another power point or video and the money you spent on it could have been used on something else.