A few years back I taught in a lab equipped with a SMART Board. I typically only used it as a regular whiteboard and the only benefit I could identify was that I didn't finish every lesson with ink on my fingers from absentmindedly erasing the odd illegible letter here and there.

On the downside, it was something of an attractive nuisance for the kids with shorter attention spans, and writing on it was less precise and natural than writing with an ink marker. On balance I would probably have gotten rid of it, given the choice.

Now I am being offered the chance to have a SMART Board installed in my lab. I can't think of how it could really be useful in teaching CS but then I am a bit of a Luddite when it comes to ed tech in general.

My curriculum focuses on web design (HTML/CSS/JS) and I am looking at bringing in Scratch and/or Python.

So am I wrong about it just being a fancy, overpriced wall hanging? Are there actual uses or benefits of a SMART Board in teaching CS that I'm just not seeing? How have you used SMART Boards in your classes?