white boards - were they used much 1985?

[joko]

wiki says they only went into schools mid 90s, but would most offices have used them in 1985?

or were they pretty rare?

what would offices have used instead of a white board? flipchart? chalk?

thanks

[boxtops]

mid-eighties, we used a flipchart and pens, or an overhead projector.

[boxtops]

some stuff here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteboard

[mike11111]

At our language training centre in the RAF we had one back in 1969. Not very popular with the instructors as they never seemed to clean properly and the pens were always running dry. i was brought up on chalk and used it till I retired. You could always flick a little bit of chalk towards the ear of a kid who wasn't paying attention; not so easy with a magic marker.

[ummmm]

We had them in my school and I left in 89.

[boxtops]

very expensive when they first came out though - our first ones had a whiteboard side on the flipchart stand

[Frank97]

My junior school must have been ahead of the curve then because it had them in the late 70s, I clearly remember the local vicar coming in to waffle about something and ruining one by writing on it with a permanent marker.

[jackthehat]

My primary school opened in 1973 and we had them in all the classrooms.

[boxtops]

that wiki article does say mid-60s, but joko was asking about offices - I don't remember having them in offices until the late 80s

[DTCwordfan]

we had them extensively at business school........work was more flipcharts. Presentations using film dias that when mounted were quite heavy - gradually pc graphics came in - late 80s for me...

[ummmm]

I think my primary school had them as well.

Jack...isn't that the year you left school?

[jackthehat]

How very dare you!! LoL

[ummmm]

I dare because there are quite a few miles between us :-) x

[Tilly2]

Do you mean interactive whiteboards or just whiteboards that you write on with drywipe marker pen?

[rowanwitch]

Had whiteboards in thr late 70s in a large office in london... the board cleaner was like ether if you forgot to open the windows you ended up asleep on the floor

[Buenchico]

We had whiteboards in all our lecture rooms at college and university (1971-75), although they were mainly used as screens for the overhead projectors which were very popular then. I occasionally encountered them during my teaching practice in schools during that period but I was still using chalk up until I left teaching in 1990 (although the newer classrooms were fitted with whiteboards).

Whiteboards have generally been popular (and remain so) in offices where they are needed on a day-to-day basis (e.g.to list daily tasks for different team members). Flip charts tend only to have been used for occasional presentations (e.g. training sessions), which is unsurprising as they work out very expensive!