In recent years, interactive whiteboards have emerged as a popular learning and collaboration tool. Instead of limiting presentations to a lecture format, an interactive whiteboard allows an entire group to participate, share ideas and document their progress. These tools also allow presenters to identify unclear information through interactive testing and feedback. While interactive whiteboards have several distinct advantages, though, they have several disadvantages as well.

Interactive whiteboards are far more expensive than comparable traditional whiteboards or projector screens. While this may not pose a problem for large corporations wanting to use these tools in their meeting rooms, it makes them difficult for some schools and non-profit organisations to obtain.

The surface of an interactive whiteboard can be easily marred and stained. If a person mistakenly uses a marker on an interactive whiteboard, the stain can be nearly impossible to remove. Damage usually results in costly repairs.

While one of the benefits of interactive whiteboards is the ability to allow simultaneous data entry from multiple points, some boards can jumble or distort information coming from several input devices at once.

Interactive whiteboards offer meeting or presentation participants the ability to access the board remotely. This empowers users to send disruptive and off-topic comments and information to the screen.