Chalkboard dust has officials at the University of Minnesota and other colleges and universities gradually replacing blackboards with a cleaner alternative: markers and whiteboards. Although some faculty members have voiced dismay over the switch, Steve Fitzgerald, director of classroom management at the university’s Twin Cities campus, says rooms with chalk dust cost more to clean, and electronic equipment in classes with blackboards has to be cleaned twice as often. About 60% of the university’s 300 classrooms still have blackboards, but the percentage will drop as buildings are renovated, Fitzgerald says.
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