IWBs: BETT 2010
Dan on January 18th, 2010
I like the interactive whiteboards in our English block. I like the software we use with them, although it could be improved by our ICT team upgrading to the latest version, and I like the powerful range of activities it provides.
There are some problems with IWBs though:
- The expense (£2k ish)
- We combine them with old-fashioned dry-wipe boards
- Many teachers just use them a projector for ppts
We are currently examining different avenues for speccing up the new school, and one of the questions we’re asking ourselves is do we need to have an IWB in every classroom? Could we make do with projectors?
I had seen some of the buzz on twitter before I arrived at BETT 2010 about the interactive projectors that were on display and so I ambled over to the Epson stand to see what was on offer. I was fairly impressed.
The Epson offering (450Wi) is a short-throw projector, that offers interactivity using infra-red. It can be wall mounted or ceiling mounted and projects a widescreen 70″ image. It can be projected onto any surface and works in a very similar way to the IWB offerings. The pen isn’t as well designed and doesn’t feel as nice in your hand but it is very precise and works well. Worringly the replacement cost for a pen is a £100. They do disappear frequently in schools.
The software that comes provided is fairly basic, but probably does everything that most teachers would use it for. If you want to do more with it then, as long as you have a license, you can use your existing IWB software. I don’t think many people would.
It also offers benefits for the ICT support team. The Epson projectors can be monitored remotely, allowing you to see when the lamp is due for replacement, what the issue is with a broken down projector and switch on/off the projector according to a daily time schedule. You can set the system up to email you when the lamp hits X hours, breaks down etc. This would safe our technicians a long walk across the school only to discover the teacher was pressing the wrong button. The remote shut down would also stop our cleaners switching the projectors off with a broom handle.
All we need now is a loan unit from Epson so we can give it a whirl. Any chance guys?
There were reportedly other companies offering similar products but I didn’t have the time to get around those. I’d be interested in seeing feedback on their units too.
This has, of course, been blogged about elsewhere.
