Interactive White Boards Lindsey D’Alessandro Megan Mehaffey

EBEAMS

Pro’s Save lesson notes in a variety of formats. Works with PC and MAC. Print or email lesson notes for student review. Conduct distant learning quickly and easily. Teachers can record whiteboard notes. Saves time! The E-Beam can provide a less expensive and portable solution for teachers who may not have a regular classroom. The E-Beam can publish lessons to the school website and E-Beam will save the lessons in a html file, so that students are able to go to the lesson at their convenience. This form of an interactive whiteboard avoids the need to buying multiple PC’s and it saves the school money. It also allows the teacher to teach the entire classroom, and all the students are “up to speed” as a class and not learning by sending a certain number of students to the computer and then a few minutes later sending another group over to do the same lesson. This way all the students can follow along at the same time and at the same speed. E-Beams are now being used widely for students that are visually impaired because teachers are able to record voice on them and are able to put whole class lectures on the E-Beams and have students who are visually impaired listen to the lecture instead of watching a PowerPoint presentation or notes on the board. E-Beams are used with multimedia projectors and have been known to increase student focus and teamwork in the classroom. It brings the lesson to life and increases the involvement of students because there is less note taking involved and the students are understanding the concepts of the lessons quicker.

Con’s Cannot be used as a group input device Not used to the full potential Not intended for large group work They can be expensive Trouble viewing the materials on the board Special learning tools required The negatives of the eBeams show that this interactive boards are not all they are cracked up to be in how they are a good investment in the education departments. It can be passed around between participants for individual contributions, but cannot be used as a group input device in the same way as an interactive whiteboard. The drawback is that they may not be used to their full potential, serving in many cases as little more than a glorified whiteboard. On their own, they are not such a good investment for working with large groups because of the limited opportunities for interaction within large groups. To be used interactively, the board has to be low enough for all parts of it to be within reach. This often mean that it must positioned so low that users in the back of the classroom without raised seating cannot see the whole board and the materials that are on the board itself. The disadvantage is that having to take turns at using the device inhibits the spontaneity of group working. It is possible to overcome this by using more than one device, but this would increase costs significantly. Special pens required by some boards range and some have operated by markers with special reflective collars. Software is almost always included in the purchase price of the whiteboard but it is necessary to ascertain what the software does as different packages offer different functions.

Smart Boards Smart Boards are Interactive whiteboards which are used in many schools as replacements for traditional whiteboards or flipcharts.

Smart Board Pro’s SMART Engaging the students and teachers Easy to use in the classroom Where else are they used? Why Smart boards? Free Training! Over 15 years ago, SMART created the SMART Board interactive whiteboard – the first and most widely installed interactive whiteboard in the world. Today, SMART is recognized as an innovator of award-winning products that enable unique moments in the classroom. At SMART, our job is to help you transform your classrooms into centers of interactive learning, where students are engaged and teachers are inspired. We want to make it as simple as possible for you to succeed, so we build easy into everything we do. Teachers constantly tell us why easy matters to them. It’s because when they use SMART products, they see right away how to effortlessly integrate them into their teaching. Today’s classrooms require a flexible set of tools to inspire extraordinary learning experiences and improve student learning outcomes. Teachers also appreciate that we make it easy for them to find content, get support and access training. It all works together. It all makes sense. That’s the SMART difference. They are used in a variety of settings such as in classrooms at all levels of education, in corporate board rooms and work groups, in training rooms for professional sports coaching, broadcasting studios and more. For more than 17 years, educators have been telling us what they need to engage students in learning. All that insight is reflected in our SMART education solutions, a comprehensive collection of products, resources, training programs and support options. Our solutions give you all the ingredients you need to make your technology implementation a success. This approach is the first step in helping you create something extraordinary in your classroom. Learn to use your SMART product with our easy-to-use Quick Reference Guides, Hands-on Practice exercises and Two-Minute Tutorials. Of course there are going to be some problems or difficulties with each new product made.

Smart Board Con’s Hard to Write Expensive! Moving Back and Forth! Hard to write, meaning that it is hard to write on the screens when you are trying to use it as a for example a white board. The biggest disappointment with the digital ink comes from the fact that a SMART Board is a front-mounted projection screen. This means that your data projector is set up in front of the screen (like an overhead projector). Which means that when you stand in between the projector and the screen, you cast a shadow on the screen... right where you are trying to write. Sure, it was cool to interact with programs by touching the screen, but, it was hard to write notes because you were constantly blocking the image. You still have to move back and forth from the keyboard to the screen. We could start up our web browser by touching the SMART board, but when it came time to enter in the website address, we had to go back to the desk to type in the URL.

Promethean

Pro’s Solid & durable construction Adjustable height controls Easy set-up and calibration Accurate touchable surface

Con’s ActivePen required to control board Board is not touch sensitive High cost

Recommended by us! SMART BOARDS Why? After researching on the different types of Interactive White Boards, we came to the conclusion that Smart Boards were the easiest. We think that it is the easiest because

Sources (EBEAMS) http://www.visionchart.com.au/ebeameducat ion.html http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/I nteractivewhiteboards.pdf

Sources (Smart Board) http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en- US/Solutions/Education+solutions/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_ whiteboard http://ezinearticles.com/?SMART-Board- --Pros-and-Cons-of-Using-a-Digital,- Interactive-Whiteboard-(In-the- Classroom)&id=1399407 http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc/tutorials/ whiteboards.html

Sources(Promethean) http://pchardware.suite101.com/article.cfm/p romethean_activboard_review