I’ve stayed fairly quiet on the whole pension levy on Anseo.net. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, there have been a lot of IWBs to review and secondly, I really thought the government would have fallen by now. Sadly, it hasn’t and now we’re being balloted for industrial action. To be honest, I don’t know what we should do.
Archive for February, 2009
Pension Levy Cuts and Strike Action
February 28th, 2009 
aaa Hitachi StarBoard FX Interactive Whiteboard
February 28th, 2009 aaa 
If you’ve ever seen the film “Minority Report” and dreamed that you could be like Tom Cruise on his touchscreen computer, moving things around with two fingers, then this is the IWB for you. Unlike every other commercial IWB, this is the only board I know that lets you interact with two fingers allowing you do do cool things. (more…)
Posted in Interactive Whiteboards 
Tags: hitachi, interactive whiteboard, iwb, Reviews, starboard 
No Comments »IWBFAQ: How good is the software supplied with Smart or Promethean or is it worth all that extra money?
February 26th, 2009 aaa 
Every company believes their software is the best out there and they will go to great lengths to explain why. Whether it’s to do with intuition or big bright bold colours, there’s always a reason to choose theirs over the others. Personally, I think it depends who you are teaching. (more…)
Posted in Interactive Whiteboards Tags: interactive whiteboard, Interactive Whiteboards, iwb, promethean, Smart No Comments »Interactive Literacy
February 24th, 2009 rozz 
This week I am busy reviewing a product I have been using with my 3rd and 4th Class. Enjoy!
Interactive Literacy 3rd Class
This is CD-ROM and Teachers’ Handbook series from Prim-ED, it is available for 1st- 6th Class. It is based, I am presuming on the English Curriculum as it uses the word “Literacy” and also uses the terms ” Speaking and Listening”, ” Text work”, “Sentence work” and many other terms that I would associate with the English Curriculum. It aims to cover Oral, reading and writing.
The CD works on your individual PC for your own lesson planning and worksheets and on your interactive White Board for whole class. (more…)
CleverBoard 3 Interactive Whiteboard
February 23rd, 2009 aaa Cleverboards have been around for ages and anyone collecting Tesco computer tokens may have dreamed of saving several million of them to get one of these boards but they haven’t had the same impact in Irish schools as Promethean or Smart have. I, in my ignorance, thought they had gracefully died and went away. However, Shaw Scientific are selling them now and I think they may wish to reconsider.
This is the third generation Cleverboard, which must mean it is miles better than Cleverboards 1 and 2. As far as I could see, their big boast is it now contains Mimio capture technologies and software. That isn’t something I’d be boasting about.
The Technology
CleverBoard 3 is a pen-based IWB, which automatically puts it in the inferior basket, in my opinion. Using Mimio’s technology means that you get a highly accurate pen, which is obviously good. Also, as Mimio are backed by the Parker Pen people, you are possibly getting the most accurate handwriting recognition too. However, I think this claim is now a bit defunct as other IWBs have caught up. Oh.. I should point out the boards are 5 inches smaller than the others, (although for probably more money you could get a 105 inch board).
The Software
It comes with Lynx latest software, which is similar in look to but not as good a Smart’s Notebook software. I definitely would recommend getting ActivStudio or Easiteach instead.
The Price
A couple of months ago, the price of €2,999 would have been competitive. However, since Promethean are offering a similar package for €2,500 through their resellers and Some Smart companies, (Liosdoire) are selling a similar package for €2,400, this falls into the overpriced category.
The Quirks
The company would see their latest quirk as using the latest Mimio technologies, which doesn’t fill me with confidence.
The Verdict
It looks like Cleverboard will continue to be on the third tier of people’s IWB shopping list. There are now several IWBs which are better and more cost effective and Cleverboard would need to cut their price by at least €1,000 to make people sit up and listen. I checked out Shaw’s web site and it doesn’t even feature on it. That seems to say a lot more to me.
Posted in Interactive Whiteboards Tags: Cleverboard, interactive whiteboard, iwb, Reviews No Comments »Motivating Multiplication
February 22nd, 2009 Simon 
Multiplication tables can be a real pain to teach and consolidate. While we know there are lots of ways to give children strategies to learn tables, there is nothing less motivating that a whole-class drill in tables. (more…)
Teachnet Podcasting
February 21st, 2009 Simon 
Teachnet Ireland have been around for many years and is part of a global Teachnet network. Its aim is to explore how ICT can integrate into education. Teachers all over Ireland have created nearly 400 resources which are free to use.
Smart ST20 Interactive Whiteboard
February 17th, 2009 aaa 
This is the latest in Smart’s top of the range products in Interactive Whiteboards. Its big selling point is not the board itself – as that hasn’t changed – it’s the projector. The projector has changed. It’s now a fancy Toshiba projector with brilliant true-colours ensuring amore vivid images…or some sales speak like that. (more…)
CESI Conference 2009
February 15th, 2009 Simon 
On Friday and Saturday, 13th & 14th February, the Computer Education Society of Ireland (CESI) held their annual conference and this time there were some changes. Due to the Department of Education’s crazy substitution cover ruling, CESI felt that they needed to work outside of school hours so for the first time, the event was held on a Friday night and all-day Saturday. Friday night was restricted to 70 people and was held in a conference room in the Malron Hotel, Tallaght.
You’re Going to Hate Me…
February 13th, 2009 Simon 
This evening, sometime between 7pm and 9pm, I gave a talk entitled: “You’re Going to Hate Me!” It’s a two minute talk about how I intend to spend the €5,000 per classroom my school received from Batt O’Keefe and how any school that wasn’t on the list could be entitled to the grant. In case I make a balls of the presentation or I run out of time, below is the text of what I intended to say. I have scheduled this post to go up on Anseo.net at 9pm.
