Like the eBeam, one sticks the EZ System onto any whiteboard (or any smooth surface) and it instantly changes into an Interactive Board.  The system comes in 4 parts.  There is the digitiser (pictured) and then there are three parts which, when combined with the digitiser, create an infrared plane.  The system is very easy to set up and gives schools the option of having a touch-based interactive whiteboard at a low price.

I actually tried out the system on a table and it worked brilliantly!  In fact, a system like this if combined with a mini DV projector could create a touch-based table top computer for less than €2,000 including the cost of the projector and a computer.

The Starboard Link EZ system costs €800 including VAT and is available from any Hitachi reseller.  This is a more expensive than the eBeam or Mimio but the touch-based interaction is well worth the extra couple of hundred euro.  The software included is basic but this is becoming less important these days.

Overall, I believe if you already have got a projector and you want to make your whiteboard interactive, this tool would be a very good choice.

Do you use dry wipe markers on your Interactive Whiteboard? For the last few years, Promethean and Smart, the two biggest Interactive Whiteboard companies in the world, had been saying, “absolutely not!”  This allowed smaller manufacturers get their hands on a slice of the market as they released IWBs that could double-up as normal whiteboards.  However, in the last few months, things have changed.  According to Steiljes, the latest Smatboards do allow users to use dry wipe markers on them.  Promethean have also gone as far as saying that although they don’t recommend using dry wipe markers on their new board, the marker should wipe off.

However, the big news this month is that Promethean’s new IWB is touch-based.  This is the first Promethean IWB that allows users to interact with their fingers.  Not only that, it allows gesture control with up to four points of

The new Acer IWB to be reviewed soon on Anseo.net

interaction.  In other news, Acer have come belatedly into the IWB market but we have been unable to get our hands on one before this issue so it will have to wait until next month.  From the latest screenshots, I’m not sure what sort of impact it will have with the market already highly saturated.  There’s also a Sanyo Interactive Projector starting to lurk around the challenge the Epson Projector.  Expect to see it somewhere in the league table soon.

As always, my review below is merely my own opinion of what I like in an IWB.  I’m not brand-loyal.  I need to interact with my finger. I like good value for money.  I insist on decent after-sales service.

The April 2011 IWB Review

Genee Powerboard

1. (1) Genee Powerboard (from €2,850, Prim-Ed)

The new Promethean 500 Board

6. (13) Promethean (from €3,000, C2K)

C2K are the new distributors of the Promethean board. Its biggest selling feature is its excellent software and now the new touch-based board has made this board shoot up the league table!

7. (5) Panaboard (from €2800, Prim-Ed)

This  IWB  is being sold by Prim-Ed.  It fulfils all criteria in that one can use dry-wipe markers and one’s finger on it.  A cool feature is that the board recognises “accidental” touches of the board and ignores them.  The software that comes with it is good too.  As it’s being sold by Prim-Ed, you can expect good after-sales service.

Epson Britelite

12. (11) Epson Brightlite (from €1,600, Epson Ireland)

Then you had the market leaders who set their own rules.  Until now.  Promethean have just released their first touch-based Interactive Whiteboard.  Smart have announced that users can write on many of their Interactive Whiteboards with dry wipe markers.

The market is starting to converge.  Any Interactive Whiteboard that has been released in Ireland, (excluding the Interactive projectors), in the last couple of years has allowed finger-interaction and lets users use dry wipe markers on them.

Those who haven’t are going to have to think of some way to start.

I believe the reasons why many of the smaller Interactive Whiteboard companies were so successful in building a market base in Ireland were because their IWBs were better and/or cheaper than the big two.

The eBeam was one benefactor.  Firstly, it was much cheaper.  Secondly, it did everything the Promethean IWB used to do and allowed users to write with dry wipe markers on the surface it was stuck to.  Now that Promethean boards have touch-interaction and (although they still don’t recommend it) allow people to write on them with dry wipe markers, what does this mean for them?  Will they have to invent a device that allows touch-interaction?

Other benefactors included Teamboard, Traceboard, IQBoard and many others like them.  Now they have very little extra to offer compared to the Big Two’s boards.  Price may be a factor but that will only go so far.

It looks like software might be the factor to look at next.  Promethean already have the best IWB flipchart creation software and because they have such a large community, it’s unlikely that anyone is going to dent that.  However, there’s a big market out there for ready made activities.

Many Irish schools have invested over €300 on Jolly Phonics software for their Interactive Whiteboards.  Companies such as Edware Learning have started to place IWB tools within their great software.  Older software is being repackaged by major software companies for Interactive Whiteboards, for example, Sherston are selling “Megapacks” of their older software for use on Interactive Whiteboards and schools are buying them.  Rainbow Education appeared to be aware of this months ago when they packaged their Interactive Whiteboards with tonnes of software.

It’s also big business in the UK too with dozens of stands at the BETT conference dedicated to software for use on Interactive Whiteboards.  A good example was Purple Mash from 2simple Software, which is gaining a huge following in the UK.

The second battle is to build a community that can rival Promethean Planet.  Is there a possibility that all the smaller Irish Interactive Whiteboard sellers could come together to form a community of some sort with lots of free and premium content for any IWB?  I believe there is talk of this happening already.  However it needs to be able to compete with the big names.

Promethean and Smart have made simple changes to their boards.  It’s going to mean that there’s going to be another paradigm shift in the Interactive Whiteboard world.  For the first time it won’t be hardware-focused.  The real winners will be the companies who build the best online communities.

It’s also very annoying for me as a reviewer. It means I’m going to have to rewrite dozens of articles where I mourned the board’s lack of human-touch and I even came up with a novel way to make the board touch-based back in 2008. But enough about my problems, let’s find out why Promethean may have just changed everything again.

Samantha Clewes demonstrates the new Promethean 500 at the IPPN Conference

I played around with the new Promethean board at BETT and at IPPN and found a few lovely features. It has four points of interaction. This means that up to four people can interact with the board at the same time. It also does gesture control very nicely. I was very impressed with the way one can rotate and scale objects in ActivInspire, (and even better than two people can use gesture controls too). Another great addition is the fact that the board recognises accidental touches.

Historically, Promethean and Smart are the two big names in the IWB industry and the debate between the two was always based on touch-interaction and child-friendly software. Now that Promethean has gone on to using touch, it leaves Smart with a problem. Are Smart now going to have to create software that is aesthetically pleasing to the primary school teacher but with the power of Smart’s current Notebook tool?

The timing of touch-based Promethean boards also coincides with the rise in popularity of interactive projectors. This new board should hold back their threat. The Interactive Whiteboard market has a new competitor in town and it’s made by the powerhouse that is Promethean.

The Promethean 500 board will be priced from €3,249, which includes the 500 Pro Range 87″ ActivBoard with Fixed Stand and DLP or LCD short throw projector – 2 x Teacher & 2 x Student ActivPen 50 included. For more details go to Promethean Planet or your local distributor.

In our final exploration of choosing an Interactive Whiteboard, we’re going to look at a rubric, which will help you decide the things that are most important to you so you can choose the whiteboard that suits your school best.  If you haven’t read the other articles in the series, it may benefit you, as it explains all the ins and outs of IWBs and the different types that are out there.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with rubrics, they are a fantastic assessment tool for the classroom that allows teachers to instantly see how a child is getting on in a particular topic.  Based on a number of criteria, the teacher marks where on the scale a child is at.  You can find hundreds of rubrics on http://www.teach-nology.com. They are a great measuring tool to check out what exactly you are looking for.

We’re going to divide our rubric up into several parts.  In order to choose your interactive whiteboard, your job is to check out the statements to see what is important for you.  Using the template (which you can download), tick the relevant boxes and when you go to buy your Interactive Whiteboard, you’ll know exactly what questions to ask.  If most of them match your desired criteria, there’s a good chance that it’s the IWB for you.

Have a go and let me know if it helps you out.  I hope you’ve enjoyed our beginner’s guide to buying an IWB.  There’s hopefully enough in the four articles to give you a good idea of what you should be looking for.

It’s been fairly quiet on the Interactive Whiteboard front over the last few months.  However with conference season kicking off with the IPPN conference and the biggest educational trade show expo, it’s probably time to take another look at what’s hot and what’s not.  There’s little change to the league table since August 2010 but that may be all set to change with the release of Promethean’s new Touch-based board coming out shortly.  If they get the price right, it could mean trouble for their competitors.

In other IWB news, I was sorry to see that one of the companies in the list has unfortunately come to an end.  Their board was one of the best in Ireland but sadly, their company was not big enough to hold through the challenging times here.  Therefore, most boards on the list have slid up one place.

As always, my review below is merely my own opinion of what I like in an IWB.  I’m not brand-loyal.  I need to interact with my finger. I like good value for money.  I insist on decent after-sales service.  Whatever your own thoughts, this review is complemented by my Interactive Whiteboard App, which is available on http://www.anseo.net/apps/chooseiwb/ and it might help you with your decision in buying your next board.

The IWB Review

1. (1) Genee Powerboard (from €2,850, Prim-Ed)

There are over 20 different types of Interactive Whiteboards being sold in this country and all of them have been sold successfully all over the world. Some IWBs have sold more successfully in Ireland but, in general,  it doesn’t make them any better than some of the lesswell known models on the market. There is a type of IWB to suit every school.

By now, I would estimate that over 80% of schools own at least one Interactive Whiteboard.  For schools that have aone or more IWBs and wish to purchase more, I would advise that you don’t automatically buy the same board.  I have four different brands of board in my school.  This is because I always try and buy the best value board at the time.

Anyway, you’ve probably heard of two or three different kinds of boards. Maybe more. There’s probably a few schools in your area that have bought boards and are delighted with them. My second piece of advice is to forget them. When you go and buy a car, you buy something that suits you and your lifestyle. It’s the same with IWBs. Your board should reflect what you like and what suits your school.  I am stunned by the number of conversations I have witnessed where recommendations have been made that are completely false.  I have explained the main parts of an Interactive Whiteboard in the first part of our series so we’ll go straight into the different types of boards that exists out there and check out their advantages and disadvantages.

Board Type 1: Pen-based, infrared boards

These boards are usually the cheapest boards on the market. They work by sticking a special dongle onto an existing whiteboard and use a battery-operated pen to work. They come under a wealth of names, models and prices: EBeam, Mimio, Rainbow, VosaBoard, CleverBoard 3, 3M and Interwrite Board. You can usually use these boards as normal whiteboards and use dry-wipe markers on them. However, you cannot use your finger to interact on them.

Board Type 2: Pen-based, electro-magnetic boards

These boards use a mesh of copper wires on the board to get their input. This means they don’t need a battery-operated pen, which saves on buying batteries. However, these boards do not double-up as normal dry-wipe boards. Neither can you interact with your finger on them. They are also usually more expensive than the boards above. Promethean, Clasus and IMEX Interwrite are examples of this type of board.

Board type 3: Touch-based, mesh board

This type of board allows the user to interact with their finger as well as a pen. Some of them allow you to use dry wipe markers on them too. They’re also reasonably priced. Examples include: Teamboard, Traceboard, Smartboard and IQBoard.

Board type 4: Touch based infrared board

These boards have all the features of the above type board but just use a different technology. A lot of these boards are also magnetic, which is useful. Again dry wipe markers can be used on these. Examples include: Hitachi Starboard, TouchIT, GeneeBoard, InTech Board, Imex Dualboard and Cleverboard Dual. These boards are usually cheap and are increasingly becoming very popular.

There are many reasons why people choose one of the above options.  While I prefer types 3 and 4, two of the most popular models in Ireland come from the other types.  Promethean claim to be the market leader for IWBs in Ireland; however, it is possible that the eBeam may actually be in more schools than any other model.  The main advantage of the Promethean IWB, in my opinion, is due to its market size.  There is more support and resources out there for Promethean products than any other board in the UK and Ireland.  While one can purchase Promethean’s software separately, most schools tend not to do so and generally stick to their own board’s native software.  Promethean also have super training and most courses that you’ll go to, focus on Promethean boards.  EBeam is one of the cheapest boards on the market, which may have something to do with its popularity.  After using eBeams for the last 6 years, I have never been satisfied with their robustness.  However, others would argue otherwise so maybe I’ve been unlucky.  However, the biggest disadvantage I find with both these boards is the lack of ability to use one’s finger to interact with the projected image.

For me, when buying a board I not only need to be able to interact with my board with a “magic” pen, I also want to be able to use my finger.  I also want to be able to write on my board with dry wipe markers.  I cannot understand why anyone would not want these facilities.  However, more than half the boards on the market do not allow the user to do this.  When you buy your board, think about this.

While it might not seem important to be able to write on your board with a dry wipe marker, it does mean that you’ll have to have two separate boards at the front of the classroom – one for writing on and one for interacting.  Why can’t they be the same board?

While it might not seem important to be able to interact with a finger rather than a pen, think of the kinaesthetic learning that happens when a child drags an item from one area of the screen to another.  Is it a more kinaesthetic experience when they have to do it with a pen or with their finger?

I hope this article has helped unravel some of the mystery around the types of boards out there.  I have nailed my colours to the mast on this and some people will vehemently disagree with me.  However, whatever board you choose, make sure you take your time.  Try not to listen to salespeak.  Try not to get drawn into buying the same board as the school down the road.  Try not to simply buy the first one you’ve heard of.  However, you should try to get to a conference (like the IPPN in January) where you’ll see every company selling their wares and play with the boards.  Ask the sales-people questions.  Ask them about after sales care, ask them about guarantees, ask them about training, then listen carefully to their answers.  How long exactly will it take for them to come and fix your board when it breaks?  Once you’ve had a good look around ,weigh up your options.  What is important to you?

A full summary of every Interactive Whiteboard available in Ireland is available on Anseo.net’s mini-site, http://www.anseo.net/iwb. In the next article, we’ll explore just what is important to you with a rubric to help you along.

Almost this time last year, schools were told they were receiving an ICT grant to buy hardware for their schools.  The aim was that all classrooms in Ireland were going to be equipped with a teaching computer, a projector and a wireless keyboard and mouse.  Many teachers were dissatisfied that Interactive Whiteboard systems weren’t prioritised.  However, they were the rules and most schools abided by them.

This year, we have an even more mixed bag of digital classrooms.  Thanks to the hardware spend of last year, we now have several different set ups in classrooms around the country.  Below are some of the scenarios schools may find themselves in and some suggestions on how they can become interactive classrooms.

Scenario 1: Some classrooms have no hardware

Some schools decided to invest last year’s grant into some of their classrooms and ran out of money before they got around to the others.  The minimum technology, I believe a classroom should have is a projector, a laptop and a digital camera.  I would use this year’s grant to furnish classrooms with these devices.

Scenario 2: Classrooms with NCTE’s minimum requirement

The NCTE laid out their minimum requirement for a digital classroom – a teacher’s computer/laptop, a projector and a wireless keyboard and mouse.  I would add a digital camera to each room.  You will probably still have enough to buy an Interactive Whiteboard for each classroom.  Because you already have the projector, I would advise going to the company which supplied you with the projector and ask them to provide you with an Interactive Whiteboard at a decent price.

Scenario 3: We have the minimum requirement and IWBs in every room

Thanks to cake sales and other fundraising, many schools already owned IWBs and other digital equipment before the grant came.  In your case, you’re very lucky.  Some schools are buying iPod Touches or laptops for every child. There’s also the options of handheld games systems like DS Lites and PSPs.  Visualisers are another option though I’m not a big fan of them.

However, if you really want to upgrade the use of your IWB, the NCTE are now allowing schools to buy software using the grant if you have bought every piece of hardware you need.

My advice is to go down this road.  There are some good pieces of software out there which suit the IWB including Jolly Phonics for the Whiteboard, the Know Your… series from Edware and any of the games written for Learning Horizons.  You could buy some of the Fios Feasa CDs, which aren’t too bad either.  In fact, you might start seeing a number of Irish designed edugames and apps appearing in the new year so keep a hold of your budget.

In the next article, we’ll look at the different types of Interactive Whiteboard and their advantages and disadvantages.

1. It’s been around for a long time

The eBeam came to Ireland back in 2004 when IWBs cost around €7,000.  The eBeam came in at a lowly €700.  Its name was always tossed around, particularly by this web site, as a real viable alternative to the better known brands of Promethean and Smart.  Today, almost every school in Counties Carlow and Wexford, thanks to Rainbow Education, has an eBeam-style IWB in their school.  In 2007 when the market became saturated with other models, the eBeam name was always there in the same breath as Promethean and Smart.

2. It’s cheap

It’s very cheap.  When IWBs came out first, you could buy 2-3 eBeam enhanced IWBs for the same price as the bigger brand names.  Nowadays, there isn’t a lot of difference in price but the general impression remains.

3. eBeams are everywhere, even in other brand names

Whichever clever person decided to stick an eBeam in the corner of a whiteboard and claimed to have invented a brand new type of IWB was on to something.  The Vosa board, the early Hitachi boards, the Rainbow IWBs, the early 3M Boards, etc. were simply that – a decent whiteboard with an eBeam stuck in the corner.  All of a sudden you had something resembling a Promethean or SMART board but for half the price.  If you bought one of those boards, check in one of the corners and you’ll find an eBeam.

4. Word Spreads

Lots of schools have bought these devices and they’ve worked out quite well.  These people tell their friends in other schools and on discussion fora and a domino effect is born.

5. Everyone wants an IWB

If you asked a school to boast about its facilities, they will inevitably say that every room has an interactive whiteboard, as if this is some yard mark to how good they are.  Parents and the wider world now believe this so if you don’t have an IWB in every classroom, you risk losing enrollments.  Now, if all you know is that you have very little money, you’re going to think that buying an eBeam is your only option because they’re cheap.

The reality…

I’m not saying that I would NEVER buy an eBeam.  If I had a projector, a decent whiteboard and laptop, I’d probably consider it for 5th and 6th class.  There’s a few reasons why I would be thinking twice about them today.

1. Not the cheapest anymore

Firstly, they’re no longer that much cheaper than other boards.  While you can pick up an eBeam for less than €500, there are now other options that cost even less and others that are better that cost only slightly more.  The Onfinity device costs about €350 for a basic model and does pretty much the same job. Actual board-shaped Boards now start at around €700 so look out for these bargains.

2. Not the best guarantee

There’s only a one year standard guarantee with eBeams.  All other traditionally shaped boards have at least a 3 year guarantee and often a lifetime guarantee.  That can be worth a lot in the long run.

3. Software included is dire

The software included with an eBeam, in a word, is dire.  While this isn’t a particularly huge problem as you can easily buy software, this is an added expense.  To carry on the Ryanair analogy, it’s like having to pay to bring a suitcase on holiday.  You don’t really need to but you probably do need to.

4. The Pen

The pen that comes with the eBeam is battery operated.  That means you need a stock of AA batteries.  That’s not such a big deal.  However, if you drop the eBeam pen, it will break much more easily than any other pen in the IWB market.  Replacements cost €80.

5. Accuracy

Like it or not, after a certain amount of time the eBeam loses its accuracy.  How long depends on how often it’s moved.  If initially it is permanently placed and hidden in a corner, you’ll get a similar lifetime as any other board but if you’re moving the eBeam around a lot, you’ll be lucky to get two years out of it.

6. They are no-frills

An eBeam cannot be interacted with anything but the magic pen.  You can’t use your finger to interact.  There are no extra frills  - no real training, no decent resources to support the software and no add-ons.  While this isn’t particularly a very negative thing, bells and whistles can be the difference between it being used and not.  Unless your school has built up a nice big bank of resources, you’re on your own.

As I said at the start of the article, I’m not saying I would never buy an eBeam.  They are functional.  They make any surface interactive.  They give you an interactive classroom.  Because I have a good bank of resources, I would probably buy one for older classes.  I think it’s highly important for younger classes to be able to interact with their fingers and the eBeam doesn’t let that happen.  The eBeam is popular for many reasons but so is Ryanair…