Saturday, August 8, 2009

SMART v. Promethean (or other product)

Interactive whiteboard at CeBIT 2007Image via Wikipedia

Is this a viable debate? Is there a better interactive board than another? SMART, Promethean, Interwrite, etc. - is one really superior than the other? Our district has a mix. I allowed my schools to bring in our vendors - listen to the demos, test the products and choose the board / solution that best fit their teachers. I used this method as a way to increase overall buy-in for the Interactive Classrooms, and have found it to be very successful. However - I still wander - why did they choose one over the other? Is it the software? The accessories to the board? Just a brand name thing??? If you use one board over the other in your school district -why? What criteria did you use to narrow down your choice. Cost? Was that the biggest determining factor? I am simply curious of what others have to say on this issue.

JDS | CIO
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Promethean is the choice for education. Their equipment is made for use by children and teachers. Their software is more advanced and their promethean planet site enhances their overall package. However the key is professional development. Start with a core group of teachers that will take to the technology and do hte extra work it requires to learn and take advantage of this fantastice education too. Then slowly add more to the core, without forcing it on the teaching community. As well, the student response systems, truely complete the puzzle for the most complete 21st century classroom.

Anonymous said...

I would go with SMART because they're by far easier to use and have a more complete 21st classroom solution than what I've seen from Promethean. Not just for the teachers but for all students, including special needs. You can tell Smartboard was designed as a product for all to use. The value of being able to use a finger to interact (and the included pens for writing) goes far beyond what we found we got with our activboards - which are now in a closet not being used.

JDS said...

Thanks to both comments for sharing your experiences with both products. We are using both in our district and each school that has a specific brand in their building, thinks that brand is the best.