Wow.
This new district has made a commitment and significant investment into technology. ♥ They have a plan to replace the interactive panels every 10 years and are moving forward with this even during the pandemic. One of my first tasks was to figure out the three different brands of Interactive Panels in use. When requests come in for assistance, they all say SMARTboard. Kind of like how back in the day, when the projector bulb quit or the projector cables changed the color of the image projected, workorders almost always came in for a SMARTboard repair. (facepalm) That said, this endeavor to figure out the devices in the district led me to this conclusion: all Interactive Panels are NOT the same. Not even the three different brands we have. Heck, not even the ones by the same company (SMART) My opinion: those are THE worst. I'll get to why soon..... The newest - Newline. A lot of potential, but the native software needs improvement - which I'm sure will come. In the meantime, I focus on using the board as an extension of the computer. These do have the ability to connect wirelessly and retain the interactivity, but I ALWAYS make sure that teachers know how to connect those cables. For starters, the on board controls are locked at the top. An average height teacher will NOT be able to access them. Most importantly, the wired connection is more stable. As most teachers are transitioning from the old SMARTboards, their computer stations are still close enough to use the wired connection. I still show them how to install the software for the wireless connection and show this option, but as with any change, some folks need more time to try it. In regards to the built in annotation tools - they are not an option for use when teachers are teaching in a hybrid manner as those annotations live on the board and not the screen being shared during Zoom or Meet sessions. Teachers rely on the built in Zoom annotation tools or using SMARTnotebook to add a transparent layer - then they can quickly save those annotations as a pdf and add them to their Google Classroom for students to review later. Then there are the Boxlight panels, by Mimio - a true dream. Everything just works.. The wireless connection is very intuitive, still need software installed to make it happen, but this has been the easiest board to work with out of all three (four) in use. These were the number one choice for replacing the old boards in the renewal cycle, but from what I have been told, the company could not meet the production needs so the Newline became the board of choice. SMART - I used to love ya. But I don't think you've kept up. I can forgive the older boards, the OGs. However, your newer ones are not as easy to use wirelessly as the two newer board types we have. In fact, they don't work wirelessly at all. Our techs have looked into this and as it stands, they can only be used wired - and that is perfectly fine. They still elevate the teaching that can happen! And your software is bulky, but reliable! Our district pays for that and we have the SMART Learning Suite Online - which is evolving. Still a little quirky, but it provides a great option for teachers during remote instruction! I'll post on that later. While all boards may not be created equal, they do provide a valuable means of sharing information for teachers teaching hybrid classes with students joining in the classroom and at home.
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AuthorJeannie Timken Archives
March 2023
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