March 29 – April 2

For this week, I installed Adobe software in computers in the production lab and also had a dicussion with David on our project direction and we will be completing the project in the next several weeks. But I focused mostly on the comparision between Promethean Board and the Smart Board. Below are some prelimiary findings from searches of various sources:

Promethean Board:
·Design of hard surface makes the board very durable for classroom environments;
·Students can touch multiple areas of the board with their hands and/or body without affecting the response to the board;
·Fast response time, no delay when writing;
·Built-in RF technology lets it communicate wirelessly with other products without additional computer ports, receivers, or drivers;
·No glare that could prevent headaches and seizures (Promethean prevents glare);
·48, 64, 78 inches;
·Adjustable mounting system allows teachers to move the board up and down 2 feet for student/teacher adaptations;
·Steel mount is all one piece;
·Instantly “right click” by holding down the orange button on pen;
·Instantly roll over areas such as a web page and have information automatically appear without having to click on an additional button or menu item;
·Fine tipped pen allows user to be very precise and the pen mirrors the writing utensil that students are taught to use and write with in the classroom;
·The Activboard + 2 includes an adjustable mount, short-throw projector, and interactive whiteboard;
·The new Activarena upgrade enables all Promethean Activboards to support the use of multiple users at the same time;
·Windows/ Macintosh compatible;
·10- year warranty;
·$1,795 for the Activboard package; $4,695 for the Activboard + 2 package.

Smart Board:
·Standard sizes: 48, 64, 77, and 94 inches;
·Touch sensitive (resistive technology) boards can only accept one contact at a time;
·Smart board reacts to the first input if a student touches the board in more than one spot, making it difficult for students to write like they would normally write;
·Analog signal: delayed or lag time;
·USB connection out of box, extra charge for other connections;
·600i is their form of the all in one, modeled after Promethean’s, but does not have a height adjustable mount;
·Unifi 45 projector: 2,000 lumens with 16.7 million colors, 1,500 ANSI lumens;
·You cannot instantly right click or hover with the tip of your finger. You have to physically click another button or menu item to achieve these options;
·Something must sit in the “tray” in order for the board to operate;
·Anything can make a mark or a command on the Smart Board: cannot touch/point without a response;
·Smart Technologies offer a full line of interactive whiteboards, from its 600 series (freestanding or wall- mountable) in a variety of sizes;
·Wireless access for front-projection models is an available option, as are integrated USB speakers;
·Senteo interactive response system (a clicker response system) is one of its newest features;
·Windows/Macintosh/Linux compatible;
·Up to 5-year warranty;
·600 series $700–$2,100; 600i series $3,299– $4,199, including projector.

Preliminary summaries:
·Both have supportive communities and both seem to have software capable of similar functions; ·Both require quite a bit of staff training to enable people to use them well;
·The Smart board is a "soft board" that you can use your fingers to draw on; the Promethean Board is a "hard board" that requires the use of a special pen;
·The Promethean software is more "child-friendly" with fancy colors and animation, but the SMART Notebook software is more flexible in that you start with a blank page;
·The Smart notebook software cannot be freely used by anyone. Their website states very clearly about downloading it and copyright rules. On the other hand, Promethean does allow the download of their software;
·Promethean Board is Installed by certified Promethean installers, while Smart Board is a “do it yourself” set up.