Smartboard or Promethean Whiteboard

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Permalink Reply by Jason de Nys on May 8, 2008 at 12:31am

The smartboard is a "soft board" that you can use your fingers to draw on. The Promethean ActivBoard is a "hard board" that requires the use of a special pen. Both have supportive communities and both seem to have software capable of similar things. Both require quite a bit of staff training to enable people to use them well. I did hear from someone that the hardboards are more durable but I can't verify that for you.

Permalink Reply by Josh Allen on May 8, 2008 at 2:48pm

The "toughness" of the board depends on which company you ask. SMART claims you can shoot a bullet through the Board and only that area is affected (tested by their military contract). I've seen the Board pounded on rather hard by a SMART rep (and I've tried on other people's boards :) ). As I mentioned on a different post, the Promethean software is more "child-friendly" with their fancy colors and animaion, but the SMART Notebook software is more flexible in that you start with a blank page (but you can get lessons online, for both, I believe). We ended up with SMART for the simple fact that if you lose then pen, you don't lose the functionality of the board. Yes, it's a basic thing, but when you have 25 1st graders who want to use the Board, it could be a big deal.

Permalink Reply by Brett Graham on May 8, 2008 at 10:14pm

Just a note on the Promethean software... There are two applications - ACTIVprimary is a colorful version targetted at younger ages, whereas ACTIVstudio suits an older demographic. Both were supplied with our boards.

Permalink Reply by Jason de Nys on May 8, 2008 at 10:53pm

As far as I'm aware, very few of the primary teachers at my school actually use ActivPrimary. I have no idea why not.

Permalink Reply by Brett Graham on May 11, 2008 at 3:13pm

Likewise at our school - ACTIVstudio is preferred over ACTIVprimary in the majority of classes.

Permalink Reply by Arlene Anderson on May 8, 2008 at 3:44pm

Here's an interesting article from Technology and Learning. Gives information about many interactive boards.

http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196605172&...

Permalink Reply by Rosy Escandon on May 9, 2008 at 2:43pm

I tried both board and I feel that the Promethean board is far better than Smart for a number of reasons. Promethean is focused on the education market. They provide so much support to the end user such as TLC's, which are Teaching and Learning Consultants that will work with teachers one on one or small group to help support with creating lesson planning and learning the software. They have recently started user conferences, we just attended the Tucson conference, but there was one in Sarasota in February and another coming up in Boston. All 54 teachers came back so energized and excited to start using their boards that they just received.

I also believe that the Promethean board is more developmentally appropriate, it's not natural to write with your finger. Small children need to rest their hands on the board when using the board and Promethean allows that.

I could go on and on but here are some more elaborate differences between the two boards.

Promethean Advantages
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 Bluetooth in base price, no peripheral device to install
Not having a glare prevents headaches and seizures (Promethean prevents glare)
Most classrooms are large enough that a 78 inch board is best for students’ viewing: 48 and 64 inches often require eye strain
∑ Adjustable mounting system allows teacher to move the board up and down 2 feet for student/teacher adaptations.
∑ Steel mount is all one piece
∑ Installed by certified Promethean installers, vs. Smart is a “do it yourself” set up.
∑ Sanyo started in 1947, Unifi ???
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
The pen mirrors the writing utensil that students are taught to use and write with in the classroom

Compared w/ SMARTboards
Standard sizes: 48, 64, 77, and 94 inches
Touch sensitive (resistive technology) boards can only accept one contact at a time. If a student touches the board in more than one spot, the board reacts to that first input making it difficult for the student to write like they would normally write.
Analog signal : delayed or lag time
USB connection out of box, extra charge for other connections
Standard two-year warranty that you can upgrade to five years upon product registration.
∑ No all in one solution available in CCSD
∑ 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 can not 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
You can not be precise with finger.
Something must sit in the “tray” in order for the board to operate.
Anything can make a mark or a command on the SMARTboard: can not touch/point without a response.

Permalink Reply by Leigh Newton on May 9, 2008 at 11:04pm

Looks like we have two discussions on the one topic at the same time. This same question was posted a few days earlier here.