3 pieces of advice please

[e-class]

I'd like your help and advice .... again, please

1)... Can anyone recommend any suppliers to supply and fit projectors in the Gloucestershire area please. Any idea of costs? PM me if necessary.

2)... We are about to go for an eBeam solution (rather than Smartboards/Prometheans) for two of our classrooms. I know its not widely used at the moment (apart from in Abereen, Scotland, so I'm told!) but does anyone have any horror stories for me not to recommend this option to the school?

3)... The school is a Primary school and they are purchasing Textease Studio CT from Softease (Softease - Welcome to the Softease website), a set of simple Word Processing Tools, Spreadsheets etc for small children. I've tried Open Office on the PCs and the kids find it quite hard to do graphs etc (would be the with MS Office) so is there any other simple Office type apps that are specifically for kids. I have been told that Textease Studio CT from Softease is quite popular in Primary schools.

Once again, thanks to all you knowledgeable people out there ... makes my life a lot easier when I tell the Governors that other Educational IT Experts have checked and OK'd my recommendations!

[contink]

Can't help too much with 1... and there's been a lot of discussion re: eBeam so a search would help with 2. for some initial intel..

Now as for this last bit..

3)... The school is a Primary school and they are purchasing Textease Studio CT from Softease (Softease - Welcome to the Softease website), a set of simple Word Processing Tools, Spreadsheets etc for small children. I've tried Open Office on the PCs and the kids find it quite hard to do graphs etc (would be the with MS Office) so is there any other simple Office type apps that are specifically for kids. I have been told that Textease Studio CT from Softease is quite popular in Primary schools.

Yes, it is popular for schools that can afford the massive license fee Softease like to charge.

I haven't sadly found anything else that provides all of the stuff that Textease does but you might want to have a word with 2 simple and ask them to send some stuff over on review that meets your spec.

I'm pretty sure there's a few things in there for things like graphs which are very easy to use and, well, "simple"... In terms of deployment they're quite easy and support is very responsive and helpful.

[jameswatson]

I'd like your help and advice .... again, please

3)... The school is a Primary school and they are purchasing Textease Studio CT from Softease (Softease - Welcome to the Softease website), a set of simple Word Processing Tools, Spreadsheets etc for small children. I've tried Open Office on the PCs and the kids find it quite hard to do graphs etc (would be the with MS Office) so is there any other simple Office type apps that are specifically for kids. I have been told that Textease Studio CT from Softease is quite popular in Primary schools.

Hi,

My name is James Watson and I'm the South-West Account Manager for what was Softease (we are now called Lightbox Education).

Textease Studio CT is a suite of 9 tools all-in-one, including a DTP package, spreadsheet, database, paint, logo etc. There are many other different companies that make similar individual applications, but none to my knowledge (and I would love to know of any) that have an integrated interface that allows you to access all of them from within the same interface.

Schools often find it useful to have a single interface for all these different applications as it is easier to learn how to use them all.

That said, some schools just use one or more of the 9, as they can also be bought seperately - and that is obviously much cheaper. This would be more appropriate if you don't need the other applications or are already using other software for them.

You can download a 30-day trial for free and try all 9 tools before you buy.

If you would like to email me at jwatson@lightbox-ed.com I'll be happy to provide your school with a personal quotation for your requirements.

Regards
James

[CPLTD]

I'd like your help and advice .... again, please

1)... Can anyone recommend any suppliers to supply and fit projectors in the Gloucestershire area please. Any idea of costs? PM me if necessary.

2)... We are about to go for an eBeam solution (rather than Smartboards/Prometheans) for two of our classrooms. I know its not widely used at the moment (apart from in Abereen, Scotland, so I'm told!) but does anyone have any horror stories for me not to recommend this option to the school?

3)... The school is a Primary school and they are purchasing Textease Studio CT from Softease (Softease - Welcome to the Softease website), a set of simple Word Processing Tools, Spreadsheets etc for small children. I've tried Open Office on the PCs and the kids find it quite hard to do graphs etc (would be the with MS Office) so is there any other simple Office type apps that are specifically for kids. I have been told that Textease Studio CT from Softease is quite popular in Primary schools.

Once again, thanks to all you knowledgeable people out there ... makes my life a lot easier when I tell the Governors that other Educational IT Experts have checked and OK'd my recommendations!

Hi E-Class,

I have pm'd you our details ,

I look forward to hearing from you,

Simon Collins

[Zimmer]

For projector supplies and installs we use... audio visual supplier in west yorkshire

We have used them for six years now and would recommend them to anyone - Excellent level of service and never had a bad experience with them

[ninjabeaver]

I'd like your help and advice .... again, please

2)... We are about to go for an eBeam solution (rather than Smartboards/Prometheans) for two of our classrooms. I know its not widely used at the moment (apart from in Abereen, Scotland, so I'm told!) but does anyone have any horror stories for me not to recommend this option to the school?

Once again, thanks to all you knowledgeable people out there ... makes my life a lot easier when I tell the Governors that other Educational IT Experts have checked and OK'd my recommendations!

Get a Demo Unit of the E-Beam first for gawds sake. We had one at my old school about 4 years ago. We fitted it and no one could get on with it. £350 down the drain. Personally, if you could fit some proper interactive boards you would be better of for it in the long run.

Talk to Simon and CP Ltd. He almost has a cult following on here in regards to finding stuff quickly and cheaper than the other suppliers. Probably because he has sold his soul.