Interactive projector or touch screens

[milon03]

Hello All,

 

There will be 4 new classrooms from September for our school and we need to decide whether to install Epsom 595wi interactive projector or just C touch or Genee touch screens.

 

Initial cost of touch screens are high but very low maintenance, better quality picture. They come with 7 years of warranty. On the other hand interactive projectors are low cost but it will degrade the quality in the long run.

 

Can you please share your thoughts.

 

Many Thanks

 

Milon

[smurfomatic]

We trialled a Hitachi interactive projector in one room (after having a demo of it on-site) and it does everything we need it to for interactivity, plus it's a projector which is familiar territory for those who already have them in their classrooms. We're refitting half a dozen rooms over the summer and they're all getting the same setup - interactive projector, onto a standard whiteboard. Gives the teachers the same option to write on a "normal" whiteboard and doesn't take up twice the space.

 

Maintenance on projectors isn't that high, most of ours have bulb changes every 2-3 years and when you factor it all in it's still a lot cheaper than a touch screen. Also not going to have children coming in saying "how do you make this TV show the football?"

[gbiltd]

Touchscreens for us.

No lamps, no maintenance and no more dull images.

Can be attached to height adjustable electric lifts - suits all ages/size of children.

Or attach one to a mobile trolley, can be used anywhere

[VeryPC_Ross]

@milon03 I would definitely push for interactive touchscreens if the budget is there, I feel it's a better teaching and learning experience for both the teachers and the students. Happy to send you some pricing on our preferred manufacturers . I will send you a PM so you have my contact details! Ta, Ross

[mikeprice]

We have been discussing this sort of thing recently and have decided to wait until the prices come down more.

Reasoning is that we can set up the 2 new classrooms with refurbished SmartBoards (with 3 year warranty) which will keep us going for a couple of years then look to replace all the IWBs.

 

Head also muttered something about having spent a lot on IT since I started?????

[dhicks]

There will be 4 new classrooms from September for our school and we need to decide whether to install Epsom 595wi interactive projector or just C touch or Genee touch screens.

 

Our teachers don't seem to get on very well with interactive projectors - that's probably just down to individual preferences / particular working situations. Our senior school teachers tend to move classrooms a fair bit, and at some point someone's going to walk off with / loose the interactive pen for the board. Also, the interactivity just wasn't quite accurate enough - they find selecting icons on-screen fiddly with a pen. Other teachers might find them absolutly fine, though.

[Sagima]

Our primary teachers prefer the touchscreens to the the projectors. They do accept that we can't afford larger than 65" ones but the size is the only complaint we get about them.

 

Our secondary teachers prefer the opposite - I think a big part of that is that they get a lovely large whiteboard to us as well and they like being able to not use it if they don't want/need it for a lesson

[fredbayker]

don't overlook the accompanying(or lack of) software with these devices.

[dapaulio]

My opinion of interactive tv over interactive projectors is whilst the quality and maintenance is far superior on the TV there are physical teaching limitations.

The interactive projectors allow for a standard whiteboard to be fitted for those teachers who prefer to annotate with a pen or dont want to project their screen and do some back to basic teaching can do so.

 

Also in the event of a power outage they still have the tool to teach old skool

[dhicks]

don't overlook the accompanying(or lack of) software with these devices.

 

We've licensed Smart's software throughout the school, but I don't think it's getting much use outside of our Reception classrooms. Most of the senior school use the occasional touch-based game or website and have the children come up and press things on the screen, or sometimes they use the touch screen for navigation around Windows 8.1. The most use comes from using iPads and AirServer with projectors / screens - not actually that much more than some software costs per touch screen.

[smurfomatic]

Our teachers don't seem to get on very well with interactive projectors - that's probably just down to individual preferences / particular working situations. Our senior school teachers tend to move classrooms a fair bit, and at some point someone's going to walk off with / loose the interactive pen for the board. Also, the interactivity just wasn't quite accurate enough - they find selecting icons on-screen fiddly with a pen. Other teachers might find them absolutly fine, though.

 

One benefit of the Hitachi projectors is the "finger touch" add-on, meaining no interactive pens needed. Allows multi-touch too.

[BenQ_Support]

Hi,

 

We manufacture both Interactive screens and Interactive projectors. There's been a definite shift in schools towards the interactive screens as the screen price has come down.

 

 

Advantages of interactive projectors are IMO; cost per inch, slightly improved viewing angles, option to have a dry wipe board projection surface.

 

 

Advantage of interactive panels; Higher resolution, lower maintenance. We offer a full five year warranty that includes the panel of the screen (which is actually the most expensive component.)

 

 

Anything over 80" we are still strongly recommending projection solutions. However you will probably be looking at a larger screen at a much lower resolution.

 

 

Best thing I can recommend is to get both solutions in a try them both in a classroom environment. Drop me a DM if you want any more info as we are a forum sponsor.

 

 

Adrian.

[Mistert89]

We evaluated and chose 5 CTouch screens for our new building, opening September.

[Swansfirst]

We are going through the same predicament at present.

Teaching staff have used activinspire for 8 years but the new activpanel is not that great and expensive to boot.

 

We trialed smart but didn't like it at all.

We really liked the vividtouch. In fact it was by far the best tech we looked at but the price was £2700 installed which is too much for us

 

We then looked at C Touch at £2200. We liked it and really liked the software it came with so thought we would run octopus and activ inspire at the same time, but then promethean refered us to their terms and conditions and said we would have to pay £1000 per screen per year to carry on using their software on a ctouch panel. We didnt appreciate that!!!

 

We have now trialled for 15 days, and really like the ecotouch panel. Its as good as everything else ( bar the vividtouch ) and according to our ICT contact will be £1825 installed with software and AV plate included with the old IWB and projector taken down too. So we are now trying to work out if we can use octopus software for lessons, because if we can and i think we can, we will save £500 per install and we have 14 classrooms so a big saving of £7000.

 

Have we missed any makes or models??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello All,

 

There will be 4 new classrooms from September for our school and we need to decide whether to install Epsom 595wi interactive projector or just C touch or Genee touch screens.

 

Initial cost of touch screens are high but very low maintenance, better quality picture. They come with 7 years of warranty. On the other hand interactive projectors are low cost but it will degrade the quality in the long run.

 

Can you please share your thoughts.

 

Many Thanks

 

Milon

[mikeprice]

You could look for second hand IWBs - that would give you a few years for the Interactive panels to come down in price before you do a wholesale switch

[boomish]

We are going through the same predicament at present.

Teaching staff have used activinspire for 8 years but the new activpanel is not that great and expensive to boot.

 

We trialed smart but didn't like it at all.

We really liked the vividtouch. In fact it was by far the best tech we looked at but the price was £2700 installed which is too much for us

 

We then looked at C Touch at £2200. We liked it and really liked the software it came with so thought we would run octopus and activ inspire at the same time, but then promethean refered us to their terms and conditions and said we would have to pay £1000 per screen per year to carry on using their software on a ctouch panel. We didnt appreciate that!!!

 

We have now trialled for 15 days, and really like the ecotouch panel. Its as good as everything else ( bar the vividtouch ) and according to our ICT contact will be £1825 installed with software and AV plate included with the old IWB and projector taken down too. So we are now trying to work out if we can use octopus software for lessons, because if we can and i think we can, we will save £500 per install and we have 14 classrooms so a big saving of £7000.

 

Have we missed any makes or models??

 

Don't forget the Genee Smarboards, we thought the demo was the best and the software "Spark" seemed a little better than Octopus. Free training, 7 years guarantee etc etc. but most important is the cost is cheaper than CTouch..

We are about to order 4.