Teachers refusing a change :/

[Smee]

We have a school full of very old and now failing Promethean activboards. I cant get replacement bits for them not even the pens. I had a meeting with the head who said we have funds for replacing on a rolling program with touch screens/panels but he'd ask the staff for the thoughts at the next staff meeting. We do have 2 iiyama boards in a couple of classrooms that are used every day. It now turns out that the teaching staff don't like them and don't want to change their failing boards. "can we replace what we have we newer versions" is what has come back to me. Apparently the touchscreens are too small too sensitive and generally moaned about (mainly by one teacher who uses one but she really does moan about everything!)

What do I do now? The only thing I think I can do is find teachers that will change and keep their boards for parts. Not ideal but short of causing a revolt I'm kind of lost for words.

Who knew teachers didn't like new stuff!

[strawberry]

Sounds like a staffing/budget issue. Find out what the budget is, ask what they want then price it up and get the head to sign it off after they've consulted the staff.

[Reboot_IT]

Make a good case for the Interactive Screens that will appeal to SLT.

 

- Massive improvement on image quality

- Less breakdowns

- Longer warranty

- Lower running costs in terms of replacement bulbs and energy

- Better functionality

 

We have got 65inch at our Primary schools and 75inch at our Secondaries and those sizes seem to work fine for us.

[FishCustard]

I would recommend getting some demonstration boards in from various suppliers for teachers to try out - it may well be that they will change their tune once they get hands-on with some other boards. Perhaps the IIYAMA ones really are problematic - I have no idea - or perhaps they just need to be eased into the change.

 

Either way, a variety of demo units should help.

[Joanne]

Or you could get those interactive projector things? If they are that precious about the boards, they can keep them as a "screen".

[dhicks]

We do have 2 iiyama boards in a couple of classrooms that are used every day. It now turns out that the teaching staff don't like them and don't want to change their failing boards. "can we replace what we have we newer versions" is what has come back to me. Apparently the touchscreens are too small too sensitive and generally moaned about (mainly by one teacher who uses one but she really does moan about everything!)

 

I was surprised a couple of years ago when we started replacing older SMART boards with touch screens that some teachers decided they would prefer to stick with their existing boards. A couple of years later and we have about 75% of classrooms with touch screens, now we have the teachers from the remaining classrooms asking for touch screens to be installed as soon as possible! We did stick with SMART for the hardware, so staff could keep using SMART's software, which might be a consideration with some of these staff - maybe they're thinking they want to stick with their Promethean boards so they can keep the same software? If it's any help, we have some Promethean touch screens (with, in our case, appropriate licensing to use SMART's software) - they are our oldest touch screens, at around 4 years old now, and are still working pretty much as new, so you certainly get good lifetime out of them. When we had an initial issue with one (broken hardware during install) it got replaced under warrenty with no fuss, too.

[witch]

@Smee We have two Promethean touch screens and they are very well liked. I think it is because the software is the same so the change wasnt too great - expensive, yes, but maybe a compromise? Edited September 18, 2019 by witch

[Andycat]

Last year, majority of our staff wanted a new projector over a touchscreen, and that's with them all having used both on site.