Whiteboard projector safety fears

[Scotmk]

Forget wireless radiation heres the next thing

 

Whiteboards

 

Should'nt they be staring at the board not the lamp? they will moan about anything.

[Halfmad]

Isn't it common sense?

 

Not like they sit at home staring into lightbulbs

[plexer]

This was all reported on a few years ago so I don't know why it's reared its head again.

 

You will get refelcted light from the board surface as well though.

 

Ben

[MkII]

Another thread refferred to BECTAs safety guidelines for maximum lumens. I point this out to teachers who want bright projectors installing into their classrooms.

[Geoff]

Another thread refferred to BECTAs safety guidelines for maximum lumens. I point this out to teachers who want bright projectors installing into their classrooms.

 

Which is here if anyone needs it:

 

http://devschools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=pd&catcode=ss_pd_wd_tb_03&rid=9502&pagenum=7&NextStart=4

 

The 'Health & Safety' section is relevant.

[timbo343]

Forget wireless radiation heres the next thing

 

Whiteboards

 

Should'nt they be staring at the board not the lamp? they will moan about anything.

 

Bloody hell, a topic which thinks that whiteboards are a problem... ive been saying this since we had the interactive whiteboards installed and yet suppliers dont understand. They ring up and say, are you interesting i buying smart boards, i just tell them straight, no they are a health and safety issue.

[john]

I know, now all I need to do is tell the SMT they are dangerous, show them this story and bam no more IWBs needed = more to spend on shiny things

 

HeHe Thanks BBC

[manxdan]

I'm with Timbo on this one, never liked IWBs amd have sent many a rep off with a flea in the ear. Aside from the H&S issue, with any projection device (OHP, Slide Projector, Cinema, whatever) it's common sense and long established good practice to not stand in the beam. Yet to work these hideously overpriced giant trackpads you have to . . .er . . . stand in the beam? Projectors are a fabulous classroom tool, but IWB's are just an effective way to help schools squander much needed dosh.

[localzuk]

I would say that 90% of projector use in our school is done from next to the board, being controlled via the laptop.

 

The rest of the time can be split between the teacher not looking at the lamp (because that would be just plain dumb) and kids using the board.

 

I don't think we have a single projector that is over 1500 Lumens in our school either, as there is no need, most classes have blinds to deal with bright background light.

 

I do see this being picked up by companies like smart who have those wireless tablet things though, saying that they are better as you don't have to touch the board - but then they are much less expensive than IWB's in the first place, so it would render 250,000 IWB's across the country pointless...

 

To those who say that IWB's are pointless anyway, I would say that you haven't seen them being used effectively then. Our SEN dept makes constant use of them as the SEN kids learn better with lots of interaction. And in subjects like maths are the like interactive tools add an extra bonus to a classroom, and help keep kids interested in otherwise boring subjects.

[timbo343]

I'm with Timbo on this one, never liked IWBs amd have sent many a rep off with a flea in the ear. Aside from the H&S issue, with any projection device (OHP, Slide Projector, Cinema, whatever) it's common sense and long established good practice to not stand in the beam. Yet to work these hideously overpriced giant trackpads you have to . . .er . . . stand in the beam? Projectors are a fabulous classroom tool, but IWB's are just an effective way to help schools squander much needed dosh.

Exactly.... The way we get around not having IWBs is to have a large whiteboard that teachers can work on and then have the projector project onto that. If the teacher wants to annotate the image they can do very easily. Plus, one of these days i can see someone drawing on the IWBs. One last thing, if the IWBs arent correctly put up.. mainly by overtightening the screws, you get like a heart monitor when you draw a straight line. This is because the numpty who installed it either a: has over tightened the screw, b: hasnt used a plastic washer to stop the metal to metal contact or c: is just incompitant. Numerous times ive had to go round and loosen or put a washer on. I see the IWBs just a fancy piece of equipment which was mainly aimed at primary school kids. I mean you look at any of the leaflets or brouches that you get and what age group of kids are mainly on it.... primary ones.

Have you seen the smart Sympodiums? We have got a couple in at the mo, a hell of a lot better than smart boards. Basically they are a monitor that you write on.... and act like a smart board... so one of those and a projector that you can freeze the image on equals the best classroom tool ever. Mind you the sympodiums are a small fortune in my opinon are worth it. Teachers can sit at their desks without been blinded by the beam.

Oh just to throw in the wireless thing... we have had wireless in the school for about 2.5 years.... well i brought it in when i arrived and to be honest, the radiation from the APs hasnt affected the kids or teachers. Is just the media that have got their hands on something and turned it around...

 

Sorry rant over.... *ahem*

[stephenleak]

I particularly like the bit in the usage guidelines about ...

 

When entering the beam, users should not look towards the audience for more than a few seconds.

 

Encourage users to keep their backs to the projector beam when standing in it.

 

The only problem with this is that, from what I've seen so far, teaching in my school is like staring down a pack of wolves. If you break eye contact with any one of them for a second, they will be at your throat!

[Geoff]

If you break eye contact with any one of them for a second, they will be at your throat!

 

But surely, instantly blinded?

[eean]

Becta seem to be sending out mixed messages on this one. They say that there should be a 1500 lumen max brightness but then, according to the guy who was failing to flog them to me, the Saharah orange projector was built with Becta but is 1900 lumens!

 

I would like to find a lower throw projector (not £2k very low throw ones but the ones you get with all-in-one smartboards.) Less likely to look at the projector and less effected by ambient light.

[MkII]

Becta seem to be sending out mixed messages on this one. They say that there should be a 1500 lumen max brightness but then, according to the guy who was failing to flog them to me, the Saharah orange projector was built with Becta but is 1900 lumens!

 

I would like to find a lower throw projector (not £2k very low throw ones but the ones you get with all-in-one smartboards.) Less likely to look at the projector and less effected by ambient light.

 

The Becta guidelines say that you can have brighter but to put a filter in front of the lens when someone stands in front of it. No idea how you'd do that but that's what they say.

 

I too have suggested very short throw/ very high keystone adjustment as a possible solution. Not seen any projectors tho' and would guess they'd be prohibitively expensive.

[enjay]

Would getting a brighter projector and then filtering it not somewhat defeat the point?!

 

3M do a short-throw projector which is about £2k including speakers and mounting (I think it's the same one on the new i-series Smart boards). Saves on glare and problems with shadowing - not the prettiest, but then nor are "regular" projectors.

[MkII]

Would getting a brighter projector and then filtering it not somewhat defeat the point?!

 

They do say to remove the filter when no one is to be standing in front of the projector

[dave.81]

This was brought up this morning in our staff meeting by a member of staff. I told them that we use lower brightness projectors as per guidelines and that all projectors have been inspected by our health and safety officer so if they want to see the report they are welcome to it.

 

To be honest i really feel this is another thing along the lines of WI-FI... the bbc have nothing else to report on so they find random things like this to report. Has anyone come across a blind teacher yet because they've been using an IWB?

 

And one more thing... lol... if the projector is so low that your looking at it as your talking to the kids then it's been fitted wrongly.

[enjay]

Has anyone come across a blind teacher yet because they've been using an IWB?

Not blind, but one of our staff did have an eye complaint which could have been attributable to her projector - the problem started shortly after she got it and cleared when we adjusted her projector. She can't 100% prove it was the projector, but nor can we 100% disprove this. Better safe than sorry, I say.