Because I always have a lot to say about IWBs, this is a separate article to the main Sunday Business Post article I wrote a couple of hours ago. If you haven’t seeen the other post, basically the newspaper did a seven page sepcial on technology in education. There were 3 articles about Interactive Whiteboards, none of which featured any feedback from schools that are using them. The marketing development manager of Steljes, Greg Tierney, was featured in the main article. Steljes are the people behind selling Smartboards (and they also sponsor an advertisement on Anseo.net). Some guy from GoInteractive and another somebody from 3M (huh?) were also featured in smaller articles.
Not a SMART move
SMART, the company behind the Smartboard Interactive Whiteboard announced that their software “SMART Learning Suite” which includes the only program teachers probably ever used “Smart Notebook” can no longer be sold or used with other displays. While this probably isn’t going to affect that many Irish primary school teachers since we’ve moved way beyond Interactive Whiteboard software, … Read more
Ok, so it’s not going to be free, but Promethean’s new software, to be released in March can be summed up in one word – sexy. Daryl, their software guy, allowed me to have a sneak preview at it at IPPN and there are some excellent improvements. The other great news is that if you own a different IWB, you can download the software restriction-free for €99. For a piece of software that was up until now worth (in my estimation) about €400-500, this is a bargain. 
An interactive whiteboard can cost you and your school a lot of money. The most expensive one I can find costs nearly €6,000. The marketing people say it’s the cream of the crop – adjustable height, short-throw projector, excellent after-sales service, free training, etc. etc. However, when you can buy an Interactive Whiteboard for less than €2,500 that does everything anyone would want an Interactive Whiteboard to do, is the extra €3,500 worth it? I don’t think so. And…furthermore, is the sub €2,500 Interactive Whiteboard any worse than the €6,000? In a word, no. So, here’s what you need for an excellent Interactive Whiteboard.