As each day passes, technology plays a larger role in classrooms across the globe. Over the years, I have seen teachers enhance their technology repertoire, moving from the age of overhead projectors, video cassette recorders, and computers with 5 ¼” floppy drives, to the age of document cameras, DVD players, and computers with DVD burning capabilities. I’ve been intrigued by new technologies and devices that enhance classroom education for sometime, but more recently I’ve become very interested in the technology offered by Promethean.
The Promethean ActivBoard is a 21st century blackboard. Gone are the days of chalk and dry-erase markers; here are the days of ActivPens. Located in Blackburn, United Kingdom, Promethean manufactures an interactive whiteboard that integrates a touch-sensitive surface. Users project their computer onto the ActivBoard and then manipulate the computer using an ActivPen.
The ActivBoard is the foundation for the array of tools available from Promethean. Other support tools include the ActiVote, which allows students to vote from their desks, while poll results are shown instantly on the ActivBoard. Teachers may use the ActivSlate portable tablet, which allows them to write on the ActivBoard through writing on a slate. A teacher can stand in the back of their classroom, and continue writing on the ActivBoard at the front of their room. There are a total of eight tools available to support the ActivBoard, each of which can be viewed on the Promethean website.
The board also comes with the ActivStudio software, which allows the user to create lesson plans, which integrate the use of the ActivBoard.
I have watched teachers use this product with great enthusiasm. In turn, their students are also enthused and engaged in the lesson. Students are unbelievably eager to have their opportunity to write on the “magic board.” We have a math teacher at our high school who was so excited by this technology, that she could not resist purchasing one for her classroom. Through classroom fundraisers, she was able to save enough money to purchase a computer, projector, and ActivBoard. With help from my technology staff, I happily installed this equipment for her, and we were rewarded with her gratefulness and many thanks. I am confident that technology such as this will truly change the way teachers teach and students learn.
This YouTube video is a great demonstration of how the ActivBoard is used in one Baltimore school.
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Ryan, Thank you for your kind comments you left on my blog.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear why you and teachers in your district are so excited about ActivBoards. From my perspective as a teacher for the visually impaired I can see how this type of technology will perhaps someday be built off of to include a hand held unit for visually impaired students to use while sitting at their desk. With such a supplementary device visually impaired could receive and view the same information in an enlarged format.
I just watched an ActivBoard being used on CNN this morning as a reporter used her fingers to drag and enlarge pictures of various events from around the country. This is technology we truly need to incorporate into our classrooms on a daily basis.
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