SmartBoard or Promethean
Does anyone have experience with both Promethean and SmartBoard to compare the two? Our school has dipped a toe in the water and is wanting to go much deeper, therefore we're looking for further information. Is there a preference for younger and older primary children?
I've heard there have been problems with SmartBoard. Any comments?
The fact that Smart notebook software can be freely used by anyone is an important factor for teachers preparing lessons at home.
7th April 2009.
I should add that Promethean now have released Inspire that can be freely loaded to ANY computer and can be used with ANY interactive whiteboard and can read several (all?) other IWB brand files, which at least puts them at level-pegging in terms of access to the software.
I've heard there have been problems with SmartBoard. Any comments?
The fact that Smart notebook software can be freely used by anyone is an important factor for teachers preparing lessons at home.
7th April 2009.
I should add that Promethean now have released Inspire that can be freely loaded to ANY computer and can be used with ANY interactive whiteboard and can read several (all?) other IWB brand files, which at least puts them at level-pegging in terms of access to the software.
Tags: iboards, iwb, promethean, smart
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Fran on -
SMART has been helpful and did follow-up on our questions. I have not used Promethean as much because we have local support.
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Permalink Reply by Julie Baird on -
I have Smartboard and a PC at school but a Mac at home. I do a lot of my lesson planning at home and the Flash programs on the Mac make my processors run so hot that all my fans kick in and the inner temp runs too high for my liking. When that happens I close Notebook go do something else and then come back and continue designing lessons. It's not the solution I prefer but if I'm going to add the flash at home, it's what I need to do.
The one positive about the 2 operating systems is that what I create on the Mac looks identical on the PC.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Klein on -
Sharon,
This is the case with the Mac Notebook Software currently. We look to have this resolved (as in fixed, not a work-around) in the Spring update. One thing to note, the Lesson Activity Toolkit does not download on the Mac by default. The reason for this is because of the known flash issues. By going to the download page it lists the system requirements and the known issues as well.
chris
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Permalink Reply by C. Hutcheson on
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Oh, an additional note about our postitive experience with Smart! Since we now have a SmartBoard in every classroom in our elementary school I contacted Smart and told them we were "ready for the next step", whatever that might be!
They sent us an Air Slate and a classroom set of 30 "clickers" (responders) to try out for several weeks, no strings attached. I passed them around to all our teachers and they had the opportunity to actually use them with their students! This enabled them to make informed decisions about where to go next with technology for their classrooms. We had a blast trying these things out, and the teachers were thrilled to be able to experience the technology and choose for themselves, rather than just have it introduced.
Great discussion and I appreciate all the info!
Happy Tuesday!
Clair
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Permalink Reply by Leigh Newton on -
You are certainly enjoying yourself. Promethean have the equivalent product I understand and provision is built into their new Inspire software. Is that the same with recent Notebook software?
Thanks for your contribution to this conversation.
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Permalink Reply by Danny Nicholson on -
Yes Leigh, the Smart Senteo software which runs their clickers integrates into Smart Notebook.
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Permalink Reply by Robin Fairfield on -
I have to agree with Christopher. I have been using Smart for 2 years now. I have Smart on my Mac at home and use it on a PC at school. I have no trouble going back and forth.
Robin
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We've been using Smart at our school for 4 years and love it. As an ed. tech. for our school district I am especially pleased with their support. On two separate occassions I've contacted them about board issues. Their tech walked me through the "tests" and I sent him the results. Based on that, Smart immediately sent me replacement parts, which were a snap to swap~ no issues at all.
I'm sorry to hear someone else up this chain felt they had a long wait~ in my four years of using Smart technology, that has definitely not been the case!
Clair
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Permalink Reply by Dana Cherrie on -
I love the fact that I can call Promethean's tech support and they walk me through any concerns at the time or I can email our Promethean rep and she will have the problem fixed within the week, at the latest (and they are located a ways a way from our school district). All upgrades have been free and any functionality of boards are dealt with immediately. Our rep just replaced a board for us because it was "lagging" and we knew that if it wasn't working perfectly the teacher wouldn't use it. We had a new one installed within a week! The rep said that was the first board she'd had to replace in 9 years! That means a lot to our district when you get support when needed and they have tlc's available to come to the district after the purchases have been made to help you set up professional development to get the most for your investment as possible. I would never go with another product when Promethean is meeting all of our teaching and student needs. Mac versions can be created at home and then interchanged on windows machines and edited - it all blends together nicely.
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Permalink Reply by Keith Elgart on -
Remember, SMART and Promethean are both global companies - which means calling their helpdesk is a global 'cue' you are calling into. They key in the decision on IWB purchases should always include a keen look at the local group that is selling and supporting the product. If they are just 'dropping the box' and telling you that you can just call the manufacturer directly for support - then that is not a level of support that a school needs on a daily basis...
Your school should be calling directly to the organization that sold them to you for assistance in technical support.
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Permalink Reply by Keith Elgart on
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Remember, SMART and Promethean are both global companies - which means calling their helpdesk is a global 'cue' you are calling into. They key in the decision on IWB purchases should always include a keen look at the local group that is selling and supporting the product. If they are just 'dropping the box' and telling you that you can just call the manufacturer directly for support - then that is not a level of support that a school needs on a daily basis...
Evaluate the products but also evaluate the local team you'll have - not only the local team from the manufacturer, but also the group that sells it...
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Permalink Reply by Leigh Newton on
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Thanks everyone for the continuing conversation. Chris it's good to have you in the conversation and good to know that a better Mac version of SMART will be out soon.
I've been offline for several weeks with changing apartments and internet hassles so it's good to be back.
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