I have never been a fan of IWBs, mainly because most schools installed them as a marketing tool ("to keep up with the Joneses"), and few schools put the requisite training in place to make the most of the investment. I acknowledge that in trained hands they are a really useful educational tool, but most are just expensive mice. But that's not why we're getting rid of them.
IWBs regularly need re-calibrating and they are ridiculously expensive to run and maintain. Teachers forget to turn off the projectors at night or to report that the filter needs changing with the consequence that the bulbs don't last long - and at £150+ a pop - they are very expensive indeed. Here at Berkhamsted we are set to spend over £40k this academic year on consumables and repairs to our projector stock (£37,290 in 2010-11; £39,105 in 2011-12 and £39,795 so far this year); and these costs do not include hardware replacement - and most of our projector estate is now over five years' old.
So we have made the decision to get rid of them all this Summer. Instead we are installing the Epson EB-485WiE, which is quite a remarkable bit of kit as the demonstration video below shows:
The EB-485WiE provides all of the functionality of an IWB but without the need for a special screen. They can project onto any flat surface (wall, whiteboard, table top).
The disadvantages:
- You can't 'drive' with your finger and have to use a pen,
- They are not easy to wall mount at a height for young children to work on, because any adult would be likely to hit their head on the projector - so they are probably not so well suited wall-mounted to the KS1/ KS2 environment.
- You can only save interactive drawings at PDF/JPEG through Epson tools which means you can't edit at a later date.
- They can be WIFI and so can be driven by an iPad
- They are networked so they can report back to the ICT Support team any problems or if the filter needs changing.
- They don't need recalibrating.
- There is pin-point accuracy and edge to edge interactivity with no lag time when drawing.
- It is still possible to use the Smart Software, so teachers don't need to start again from scratch.
- The image is larger than a usual IWB - it can be up to 100 inches.
- You can use two pens so two people can drive simultaneously.
- They can be used on a tabletop - great for KS1/KS2.
- The replacement bulbs are significantly cheaper (just under £50 with double the lamp hours - the old replacement bulbs range between £120 and £250).
The Project Specification:
- EB-485WiE Projectors
- New (non-interactive) White Boards (P3 rated Semi-Matt Vitreous Enamel)
- Speakers
- Control box
- All Cabling
- Wireless Plug in
- Apple TV
- Installation
- Smart Software Licence
- Spare Pen Sets
- The unit cost of the projector is £1,040 based on our quantity (just over 100 units).
- We are going to lease the Epson Projectors over five years. The total project cost is going to be between £50k and £55k, a relatively small increase on our ever escalating costs of maintaining the old stock.
- We have added the warranty for bulbs (at about £7.00 per unit based on our quantity), so there should be no replacement bulb costs.
- The pens have batteries, so there are some consumable costs there. (We are hoping that one set of batteries should last the whole academic year.)
(I am grateful to Berkhamsted's Director of ICT, Dave Pacey, who has headed up this project. For the record, I have no association with Epson - I just think that they have come up with a great bit of kit - Well done!)
Updated article Sunday 28/04/13 Updates in Blue
Updated article Sunday 28/04/13 Updates in Blue
