The IWB’s Only as Good as the Projector…

As we announced this week to staff, our grant funding has been approved, and thus our plan to install 8 Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) into classrooms can go ahead. This is just the beginning of our plan to introduce IWBs into classrooms across the school.

So now my classroom desk is littered with papers as I sort through all the purchasing that’s required. We know we want Activboards, and we know who can install them for us. So at present, our focus is on the most “unknown” element at present – the projector that will shine on the actual IWB.

Sounds easy, right? Find a good projector at a good price? Perhaps, but it gets more challenging the more you think about it. The projector is a crucial piece in the puzzle. Get it wrong, and it can impact on the whole setup, which at several thousand dollars a room, is something we want to avoid. So what are we looking for when choosing a data projector to work with our IWBs?

Lumens. It’s got to be bright, hasn’t it? We’re looking to find a projector with a standard minimum of about 2000 ANSI lumens.

Resolution. Higher resolution means sharper images that can be seen more easily from the back of a classroom. Considering what you can get for your money nowadays, XGA resolution has to be on the list.

Noise. Thanks to Daryl (our maintenance man) for this advice. No teacher wants to have to yell over the top of the equipment. We’re checking the specifications of each projector for their fan noise output in decibels. Only a couple in our price range so far have fallen under 30dB.

Replacement Lamp Price. This is an essential criteria. Lamp prices vary greatly from brand to brand and from supplier to supplier. What’s more, at several hundred dollars each, they’re an expensive ongoing cost. Some reasonably priced brands have very expensive lamps.

Projector Price. Of course, the projector finally has to be good value for money. There are lots of suppliers out there, and the Internet gives a guide to what prices should be like. However, when ordering 9 projectors at once like we are, there’s a little more room to negotiate and score ourselves a cheaper price. Let’s just hope all the suppliers I’ve emailed in the last couple of days come to the party.

Anyway, that’s where we’re up to at present with our IWB rollout – negotiating a projector deal. We’ll keep blogging to keep you informed with our progress.

By the way, our picture for this article was sourced from morguefile.com, a free image archive. It could be useful in teaching and learning, especially as we want to encourage children to respect an author’s copyright and discourage plagiarism.