Interactive whiteboards (or smartboards as they are often called after SMART Technologies, the company with the largest market share among whiteboard manufacturers) have become the holy grail of classroom instructional technology. There’s good reason for this. If you’ve ever seen one used by a well-trained instructor, you know how transformative and engaging the devices can be.
When used well in class, smartboards tend to keep students interested long after the novelty should have worn off and provides teachers with a vital tool for reaching increasingly visual learners (regardless of age - interactive whiteboards work well from Kindergarten through graduate school). All that being said, smartboards can be prohibitively expensive, difficult or impossible to share and move between classrooms, and challenging to deploy in space-constrained locations (you know, like most schools).
Enter interactive projectors. I’ve had some time to evaluate 2 models from Dell and InFocus and, while neither is a perfect replacement for interactive whiteboards located in spacious, airy rooms with spotless WiFi and SMART Slates for everyone, both are far more realistic for deployments of any size.
Both the Dell S300wi and the InFocus IN3916 share similar form factors (these aren’t ultraportables, by any means, but aren’t circa 2003 beasts either), use short-throw lenses (more on that later), come with e-learning software, have loads of connectivity options, provide widescreen viewing at 1280×800, and offer innovative ways of interacting with computers and screens. Here’s a quick video from Dell on how the interactive projectors work:
As you can see, the projectors are ideally ceiling mounted to ensure that the presenter doesn’t get in the way of the image. However, the ability to stand back from the screen (both projectors support this), as well as the very short throw required to get a large image allows for quite a bit of flexibility. It wouldn’t be a problem, for example, to put the projector on a cart and move it between classrooms as needed.
That is, in fact, one of the greatest advantages of these projectors. Both work very well projected on just about anything. In my testing, I used everything from a standard pull-down screen to a dark-paneled wall. Because the projectors are quite bright and technically don’t require users to touch the screen with the pen, it really doesn’t matter. My favorite “screen”, however, was a large, white drywalled wall. A very large image was available from both and the pen (or light wand, as these devices are technically called, since they rely on light sensors for interactivity) remained quite usable.
The InFocus spec sheet also reads much like Dell’s:
- Connect your collaboration and classroom tools
- Easily connect your PC or Mac, DVD player, or document reader via a multitude of inputs. The IN3916 even lets you present from a USB thumb drive, and includes HDMI, networking (LAN), and RS232 inputs.
- Display over USB port sends audio and video in one cable
- IT administrators can control the projector remotely via the LAN port
- Connect wirelessly with the optional 802.11 b/g wireless module
- Control the display of multiple PCs
- A presenter or teacher can connect up to 32 computers to one IN3916 projector (via a network or optional wireless connection) and control who presents from one web page.
- Connect up to 32 computers and select the one(s) you want to project
- Display up to 4 computer screens simultaneously
- No special software is required, but we include some that makes interacting easy and fun
- Education version includes drawing, math, geography, literacy, and curriculum-building tools
- Works on top of your web browser and other favorite applications
- PC and Mac compatible
So both are great, both work very well in a variety of situations, both have remarkably similar specs, and both live up to the claims of their respective manufacturers. They’re even quite close on price (around $1500). What differentiates one from another? And is there a clear “winner” between the two?
