Interactive Slate Vs. Interactive Whiteboard

The chalkboard gave way to the whiteboard, but now the whiteboard has become interactive.

It's been a long time since students have had to clap erasers together outside to clean them. Whiteboards have eliminated the need for messy chalk. But the twenty-first century whiteboard doesn't use a dry-erase marker. The interactive whiteboard can do things that no plain chalkboard or whiteboard could ever do. It essentially converts the whiteboard into a huge touchscreen computer monitor. Their portable cousins, interactive slates, also known as wireless slates, have most of the same capabilities.

Interactive Whiteboard

Interactive whiteboards connect to LCD projectors to display images and text.

Interactive whiteboards are revolutionizing the way that teachers and students can interact, both with each other and with instructional content. Teachers can utilize a host of pre-made, interactive lessons or create their own activities. One of the great advantages that interactive whiteboards have over traditional whiteboards is the ability to manipulate shapes and text. Words and images can be easily created, modified, repositioned and deleted, all while being projected onto a full-sized whiteboard.

Interactive Slate

Interactive slates offer all the functionality of interactive whiteboards, but they are also portable. Instead of the teacher having students work at the whiteboard, students can work on the small interactive slate from their desks. As with the interactive whiteboard, students can perform text and image manipulations with an interactive slate. But the slate does not display the images that are being projected to the whiteboard.

Big Picture

The drawback of interactive whiteboards is that students have to be at the whiteboard to use its features. A big advantage of interactive whiteboards over slates is that students can see what they are manipulating or creating right at the whiteboard, where they are working. Most interactive slates do not have a display, so students write on the slate but look at the board to see what they are writing.

Mobility

An interactive slate isn't much larger than a clipboard.

Many interactive whiteboards are portable. The eBeam is a solution that can connect to any whiteboard to make it an interactive surface. Other whiteboards are on rolling stands. But the true advantage in mobility goes to the interactive slate, which is only slightly bigger than a clipboard. Students can work from their desk and have that work be projected onto any whiteboard.

Solutions

Among interactive whiteboards, the SMART Board is the leader. Many interactive whiteboards require the user to use special pens, but the SMART Board is touch sensitive. A pen or marker is not even needed. The Interwrite Pad is a leader in interactive slate technology. It connects via Bluetooth and can be used as an interactive whiteboard or a wireless computer input device

References

• einstruction: Products
• Smart Technologies: Education Solutions
• Luidia: Interactive Whiteboard

Resources

• Educational Technology Center: Interactive Whiteboard Links