Promethean are a company that have been synonymous with the Irish education scene since the advent of the Interactive Whiteboard in the mid-2000s. Promethean’s ‘ActiveInpire’ is a product that has been a staple for many Irish teachers since that time. As technology has advanced, Promethean have moved away from the traditional ‘whiteboard and projector’ model to new interactive flatscreens. In this blog post, I will review a Promethean ActivPanel and explain its benefits.
The Promethean ActivPanel can be purchased from select retailers around the country in either 65”, 70”, 75” or 86”. The in-built Promethean AppStore allows you to download a series of apps, including Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. This functionality, as well as the in-built Chromium browser, means that there really is no need for a laptop or computer in your teaching.
My Top ActivPanel Tools
- ‘Capture’ – The capture feature allows you to take a screenshot of a select website or eBook and project it onto the Promethean whiteboard. All tools within the whiteboard can then be used to annotate and demonstrate various things. This is an excellent tool to help those who are ‘visual learners’.
- ‘Spinner’ & ‘Timer’ – The in-built spinner tool allows you to randomly select pupils for tasks. In addition, the countdown timer is also a useful tool for keeping children on task.
- ‘Backgrounds’ – The ability to change background colour and style can assist struggling learners. A yellow background can often help those with literacy difficulties. In addition, being able to change to maths paper or lined pages helps to illustrate certain points and concepts.
- ‘Continuous Board’ – The idea of the continuous board means that you can have your day’s activities ready to go and really helps the ‘flow’ of the day.
- ‘Screen Share’ – Being able to screen share using the ‘My Promethean’ app allows you to screen mirror from a phone or tablet. The Chrome extension can also be installed to allow pupils to present from their Chromebook directly to the interactive panel.
- ‘Split Screen’ – This allows groups of students to work collaboratively on one half of the screen. Each half is divided and has their own set of whiteboard tools. The ActivPanel can support up to 20 simultaneous touch points.
