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Five years ago, IQBoard IQTouch Series were not completely ubiquitous across European classrooms. According to Futuresource Consulting reports, in late 2016 interactive displays account for 54% of all new display purchases in education.

The cost of a new IQBoard IQTouch Series will normally fall in the range of $1,000 to $6,500 depending on which model you buy.

IQBoard IQTouch Series is no longer the only well known name in the Interactive Whiteboard market, but if you're dead set on purchasing an IQBoard you've probably noticed it is a huge pain to find the prices. 

Why is it such a pain to find prices? IQBoard sellers want to offer a wide range of accredited technical services, training, and more. They want to sell you on a package/service, not just a product.

IQBoard has recently launched a new entry level interactive touchscreen called the IQTouch Series, to help address tightening budgets in the education sector. So it is affordable interactive display for schools.

Touch Technology

One of the key benefits of interactive touchscreens over the old interactive whiteboards is their more accurate touch function. The latest touch technology allow multiple users to engage at the same time, writing, drawing and using accurately as if on paper.  IQTouch Series uses infra-red touch technology, originally pioneered in 2010.

Inclusion of the powerful IQBoard software

The great news is the IQBoard IQTouch Series includes a licence for IQBoard software. Supported and developed by a global team of education specialists, IQBoard educational platform software brings a wealth of tools, options and experiences to the classroom.

When making decisions to purchase your school’s most important interactive display teaching tools, it’s vital the choice is made with teaching and learning outcomes at the front of mind. This is after all what we’re all here for! Making price affordable is of course often necessary, but these must be carefully considered in the framework of teaching and learning.

In the meantime, click here to see a comparison chart of different IQTouch Series on IQBoard website.

It's important your interactive whiteboard helps students achieve learning goals by promoting critical thinking and keeping students engaged in lessons. Here are some features that will be helpful to know when purchasing an interactive whiteboard not only considering about the prices also other features to think about before buying.

What exactly is an interactive whiteboard ? It’s interesting that quite a lot of people don’t know the answer to this question. Many people think that the projector itself is the Interactive Whiteboard.  The projector is a machine in its own right and its job is to display whatever is on the computer screen on to the whiteboard. Most of the time, the interactivity is built into the whiteboard itself.  For example, IQBoard infrared interactive whiteboard has black and white lamp to send and receive infrared signal to produce interactivity. Some boards have other ways of putting interactivity into the board itself.

To add to the mix, you’ve got the interactivity built inside the projector.  This is becoming very popular now. A full Interactive Whiteboard system has one of these above – and then you need a computer of some sort.  The computer will generally have the software that lets you connect to the board. The projector links the computer to the IWB, displaying whatever is on the computer’s screen. Every Interactive Whiteboard system has these three components and it’s the interactive bit that adds the layer of complexity.

There are different types of IWBs, over 20 different types of Interactive Whiteboards being sold in this country and all of them have been sold successfully all over the world. Pen-based, infrared boards are usually the cheapest boards on the market. Pen-based, electro-magnetic boards are also usually more expensive than the boards just said.  Touch-based, mesh board are also reasonably priced. This type of board allows the user to interact with their finger as well as a pen. Some of them allow you to use dry wipe markers on them too. Touch based infrared board have all the features of the above type board but just use a different technology. These boards are usually cheap and are increasingly becoming very popular.

There are many reasons why people choose one of the above options.  While I prefer types 3 and 4. For me, when buying a board I not only need to be able to interact with my board with a “magic” pen, I also want to be able to use my finger.  I also want to be able to write on my board with dry wipe markers.  I cannot understand why anyone would not want these facilities.  However, more than half the boards on the market do not allow the user to do this.  When you buy your board, think about this.

I hope this article has helped unravel some of the mystery around the types of boards out there.   However, whatever board you choose, make sure you take your time.  Try not to listen to salespeak.  Try not to get drawn into buying the same board as the school down the road.  Try not to simply buy the first one you’ve heard of. Ask the sales-people questions.  Ask them about after sales care, ask them about guarantees, ask them about training, then listen carefully to their answers.  Once you’ve had a good look around ,weigh up your options.  What is important to you?

IQBoard has recently launched a new entry level interactive whiteboard called the IQBoard Aio Series, to help address tightening budgets in the education sector. Although it provides a sound solution for schools, it’s important schools consider the details before making this vital decision.

High Integration Design

One of the key benefits of IQAio Series over the old interactive whiteboards is their high integration design. IQAio Series is highly integrated with IWB, built-in OPS, central control system, audio amplifier system, speaker, wireless mic, etc.. That is to say, one key powered on the IQAio, all the devices including projector, PC, IWB, audio amplifier, speaker and so on will also be powered on.

The IQBoard IQAio Series uses infra-red touch technology, originally pioneered in the industry. The more entry-level interactive whiteboard still tend to use this lower-performance technology due it being lower cost. For many reasons though, infra-red technology has been superseded several times.

The IQAio Series uses the more advanced, accurate infrared technology. And its available sizes are multiple, it even supports 150’’ big screen for big classrooms use. The IQAio 150’’ supports dual board interaction which could greatly improve the activeness between teachers and students in class.

Cost-Effective - when saying the whole devices prices in the classroom

In the traditional classroom, you need to pay for interactive whiteboard, the PC, the speaker, the audio amplifier, the document camera etc. Now for our IQAio series, that you pay for IQAio device means that you have paid the interactive whiteboard, the pc, the speaker, the audio amplifier etc respectively. So, it is a cost-effective solution for schools to purchase devices for the classrooms.

Inclusion of the powerful IQ Interactive Education Platform Software

The great news is the IQAio series includes powerful software. Supported and developed by a global team of education specialists, the latest IQ Learning educational software brings a wealth of tools, options and experiences to the classroom. Click here for more information, including 5 Reasons why schools benefit from using it.

In summary…

When making decisions on the procurement of your school’s most important teaching tool, it’s vital the choice is made with teaching and learning outcomes at the front of mind. This is after all what we’re all here for! Making cost efficiencies is of course often necessary, but these must be carefully considered in the framework of teaching and learning.

Please feel free to contact us for more information. Schools are always welcome to our Customer Experience Centre, where you’re able to experience the IQAio Series yourself.

To find the best interactive touch screen display can be a difficult thing to do. With so many available in the market, it’s up to you to decide which features are important to your school and classrooms. This article will look at some of these options and examine an alternative solution.

It is also important that your chosen whiteboard offers good enough visibility for the whole class to see it properly. Viewing angles and screen brightness are often serious issues in classrooms, as many still rely on projectors and front projection screens to display content. Front projection screens in classrooms can present consistent problems for teachers, primarily causing shadows, calibration issues and that’s not to mention the general care to be taken over projectors which are subjected to heavy use. With this, also comes other considerations, such as classroom lighting levels, projector settings, projector bulb life, screen brightness and viewing angles. These are things that need assessing in depth before purchasing an interactive front projection screen for a classroom.

IQTouch LCD Touch Screen Display offers an alternative solution which counters many of these problems. IQTouch series has a high brightness backlit LED panel, offering great visibility from every angle, even in brightly lit environments such as classrooms.

In recent years, many schools have started to utilise the benefits of the internet by engaging online with international ‘pen pals’, fulfilling elements of the curriculum. IQTouch LCD Touch Panel offers the ultimate solution for this, being equipped with an integrated webcam for simple video conferencing, making entire classroom conferences possible.This may also be beneficial for higher educational facilities such as Universities or Colleges, who may wish to feature video conferencing as part of their seminar structure. 

Permanent PC ‘stations’ are frequently utilised by Primary schools or smaller Secondary schools, with many other educational facilities opting to supply staff with laptops. IQTouch LCD Touch Panel series facilitates both these approaches, offering easy access front connectivity for HDMI and USB. The ‘shared-room’ life of a secondary school teacher or University lecturer is ideally suited to this screen, allowing for fast connectivity to a laptop via an HDMI port.

We have a plug-n-play OPS as an additional extra to our IQTouch LCD Touch Panel series. The picture is as below for reference.

Excellent touch accuracy and response times are highly important, yet rarely prioritised features in a classroom whiteboard. As touch screen technology becomes increasingly used by both children and adults alike, tolerance for poor touch accuracy and speed is decreasing. In many schools, older interactive whiteboards are powered by even older PCs, giving rise to a noxious combination which may see the patience of any teacher or pupil slowly erode over the course of days or months of use. This subject also presents pragmatic problems, where, due to a slow response time or poor calibration, children have intended to click on one thing, but unintentionally clicked on something else entirely. 

Our IQTouch LCD Touch Panel series offer one of the most accurate and responsive touch functions on the market. The feedback given from the teachers using these products stated that our screens are more sensitive and more precise than similar screens from leading brands. Since our Interactive Whiteboard does not require any additional software to operate, in the very rare occasion you may need to, you can always calibrate it through Windows, maximising ease of maintenance. Our screen is even compatible with many of the leading Whiteboard software systems, allowing you to continue using your .notebook or .flipchart files, providing you still have access to the software required to use these files. As well as compatibility, the teacher’s feedback also stated that our screen was more compact than competitor’s screens they had used previously. The feedback given also featured reference to the quality display, a lack of the annoying shadow seen from front projection screens and positive comments about the screen’s ability to serve as a large format TV screen.

Interactive whiteboards have become popular for classroom lectures and group meetings. Interactive whiteboards combine digital technology with traditional whiteboards, enabling the user to project computer images onto a board. 

As the interactive whiteboard is a relatively new device to regular classrooms many educational institutions are skeptical about integrating this device into their system. A potential buyer must check out the pros and cons of interactive whiteboards before actually investing in them as it will help him to weigh out the different advantages and disadvantages of the product.

Pros of Interactive Whiteboards:

Touchscreen: One of the main advantages of interactive whiteboard is the fact that it has a touchscreen and allows users to alter the data in the screen with their fingers. The addition of this feature has made its use much simpler and effective. The touchscreen feature also makes the classes for little kids much more entertaining as they are involved to far greater extent.

Smart Tools: The interactive whiteboard offers various tools to the instructors which makes their job much easier through software. Some of these smart tools are the magnifier, pointer, recording, document camera, spotlight, screen capture etc.

Online Help: The interactive whiteboard allows the users to access the web through the device.The use of interactive whiteboard also enables teachers to play videos from the internet when they need to.

Cons of Interactive Whiteboards:

Price: they can be expensive when trying to integrate them within the entire school, let alone an entire school district.

Writing issue: The biggest disappointment with the digital ink comes from the fact that an interactive whiteboard is a front-mounted projection screen. This means that your data projector is set up in front of the screen (like an overhead projector). Which means that when you stand in between the projector and the screen, you cast a shadow on the screen... right where you are trying to write. Sure, it was cool to interact with programs by touching the screen, but, it was hard to write notes because you were constantly blocking the image.

Teacher Training: When a school or any educational institution invests in a modern device such as the interactive whiteboard it needs to make sure it is used to its full potential. The school needs to invest time and money in training their teachers for using the device properly. The teacher needs to learn to how to use the device, also teachers needs to integrate it into his teaching style. The school needs to consider about this factor before investing an interactive whiteboard for the classrooms.

Conclusion:

The interactive whiteboard is an extremely powerful tool in the field of education. It enhances the experience of the student as well as the teacher by integrating various tools and enabling the instructor with them. Though one cannot deny that the device has its flaws but it definitely pales out in the light of its advantages and disadvantages of using interactive whiteboard.

Futuresource reports that the interactive whiteboard market has grown at a tremendous pace over the last decade. When interactive whiteboards first hit the market they were only popular in a few countries. Namely the United States, UK, and Mexico. Today, Interactive Whiteboards are common globally.

It's a challenge to find interactive whiteboard prices on the web. I tried to Google the price of an interactive whiteboard before we made this purchase and I couldn't find a site with simple, realistic, up-to-date prices. Many websites of interactive whiteboards’ brand forwards you to a sales representative contact form. Blogs and websites seldom mention prices. My social media friends on Twitter and Facebook couldn't give me an answer either. Even school administrators I talked to didn't know exactly what they cost.

Please keep in mind, we're a business and we were charged the corporate price. I have a feeling school prices are much lower because they often buy interactive whiteboards in larger quantities. (The salesman I dealt with seemed less than enthusiastic to answer my e-mails and sell me a board. I think he had bigger and more important clients to deal with in schools.) Of course, prices will also vary depending on the model and options you choose.

Things to know:

1. We were quoted for two different sizes. There are standard and wide-screen versions available. We went for the standard, since that's what most schools in the area seem to have.

There are single-touch and multi-touch. We went for the multi-touch, even though it was about $600 more. I imagine the single-touch ones are probably being phased out;

2. We learned that new interactive whiteboards are sold only through authorized dealers. There is only one dealer in our area, so there wasn't really any way to shop around.

3. There are many brands of interactive whiteboards. I'm sure many are much more expensive than ours and some are probably cheaper than ours.

There are ways to save money, if your budget is tight.

1. If you have already the projectors in your classrooms. I've seen several schools use less-expensive projectors. These are usually mounted on the ceiling. Since we rent our office space, we didn't want to cut holes in the ceiling and lose our security deposit. The attached projector also made wiring easier.

2. The speakers are optional. While you can use computer speakers, you can choose cheaper speakers which could meet your requirements for classrooms use.

3. Could we have installed it ourselves? Probably. However, I was afraid to try because I didn't want to ruin my $5,000 board and void the warranty because I hung it on the wall incorrectly. However, I watched the installers do it and it didn't seem that complicated. So if your staff could install by yourself, then you can save the installation fee. Or, you could find some interactive whiteboard brand which does not need the installation fee at all. For example, IQBoard allows you to install by yourself easily.