Therefore, I've started to write a simple whiteboarding application in Flash to replace the whiteboarding software provided with branded interactive whiteboard hardware (whiteboard.swf file should be attached to this post). I've found several mentiones of whiteboard software, but all seem to be related to communications-system whiteboarding, which is a different application. So, I had a look at what people are working on in Moodle's discussion boards. It'd be nice if said software could also integrate nicely with VLE systems such as Moodle. The solution to this problem would seem to be to get hold of some interactive whiteboard software that would work on any brand of whiteboard (or with other, cheaper, devices such as wireless pointers). Obviously, this is bad from a school's point of view - we want to be presented with a bunch of whiteboard manufacturers all vying to sell us hardware as cheaply as possible. The idea seems to be that one teacher gets a whiteboard, starts creating lesson resources, other teachers see how nifty interactive whiteboards are, start clamouring for one they can use with the already-created resources, and before you know it you're buying whiteboards for the whole school and you're stuck with one particular brand. The reason for this is obvious - the whiteboard companies, reasonably enough, want to flog as many whiteboards as they can. So this means you can't get "Smart" software and use it on "Promethian" boards, for instance. However, each brand of interactive whiteboard, although otherwise quite generous with the licensing of the software ("Smart" brand software, for instance, is basically free), specifically prohibits the use of their software on any pen-based input device not made by that company. This whiteboard software lets you create lesson resources, with pages of text and images all set up ready for the teacher to click through and add hand-written annotations to as they explain stuff to the pupils. You use a special pen (or, in some models, just touch the board) to draw on the screen.Įach different brand of interactive whiteboard comes with its own drivers (to make the pen act like a standard PC mouse) and "whiteboard software", which is where the problem starts. The idea is that these devices get used by the teacher instead of a standard whiteboard + dry-wipe pens. Like most schools in the country we have a number of "Interactive Whiteboards" - pen-based input devices, about four meters square, attached to a classroom wall and with a computer screen projected onto it (basically, think of an extra-big USB drawing tablet nailed to a wall, with a computer screen projected on it to make it look like a large TV screen). I work as the network manager at a school in Cambridge, England. I've been reading through the various discussion forums trying to find a solution to a particular issue.
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