Flat-Out Performance

Presentation systems that use flat-screen monitors combine the best features of blackboards, whiteboards, the Internet, and high-powered software, as well as those of PCs, monitors, VCRs, DVD players, projectors, and television sets into one highly efficient package. You can hang the monitors on the wall and students will respond positively to the big, bright images they see—even when those images are used for learning purposes. Right now, with prices starting at $3,000 and soaring to more than $10,000, these super systems are too expensive for most schools and libraries. But those steep sticker prices are likely to plummet.

Lisa Dubernard, director of sales and marketing for Promethean, a manufacturer of interactive whiteboard teaching systems, says she expects the cost of plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) flat screens—essential components of the new generation of multipurpose systems—to decrease as more consumers, businesses, and educators purchase them. And Gui Kahl, Gateway's director of digital solutions, estimates that in two to three years, the kind of big-screen plasma monitor that now seems like a distant mirage to most educators will cost hundreds of dollars, instead of thousands.

Three companies are leading the way in creating instructional presentation systems: SMART (in tandem with Gateway), Hitachi, and Promethean. SMART'S 560 Interactive Whiteboard presentation system ($3,719) is easy to use. Simply hook a data projector to your PC and the presentation system will project the monitor's image onto a computerized whiteboard. SMART's 40-inch LCD screen overlay system ($8,974) and the SMART/Gateway PDP system that comes with a 50-inch plasma screen ($11,664) are a bit more sophisticated: both use a touch-sensitive overlay that lets instructors write on the video image, using a set of four programmable pens. The electronic pens are controlled by software palettes that let a user select a color or pattern to underline or highlight words or graphics in a presentation, or even choose paint-style graphics—everything from checkerboards to rows of hearts to jack-o'-lanterns to flowers—to decorate the screen.

Hitachi Software's StarTablet T-18SX system ($2,995), which features a 15-inch LCD monitor, works in a similar way to the SMART LCD system, although the teacher works at a desktop panel instead of a blackboard-like screen, and projects the image on a larger screen. Using a special stylus, a teacher draws on an overlay, and the system instantly transmits the image onto a monitor for the entire class to see.

Kristen Augsburger, a math teacher at Houston County (GA) High School, has used the StarTablet LCD system for the past year to teach "Math for the 21st Century," a geometry course in which ninth graders use wireless computers. After using the presentation system for the past year, Augsburger is sold on it. She uses the flat-screen monitor to instruct students or observe them while they work at computers on a math problem as a group. She occasionally uses the system to run "Math Jeopardy" games for her classes. "My system is used every class period, every day," she says. Her principal, Mike Hall, is quick to mention that there's also a presentation system available in Houston County High School's library, which the librarian and teachers use to collaborate on group projects across the curriculum. Hitachi also has created StarTablet's StarBoard software that is able to save a presentation as a series of still images similar to a PowerPoint presentation. Augsburger and her fellow teachers save important presentations and make them available online for students to study for exams. Hitachi has also just released a P-50X presentation system with a 50-inch plasma monitor ($12,000) that works similarly to the SMART/Gateway system.

U.K.–based Promethean has challenged SMART with its innovative ACTIVboard series of computerized whiteboards ($1,795 with software and two pens). While Promethean markets a flat-screen presentation system in England, primarily for colleges and businesses, it offers other unique products that allow K–12 students to participate with the teacher using its ACTIVboard interactive whiteboard system.

If you're thinking of buying a flat-screen presentation system, now or in the foreseeable future, here are some things you'll want to consider:

Have cart, will travel. While SMART's preliminary research suggests that the more access a teacher has to a presentation system, the more she'll find ways to make use of it, most schools can't afford to buy more than one presentation system. Presentation systems can be purchased with carts that let you move them from room to room. But transporting a large monitor may require a little elbow grease: plasma screens can weigh up to 100 pounds—and that's not including the PC that accompanies it.

Liquid crystal display or plasma? LCD screens, which use a grid of transistors to filter light into colored pixels, are brighter and last longer, but cannot be viewed at very wide angles. LCD monitors are also limited to smaller sizes (right now, a 40-inch LCD screen is very large). On the other hand, plasma screens, which use electrical charges to ignite minuscule quantities of gas in the screen's pixels, can be more than 60 inches and may be viewed from wide angles. But plasma screens have a drawback: they won't last as long as LCD screens. In fact, if they're left on 24/7, an LCD screen will last about five years before its image fades significantly, but a plasma screen will last about half that time without fading.

Graphics and features available? Each company offers different software with its systems. Teachers will be particularly interested in the libraries of available background graphics—such as graphing grids for math and maps of countries, states, and historical empires and battles. Each company also offers the option of saving presentations, which are constantly being upgraded. Make sure you find out how large the file sizes are for saved presentations, and whether animation or video can be saved with still images.