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Video

5 Features That Put Interactive Flat Panels in First Place

Interactive flat panels are replacing chalkboards and interactive whiteboards. Here are 5 reasons why they're taking over a college classroom near you.

December 1, 2014 Jessica Kennedy 1 Comment

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Greater visual impact

IFP’s are built to display pictures in ultra-high definition resolution, which creates bold, crisp and clear images for a class project or lesson. The image size is also typically larger than what some interactive whiteboards can display, and are constructed to diminish solar glare on the screen.

Easy accessibility

Whether a professor wants to display charts on a mounted IFP at the front of the class or students need a tabletop IFP to work on a group project, good IFP’s provide flexible accessibility for a classroom’s workspace. Some IFP’s are portable and can be used in conjunction with other devices, such as interactive white boards or projectors.

Collaboration

IFP’s enable four different touch points on their surfaces. This means groups of students can work together on a single IFP for a project, or a professor can lead a hands-on lesson for a group of students. IFP’s also come with pens and digital ink, which can be used on the surface alongside fingertips.

Longevity

IFP’s generally don’t require bulb replacements and other maintenance. They also come equipped with a low-friction coated surface, which means IFP’s can stand use for a long time and are able to last up to 50,000 hours. That means professors and students can get many years out of an IFP before the time comes for a replacement.

Easy to Use

Since IFP’s operate in ways similar to interactive whiteboards, professors don’t have much learning to do to utilize IFP’s. IFP’s support similar functions like touch screen capabilities, digital pens and ink and project saving features.

Since chalkboards and whiteboards are just relics of the days of academic yore, interactive flat panels are paving the way for the future of classroom teaching tools.

Interactive flat panels (IFP’s) giftwrap the major features that college classrooms need in a writing surface under one, low-friction coated screen. From enhanced visual impact and easy accessibility to collaboration-encouraging features, IFP’s are appearing in college classrooms faster than a click of a mouse.

Cecelia Lowe , Vice President of North American Education Solutions for SMART, says that IFP’s are replacing both traditional and interactive whiteboards, and are making the classroom experience better.

“The experience that is happening in the classroom is much improved with flat panels over the interactive white boards and projectors,” she says. “People are moving into more project-space learning and they’re looking into the possibility of bringing other boards into other places within the classroom.”

Aside from enhanced collaboration opportunities, Lowe says IFP’s are easy to use, especially for teachers that are hesitant to move on to a new hardware system.

“Teachers love our technology because they’re familiar with those types of devices in the work place,” she says. “They feel very comfortable going up and navigating. It’s not like they have to learn a whole new piece of hardware.”

Lowe says if colleges are looking into investing in IFP’s, they should measure the physical size and caliber of interactions that take place their classrooms. She also says professors should evaluate where the best location would be to place an IFP in his or her classroom.

“Look at the size of the classroom, think about what sort of interaction you want with this device,” she says. “Are you looking at something in the front of the classroom and moving towards the sides, or are they all at the front of the classroom?”

Finally, Lowe says professors should also have a grasp on the types of collaborations that go on in their classes, and determine what kind of collaboration they’d like to encourage among students.

“How do you leverage collaboration in the classroom?” she says. “When [students] start with our products, whether they’re working on a table or using one of our products…where they can interact and touch, you see amazing things.”

…

Video: A look at how SMART’s interactive flat panels work.

Jessica Kennedy
Jessica Kennedy

Jessica Kennedy is an editor at TechDecisions Media, targeting the higher education market. Jessica joined the TechDecisions team in 2014 and covers technologies that improve teaching and learning.

Tagged With: Display, Higher Ed, Interactive System

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  1. Making the Transition to Interactive Flat Panels - Virtucom says:
    April 18, 2019 at 12:08 pm

    […] are some obvious advantages in terms of setup and visual execution.  IFP’s don’t rely on the assistance of a calibrated […]

    Reply

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