Educator Product Review: Our five favourite things about the ActivPanel
Our five favourite things about the Promethean ActivPanel
Global leader for interactive display technology, Promethean, creates interactive displays and teaching software that drive breakthroughs for teachers, students and colleagues. Using more than 20 years of educational experience, Promethean’s award-winning ActivPanel has been designed by teachers for teachers to deliver innovation and ease-of-use. The ActivPanel is purpose-built to make teaching more efficient and enjoyable while enriching student learning experiences. Here are our favourite things about it…
- Ease of use
One of the best things about the ActivPanel is how user-friendly and interactive it is – bringing all the most commonly used digital tools right to teachers’ fingertips while integrating other devices such as laptops and tablets. The intuitive Unified Menu makes access to the most commonly used tools quick and easy, allowing teachers to smoothly navigate and support learning in the moment. One of the most frequently used apps on the ActivPanel Unified Menu is the Instant Whiteboard app which teachers can use to demonstrate exercises to the class, display instructions and encourage interaction and collaboration from students.
Another handy feature is the Source button which allows teachers to immediately establish what is being used to display content – whether it is on their computer, or directly from the ActivPanel. Teachers can select the source they want to use the same way they would do so on a television at home. Teachers can use their fingers or a stylus to write and move things on screen and they can freeze the screen at any time. The ActivPanel can also be updated remotely.
- Student engagement
The award-winning ActivInspire software that is supplied free as standard with the ActivPanel, can be used to create and deliver lessons that are interactive, engaging and geared for breakthrough moments. Teachers can seamlessly leverage and enhance existing content and resources and respond to student insights in real time. Features, such as on screen handwriting in a choice of colours and sizes, can be particularly good for young children. The multi-touch and screen divide functions also mean multiple children can write on screen at the same time either using their finger or a stylus. Teachers can select different paper types, make lines bigger or smaller, and change the background colour. Words can be moved around the screen and made bigger with ease. The ActivPanel also offers a range of useful templates such as mind maps, that can be useful to aid children’s learning.
The Promethean Locker features useful and engaging apps such as the Timer and Spinner. With the Timer function, teachers can display multiple clocks on screen and give them names. The Spinner allows teachers to randomly select students to answer questions or complete other tasks.
- Freedom and flexibility
The days of teachers sitting at desks overseeing a quiet classroom are now a distant memory. The ActivPanel’s multi-device mirroring allows teachers to move freely and teach from anywhere in the classroom, while students have the ability to mirror and share their screens in a device-agnostic classroom environment.
The annotation tool allows teachers to write over and highlight anything on screen either using their finger or stylus, and anything can be simply rubbed away with the palm of their hand. Space is never an issue as teachers can keep dragging the canvas up.
- Timesaving
A great feature that is popular with teachers is the ability to store multiple user profiles on the ActivPanel. Teachers can quickly and easily sign in and access their content, freeing up more time to focus their attention on the needs of their students. If a teacher is away from the ActivPanel because they are working at home, they can use ActivInspire on their laptop to share lessons, saving them time.
Many of the in-class features can save teachers valuable time, such as the ability to capture and crop anything that is on screen, even videos. These ‘screenshots’ can then be moved and placed elsewhere on screen during the lesson.
- Free training and resources
Beyond an initial orientation session there are numerous free resources and certified training for teachers available at Learn Promethean. The learning platform provides a wide range of opportunities for developing EdTech skills with over 20 online courses, more than 200 training videos, and over 130 articles and resources. These can be accessed at any time and completed at a pace that suits each individual teacher.
To find out more about the ActivPanel and its wider features, visit: prometheanworld.com/gb/products/interactive-displays/activpanel
