Interactive whiteboards offer many obvious benefits but can hardly be classified as cheap, which is not the best news for schools struggling with ballooning budgets. Installing interactive whiteboards school wide can be a large and tricky project - particularly if it is the school’s first foray into interactive learning.

Enter eBeam. Meant as a half way house between the plain marker board and the bank breaking full interactivity of high tech whiteboards, eBeam is a compact, portable, and easy to use device that turns the average wall or board into an interactive whiteboard.

The eBeam system’s most important component is a corner shaped receiver that can capture writing, note taking and drawings on a 8 ft by 4 ft area. The receiver is complemented by a number of eBeam marker sleeves that house standard coloured whiteboard pens. The movement of the sleeves is tracked by the receiver at the corner of the whiteboard, and the text and drawings on the board are automatically picked up in electronic format by the receiver, and transmitted to a nearby laptop or desktop wirelessly.Not only is each pen stroke recorded, the eBeam gear can also record accompanying sound so that verbal presentations also become a matter of record.

The entire system of receiver and sleeves weighs around half a kilo and can be set up and calibrated by within minutes. This offers mobility that normal interactive whiteboards would be hard pressed to achieve. The marker sleeves that house standard whiteboard markers offer a left and right click button along with one button for accessing on screen tools. eBeam captures straight to html format without additional software, and also supports other popular formats. It offers the Scrapbook software as accompaniment to the eBeam receiver and transmitter devices, which functions as a handy area to build lessons, record brainstorms and share documents. Scrapbook offers online sharing functionality, which allows for imported files as well as eBeam generated content to be shared.

eBeam also:

• Works on ordinary dry-boards, designed for whiteboard capturing
• Works with both Mac and PC platforms,Uses standard dryerase markers
• Works with the whiteboard you already own, Share WB contents with remote students
• Save files in many popular formats
• Replays WB notes stroke by stroke

All in all, eBeam is an inventive access route to interactivity. Though purists may argue that adding a layer of interactivity over a static environment will not be as effective as building interactive didactic environments from the inside out, the eBeam receiver and accompanying software is a perfectly, functional, adaptable and mobile foray into the world of interactive whiteboarding. eBeam interactive technologies are distributed by Advanced Team in the UAE.

LEGAMASTER GOES INTERACTIVE WITH E-BEAM

Legamaster, also known as Lega International B.V. has for years been designing and manufacturing a range of visual communication projects under the brand name Legamaster. The company has been making flipcharts and white marker boards for the last half century, starting out when the first computers were clunkily whirring to life and the concept of interactivity through the clever combination of different media was decades away.

Now, Legamaster are using their experience as purveyors of well crafted visual communication tools to launch interactive whiteboards in the milieu of modern education.

Combing e-Beam technology from Lucidia with high quality whiteboard surfaces guaranteed to last up to 25 Legamaster have created an array of interactive whiteboards that are made of resilient surfaces highly conducive to projection. Matte surfaces avoid glare and hotspot generation, while smooth mechanisms ensure height adjustability and ergonomical comfort.

“Our philosophy was to implement the interactive products into our existing range of quality visual communication products. Our interactive product range is an evolution rather than a revolution, and we still hold true to the quality ethos that marks conventional Legamaster products. We currently have a wide assortment of interactive presentation equipment in the market, based on organic modifications to conventional designs,” notes Wim Kuijper, International Product Manager at Legamaster.

Kuijper is confident that the company’s focus on high quality will ensure success in Middle Eatern markets. He notes that the company has increased its turnover up to 85 percent in the last three years.“A key motif is to test all new products intensively and deliver high quality products.We’re not in the market to offer cost leadership, but to offer high end quality and service. We could produce cheaper boards, but customer satisfaction will drop if we compromise. Most people forget how important it is to have good equipment to work with, till they actually have a bad experience during an important presentation.”