Key Questions:
Are ‘interactive flat screens’ a more fit for purpose technology than ‘projectors’ for presenting in classrooms?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?
Are projectors still the better purchasing option for schools?
Learning Context
Over the past ten years, digital projectors used on their own or used with interactive whiteboards (IWBs) have been extensively used as ‘the large screen’ in classrooms, for presenting and to bring more interactivity and engagement into teaching and learning. Over that time projector technology has evolved from portable or long throw projectors to short throw, and more recently ‘ultra-short throw’ and ‘ultra-short throw interactive’ projectors. The shorter throw projectors are more fit-for-purpose than the longer throw, however despite these improvements, projectors still have a number of issues which cause problems and frustration to schools.
Projector problems experienced by schools include:
Projector image brightness fading over time, leading to difficulty clearly viewing screen content
Projector lamp unit failures Inability of new spare lamp units to fully recapture the original brightness of new projectors
The cost and inconvenience of replacing faulty lamp units in projectors
The warranty provided on replacement lamp units is typically just for 3 months, which is too short
Some relevant questions include:
Can these problems be overcome?
If not are there more ‘fit for purpose’ technologies available as alternatives to projectors?
Some ‘Projection’ target objectives in the classroom might be:
To facilitate a better learning environment in classrooms
To transform the learning environment to improve learning experiences and outcomes
To facilitate more effective engagement and interactivity with students
To provide better quality images on the large screen
To facilitate high levels of natural external light in classrooms, where possible.
To avoid having to close window blinds or dim classroom lights to improve image quality
To use technologies that consume lower level of energy
The more recent technology that is challenging Projectors is Interactive Flat Screens (IFS). This is the same type technology that is used in flat screen TVs. Interactive flat screen technology has the potential to achieve the ‘objectives’ stated above, however the initial purchase cost is generally higher than the cost of a digital projector. The following table (Table 1) provides a summary comparison between Projectors and Interactive Flat Screens.
Many of us are aware of this technology on the newer larger flat screen high definition (HD) TVs. While interactive touch-screen capability may not be important for TVs, it is still important in (mainly Primary) classrooms where IWBs are mostly used, and more especially for younger pupils who enjoy interacting using ‘touch’ in classrooms.
Though interactive flat screens are more expensive to purchase (ie., initial purchase price) than projectors, Table 1 shows that interactive flat screens have a number of advantages for teaching and learning in classrooms in comparison to digital projectors and interactive whiteboards. They have better image quality in terms of image resolution, giving a clearer and brighter image, and they can maintain this higher quality image over a longer number of years.
When taken over a number of years rather than based on initial purchase price, the ‘total cost of ownership’ of interactive flat screens may be quite competitive with projectors. This is because Interactive flat panel screens use a very different technology to digital projectors. They do not require replacement lamp units, and produce a higher quality image over a longer number of years than digital projectors or projector lamp units. The reasons are that although projectors were until quite recently the most appropriate and cost effective equipment for projection in school classrooms, this is no longer the case:
Specifically this is because:
Images projected by all Projectors (regardless of manufacturer) fade significantly after a few years, and continue to degrade
This becomes more of a problem when a classroom is bright (either from natural external light or lights within the classroom) and in these situations it’s more difficult to see a fading projector image, requiring the window blinds to be used to darken the classroom.
A fading image projector’s value in the classroom can becomes compromised as they are unable to project the high quality image that is required
Projectors can suffer from reliability issues, including failing lamp units, and these can be quite expensive to replace.
The image from a new spare lamp unit is generally not of the same quality as the original new projector.
The industry standard warranty on new spare lamp units is generally 3 months, which represents very poor value.
Note Regarding Window Blinds in Classrooms
The problem with projectors in schools is that the image quality fades over time, and schools resort to either closing the blinds or turning the lights off in the classroom to try and more clearly see a fading projected image. In some cases schools resort to purchasing more expensive or heavy window blinds to block out the light, and this is not a recommended or healthy response to the problem of fading projector image quality.
The Interactive smart screens display are of higher quality, brighter, and will not require the type of heavy blinds to shut out the light. As such there is a potential cost saving to be made per classroom on having lower density and more cost effective blinds as a trade-off against the higher initial purchase cost if interactive flat screens.
Size of Interactive Flat screen
There are a number of different sizes of interactive flat screens. Though other sizes may be relevant in some situations, the two sizes that are generally being considered for school classrooms are the 65 inch and 70 inch sizes. (measured diagonally). Screen sizes of 80-84 inches are also available, and in an ideal world would be very attractive, however in practical terms, the cost increases for larger screen sizes, and as such these very large screens are very expensive and outside the budgets of schools.
Deciding on a suitable solution
Before a school makes a decision on a suitable solution, it would be important that the school is confident that the chosen approach is the 'right learning choice' for the school. Seeking advice from a similar type of school that is already successfully using interactive flat screens is an excellent way of getting relevant up to date information and feedback. Providers of interactive flat screens should be able to provide your school with details of other schools which have already purchased the technology, and if circumstances allow it is recommended to visit the school to see first-hand the interactive flat screens being used in the classroom.
Following this evaluation the school should be in a better situation to make a decision. Given that this technology is still evolving and improving, and that costs should reduce somewhat over the next year or two, better value may be available in the future.