Authors: Jerry Yamashita, Shawni Tanner, Alisa Kadenic
Interactive whiteboards, also known as smart boards, are large format digital devices designed to replace the traditional whiteboard. Starting in the business world, interactive whiteboards have now become a common tool in educational settings. Below are some examples of interactive whiteboards as well as some software alternatives.
Promethean is one of the earliest interactive whiteboard companies now offering the industry leading ActivPanel. The newest version, Titanium, offers large, bright LED screens (75" +), multiple touch points, and powerful app integration.
Gynzy is a web based interactive whiteboard software system with a huge arsenal of useful classroom tools, such as timer, calculator, chart maker, task planner, clock, protractor, scoreboard, dice, timetable, curtain, spotlight, graphic organizers, etc. Gynzy allows for YouTube videos, photos and PDFs to be embedded into lessons that teachers create. It is user friendly and simple to use.
ExplainEverything is an interactive online whiteboard app for in-class and remote teaching. Teachers and students can create, share and collaborate on presentations, lessons, tutorials, etc. ExplainEverything They can add drawings, images, videos, and documents, and annotate and record everything. ExplainEverything promotes student collaboration in an interactive environment.
Educreations is a virtual interactive whiteboard and screencasting tool that allows teachers and students to design more enhanced and engaging presentations and share them with each other, along with recorded audio. Users can add images and text, and can write on top of anything inserted into the slides.
Jamboard is an app by Google that can be used for free on any device. The whiteboards that are created are similar to slides and allow you to add images, comments, sticky notes, and text. Like other Google apps, the slides can be shared with others and allow for collaboration.
Awwapp is an web tool that allows individuals to draw, collaborate and share easily. It also allows people to upload PowerPoint slides to share with others. This tool allows individuals to join and share in real time. The price for Awwapp varies based on type of organization and number of users, although there is a free trial for 30 days.
OneNote is familiar to many individuals as a note taking application, but it can also be used as a digital whiteboard. OneNote integrates with other Microsoft 365 products and also has math symbols and options. As with other Microsoft products, it is not free but can be added to other subscriptions and has a wide variety of training resources.