Cross Platform Interactive Whiteboard

After hearing about the Wii-mote multitouch display from a local college, to being told it’s not that flash, and back again, I finally decided to give it a shot. The videos don’t really do it justice!

Thanks to the team at TEK and pimping me out a primo IR marker (if you want one their the the best value, and simplest solution yet, and you can wrap your man-hands around it - they’re about the size of a standard whiteboard marker, just a bit heavier). TEK also pointed me to Noel Leeming to get my Wii-Mote as it’s the cheapest they’ve found at $NZD90. If anyone knows of a cheaper place, please comment or let the TEK guys know!

I have a little video I used playing with KAMAR over VPN and launching a video clip on my iMac at work, but it’s really best used with a whiteboard and projector.

Cross Platform Interactive Whiteboard

The software which is completely open source is based on a Java library called BlueCove which ties in nicely with the Mac bluetooth backend (we use Mac’s here). I did have a minor hick-up with my bluetooth intially on my laptop, probably due to the fact I’ve probably not shut it down for a month or so

There is a native Mac application (yes it still uses Java), which looks tidy, and make getting up and running a breeze! Did we mention it runs on Linux (another good use for Ubuntu or Edubuntu which will talk to Active Directory at well!).

Whiteboard Software

Now I must confess, as I’m not a teacher, my purposes for it are solely demo and clicking when doing training to staff or clients, so you’ll be better served by the team at TEK who do use the Wii-mote Interactive Whiteboard for teaching.

Budget

Sorry to all the guys that put their time into developing the commercial interactive whiteboards… but I don’t think schools will be rushing to buy them any more. The Wii-mote Interactive Whiteboard is a much more viable solution costing less than $NZD2000 to setup including a projector. While you can run your Wii-mote on batteries, this is bad for the environment, and a pain in the neck. We helped the guys at TEK source some nice power supplies which will let you power them off mains, and have rigged up a ’sync button’ so you only need to push on button on your roof mounted Wii-Mote Interactive Whiteboard - nice one!

Why?

It’s just plain cool, and is very useful! I think for what most schools are using their current interactive whiteboards for, the