Casandra Rochelo

Project 1
Product Comparison
Smartboards
10-24-22
 The Trailblazer Tutor Center would like to purchase an interactive smartboard. The goals
of this purchase are to allow students, both peer tutors and tutees, to use practice and
familiarize themselves with the current technology tools they will be using in the workforce.
The second goal for this purchase is to expand access to serve more students through group
and online remote tutoring sessions. The purchase of a smartboard for the tutoring center will
meet the needs of our students and increase the appeal of using tutoring while aligning our
program operations with the goals and values of normalizing and encouraging students to use
academic support.

Purchasing a smartboard that allows collaboration with a remote audience will allow
students not on campus to benefit from academic support for various reasons. This tool will
help provide academic support to specific populations that we know often do not use this
practical success support, such as commuter students, students who attend classes in off-
campus locations, athletes who may be traveling, and students who work in the evening hours
and are not physically on campus. It will also add value to the position of a peer tutor who will
be trained in using the smartboards and will help with recruitment efforts.

Purchasing a free-standing smartboard that will be mounted on the wall with a display
of 65" is ideal for our current location and standard for most spaces on campus if the center
were to be relocated. Having a smartboard that can operate without a projector would be
preferred for this group of users. Since students will be using this primarily among themselves
with multiple users over multiple years, a stand-alone smartboard is recommended for this
purchase. Other critical technical factors for the smartboard are convenience buttons on the
board itself, audio included, Wi-Fi capabilities, a variety of device connective ports, and the
ability for multiple users on the touchscreen at once and share several screens at once. The
screen must be shatterproof and durable as this will be in a student space. It must be
compatible with MAC and Windows users as students bring their own devices to tutoring
sessions.

Academic Support staff would coordinate with the facilities department for the
installation process. Shipping could take twelve weeks. We want to purchase the smart board in
May to be sure it is here for the start of the Fall 2023 semester. Academic Support staff would
coordinate with facilities via school dude requests for the hanging and installing of the smart
board in August. The IT department has verified that the current location of the tutoring center
could support the functionality of a whiteboard with the current wireless network and the
hard-wired connections to the room. The technology department will be needed briefly during
the installation process. Technology Support Staff will be available to train the academic
support staff in using the whiteboard to its full potential and have offered to attend two pieces
of training with a Peer Tutor, one each semester, to provide training on the smartboard to them
as well.

When comparing the features of three different vendors, some of the key features we
looked at before examining the cost analysis were durability, compatibility, and ease of use.

We want a whiteboard that can be large enough to fit the room and accommodate group
sessions for classes from a range of diverse curriculums and needs, such as STEM courses and
Intro to Drawing to Statistics courses. The device itself needs to be shatterproof and preferably
have an antimicrobial covering as this will be in a high trafficked space. It would be ideal for the
device to have 40 touchpoints for more accessible user capabilities and be compatible with
various tools and brush strokes. The smartboard needs to be able to have storage and access to
third-party programs. Students bring a variety of devices, including Chromebook and
MacBooks, and some students work primarily from their phones. To accommodate and make
this tool available to all students, we looked to be sure the whiteboard we selected could
support both Windows and IOS operating systems.

Initially, we looked at projectors with separate smartboards. However, we moved to just

comparing three brands that offer an interactive smartboard that can be used for presenting
and collaborating a multiuser real-time interactive collaborative tool Purchasing and installing
and implementing a projector as well as an interactive board is another step for students and
additional costs. The boards alone could meet the Tutor Program's needs and enhance the
student's skills.
 We compared three brands of smartboards. The first was the SMART technology 6000s
series, Samsung Interactive Pro, and the Vibe Smartboard. The SMART tech brand offered many
features we were looking for in a smartboard; some features were an additional cost but did
offer the ability to meet our needs. This device met all the minimum software, display, and
hardware aspects. An additional bonus feature included is the NFC chip; if the tutoring
program were to move to accrue a cost for the service, this would be beneficial to have already
built in. The security and network configuration currently in place would suffice the operational
needs of this device, and students would be able to access cloud storage such as One-Drive and
Google Drive easily. The audio features are built into the device and allow for online
collaboration.

The SMART technology vendor also included two pens and magnetic holders that would
be convenient for the primary user group of this device. The second vendor we compared was
the Samsung Interactive Pro model. This option met all our capability requirements and scored
higher in durability and ease of cleaning and maintenance. The storage and memory were
sufficient for the student's needs and allows access to cloud storage. One reason this option
scored higher in the comparison was the ability to share six or more screens on the smartboard
simultaneously, and it offered convenience buttons on the front of the display. We want this
technology tool to be easy for students and convenient for extending their learning to mimic a
classroom environment, and these features do allow for that. This option also scored the
highest points in the cost analysis as they offered the lowest price. These features did not come
with the tools to use on the whiteboard and would be an additional purchase. This vendor
scored higher in durability and equal in capabilities.

The third vendor we looked at was the Vibe Smart Board. This one was physically
different as it was not mounted on the wall. The tutoring center's current space is a slight
inconvenience but not a problem to use. The Vibe Smartboard offered adequate storage and
compatibility but scored lower on the durability and display features. The Vibe has a reliable
processor and significantly more storage than the SMART board. They both offer screen casting,
video conferencing capabilities, and access to cloud storage, as did the Samsung model. For the
goals of this purchase, having access to cloud storage would suffice instead of needing more
device storage.

Based on the product comparison of these three smartboards and the goals and
objectives to meet the needs of the users and the purpose of this purchase, I would
recommend the Samsung smartboard. This device is durable for high-traffic and student-
friendly users. It has adequate display size, memory, and storage. There are several options for
connecting different devices, including wireless which is essential for the diverse groups that
use the tutoring center. Another reason I would recommend this purchase is the ability for
cloud storage and personalization, along with convenience buttons and the variety of tools
included. These features and capabilities would serve students studying diverse materials from
STEM to ART majors. Students can also easily access third-party applications if they need to.

Purchasing a smartboard for the tutoring center would be an excellent investment for
the students and add value to the program. Students not on campus can access tutoring
through video conferences and collaborate with their peer tutors to study for their courses.
This also would add value to the peer tutor position as they would be offered the added skills
and practice of learning from and with newer technologies they will probably be using in the
workforce.