We're absolutely thrilled to be a partner of Promethean, an industry trailblazer in the realm of educational technology. The company was founded by teachers, for teachers in Blackburn, U.K. in the 1990s. Since then, Promethean has grown, becoming an international innovator of interactive displays and educational software. With a presence in 126 countries, Promethean is headquartered in Seattle.
You might be familiar with Promethean’s interactive display panel, ActivPanel. A recent report announced that Promethean was the global leader in the volume of interactive flat panel displays shipped.
Promethean’s ActivPanel 9 just won both an iF Design Award and a Red Dot Design Award, two of the most coveted design awards. The interactive display panel was created to maximize student engagement while still being easy and intuitive to operate, as well as being capable of integrating with a school’s existing technology. ActivPanel 9 works seamlessly with the most common educational platforms, including Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom. Promethean’s ActivSync technology allows users to connect other devices to the ActivPanel via a single cable, which cuts down on the frustration of scrambling for different cords. A few other key features are screen capture, a proximity sensor and enhanced security, including remote sign-out.
ActivPanel LX, which provides schools with a more affordable interactive display panel, debuted earlier this year. Like the ActivPanel 9, ActivPanel LX is designed to work with a school’s existing technology, which cuts down significantly on training time for teachers and administrators.
The company also develops collaborative teaching software like ActivInspire, created to make learning on the ActivPanel more immersive. ClassFlow, a cloud-based software, helps teachers deliver engaging lessons in remote or hybrid learning environments.
Promethean has also taken a keen interest in harnessing the power of emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence, in order to enhance possibilities in education. With concern about what ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence means to the education system making recent headlines, Promethean partnered up with eschoolnews to deliver a webinar and report on how AI can augment education and improve the lives of teachers. A University of California, Irvine study showed that among educators who used Merlyn Mind, a digital assistant for teachers, for a period of seven weeks, more than half experienced an increase in efficiency. With Merlyn Mind, teachers can use voice commands to perform tasks like opening an app from anywhere in the classroom. Promethean’s software, Symphony Classroom,
Looking for professional development? Promethean provides a number of courses designed to orient educators to Promethean’s technology. The company also offers a two-hour Promethean Certified Teacher course. In July, educators can attend Camp Promethean, a day packed with free, online professional development sessions for educators. Sessions include "Gamify the Promethean Classroom with ActivInspire" and "AR/VR with Promethean." Other seasonal professional development opportunities include Teacher Tailgate in September and STEAM Forward in November.
Like Arey Jones, Promethean is accustomed to working with school districts of varying sizes, needs and budgets. If you’re interested in learning about how Promethean’s solutions might work for your district, reach out to us today.