Here’s another option for those times that teachers want to interact with something they are displaying on their whiteboard (or just on a projector) without having to go to the computer.

This mini wireless touchpad and keyboard is an inexpensive way device that could be quite handy for use in the classroom. Want the students to do a drag and drop task? Pass this around the classroom. Want simple text input? this would do that too. I found it slightly easier to use than a tablet. You still have to look at the screen rather than the pad, like you do with a tablet, but I found it much more like using a laptop touchpad.

I found them on Ebay for about £30 inc postage to the UK (shipped from Hong Kong). Or you can get them in Maplins in the UK for £39.99. Mine has just arrived, so I haven’t had a chance to test the full range of it yet, but the blurb says it can have a range of 10m. Not brilliant, but should cover a standard classroom?

The device comes with a charging lead (it charges from USB) and a receiver. I plugged it into my Windows 7 laptop and it installed painlessly.

It’s definitely an interesting little device which does provide a little more flexibility in how you use your Interactive Whiteboard resources with a class.

Related posts:

1. Interesting Sites
2. Full Screen Please
3. Common Whiteboard Format
4. Art Attack
5. Why IWB

Filed under: Hardware, Interactive Whiteboards, Useful Links

Tagged with:, gadget, keyboard, wireless