Within the last year the Mimio has emerged on the Purchasing Conference list as a viable option in the classroom. This was a hard sell for me. There are obvious portability advantages, but with SMART already having established a presence in our board, I was hesitant to endorse it widely, without perpetuating two systems, and stretching support too thin.
That changed after an experience with the Mimio Capture at ISTE. The marker-based unit, that eliminates the need for a projector, and doesn’t need to be oriented in order to work, has changed my mind. I still believe that technology needs to be in the hands of the students, and still feel that the IWB technology tends to feed into a “Sage on the Stage” style of teaching; but I acknowledge a place for that, and think that the Mimio Capture provides a versatility that the large SMARTboard does not. Looking at this makes the “portability” of the SMARTboard, on those large awkward carts, seem archaic. I was struggling with how to explain this fully, so I made a video.
Hm… this is like a Livescribe but in a larger format. Thanks for this post. I will have to research this for some people in my school. Very interesting and I like your reasoning for using such a product. Now… to go and see the pricing 🙂
I’m not sure that I’m allowed to reveal the Education pricing agreed upon for our board, but the price is comparable to a Smartboard.
Great demonstration. Thanks, Jared!
Very handy little thing! We might be very interested.