Best Classroom Whiteboard Software for Teachers - BenQ vs. Promethean
  • BenQ
  • 2022-11-09

How does BenQ EZWrite 6 and Promethean ActivInspire programs stack up against a regular whiteboard for interactivity and simplicity? Let’s find out.

Best Classroom Whiteboard Software for Teachers - BenQ vs. Promethean

Research shows active learning as beneficial to student achievement, particularly in STEM. Students are active participants in their learning. They process concepts through thinking, discussing, and investigating. However, to encourage every student to participate actively in their learning isn’t easy.

Thanks to technology, there are plenty of digital tools teachers can use to increase engagement with students. Some of the most used teaching tools worldwide are the basic whiteboard and erasable ink markers. Inexpensive and simple to use, they enable teachers to focus on their lessons and students. So how do the latest versions of BenQ EZWrite 6 and Promethean Whiteboard (also known as Promethean ActivInspire) help teachers engage students as active participants and adapt to different learning styles? In this article, we will compare the features of these two programs from two angles:

Engage Your Students

According to the VARK model, there are four types of learners. And classrooms are most likely to be a melting pot of learning styles with all four represented. Therefore, engaging with every archetype of student can be a challenge for teachers. Fortunately, there are various tools provided by interactive whiteboard software that make engagement with all kinds of learners far easier and more fruitful.

1. Basic Tools and Functions

To accommodate visual learners’ needs, teachers sometimes need to draw the lines between objects to show relations, or use different colors to highlight differentiation. Both Promethean ActivInspire and BenQ EZWrite 6 share many features of advanced whiteboard software, such as highlighters, palm erasers, custom backgrounds, and a color selection wheel. Both support large writing canvases and have gesture control, as well. BenQ EZWrite 6 has a dual pen mode that isn’t available on the Promethean whiteboard and also has tools for lines and special shapes, even in 3D.

 

*Some of features only available for the Android version (BenQ Board)

Basic Tools BenQ EZWrite 6 Promethean ActivInspire
Basic Tools
Pencil
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
Yes
Basic Tools
Highlighter
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
Yes
Basic Tools
Palm eraser
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
Yes
Basic Tools
Background
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
Yes
Basic Tools
Color wheel
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
Yes
Basic Tools
Brush mode
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
No
Basic Tools
Dual pen mode
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
No
Basic Tools
Line
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
No
Basic Tools
2D shape
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
No
Basic Tools
3D shape
BenQ EZWrite 6
Yes
Promethean ActivInspire
No

2. Teaching Tools

Students’ attention spans are very short. To keep students engaged, especially those who are auditory and kinesthetic learners, you will need to incorporate alphabet music into lessons or initiate team competition in the classroom.

One big advantage of an interactive classroom display compared to a traditional whiteboard is the ability to use integrated tools to save time in teaching and enhance engagement. Both programs have built-in timers, protractor tools, and lots of background templates. The biggest difference is that BenQ EZWrite 6 software recognizes handwriting and turns it into editable text in multiple languages (including Spanish, Chinese, and Hebrew). EZWrite 6 also has a cool scoreboard to keep track of classroom contests, and an integrated calculator.

Teaching Tools BenQ EZWrite 6 Promethean ActivInspire
Teaching Tools

Screenshot and import to whiteboard

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

Yes

Teaching Tools

Timer

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

Yes

Teaching Tools

Team post

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

Yes

Teaching Tools

Protractor

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

Yes

Teaching Tools

Sticky notes

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

Teaching Tools

URL support

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

Teaching Tools

Draw lots

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

Teaching Tools

Scoreboard

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

Teaching Tools

Calculator

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

3. Cloud / Remote Collaboration Capabilities

According to TeacherVision, over 60% of teachers are worried about their students falling behind, especially after COVID. BenQ’s EZWrite 6 has the ability for a teacher to broadcast their whiteboard over the internet or directly collaborate with a remote student using built-in cloud whiteboarding. The student clicks a simple link and directly connects to the board to either watch a whiteboarding session or write on the board using their phone, Chromebook, or tablet from anywhere with an internet connection. There is no similar feature on Promethean Whiteboard.

BenQ interactive whiteboard software - EZWrite 6 Cloud whiteboard for remote collaboration

Remote Collaboartion BenQ EZWrite 6 Promethean ActivInspire
Remote Collaboartion

Cloud whiteboard - broadcasting

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

Remote Collaboartion

Cloud whiteboard - collaboration

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

Remote Collaboartion

Select specific participant

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

Remote Collaboartion

Client mode (join whiteboard)

BenQ EZWrite 6

Yes

Promethean ActivInspire

No

Simple to Use

Every teacher works differently, hence the most crucial thing is that tools must be intuitive and simple to use so they’re easily adapted for different teaching styles.

1. Recording Lessons

For teachers looking to help students who missed a class or are struggling to understand the lesson, lesson recording offers an easy way to help students catch up. The BenQ EZWrite 6 Floating Tool can record a lesson, capturing both video and audio with a simple two finger tap on the screen. This enables a teacher to not only share the content of the lesson but also lets the student directly experience the lesson as it was actually taught in class. Think about it. Imagine if we had the ability to so faithfully record a physics class by Albert Einstein from a century ago!

Teacher can use BenQ EZWrite 6 floating tool to record lessons on the interactive display

2. Creating, Storing, and Sharing Lessons

Great teachers spend a lot of time creating innovative ways to tackle hard concepts, and often share them with others. How do the two programs compare in this area? 

  • Creating Lessons
  • Both programs can import images into a whiteboard, but EZWrite 6 enables teachers to import images directly from MS Office applications like Word and PowerPoint. More importantly, EZWrite 6 can import any of the thousands of lessons stored online in IWB format directly into the whiteboard. Promethean whiteboard only imports the proprietary PWB format. EZWrite 6 also can import clickable YouTube links and other URL links directly into the lesson. This can save teacher time when preparing lessons before the class and calling up content during sessions.

    Teacher can import files (Word, PowerPoint, IWB) and links (YouTube) to BenQ EZWrite 6 whiteboard software.

    Creating Lessons BenQ EZWrite 6 Promethean ActivInspire
    Creating Lessons

    Image import

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    Yes

    Creating Lessons

    Scalable canvas

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes (16K)

    Promethean ActivInspire

    Yes (infinity canvas)

    Creating Lessons

    MS Office import as image

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes (PPT, Word, PDF)

    Promethean ActivInspire

    No

    Creating Lessons

    IWB import

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    No

    Creating Lessons

    Document camera import

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    No

    Creating Lessons

    import YouTube link as object

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    No

    Creating Lessons

    Import URL link as object

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    No

    Creating Lessons

    Input text

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    No

  • Storing & Sharing Lessons
  • Both programs can save lessons to USB drives, cloud storage, or network drives, but BenQ EZWrite 6 gives a teacher the ability to email one student or a group directly from the board or even generate a QR code that can be scanned. In addition, BenQ EZWrite 6 gives teachers the ability to share their lessons using the standard IWB format, so another teacher using Smart Notebook, Mimeo, or Oktopus software can easily re-use the lesson. For school districts like Kankakee where teachers are encouraged to use the tools they like, this enables easy sharing of the best ideas no matter what software they are using.

    Teacher can share lessons to students via QR code generated from BenQ EZWrite 6 whiteboard software.

    Sharing Lessons BenQ EZWrite 6 Promethean ActivInspire
    Sharing Lessons

    Export to PDF

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    Yes

    Sharing Lessons

    Save to USB

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    Yes

    Sharing Lessons

    Save to cloud storage

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    Yes

    Sharing Lessons

    Save to network drive

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    Yes

    Sharing Lessons

    Export to IWB

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    No

    Sharing Lessons

    Share with QR code

    BenQ EZWrite 6

    Yes

    Promethean ActivInspire

    No

    Which Whiteboard Software Is Better?

    Whiteboard software is often a key criterion in determining which interactive display is chosen for a school district. Both programs have powerful capabilities, are used in classrooms around the world, and can access thousands of pre-built lessons using the common IWB file format. While more teachers and administrators may be familiar with Promethean, BenQ EZWrite’s cloud collaboration and ability to instantly record a lesson without opening an app are appealing for schools looking for flexibility in teaching styles and techniques.

    These programs come free with BenQ Board and Promethean ActivPanel, two of the most popular classroom interactive displays in the world. If you are looking for a whiteboard solution that is simple to use, and can work with other teaching tools you have, we would like to invite you and your teachers to try out EZWrite for free so you can experience the benefits for yourself.