With over 4,000 full-time students the College of West Anglia is one of the largest providers of education and training in Norfolk and Camb

Promethean ActivBoard to ActivPanel Touchscreens

About The College of West Anglia (CWA)

With over 4,000 full-time students the College of West Anglia is one of the largest providers of education and training in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire with an exceptional track record of developing the skills and talents of students. This is achieved through a combination of great teaching by a team of highly-trained, industry experienced staff and excellent facilities designed to prepare students for employment and further study.

Project Requirements

Just prior to the summer of 2016 Proactive AV met and worked with the project management team at the King’s Lynn campus continuing the relationship developed over several years. It was time for the college to replace their multitude of Promethean ActivBoards with the more durable and up-to-date touchscreen ActivPanels. They also needed bespoke solutions, exactly the same in every room, with the same plug and play functionality. They needed every member of their teaching staff to be able to enter any room and use the equipment either utilising their own laptop, a PC or just the android imbedded in the panel. Each room needed to have the same look and feel and most importantly the member of staff needed to be able to quickly and easily access the CWA central store of documents
and lesson plans via the network.

They needed to replace their old ActivBoards with the new touchscreens during the summer holidays of 2016 which meant that the whole project needed to be managed by Proactive AV so that each room was upgraded in a logical way. The screens were brought to the campus every day by the Proactive engineers which is where Proactive differ from most suppliers. The usual process is that the screens are delivered in bulk to the college who then have to transport them to their safe and secure storage area – not an easy job in any case let alone when we are talking over 50 x 65” touchscreens! They also needed the old kit taking away and disposing of correctly which was not a problem as Proactive AV hold a WEEE registration certificate.

Bespoke Design

Proactive AV designed a collectively standard solution installing the touchscreen on their bespoke wall mount which enabled the college to install a PC behind the panel (mounting the touchscreen on the wall wouldn’t have allowed this installation). Part of the installation solution was also designed incorporating a shelf for the laptop and one for the keyboard driving the PC. They needed staff to be able to use any of the three solutions all cabled up easily and without any complex cable management.

The college were happy to continueusing Promethean technology as the ActivPanels use the same ActivInspire software as the old ActivBoards and also include more USB and HDMI inputs which was necessary to enable the switching from any type of use.

Project Outcomes

During a lecture, college staff can use the PC with the wireless keyboard and mouse to access the shared information, plug in their laptop or use the android. The bespoke solution automatically picks up whichever device is being used without the need to unplug and plug in cables.
In addition they could immediately use their existing lesson plans and only needed training on the increased functionality of the actual touchscreen.

Training and Support

The Proactive team trained staff on the use of the touchscreens and also provide supporting user guides if a question pops up. The support team are also at the end of the phone to assist with any queries whether it be a hardware query or maybe a question of the wrong button being pressed!

After the installation Hayley Winter, College of West Anglia Project Manager said:

Proactive always provide us with an excellent customer service, and a fast response to any problems or queries we may have. Installation of kit & assistance with trials is second to none, and I would happily recommend them to anyone looking for the complete service when selecting AV equipment. 

Contact the ProactiveAV team at: