How do I Write a Grant Application for Interactive Flat Panel Displays?

Writing a grant for anything can be a daunting prospect. Therefore, we thought that we would write a blog post that gives you all the information that you need to write a grant application for an Interactive Flat Panel.

The idea of this tool and this page is to give you all the information that you need in order to apply for a grant or write a budget request for Interactive Flat Panels. Simply fill out the form below and we calculate the budgetary breakdown and numbers for your proposal.

How much does and Interactive Display cost for the classroom? A simple question perhaps, but not one that comes with a straight forward answer. There are a number of factors that are going to influence the cost of your Interactive flat panel. To make things easier for you, what we have done is created an IFPD Cost Calculation Tool to give you budgetary insight into the costs associated with Interactive Flat Panels.

The idea of this tool and this page is to give you all the information that you need in order to apply for a grant or write a budget request for Interactive Flat Panels. Simply fill out the form below and we calculate the budgetary breakdown and numbers for your proposal.

Underneath the calculator, you will also find some helpful material that you can cut and paste to use in your budget or grant application verbiage.

This is not designed to be a definitive grant application, however it will perhaps give you some idea to how you can answer some of the question on your grant application for the technology in your School, College or University. Think of it as a smorgasbord of information and snippets that can be used to help you create or fill out grant applications for this technology and save you some time in the process.

Project Narrative

Our top priority is the success of all students in our charge. Success in school is comprised of many things, including academic achievements, personal growth, and engagement in the learning process. This project focuses on student engagement. We intend to increase the motivation and engagement of our students during lessons by purchasing Interactive Flat Panels which allow students to engage with their teacher in a more interactive manor. Whilst front of class displays are not a new form of teaching perspective, as technology, hardware and software has moved on they do represent considerable benefit to students.  If we are successful in receiving funding for Interactive Flat Panels, our school board will purchase the TouchIT Rapide Interactive LED from TouchIT Technologies.

Project Need

We have many tools to help us teach in the classroom but unfortunately, many of these resources such as our Interactive Whiteboards and projectors are coming to their end of life and as a school, we are wasting resources in trying to keep this antiquated technology in service. These resources include significant maintenance costs but also downtime of the technology which is impacting negatively in the classroom when the front of class display is not able to be used. The continual repaid cost of this technology is getting to a point where the cost of ownership of this ageing technology is far outweighing its benefit.

Project Goal

Our goals are two fold. Firstly, is to improve the engagement of our students by utilising the new tools and software the Interactive Flat Panel technology represents. With having access to an App Store full of free-to-download applications across all subject areas will dramatically benefit both the teachers and the students. Likewise, the cloud based collaboration software will help us increase engagement of the students in the classroom.

Secondly, whilst the initial outlay might be seen as substantial, the cost of maintaining our existing Interactive Whiteboards and Projectors has become unworkable. By replacing the existing technology, we will decrease ongoing maintenance costs as there is nothing to maintain or repair with an Interactive Flat Panel. We will also decrease the unproductive downtime in the classroom when the existing technology is out of action. We will also reduce the ongoing software costs of the existing technology by moving over to the license-free, cloud-based software available from TouchIT Technologies.

Technological Advantages

The Interactive Flat Panels that we are proposing for this project have considerable advantages over the existing aged technology that we are struggling to keep in service and have come to the end of its useful lifespan.

• Fewer Barriers to Use

We have found that our existing technology has a couple of barriers to use. Firstly, we found that we needed to have the driver for the Interactive Whiteboard configured by our IT department on our computers before we were able to use the Interactive Whiteboard. This is not the case with the proposed Interactive Flat Panels as they do not require drivers and are totally plug and play. Secondly, the constant (daily) calibration of the projector and the Interactive Whiteboard is a barrier to use. This is not something that is required with the Interactive Flat Panel they are calibration free.

• Lower Total Cost of Ownership

Total Cost of Ownership is lower for an Interactive Flat Panel than the Projector and Interactive Whiteboards that they are likely to be replacing. The power consumption is lower meaning lower energy costs. There are no bulb replacements which mean the cost of the physical build, the knock on down time that the product is out of action as well as the labour needed to replace it are all removed from the equation. The maintenance costs are zero as there is nothing to maintain so whilst the initial outlay may seem more expensive than the IWB Projector combination they are replacing, when you look at the total cost over the useful lifespan of the product it is in fact lower.

• No Maintenance Costs

It was not until recently that projectors came without filters and needed no maintenance so the likelihood is that the ones you are looking to replace do have filters to change and do have bulbs that go pop. Interactive Flat panels have no serviceable parts and do not need maintenance. Other than a damp cloth to clean the surface of the LED, there is nothing to maintain. This is a considerable saving which you look at the useful life span of the product in terms of labour to maintain them.

• Easier Installation

The installation of an Interactive Flat Panel is much easier than the IWB and Projector setup. The alignment was difficult, cable runs to do meant that it was not for the feint hearted. Hanging an Interactive Flat Panel on the wall is just like hanging a TV at home. In its simplest form, a bracket is attached to the wall and the LED sits on the bracket. What is important here is that the fact that the installation is somewhat “hang and bang” in nature means that the janitors at a school are more than capable on doing this. This in turn leads to an installation cost saving of over $500 per unit which is significant if you are looking at more than one classroom.

• Brighter, Higher Resolution Image with Better Contrast

Replacing Interactive Whiteboards and Projectors with Interactive Flat Panels does deliver a very evident improvement in the image displayed. It is much brighter, it has a much higher resolution with a higher contrast. All of this means that the image that the students are looking at for a prolonged period of time is much better for their eyes than the projected image. Furthermore, it does not degrade over time like a projector, it is somewhat binary. It either works or it doesn’t, think of your TV at home.

• Improved Software

The software packages have drastically improved since Interactive Whiteboards and the sheer volume of non-proprietary content that is free and available to download is vast. The TouchIT App Store for example has hundreds of free applications inside which can be downloaded and run on the onboard Android operating system. The idea is that there is no shortage of Apps that cover all curriculum areas that can be installed and used on the LED. There is also the ability to request an App if you want to use something that is not in the store.

• No Reoccurring Software Fees

Unlike many of the Interactive Brands on the market, the TouchIT Interactive Flat Panel rate does not come with any chargeable software no reoccurring fees. This is truly for the TouchIT App Store as well as the Contribute Cloud lesson creation, annotation, collaboration and casting platform.

Plan for Sharing

We understand that the vast majority of the Interactive Flat Panels will be installed by fixed installation in the classroom. However, in an effort to make this more of a shared resource, we would like to propose that a number of these units are placed on wheeled carts or trolleys. This is so that they can become a shared resource within the school and moved from room to room where this is necessary. Ample risk assessments will be taken about the moving of the technology around the building ahead of time, however the mobile nature of the resource will increase further the reach and subsequent benefit of the technology to the school at large.

Evaluation

We have two methods of evaluating the project. For measuring successful engagement of the students, we will survey the teachers in late February.  The survey will ask them to compare student engagement with and without the Interactive Flat Panels as part of their lesson plans.  For short-term student achievement comparisons, we will compare the scores for their assessments with those of the past two years to document improvement.  We will also participate in ongoing informal evaluation at intervals throughout the year.

Product Specifications