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Panasonic and RM Group Partnership Improves Education Experience

Easiteach Next Generation 1.1, designed for interactive whiteboards, set to improve classroom engagement

Panasonic is continuing to maintain a successful partnership with Lightbox Education, a division of the RM Group. Lightbox’s Easiteach Next Generation 1.1 will be available with the Panaboard UB-T880 and UB-T880W interactive whiteboards from September 30, 2010.

Easiteach Next Generation contains a host of functionality designed to improve student interaction and attention in the classroom. With core tools for text and drawing combined with a growing range of curriculum focused activities and widgets, Easiteach Next Generation makes it easy for teachers to create and deliver exciting lessons especially designed to be used on interactive whiteboards.

The new version 1.1 will contain, amongst other features, a number of new actions and effects that can be applied to objects, images and video to allow more interactivity on an Easiteach page. Actions include linking to a document or website, hide or reveal and even turning on an effect. Effects include ripple, mosaic, old movie colour, monochrome and zoom. It also features ‘Easiteach Lite’ – a free platform that students can use at home to access Easiteachformatted documents for homework.

“Easiteach Next Generation enables teachers to use the Panaboard to create engaging audio and visual lessons that inspire children and adults alike,” said Brennan Peyton, European Manager, PSNE Imaging Group at Panasonic. “The RM Group is an expert in the field of education technology, and its heritage and experience makes Lightbox Education an ideal partner for Panasonic, and helps us to provide teachers with a full suite of technology for the classroom.”

Easiteach Next Generation is available in the native languages of all markets where the Panaboard is sold. “It was only launched a few months ago, but the Panaboard is already proving popular in schools. Students and teachers quickly understand the benefits of using a giant touch sensitive panel, complete with digital touchscreen that three people can use at once, as an educational tool,” continued Peyton.

“The Panaboard is a great vehicle to showcase our software,” said David Pearson, managing director at Easiteach. “We’re constantly planning new developments and improvements, including an online platform for teachers to talk and share content. “We are pleased to be working alongside an organisation of such calibre and reputation as Panasonic,” commented David Pearson. “Having our new software pre-installed with the Panaboard will help schools bring quality ICT solutions to the forefront of their teaching and learning practices. We see this partnership going from strength to strength.”