There is an alternative to the “traditional eWhiteboard” which addresses some issues some teachers have with the height and use of eWhiteboards. Consider this, the whiteboard is interactive because you touch the screen and the mouse pointer follows that touch at the point of contact. You have an association between the touch and the display screen. However, with a projector you also get a masking shadow, and as teachers have noted, there is an unfortunate height issue in the primary school classrooms necessitating either bent teachers or moveable scaffold whiteboards, or boxes on which children stand.
The Alternative – link a Tablet PC with a projector, or a large screen TV (I use a 50” plasma). What are the essentials we a trying to get with an eWhiteboard? A large display screen with point association. The Tablet PC gives this, and displays it for the class on the projector without someone standing in the beam. The teacher/student doesn’t mask the screen during use, they work to one side, on the tablet, and others watch the main screen. The Tablet can be passed around (even better if it is wireless to the projector!) In addition the Tablet PC exceeds a traditional eWhiteboard by giving pressure sensitivity to the pen. This is a nice feature in Art programmes like Paint.Net and Artrage. Point association with the screen, in this case the Tablet PC, permits good handwriting recognition, drawing, highlighting, dragging and revealing – all part of the standard repertoire of an eWhiteboard.

Costs of a traditional eWhiteboard {approximate}
Board {2,000}
Computer {2,000}
Software {incl with board}
Projector {2,000}
Board scaffold (if to raised and lowered) or boxing {?}

Costs of a Tablet alternative [approximate}
Tablet PC {4,000}
Projector (plasma/LCD) {$2,000}
Software {some features incl in Vista – others may need purchase}

The obvious feature that is missing is the propriety software that comes with a board. This is nothing to be sneezed at, as some have fantastic shared resources available, many of which may have been the deciding factor in which brand of board schools choose.
But what features are they? Can you collect them piecemeal from other sources? For example, countdown (up) timers, graphic organisers, clipart,

Some observations.
I am trialling a 50” Plasma as an alternative to a projector because there is really no way to mount a projector in my classroom (the ceiling is far too high, believe me, I know, I’ve put them in 8 other classrooms). A short throw reflective projector would work but they are expensive and I’d still need a reflective surface and mounting space. The Plasma is better, brighter, has a wider viewing angle and comes with a decent built in amplifier and speakers! Not to mention the life expectancy is much longer (cf the 2000 hours till replacement of a projector bulb which is getting dimmer by the hour.) We have another class trialling a ceiling mounted projector with a Bluetooth keyboard and Bluetooth graphics tablet. The disadvantage here is you loose the association between the touch point and the screen, that is, the user has to look at a different place from where they are touching. That gets easier the more you do it, it is after all what you do with a mouse, but is somewhat harder with a pen!

I have tried linking the plasma with a 19” touchscreen LCD but the sensitivity is not good for classroom use, it is better suited to POS! Your fingers cover where you are pointing. We use it for large object work, powerpoints, etc. The Tablet PC is by far the best.