SmartBoards

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Permalink Reply by Becky Foellmer on December 5, 2009 at 6:20am

Just a quick suggestion. Our school is using Mimio which works with any whiteboard and LCD projector for a fraction of the cost of a Smartboard. If your district wants to have more classrooms with this tech, they really should look into this.
Mimio System including wireless setup -- $530
LCD Projection System including ceiling Mount $850
About half of our staff use this technology every day. They have students participating in lessons by going to the board and using the "pen" to drag items, click on links, write in answers, etc. The interactive aspect for the kids really engages them. Most teachers, also, use it to put up answers to the previous night's homework and can "un-cover" step by step the solutions to problems, etc. Since they do this 6 times a day, not having to recreate it each class period, for each class, is a real time-saver. This leaves more time for teaching, obviously. There are many other advantages, as well.
...excellent tool at a reasonable, affordable, price.

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Permalink Reply by Dorethia(Dotty) Myers on December 5, 2009 at 12:06pm

I have my poor teahcer smartboard. It consists of an inexpensive USB graphics tablet(59.99), my screen, computer, projecteor . I downloaded software and it works just fine. If you can afford a wireless graphic tablet, voila you have your own smartboard and you are not tied to the fron of the room. You can walk around.

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Permalink Reply by Maggie Hennessy on December 6, 2009 at 6:33am

Can you elaborate on this? Is this more than a projection system? In other words, how do you achieve the interactivity that you get with a SmartBoard? What software do you download? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Dorethia(Dotty) Myers on December 6, 2009 at 2:05pm

I went out and purchased a Genius Mouse Pen 8x6 graphic tablet. The one I purchased is a USB, not wireless. I didn't want to spend the money before I knew if it would work. I downloaded software from Promethean World. We have 2 of their boards at our school. the pen works just like your standard interactive whiteboard pen. any whiteboard becomes a smartboard. It is the software that makes it interactive. For $60.00 you can do what is done on the large smartboard and projected. I would suggest purchasing an inexpensive graphic table and playing around with it. I use mine intercahgeably with my mac and pc.

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Permalink Reply by Corin Drozdowski on December 6, 2009 at 9:50am

I will assume since you said smart board, that it is an actual Smart board by Smart tech Technologies. You can get much more information from their website, http://smarttech.com/.

That being said, here is a basic explaination of what it is. Smart board is a type of interactive white board. Some posters have given other examples, Mimio, is one. A different type that is coming up is also the tablet pc, where you can write directly onto the screen of the laptop. Each type has drawbacks and advantages.

The white board set up requires three things, a computer with the appropriate software installed, a smart board, and a projector. Most projectors are attached from the top to the smartboard itself. The one in my classroom is not, it is separate. It gets tricky because the kids think it's fun to use it for shadow puppets.

You said you are working in a HS, but you do not specify what subject you are working in. This would be more helpful to give ideas. I use it in a K through 8 setting, and I am the resource room teacher. I do use it in all different subjects.

Smart tech has a section where there are shared lessons. You do need the Notebook software to view the files. You can download version 9 of notebook without issues as it was free, but version 10, while still free, requires that you know the information about the board. You can get some great ideas on how to use it there.

In my class, students come down from their regular class with work they don't understand. I use the smartboard to do their lessons right on it, and then print out the pages so they have a reference. For example, if they are learning about nouns, I will type out the examples quickly they are doing from the book, and they have to find the nouns. We change the color of the word we are looking for.

If you have internet access, there are some sites that can be shared with the class, and then talked about. You can also record your lesson, with your voice for later playback. The recording can be put into a format that can be shared on either teacher tube, or you tube, or someplace where the student may view it at a later date. This is good for students, like some of mine are, who get the materal when in class, but forget it when they are at home, or for students who are absent.

Hope that helps.

I find that what Dottie said in terms of using a wireless graphic tablet is a good solution for older students where you can pass the tablet around to do problems, such as in algebra or geometry. The smartboard works well in a K-5 environment where you can have certain kids get up and go to the board. The smartboard is also better for younger grades because you don't have to worry about them dropping the tablet. Not to say that either one will work for a certain situation, but I have found the best experiences happen along those lines.

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