Fundamentally, the smart board is an input device similar to a mouse or keyboard; it tells the computer the location where you touch it. Very similar to power-point, the smart board program is an application for developing and displaying a presentation. Like power-point, we can use the program to enter slide-shows with graphics and text. Similarly, we can also present a lecture and display the slides in sequence. The program is free and can be downloaded to any computer so that a speaker can develop the slide shows independently. The important feature that sets it apart from power-point is the ability to change a slide while it is being displayed. Those changes appear to the audience as if you are writing on a white board. At the end of a presentation, we can save those annotations or print them along with the entire set of slides. A speaker can use the system without any preliminary preparation and use it solely as an automated white board, or can put together a sophisticated outline that can be reused each time the presentation is repeated.
Physically, the smart board is an input device. If you move a mouse, the computer knows the distance/direction and if you then click on the mouse the computer will perform a function at that location. The smart board operates in similar fashion, but the location is determined when you touch the board.
A speaker can use the smart board program to prepare a slide show and have all the tools available in power-point. An added feature to the smart board user is a virtual camera. With the virtual camera, you can “snap a photo” of another open window and that image will become a new slide. That and the other tools are displayed with appropriate icons across the top of the screen. By pressing CNTL-T you can toggle to a simpler tool bar that displays down the side. A text box will automatically open when you start to type. After keying the text, you can reposition and resize the box. Use the insert button to select from a menu of available clipart. An image will overlay existing text, so either resize it, reposition it or adjust its transparency. To change the size or placement of a text box or image -
The page sorter bar displays thumbnails of all pages on the side. Use it to drag slides up or down to change their sequence. You can also use it to select and jump to a specific page. Drag the boarder between the sorter column and the display toward the center of the screen to show multiple columns of slides. If that is not enough, press ALT-2 to toggle to a screen dedicated to the sorter.
The HELP button displays a very through and well-organized handbook that explains all of the editing and display functions. I recommend that you refer to it frequently as you learn the intricacies of developing presentations.
Before the computer, we used flip-charts to display text and graphics while delivering a presentation. Unless we wished to redraw the charts, we could not annotate them. With the computer, professionals began using power-point to project their text and graphic “slides” during their presentations. The computer graphics are clear and dramatic. The projected images can easily be seen in a large auditorium. Developing and editing the presentation is many times easier than manually drawing flip-charts.
Presentations with smart board can be as smooth and professional as a power-point. In the education environment, it far exceeds the static slide show’s usefulness because now the instructor can annotate, circle, highlight, and add to slides as they are presented. In the education environment, a lecture becomes dynamic and interactions with students create the need to point out or better explain parts of a slide. Smart board gives the teacher the necessary tools to do exactly that.
The first page of a presentation will be displayed when it is opened. Remove the editing tools to make a larger presentation screen. Press CNTL-T to make the tool-bar reduce to a strip on the side. Drag the boarder between the sorter and display area toward the edge of the screen. This will allow you to make your presentation and still access the minimum set of tools. If the tools are unnecessary, press ALT-ENTER to toggle to full screen and a small navigation window will display for paging forward and back. Regardless of the display mode, you can use the 3 colored pens to “draw” on the projected screen image. The smart board will detect where you have touched the board and change the display at that point with the selected color. The “eraser” can be used to remove your changes. Note that the pens and eraser do not physically write. Also the board cannot tell what is actually touching the screen. When you remove a pen or eraser from the cradle, the smart board knows which device is in your hand. It assumes that is the device that is touching the screen. Therefor, only pick up one device at a time.
At the end of a presentation the last page-forward will return to the edit screen. You can touch the printer icon and send the annotated presentation to a printer for students who have dexterity handicaps. When you close a presentation, the program will prompt you if you wish to save it with the annotations.
The smart board gives you the ability to present information and explain concepts in clear, dramatic and interesting ways. The program gives you the ability to prepare very sophisticated presentations that can be reused over and over, yet still appear fresh in dynamic academic environments where the message can be highlighted changed or augmented. You are not restricted to developing the presentation only at the computer where the smart board is attached. You can do the development at your office or on a laptop a thousand miles away. This is a wonderful tool that can make our presentations more vibrant and exciting. We will no longer be required to draw huge text on a white board before a small group and then have to draw it again for the next session of the same class. We can add graphics, clip-art, screen-captures, and photographs to our presentations. Now our lectures can become greater instruments of learning, capturing our student’s genuine interest and conveying information that they will retain long after the final exam.
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Smartboard - A Presentation Device for Classrooms
1. Use the selection tool and click on the image or text.
2. Drag the white circle at lower right to change the size.
3. Drag the green circle to rotate.
4. Drag the center of the box to reposition it.
Click on the FORMAT tool to change background color, adjust the level of transparency for overlapping graphics, and set the line width and color.
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