What is a Smartboard?
A Smart Board is a nicknamed interactive whiteboard. Used in many classrooms and offices, it allows the presenter to connect the board to a presentation saved on a computer. Then, additional information can be added via the computer or in a more low-tech way by writing on the board itself.
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History
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The first Smart Board Interactive Whiteboard hit the market in 1991. It was developed by Smart Technologies, a division of Presentation Products Inc. This is an audio-visual company headquartered in New York City. The new technology revolutionized classroom technology.
Types
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Smart Boards come in several different varieties. One, called a sympodium, is like a podium. Designed for the lecturer, the presenter stands, facing the class. Whatever he writes on the podium is projected onto the Smart Board at the front of the class. Another Smart Board is designed for front projection while a third is designed for rear projection.
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Potential
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The "electronic whiteboards" can be connected to other digital devices to expand the potential for classroom and office presentations. You can purchase interfaces for the Smart Board projector for laptop computers, DVD players and digital cameras. You can also carry a "wireless slate" around the room. Whatever you write on this slate displays on the Smart Board so that everyone can benefit from what you may be telling one student. Obviously the wireless slate can save a teacher many steps during a typical school day.
Expert Insight
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Of course, the Smart Boards don't display just anything. You have to write on your slate or sympodium with a Smart Pen. You can save what you write on the original computer file or you can discard it. This makes it easy to start with one set of powerpoint slides, for example, and, using the Smart Pen, customize each presentation to the needs and comments of the students in each class to which you will make the presentation. You can also use dry erase and wet erase pens to write on the whiteboard to augment or replace digital information.
Considerations
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Smart Boards are quite expensive, starting at just over $2,000 for a very basic set up. Because Smart Technologies wants to impact as many students with this cutting edge classroom technology as possible, it started the Smarter Kids Foundation. This charitable foundation provides discounts to schools for any Smart Technology. It is a company with both a heart and a brain and it is truly making a difference in our schools.
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