Directions for Using a SMART Board
A SMARTboard is a type of interactive white board. The image displayed comes from a projector hooked up to the board. The projector in turn connects to a computer, which could be accessing a website or viewing a PowerPoint presentation. Technology embedded in the board allows it to function as a huge input device. For example, you can perform all the functions of a computer mouse by simply tapping or dragging your finger on the board's surface.
Instructions
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Use the computer hooked up to the SMARTboard to open your presentation files or navigate to a website you want to display. Whatever shows on the computer's monitor will also be projected onto the SMARTboard. Many SMARTboard classroom setups also include a document camera that allows you to project an image of a worksheet, book page or other document. Simply place the document beneath the downward-pointing lens of the document camera.
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Click and scroll using the SMARTboard by tracing or tapping with your finger. For example, to scroll down a webpage, tap once with your finger on the downward-pointing scroll arrow on the right side of the browser window. Likewise, you can drag something into the desktop Recycle Bin by tapping it's icon once with your finger and then tracing a path to the Recycle Bin.
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Write on the SMARTboard by removing one of the four pens from the tray below the board. Once you remove the pen, you will enter Transparency Mode, and the screen image will freeze. The SMARTboard pens do not contain any ink or electronic components. However, the pen tray will register that one of the pens is no longer in its slot. The next touch on the SMARTboard will show up as digital ink, allowing you to write or highlight over the top of whatever is displayed on the board. You need not use the pen itself -- you could also write with your finger or any other object. When you are done writing, or if you want to click or scroll, put the pen back in its slot in the tray.
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Erase your writings from the SMARTboard by removing the eraser from the tray below the board. Once the pen tray registers the absence of the eraser, the next touch will be interpreted as an erasure.
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Access right-click functions by pressing the right-click button under the pen tray.
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Type on the SMARTboard by first pressing the virtual keyboard button under the pen tray. When the keyboard display appears, use your finger to tap on the letters. For example, you might first touch the SMARTboard at the URL window in a web browser to place the cursor there and then press the virtual keyboard button. When you type on the virtual keyboard, the letters will appear in the URL window. You can move the virtual keyboard display around on the SMARTboard by tapping its top and then dragging.
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Tips & Warnings
The SMARTboard can only recognize one active tool -- such as a pen or eraser -- at a time. If you remove more than one tool without putting the first one back, the tool that was removed earlier will become deactivated. For example, if you take out the blue pen followed by the black pen, only the black pen will be active. Touching the board with either pen, or with your finger, will then result in black digital ink.
Because the pens don't actually contain ink, getting a steady line of color depends on maintaining smooth and continuous pressure. If the line skips or comes out dashed, try to press harder with the pen or your finger to maintain a good contact.
If you write on the SMARTboard display, your writing will only stay visible until you exit Transparency Mode. You leave Transparency Mode if you put all the pens and the eraser back in the tray and then touch the screen. If you do this by accident, you can get your writing back if you click the "Restore Handwriting" button, which will be accessible for three seconds after leaving Transparency Mode.
