Click here for Episode 2 podcast
It’s Friday September 7, 2007 and welcome to Episode 2 of tech talk for teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. This episode I will introduce you to Smart boards and the many benefits for teachers and students. We have recently installed smart boards in several of our classrooms and are excited to offer our teachers and students access to this technology. We have installed the SMART brand of smart boards that have become very popular in area K-12 classrooms. Smart Technologies have offered Smart boards since the early 1990’s and are one of the industry leaders with this technology. A couple of recent developments have made Smart boards more attractive to educators. Last fall Smart Technologies offered for the first time a wide screen 16x9 format board that has become the standard of todays High Definition presentation systems. The software was also upgraded to version 9.5 and has evolved into an easy to use product that teachers find intuitive and can utilize effectively with very little training.
A smart board is much like a conventional white board but has the advantage of being digital and interactive. The smart board is connected to a computer using a USB cable making the board a touch sensitive device. An overhead projector is required to project the computer image to the smart board. Instead of using the mouse on your computer you use your finger to control the computer connected to the smart board. For example to open a browser simply double tap the browser icon projected on the smart board with your finger (instead of double clicking the mouse). In essence your finger becomes the mouse allowing the teacher to do board work at the smart board. The smart notebook software that comes with the smart board turns the board into an interactive digital white board capable of saving electronic copies of all board work. In addition there is an extensive gallery of educational content in every major subject area from math, english, science, sports, and many others. Using the Smart notebook software with the gallery of content allows a teacher to create very compelling lessons limited only by the creativity of the teacher.
My technology pick of the week website this week is the smarttech.com website where you will find information and tutorials about the products Smart Technologies offers. I encourage you to checkout the two minute tutorials for a quick overview of the Smart Notebook software, I think you will be impressed with its capabilities. The links are available in our show notes for Episode 2 located at techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com that’s techtalk the number 4 teachers.blogspot.com
That wraps it up for Episode 2 until next time this has been Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Tom's Technology Pick of the Week - SMART Board Links
Smart Technologies website:
http://smarttech.com/
Two Minute Tutorials on the Smart Notebook Software:
http://smarttech.com/trainingcenter/tutorials.asp
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