Interactive Whiteboards
From NCEAS Knowledge Base
Getting Started with the SMART Interactive Whiteboards
The SMART Interactive Whiteboard with its touch sensitive screen enables you to use your finger as a cursor or pen by dragging it along the surface of the SMART Board and to capture (save to computer) the text and images that you create on it. The SMART board can also be used in a conventional way, although we do not recommend it.(*)
Connected to a computer and with a data projector (HIGHLY recommended). In this mode, you can project anything from your computer onto the whiteboard, and easily annotate it and edit it. It enables you to keep a complete record of anything you draw on the SMART board, including multiple screens of information saved one after another. One can connect to a computer (Windows, Macintosh, or Linux) with the USB cable, but the computer must have been loaded with the appropriate "SMART Board software".
Checklist for using the SMART Board with your own PC laptop
(*)Due to the special surface made to work with LCD projectors, we have found it difficult to clean the SMART board when it is used with normal dry-erase pens. Glass cleaner and dry-erase liquid cleaners can both be used to wipe the SMART board clean. Of course, please *never* use the SMART board with permanent markers! Oh no, it happened. What now? (PDF)
