SmartBoards Are Old School

As I am anticipating the installation of a SmartBoard in my room in the next month or so, I've come across several articles about smart desks. Touch screens, interactive, with sharing capabilities. I first saw a demonstration of this technology at the TED Conference a couple of years ago. Next, the iPhone took touch screens to a new consumer level and now the screen is the desk. Will students eventually just connect their iPhones into the desk so they can take everything with them or will all their "stuff" just be available in the "cloud?" In any event, the question I want to pose here is how do schools keep up with technology? And how do we get more technology out of the teacher's control and into the hands of the students. I am excited to get a SmartBoard. It will enhance the presentation of my material, allow me to save, share, post, etc. Students will be able to "interact" with the board as well. But does a SmartBoard increase student learning or increase the entertainment value of a lesson. Does it move students toward inquiry? Students need to have this technology in their hands and SmartTechnologies won't even allow students to download the software to create their own SmartBoard compatible presentations. I digress.

Thinking. Learning. Inquiry. Projects. Challenge.

Edusim

Check out the virtual learning worlds developed for interactive whiteboards. As soon as you see a few of these videos I guarantee your mind will jump to all sorts of possibilities....especially for social studies and science! What is edusim? Here is a blurb from the website...but go see for yourself...
Edusim is a free opensource 3D virtual world specifically for your classroom interactive whiteboard! Edusim is an extremely powerful way to engage your students by bringing a 3D virtual environment that allows the direct manipulation of the 3D virtual learning objects directly from the interactive whiteboard surface. The Edusim is extendable allowing multiple classrooms to connect their interactive whiteboards for collaborative learning session!

$99 SmartBoard

Smart Board & Smart Recorder Feature

Part I: View Video above
Part II: View Video below
I don't even have a Smart Board in my room but it didn't stop me from using the free SmartBoard software that includes a Screen Recorder to record a video/audio (.avi) file of directions on how to use this recorder feature. You can record any screen navigation you would like...this is great for tutorials or giving directions for online/computer tasks. You could also convert the .avi file to .mp4 files to view on iPods.

Now That You Have A SMART Board...

Wouldn't it be nice to eliminate those wires that run from your computer to your interactive white board? Use this wireless bluetooth connection available as a Smart Board Accessory. In addition, the SMART technologies webpage has a 44-page listing of searchable lesson plans. They also have a beta version of a lesson activity toolkit. Be one of the first to try it out and let us know how you like it. Check out all the Educator's Resources.