• Microtouch Ibid Electronic Whiteboards <http://www.microtouch.com/ibid/>
• SoftBoard <http://www.mfg.com/>

• Write, draw, or type over any Windows application with a Magnetic pen
• Use your finger, or a pointer, to “click” on web links, or open and close documents - Your finger is the mouse!
• Create and edit using annotation shapes and objects
• Import documents from many electronic sources
• Export (save, print, or e-mail) any SMART Board-created document

Magnetic, Colored Pens
Although these “pens” don’t have ink, they will write on the board for you using magnetic sensors. You can set the width and colors of the pens to your preference.  One feature I like is setting one of the pens to be a “highlighter.”  We prefer yellow - and instead of being an opaque line, it is a transparent highlighter.  This is perfect for when you want to literally “highlight” a portion of text on the screen - in a word processed document or on a web page. These pens are useful for annotating documents and web sites, to be printed out, or imported into a web site, for students to revisit after the class session. 

When asked what she thought about the “pen” feature of the SMART Board, Kathy Eby (Brescia College, Owensboro, KY) commented: “I especially liked the ability to change applications with the pens or pointer or finger.”  Jana Edwards (University of Florida) likes the “chalkboard effect” - “where you can pick up the highlight pencil/pointer and draw a circle around the information you want to focus on, or underline.”

The SMART Board can also be used with Expo/erasable pens in non-interactive mode, functioning as a normal whiteboard.

Just a Touch
The entire surface of the SMART Board is touch-sensitive.  Initially, the instructor must “orient” the board, and must do so every time the projection system is moved. This process is one of merely touching the screen at certain points to “line up” the board with the projector, and it takes only a few minutes. 

Opening and closing documents while standing by the screen saves time - you do not have to be constantly at your keyboard.  Clicking on links with your finger or a pointer makes demonstration more clear - you don’t “tell” the students what you are clicking on; you “show,” and they see the link and will easily follow along with you.

Your computer keyboard remains fully functional and can still be used with the SMART Board. Most instructors tend to go back and forth between standing by the board to do touch demonstration, and standing by the keyboard.  It also comes with a remote.

Reactions from the Field
“I feel like Vanna White,”  is a comment I made to a group of educators viewing the SMART Board for the first time during an Open House to present a new electronic classroom at Moorhead State University in the Fall of 1998.  It is empowering to stand in front of the class, look at your students, and be able to simply reach over and “click” with your finger on a web link, or to close out a Microsoft Word document and open up Netscape by two touches on a screen.  What I’ve found is that I spend less time running back and forth from the keyboard to the screen.  I also am able to throw in a few bells and whistles such as images and making annotations with the electronic pens.  It keeps the patron’s interest.  To be able to “show” students what to click on, and how to move back and forth in a document, instead of simply “telling” them - was worth the investment for us.

Although she has yet to extensively use the SMART Board her institution has just purchased, Kathy Eby says that she is “very impressed with what the instructor will be able to do with SMART Board.” 

Peter Osterhoudt (Schenectady County Community College) said he would recommend the purchase of a SMART Board, with qualifications.  “I’ve found it useful and students seem to enjoy the ‘coolness’ factor, but we have ours in a long narrow room, and, because of the size of the board, it is difficult to see it from the rear of the classroom.  With smaller classes or rooms this would be no problem.” Osterhoudt likes the mobility the SMART Board gives him during instructional sessions: “The SMART Board and the accompanying remote keyboard/mouse unit has freed me to walk around the room more to help students on their workstations instead of being trapped in the front  of the room behind the teacher workstation.”

Jana Edwards likes the “excellent screen capture software that made making a backup of an Internet or other electronic session very easy.” 

Osterhoudt’s electronic classroom is used for other classes beyond library instruction. Lack of non-librarian faculty training has created a problem. Watch out for professors trying to use “regular” markers on the board (not a good thing!) and also knocking the projector out of alignment. At Moorehead State, the projector is on a cart, and students jostle the cart by accident, causing Librarian Instructors to have to “orient” the board.  Thank goodness the process is quick and painless. Osterhoudt recommends “everyone involved” with the equipment be “trained in its proper use and care.”

How Much?
The specifications will determine price, including size of the board, whether you want a rear or front-projection board, and whether you want it to be mobile (on wheels) or permanently mounted.  The current price range appears to be from $1,400 to $10,500, depending upon various options.

For current and more extensive information about pricing, and available retailers/representatives in your area consult the SMART Technologies web site. 

Librarians using a SMART Board suggested three main factors to consider in making the purchasing decision:

1. The design of the room where it will be used.  Visibility in long, narrow labs is not as good as in smaller facilities.
2. Whether it will be used for demonstration-only, or in a networked laboratory. It seems to be a more cost-effective purchase for hands-on electronic classrooms.
3. Who will be using it?  Will faculty outside of the Library have access?  Who will train instructors?

 

 

SMART Board Contact Information
<http://www. smarttech.com>
Sales and Marketing:
Phone: (403) 245-0333
E-mail: sales@smarttech.com
Address:  SMART Technologies Inc.
Suite 600, 1177 - 11th Avenue SW
Calgara, AB Canada T2R 1K9