Interactive Whiteboard Ideas

byMark Lawrence

Oyster River High School

I assume you have: A computer in your classroom

A projector (preferably on the ceiling)

A sense of adventure

You’ll need to get: Smoothboard

Smoothboard 2 ($29.99) Smoothboard for Mac ($24.99) Smoothboard Air ($19.99) Smoothboard Air with Duo ($49.99)

Computer Requirements Windows (XP, Vista, 7 or 8)

1.6 GHz processor and above (dual core processor recommended)

A Bluetooth adapter (if using Wii remote)OR Any Mac running 10.6 or later

You’ll need to get: (continued) Wii remote and IR pen (~$26 and

$20)OR A mobile device

• For Smoothboard Air or Duo Any HTML 5 browser

• For Smoothboard 2 or Mac A wifi mouse controller

Smoothboard Use as a whiteboard (or blackboard)

Control and annotate Presentations (e.g. PowerPoint or Keynote)

Use as a mouse to run any computer program and annotate it

Save screenshots

Using a Wii Remote: Setup Place your Wii Remote wisely

Wii remote distance should be approximately 2X the height of the screen

Using a Wii Remote: Setup Make sure Bluetooth is ON (do not sync

the Wii remote using Windows or OS X)

Open Smoothboard

Pair the Wii remote (press 1&2 buttons simultaneously)

Calibrate the Wii remote

Using a Mobile Device Find a remote mouse app for your

device• Smoothboard Air (Free app, $19.99 for PC

app)• HippoRemote ($4.99)• RemoteMouse ($????)• MobileMouse ($0.99)• Others?

Download the accompanying program to your computer

What Can You Do? Everything you can do with the Wii

remote you can do with a remote mouse

Walk around while doing it

Wii Remote Pros and ConsPros

Impressive functionality

Better drawings on the board

Cons

More difficult to set up

More upkeep

Remote Mouse Pros and Cons

Pros

You don’t have to be the center of attention

Easy setup

Cons

Harder to draw or annotate

Relies on a flawless, somewhat open network