Getting set up

Having taken receipt of the four boards and associated data projectors because we also had to teach and fulfill a range of other tasks, it was quite a few weeks before we could find time to actually open them. (This is a bit of a continuing theme and needs to be taken account of when undertaking any new major initiative, especially where ICT is involved.)

Finally it was only by going up to school on the Easter weekend that I could find time to "play" with the board. The initial setup was quite simple, the board itself being quite light and easy to rest against a bookshelf. Installing the software was also quite easy. The biggest problem was getting the projector to work. The instructions were uncharacteristically lacking in information. Finally with a mix of Function keys and other mix and match we had projection.

The resultant playtime was huge fun as we realised that the possibilities for using the board were far greater than what we had originally envisaged. Just about anything you can do on the computer can also be viewed an and operated from the board.

The proprietary software included with the SMART Board is also very interesting and quite intuitive. We loved the character recognition aspect and changing text to type. We also loved the Smart Ideas software that operates just like Inspiration software only in some cases even more creatively.

Preamble

Isn't hindsight a marvellous thing and doesn't it often provide the most illuminating moments. It was about two weeks ago that I realised that I should have started this blog about three months back, (or for that matter even earlier). I have backdated this and some of the following posts so that the reader might get some flavour of our journey as it unfolded.

You see it was towards the end of last year that we at Bellaire begun seriously talking about investigating the use of interactive whiteboards within the school. At the time we were compiling a submission for funding, (that of course we missed out on). Came the end of the year however we received an email that advertised a special 2 for 1 offer on the purchase of Interactive Whiteboards. It seemed a good deal so we ordered four.