Using a SMARTBoard
Getting Going
Contents
1. Lining up your board 3
2. SMARTBoard tools 4
2.1 Tool Bar 4
2.2 Paging through notebook 4
2.3 Adding a new page 4
2.4 Opening an existing notebook 5
2.5 Paste 5
2.6 Undo and Redo 5
2.7 Delete 5
2.8 Pull down blind 6
2.9 Full Screen 6
2.10 Camera 7
2.11 Selector 7
2.12 Pens and Highlighters 7
2.12 Fancy pens 7
2.13 Erasers 8
2.14 Lines and arrows 8
2.15 Shapes 8
2.16 Text boxes 10
2.17 Line and Fill Colour 11
2.18 Transparency 11
2.19 Line properties 11
2.20 Extending the page 11
3. Page Sorter 12
4. Gallery 13
5. Floating Tools 14
6. The Pen Tray 16
7. Using Handwriting recognition 16
8. Using Other software and annotating them 17
1. Lining up your board
This is called “Orienting” which means getting your pen and board aligned, so that when you write the letters appear where you expect them to. This will need to be done from time-to-time as the alignment will change slightly with use.
Right click on SMARTboard icon on bottom right corner of the screen.
Choose the Orient.... option.
**************** (add picture here)
Use one of the pens to follow the instructions on your whiteboard.
2. SMARTBoard tools
2.1 Tool Bar
2.2 Paging through notebook
Use left arrow and right arrows on tool bar navigate your way through a notebook.
2.3 Adding a new page
Simply click on the new page icon on the tool bar. This will add a new blank page directly after the page you are on.
2.4 Opening an existing notebook
To open a previously created notebook click on the open folder icon (just like in MS Word) .
An alternative is to click on the File option on the main tool bar. Then choose the Open option.
2.5 Paste
Exactly the same as in MS Word and MS Excel. Once you have either “cut” or copied some text or picture, then click on the paste icon to put it in place.
2.6 Undo and Redo
Exactly the same as in MS Word and MS Excel. If you wish to undo a change click on the undo icon and likewise to reinstate the last change click on the redo icon .
2.7 Delete
Highlight text and pictures and press the delete icon – the alternative is to use the delete key on your keyboard.
2.8 Pull down blind
A very useful feature that allows you to reveal part of your screen rather than the whole thing. Simply click on the pull down blind icon then you have the option to reveal parts of your screen by pulling the blind up, down, right or left by touching the buttons on the blind.
To get rid of the blind just click on the red cross on the top right of the blind or click on the icon blind again. You will then get your original screen back.
2.9 Full Screen
To show only your notebook on the screen you can use the “full screen” option which means you will hide the tool bars and trimmings. Simply click the full screen icon .
You can navigate your way through your notebook using the arrows that are displayed on the screen. To return to a normal notebook click on the full screen on the displayed tool bar.
The … option allows you to access pens and highlighters.
2.10 Camera
The camera tool is very powerful and allows you to capture specific parts of documents or notebooks and copy them to another document or notebook. There are four options available:
1) to capture a rectangular image and paste it
2) to capture an entire page and paste it
3) to paste an entire page yourself
4) to capture an irregular shape and paste it
2.11 Selector
This is a very useful tool because it enables you to move selected text, pictures, shapes etc around the screen. This is very helpful to make interactive lessons.
2.12 Pens and Highlighters
In addition to the four pens that you have in the pen try you have the ability to change the colour of your pen and its thickness, or you can turn your pen in to a highlighter.
Touch the pen icon and then touch the option you want.
You may choose your option either by using one of the pens
or by using your finger as a cursor.
2.12 Fancy pens
There are a number of novelty pens that you can use. Just touch the fancy pen icon and choose the one you want. The pupils seem to like these !!
2.13 Erasers
The default erase is quite small. You may use larger
erasers by touching the eraser button and
selecting the one you want. You use your hand as the
eraser rather than the one in the pen try.
2.14 Lines and arrows
There are a number of variety of lines and arrows
available to use. This is very useful when you are
showing constructions or drawing attention to
specific information. Touch the lines and arrows icon
and then choose the one you want. Then simply draw
your line with your finger or a pen. Alternatively you
could use your mouse to achieve greater accuracy.
2.15 Shapes
Very similar to the lines and arrows options. This time click
on the shapes option and choose from a number of
predefined shapes and draw on your board using your finger,
mouse or pen.
When you have drawn your shape you can change the colour of
the outline of the shape and the colour of the infill. You can
then add text to your shape. This can be used for specific things
like titles, key words, homework etc.
To do this, select the shape using the select button
In the top right of the shape and option arrow will appear.
Click on it to see the options.
To change the colour of the shape, choose the Properties option. Then choose your preferences.
To add text click on the shape and type your text.
2.16 Text boxes
To add text to your notebook, touch the text box icon . Then place the cursor or use your finger to position your text. You are able to choose your font and size of text just as you do in MS Word.
2.17 Line and Fill Colour
This icon provides a quick way of filling shapes and changing their outlines.
2.18 Transparency
I must confess I haven’t used this one.
2.19 Line properties
Use this button if you use to change the thickness and colours of lines that you have drawn.
2.20 Extending the page
At the bottom of the screen there is an option to “Extend Page”. This is useful if you wish to add more information to an existing page and keep ideas together as opposed to adding a new page. You can then use the scroll bar on the right hand side to move up and down.
3. Page Sorter
When you create a notebook with a series of pages you can use the Page Sorter to change the order of the pages. Alternatively, you can delete pages that you don’t want. You can also clone or copy pages to other notebooks.
Simply click on the notebook page in the Page Sorter and then click on the “drop down” arrow to choose what you want to do. If you want to change the order of the pages, click on the page you want to move and drag it between the pages where you would like to place it.
4. Gallery
The Gallery contains a number of pictures, backgrounds and tools that you can use in your Notebooks. Click on the Gallery tab to show you the directory of available resources. Find the one you want, click on it and then drag it to your notebook.
5. Floating Tools
We have looked at the array of tools available on the tool bar and how to find them.
A more advanced approach is to create your own tool palette and then have them easily available on the screen.
Click on the “tool box” icon on the tool bar on the right hand side of the screen.
A new selection box will appear on the top left hand corner of the screen. This is your toolbox. You may add other tools to it. This saves having to find the tools in the various drop down menus.
If you click on the … options in the toolbox this will display a new dialogue box that enables you to change your toolbox
Choose the option “Customise Floating Tools …”
6. The Pen Tray
On the end of your pen tray there are two buttons. One enables you to get an on-screen keyboard displayed and the other is the same as the “right click” facility on a mouse.
7. Using Handwriting recognition
There is a very neat feature that changes your handwriting into text. Write your words on the board. Then select the text by touching the select button . Highlight the text you want to convert, then right
click on the selected text. You will then be given a list of possible text to convert it to.
8. Using Other software and annotating them
You can open any software package (e.g. Powerpoint) and operate it using the forward and backward arrows that appear on top of the slides. You can also write on top of the presentation without affecting your original presentation. Very useful to highlight or underline key points.
9. Importing a video into a Notebook
9.1 Downloading
You can only do the first part from home not school!
1) You need to have the Mozilla Firefox web browser I have not found out how to do it with MS Internet Explorer (http://www.mozilla.org/)
2) Go to youtube or revver with Mozilla and start playing the video
3) Click the download video icon in the bottom right corner of Mozilla
4) Save it on the computer – it should be a .flv file (flash video file)
9.2 Adding video to notebook
Open notebook software – Insert flash video file
The video file is now an object on your Smartboard that you can resize, play or pause.
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