Technology in the classroom over the recent years has evolved in leaps and bounds. We started with the chalkboard on a wall in classrooms. Then we progressed to the standard whiteboard or wipe board. Now we have the interactive whiteboard. There are many manufacturers of interactive whiteboards, however one of the more common or popular makes is known as a smartboard. The actual whiteboards that are considered to be smartboards are manufactured by a company known as Smart Technologies. If you're not familiar with smartboards, here are some of the things that they are capable of doing.These items allow you to "write" on the board using a wireless mouse or a special type of electronic pen, so that the appearance of the writing is projected onto the screen. It seems as if you are physically writing on the screen itself, but you are actually not.The pens that you are using are actually digital, and they contain buttons that allow you to easily use many of the processes that are available. It is also possible for you to use a QWERTY keyboard as well, one that shows up on the whiteboard and can be utilized by simply touching the keys that appear on the screen. The pens and keyboard allows for lots of different ways of making teaching more interesting and flexible.As far as the programming that goes into one of these smartboards, it is something that runs directly on your computer. The program, known as Notebook is used by educators to be able to effectively use the interactive whiteboard in a classroom setting. You can also utilize it, however, in almost any type of setting and it is frequently used for businesses that want to use one of these whiteboards during conferences, either in office conferences or perhaps those with other agencies.There are other benefits that these smartboards can provide. You can use them as a standalone aid or there is a possibility that they can be used across the network, intranet or internet. This allows educators and businesses to be able to hold these conferences and to utilize teaching techniques whenever they are not present in the same area.I do not think that the technology will stop there as every manufacturer are competing to always improve technology within these interactive whiteboards as with any market. There are over a million of these smartboards deployed across the globe, it is estimated that every classroom in every school will eventually have the interactive whiteboard fitted as standard.
