IWB Technology

For a very alternative view of the post! IWB experience read NAS

SMART Technology

Integrating SMART technology with Macintosh Systems

You will need at least the following:

• IWB/DP set up (these are being progressively installed in public schools)
• Mac Laptop, with as much power and memory as your budget can withstand
• Video cable: VGA to VGA (make at least 2 m and of the best quality you can find- usually more expensive but worth it)
• Video Adapter - from output of Mac Laptop (Mini Display Port to VGA or Mini DVI to VGA).

The standard set up for a "Guest" computer is described in the well produced manuals that come with the system. READ THE MANUALS. Be aware that the system DP display is, in its standard form, configured for 800 x 600 XVGA. This is the minimum resolution capable of making good use of the IWB. Before you connect up the Macintosh make sure that the IWB/DP is on. Then plug-in the cable to the Macintosh. This will allow the Macintosh to auto resolve the setup, ie it will automatically reconfigure its display setup to match. You can afterwards adjust the driver resolution from the pull down Menu bar icon if it is activated and if you wish to experiment. DO NOT TRY to adjust the resolution on the IWB/DP. You might mess up things for PC user folks.

There are two possible display options:

• mirror - where the Mac will show the say image on the IWB/DP as on its screen in the same resolution.
• independent - where the Mac will independently drive the two displays. It is also possible to logically locate the IWB/DP screen in any position relative to the Mac's display. Having two independent displays allows for an extended desktop experience.

If you want the full "interactive experience" you will also need:

• USB cable to work with the video cable- ie has to be about 2 m long. This provides the IWB link to the laptop computer, providing the "interactive" part.

Independent dual display vs mirrored dual display

In general you would want to use a Mac laptop which is capable of driving two displays independently, rather than display mirroring (where the IWB/Data Projector displays the same image at the same resolution as on the laptop display).

There are several reasons for this:

• you can use the laptop display as a workspace ready to pass over application windows to the IWB/Data Projector(DP)- the extended desktop model.
• you can make use of Keynote's amazing second screen for controlling a presentation.
• you can show information on each display at different display resolutions. Generally, the display resolution of the IWB/DP is lower than the laptop display.

The effective use of a dual screen system takes some effort to work properly, but can lead to some very powerful means of presenting information dynamically. For example you can queue up disparate media, and dynamically position them on the IWB/DP for the class to use or you can let students watch a video (on their IWB/DP screen) while you are working on the next part of the lesson (on your laptop screen).

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SMART Notebook

The SMART Notebook comes in two versions: Standard and SE (Student). We will focus on the standard version.

I have looked at some of the work found in the Notebook distribution, and in the Internet. Quite frankly, I'm not overly impressed. There is a lot to be done with respect to how you would either modify existing electronic slide presentations or develop new modes of presentation.

The dynamic tools in SMART Notebook are relatively primitive but useful. It is clear that:

• stylised images of drawing tools will be replaced with photo quality images of tools. The protractor is an excellent example here.
• more really useful tools will be developed. For example being able to directly manipulate surface patches, with your fingers and the existing shape recognition tools. Did you know the freehand shape recognition capability was a feature of the very first drawing program invented by Ivan Sutherland, called Sketchpad?

SMART IWB

This is the hardware that links to the SMART software. If you install the complete package directly from the SMART Technologies Website, you can actually obtain some useful diagnostic tools.

SMART support for Macintosh files

SMART technologies provides you with an application called Gallery Setup that allows you to manage your copies of resources. DO NOT Install all of it on a laptop. It takes up more than 1 GB. Instead copy what you need from a server. For more up to date information consider accessing the SMART technologies help centre.

• graphic files types: .bmp, .jpg, .png and .gif formats.
• embed-able components: .swf (Flash)
• video : out of the box only .flv (but other encoders can be installed)
• sound : .mp3 (but other encoders can be installed)

The recommended encoder is ffmpegX - 0.0.9w but the latest is ffmpegX - 0.0.9y. It was last updated in Jan 2008.

Supposedly, if you install this encoder it will automatically take care of converting file formats for you. I have yet to test this.

• Reads the following input formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DIVX, XviD, non-encrypted VOB and VIDEO_TS, Quicktime .MOV, .DV, .WAV, Real Audio, Real Video, H.263, MP4 H.264, PGM, YUV, PPM, AC3, PCM8/16 bits, mulaw/Alaw, WMA-1/2, SUN AU format, MP2, MP3, AAC, 3GP, FPS1, ALAC, and even more formats
• Converts the above formats to DivX, AVI XviD, H.264 MP4, MOV, DV, 3GP, Sony PSP, MP2, MP3, AAC, AC3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, VCD, CVD, SVCD, KVCD, KSVCD, DVD, KDVD and MPEG-TS with complete control over encoding options.

SMART notebook support

There are a considerable number of internet sites dedicated to supporting IWB technology and specifically SMART technology products but at this stage they reflect a very new paradigm.

You could try the following sources. Since much of the material in these sites is free, I'd consider the material to be a "good starting point".

• Smartboard Lounge has a number of tutorials, as well as user contributed Notebooks. They are indexed.
• LeesSummit-K12 Smartboard links has a wide range of well indexed and referenced sources. The top level ("home") page has some interesting links on technology in education.