Interactive+Whiteboards

toc =Introduction= Interactive whiteboards (IWBs, such as Smartboard brand) have become ubiquitous in many schools. This page covers resources for learning how to use IWBs and their software as well as a way of creating an IWB using a wiimote.

=Interactive Whiteboards= Interactive Whiteboards look alluring, could have potential educational benefits, but without thoughtful use can too easily encourage undifferentiated, low level (in relation to Bloom's taxonomy), whole group instruction.

=Web Resources for Interactive Whiteboards= [] [] Huge amount of resources. [] [] Piano that uses computer keyboard for playing. It's not intuitive for pianists but kids who have never used a keyboard before find it easy and a lot of fun. [] Make a roller coaster. [|www.nyphilkids.org] [|www.dsokids.com] [|www.musicalmind.org] [|www.kusckids.com] [|www.classicsforkids.com] [|www.creatingmusic.com] [] []

[] lots of online activities, great visual teaching aides and lessons. Should be able to adapt to use with interactive whiteboard. Check out the activities for Coinbox to help learn coin values and exchanges.

[|www.nyphilkids.org] [|www.dsokids.com] [|www.musicalmind.org] [|www.kusckids.com] [|www.classicsforkids.com] [|www.creatingmusic.com]

=Smart Technologies= Smart Technologies created the "Smartboard" brand IWB. The following section discusses this particular brand and provide resources for it.

Smart Notebook Software
Notebook is the Software that accompanies Smart Technologies Smartboard. You can use Notebook if you are associated with a school system or university that has site licenses for the software. If you are a Capital University student, contact cosborn2@capital.edu for Capital's key to this software. You can download the software here: []

If you do not have the software, you can still read some Notebooks using this: http://smarttech.com/notebookexpress Note that this does not appear to work in Google Chrome. Try Firefox. It's also a very limited tool.

Resources for Learning Notebook Software
http://etoolbox.wikispaces.com/Smart This wiki has many different resources for learning Notebook

Here are some more resources:

Some Smartboard Notebooks

Resources from Rachel Niswonger Resource from Jess Yoha: This is a SmartBoard activity I created for my class while student teaching. It is to help them review story parts and then figure out the story parts for the book __Christmas Trolls__ by Jan Brett. On each slide after the review game, the students had to drag the correct answers to the top. At the top of the new slide, it said "Main Characters" and at the bottom was a box with a list of names in it; the students had to drag the correct main character names out of the box. Each story part has a slide and corresponding information for the book by Jan Brett. This activity could easily be a template for other stories you might read to help the students with story parts!

Smartboard in the Music Classroom
__**Smartboard as a Tool for Teaching**__ Julie Poretta, Gahanna Jefferson Public Schools The Smartboard can be an effective tool for both intruction and student motivation. For those who are unfamiliar with Smartboard, it is an interactive whiteboard that is hooked up to your computer. It allows you to manipulate programs and software on the computer screen with the touch of your hand rather then actually being at the computer. In order to use the Smartboard a teacher needs the interactive whiteboard, a computer, smartboard software and a projector.

Smartboard has been an invaluable resource in my classroom to provide not only varied and diverse teaching methods, but as an interactive tool that students use each day to promote musical learning and slef discovery. Below you will find several smartboard files which I have created and used in my instruction to promote __musical literacy__. Please keep in mind that I have used these files to meet my own specific teaching needs and the needs of my students. Feel free to modify or change any of the files to best meet the needs of your students.

I have categorized the files by age level and subject matter. If you have a smartboard file that you have created and would like to share with your fellow music educators in an attempt to help promote music literacy, please feel free to email me the file and I will add it to the wiki page. Musically Yours, Julie Porretta (mjporretta@yahoo.com) Elemenarty Music Teacher, Gahanna Jefferson Public Schools.

__**Smartboard Files**__ Rain Rain - [|Rain Rain.notebook] Kindergarten beat chart and comparatives - [|Kindergarten.notebook]
 * K-2**
 * 3-5**

=Wiimote Interactive Whiteboard= Not everyone has the big bucks to afford a Smartboard and its software. Here is a hardware alternative along with software you can use instead of the Smartbook notebook software.

Here is the hero of the alternative to Smartboard. On this page (scroll down) is the video of how it works as well as the software you need to calibrate your computer to the projector image: [] Also there are some links to good sites that are fun to use on an interactive whiteboard.

Here is a forum that has information from other users of this system: []

Here is Johnny Chung Lee's software for the Wiimote Board (the notebook-like software). It's hosted on sourceforge.net which means it is Open Source. As Open Source software matures, it becomes better and better. Being an Alpha or Beta user means you might experience bugs but you can also use the forums on Sourceforge or above to report the bugs and Lee will pay attention to you! You can't do that with Microsloth (which is definitely not bug free, either). []

ActivInspire is commercial software that has a free download you can use. The free version (which you access by agreeing to the license terms and then hitting "Personal Edition") has limited features but they are certainly robust enough to be useful. If you really like this software, it's probably a good idea to buy it eventually. []

[] Includes wiimote software for Mac. back to top

 =Wiimote Interactive Whiteboard on Ubuntu= Ubuntu [|http://ubuntu.com], an open source operating system, allows you to download GTK Wiimote Whiteboard through the Ubuntu Software System. This software cues you to press 1 and 2 on the wiimote and it also calibrates the image. The calibration process is a little different from Smartboard or Wiimote on Windows because it's not based on a special screen. The software cues you to touch the upper left hand corner of the image (using the IR pen) and then the other corners. You have to use the switch on the IR pen for each part of the calibration; if you allow the pen to be always on, the calibration process won't work.

Note: from Ubuntu, turn on wiimote before hitting start on the calibration software. Calibration software is located in "Accessories."

A major advantage of using Ubuntu is that it can make an older computer seem like new, which means you have to buy new computers less often.

Souzou is a drawing program you can install on Ubuntu. It allows you to change the color of the pen you are using and is very intuitive. It's a sourceforge.net project: [] back to top