Technology How To

The 10 study rooms in the ZSR Library are equipped with interactive white boards called SMART Boards^TM. SMART Boards allow users to not only navigate the computer via a pen or finger on the interactive whiteboard surface, but also draw or write, capture screenshots and capture movies of action on the desktop.

Install the SMART Board software by following the instructions given at the following URL: zsr.wfu.edu/smartboard

The SMART Board is a very useful presentation tool, but students can also use them in various amounts of ways.

This particular post focuses on how to use the SMART Boards with the following programs:

A Web Browser

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

First, follow the instructions given in your particular study room to connect your laptop with the SMART Board

In order to begin writing on the SMART Boards, you must load the SMART Board toolbar. To load to the SMART Board toolbar go to:

Start>Programs>SMART Technologies>SMART Board Drivers>SMART Board Tools

The SMART Board Toolbar will appear:

The Toolbar has many options including

1. Pen Tool
2. Highlighting Tool
3. Shape Tool
4. Line Tool
5. Spotlight
6. Recording Tool

To add more options to your Toolbar, click the advanced options button at the bottom of the Toolbar and select more items to include

Now you are ready to write!

Using SMART Boards with a Web Browser

Open up any web browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) and find a page where you would like to add notes

Use your finger to choose what tool you would like to use, then lift a pen from the pen tray. When the pen is in your hand, a border should appear on the screen, showing that you can now write on the screen. Begin writing.

When you complete your ink layer, place the pen back in the pen tray and push the screen in with your finger. On the menu that appears, choose Save Ink Layer and your screen will be captured and saved into the Notebook Software

Using SMART Boards with Microsoft Word

With the SMART Board Toolbar still open, load a Microsoft Word file that you would like to create notes on.

For students who use their laptops to take notes in class, the SMART Boards can be used to highlight notes that are particularly important when narrowing down information for a midterm or final.

Lift a pen from the pen tray and a Microsoft Word menu will appear titled “Aware Tools” as shown in the image below

The first option in the Aware Tools menu allows the user to draw within their document and save those drawings as images. This option is the most useful because it is very easy to save exactly what you wrote in the file.

The second option in the Aware Tools menu allows the user to take the words written with the pen tool and turn them into typed text. However, sometimes the SMART Board struggles with decoding human handwriting, therefore this tool is less useful

The third and final option in the Aware Tools menu takes a screen capture of the document and saves it within the Notebook Software

Using SMART Boards with Microsoft PowerPoint

Lastly, the SMART Boards can be used to run a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation

To switch slides, perform the following:

• Next Slide- tap the SMART board consecutively, one time at any location on the board, followed by an immediate tap to the right of the first
• Previous Slide- tap the SMART board consecutively, one time at any location on the board, followed by an immediate tap to the left of the first

Users can also use the pens to create notes on top of their presentation. For example, a presenter can check off items on a list of topics within their presentation as shown below