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Tips for Using SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard Effectively

 Orienting the Smartboard interactive whiteboard quickly

To perform a quick orientation of your SMART Board interactive whiteboard, press down on both buttons on the SMART pen tray to activate the Smartboard orientation screen.

Left clicking on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard

When you press on the SMART Board interactive whiteboard surface with a finger, this is the same as left clicking on the computer with a mouse.

Right clicking on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard

To right click on the SMART Board interactive whiteboard, press down on the right mouse tool button on the SMART pen tray and then touch the SMART interactive whiteboard display surface. This will bring up the right mouse click menu. Pressing on the Smartboard display surface after this press will change back to a left click.

Using a floating mouse cursor on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard

A floating mouse cursor on a SMART Board interactive whiteboard is the same as when a cursor is moved across a computer screen with a mouse without actually clicking on anything. To activate this feature on a SMART Board, add the Floating Mouse button to the SMART Floating Tools then press this button. You can now slide your finger across the SMART Board display surface without executing a left mouse click, which is useful for hovering with the mouse cursor to see tool tips.

Press firmly enough on the SMART Board when writing

When drawing on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard with a SMART pen tool you should make sure that you press firmly on the SMART Board. Since the Smartboard is sensitive to pressure, and you are effectively closing a gap between two contacts (click here for more information on SMART Board technology), you might find that you need to press somewhat harder with the pen that you would normally do on a regular whiteboard surface.

Only press at the point of contact when writing on the SMART Board

When you are writing on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard with a SMART pen tool or with your finger, you should make sure that you only touch the SMART Board where you want to write. If you rest your hand against the SMART Board while you write on it you may find that the Smartboard behaves unexpectedly and digital ink is drawn in places where it is not needed.

Write on the SMART Board with letters large enough for all students to see

When you are writing on your Smartboard interactive whiteboard, you should make sure that your letters are large enough for even students at the back of the class to see clearly. Usually letters that are at least two inches high are a suitable size.

Remember that the pen selection technology is in the SMART pen tray and not the pen tool itself

When you pick up a pen from the SMART pen tray, the color of digital ink that is drawn on the board is selected according to the last pen that was removed from the tray and does not actually have anything to do with the specific pen itself. To avoid confusion, you should only pick one pen tool or eraser up at a time, and always return the SMART pen tool to its correct color coded slot in the SMART pen tray.

Accurate erasing with the SMART eraser

If you need to erase a specific part of what you have written on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard, you should use the edge of the SMART eraser instead of its flat surface.

Erasing large areas with the SMART eraser

To erase a large area of digital ink with the SMART eraser, you can use the circle and tap feature. Take the SMART eraser in hand and circle the area you want to erase. Then tap the middle of the area to erase the whole thing.

Writing on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard with a finger

Since the way in which a SMART pen tool or eraser interacts with the Smartboard interactive whiteboard is determined by the SMART pen tray rather than the pen tool itself, a teacher can use this knowledge to interactive with the SMART Board with their finger. For example, to write in red ink on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard, pick up the red pen tool, and write on the board with a finger. The ink displayed on the board is red. To write with black ink, put down the red pen tool and pick up the black one, then write with a finger. The SMART pen tray tells the SMART Notebook Software to produce black digital ink.

Erasing digital ink on the Smartboard interactive whiteboard with a finger

In the same way, a teacher can erase digital ink from the Smartboard interactive whiteboard by picking up the SMART eraser tool from the SMART pen tray and applying pressure to the SMART Board with their finger. This is an excellent way to erase accurately on the SMART Board. To erase accurately on the SMART Board with a finger, the eraser width should first be set to its smallest size. Press the SMART Board icon in the system tray of your computer. Then press Control Panel. Press the Pen Tray tab, and then press the eraser button to change the width of the eraser tool to ten pixels wide (its smallest setting).