As CRTs many of us don't get to use the IWBs that inhabit our classrooms. Many do for sure but many don't too . As we have previously discussed, the GOOD news is that as long as you have a laptop of your own there is a way around this.
Different brands of IWBs use different software and drivers. The drivers are usually free and sometimes so is the software. Sometimes though the software is either "30 day trial" or "you must buy it". This is getting more and more common all of the time. Here's how to go about hooking your own laptop up and using the IWB's full functionality instead of just using it as a projector.
When next in school, take note of the brand and model of the IWB and google it using another two terms:
*IWB brand/model* "drivers" *operating system*. So for Smartboard on my laptop I used "smartboard drivers windows 7" which gave me the link for here:
http://smarttech.com/au/Support/Browse+Support/Download+Software
The software for this one is now all on a 30 day trial :(. You'll still be able to use free IWB apps etc as long as you have the drivers installed that allows your laptop to comminicate with it. I've been told that the drivers don't deactivate meaning you still have access to some of the apps that use the interactivity.
If the IWB vendor is letting you download their software for free, use that! It keeps consistency in the classroom between you and the regular teacher which is less disruptive for the students. Otherwise, try this one out;
http://open-sankore.org/en
This is available for Mac, Linux and Windows. I am a little unclear on whether the drivers need to be installed to use this software... Someone else set it all up for me.
It's a little different than most but I've had a quick play and once you work out the differences it's pretty good. Being open source, it's also improving all the time so check back occasionally for "new and improved" versions ;).
Regards,
Mel.
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