[blindkid] SMARTboard

[Carrie Gilmer]

As far as I have been able to tell a smart board is loved by sighted kids or
those with low vision enough to functionally really use it. It is not
accessible with JAWS and would not convert to the BrailleNote in our
experience. 

It is like having the old projector with the plastic film and the teacher
handwrites or the regular old blackboard where the teacher writes--only now
it is interactive and like a giant touch screen and any pictorial or text or
entered data can be put up, I don't know if the strict text could be hooked
up and make sense translated to the BrailleNote as it is I don't but I don't
think so because it is picture files not text files which is why it does not
work with JAWS.

It has gotten very popular and I think a rampant rise in the use of them
will occur as well as many other of this type of things. I predict these
2009 kindergarteners are actually the last generation in the USA to have
paper textbooks k-12. There is much to come with accessibility issues and
technology.
 
We have been (NFB) looking at this seriously for a couple of years and
trying to get in front of it. It is exploding very rapidly.

 
 
Carrie Gilmer, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
A Division of the National Federation of the Blind
NFB National Center: 410-659-9314
Home Phone: 763-784-8590
carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
www.nfb.org/nopbc

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Wendy Molle
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 2:22 PM
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindkid] SMARTboard

For Mike and anyone else who doesn't know, a SMARTboard is an interactive
whiteboard.  It is hooked to a computer and a projector projects the monitor
image onto the white board.  It is also an input device because you can
touch the SMARTboard and do anything that you would do with the mouse right
on the SMARTboard.  You can even touch a button on the frame to have a
keyboard appear on the screen to type into a document.  You use special
markers (or your finger if you set it up right) to write on the documents
with virtual ink that can be saved into the document and even converted to
typed text.  There is also an eraser so that you can erase like you would at
a whiteboard or chalkboard.  
Because they are large, they are great for introducing computer skills to
kids.  They can be used for presentations.  You can set up a lesson to have
the kids in a class even move things on the board or write onto the board,
etc.  You can show large maps, large math tools, etc. in action.  Kids love
them!!
They are not cheap, but more and more schools, universities, and businesses
are buying them.
Wendy 
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