The Smart Board is a special kind of monitor that can be found in several studios. Each Smart Board is touch sensitive, meaning that you can walk in front of it and touch the screen with your finger in the same way that you point and click with a mouse.

In addition, each Smart Board has four markers of assorted colors that are held in a weight-sensitive tray. When a marker is removed, the Smart Board knows which color is missing, and touching the screen with that marker writes and draws just as a real marker would, allowing you to draw all over your Powerpoint slides if you wish. There is an eraser provided to erase your markings, although when you move to the next slide the markings will disappear automatically.

The Smart Board has two different settings that you can request- PC Output and Video Output. The PC Output setting exclusively displays the output of the PC computer or laptop being used. Since a direct PC output will not be converted from VGA (the computer monitor rate of scanning) to NTSC (the television rate of scanning) the image quality will be higher and the picture will be more clear for students in class. This setting is especially useful in computer programming classes where the fonts are particularly small. The Smart Board must be in PC mode to allow for touch sensitivity or for the markers to work properly. When the Video output is selected, the Smart Board will display whatever video source is currently being shown on the class monitors, such as any of the cameras, including the overhead pad camera. Should you wish to toggle back and forth between the two settings, ask a Media Specialist to provide you with the remote control so that this can be easily accomplished.