Macs compatible with Smartboards and Notebook software?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Melanie on July 24, 2008 at 2:16am

We're having a smartboard presentation tomorrow and we are a mac school. Will let you know how it goes...

Permalink Reply by Jane Keyes on July 29, 2008 at 7:14am

I have worked in countless schools over the past several years with Smartboards, Promethean, and Polyvision boards. My macs have worked seamlessly with all of them. I would say that the software for Smartboard and Promethean is far superior. You want to make sure you get software that allows you to save what you've written on the board as QT. Polyvision software does NOT let you do that. When you have that QT file, you are able to post it as a Podcast for students who need review or were not there.

Permalink Reply by Erik Dreisbach on July 29, 2008 at 7:50am

Jane,
Thank you for your advice. How long does it take to save the files to QT from Smartboard? Will I be able to save a file and start a new one in under 5 minutes (the time between classes)?

I love the idea of having the material in podcast form! I've heard of some classes that have students watch and listen to the "lecture" at home, then come to class with questions and do the "homework" in school. I like this idea. It allows the teacher to guide and assist with more of the key skills asked of the class - not just listening and note-taking.

Permalink Reply by Andy R on August 21, 2008 at 1:46pm

My school has some Smartboards attached to PCs and some to Macs. From what I've seen, most features are seamless. Some SmartTech features work a little better on the Mac. You can use tools like spotlight and screen shade outside of the Notebook program. On the downside, the Ink preferences that come with the writing recognition can be annoying.

Permalink Reply by Jen Cresse on August 24, 2008 at 4:39pm

I have not been able to get the recorder function to work with my airliner since going mac. Has anyone else had this problem?
The files are totally blank. It works on my pc but not the mac.
Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Obe Hostetter on October 11, 2008 at 2:26pm

Try installing the latest flash since the page recorder uses Flash. Also the page recorder hides at the bottom of the pages so the pages look black but if you scroll down, you will see a flash menu with buttons at the bottom of the page.

Permalink Reply by Kay McNulty on October 26, 2008 at 12:52pm

Seamless

Permalink Reply by Margaret Ohrn on March 26, 2009 at 6:47pm

We are a mac school but are considering switching to PCs to save money. We've also heard that macs have more problems with the smartboard than pcs do. Do you have any advice on this pc vs mac issue? I have experienced some glitches with my mac/smartboard, but I am a relatively new user to the smartboard, so it might be my inexperience and not the mac.

Permalink Reply by Kay McNulty on March 26, 2009 at 6:53pm

The vendor who installed the boards did say that the smartboard software is a bit more robust on the windows side, but that mac version has pretty much caught up to that. Ours is working great, so it just comes down to your school's preferences. I like macs for the creative software and easy networking features, but if you are only going to use the machine for web based applications and smartboard stuff, then go for the cheaper machine.

Permalink Reply by Obe Hostetter on March 29, 2009 at 6:37am

We have over 20 schools using MACs running 10.4 and 1 school running 10.5 with SMART Boards and it works great as a whole. I recently got the SMART airliners working on 10.5. Check out MAC SMART Board Revolution Ning for resources, ideas, troubleshooting etc on SMART Boards at http://smartboardrevolution.ning.com/group/smartmacusers/forum

Permalink Reply by Kay McNulty on March 29, 2009 at 8:28am

ah - what a great ning, thank you!