Just over a year ago I wrote about a massive collection of SMART Board files for free downloading, and while I got good feedback on that tip, many did not find the time to check it out. Thus, I thought it was time to put it out there again.
Notebook files on a range of topics for a range of subject areas can obviously be very handy and save you much time and may contain some real gems, but do note that you don’t have to have a SMART board in order to use the Notebook software. The SMART Notebook software is installed on all ISM computers and you can set up and use a Notebook file on a computer without a board attached.
A Notebook file is pretty much like a PowerPoint presentation - you can just click through it and show it on the projector. Obviously, this doesn’t offer all the same benefits, but if the contents of the file are useful in themselves - clear, logical explanations, illustrative material, enlightening animations, etc. - then simply just showing the file with a projector can help learning take place.
In some respects, I actually prefer the Notebook software over PowerPoint. A couple of reasons are:
- Without all the PowerPoint themes, students are forced to create the visual design themselves. This involves the use of color, size and placement for emphasis.
- Without all the animations and sound effects, there is less to distract students from simple design principles and the actual content they want to communicate.
- You can interact with the contents of a Notebook file, e.g. by dragging elements around during a presentation. Thus, you can ask students to (help you) organize elements on the page, e.g. in a Venn diagram.
For a fairly basic overview of what you can do with the SMART Notebook software, go to http://www.ism-online.org/hints/SMART_Tips.pdf.
