Delores Jones, Leon Smith (Emily Kennedy’s father), Renee and I met with Gary Teeter who
is a trainer at Data Projections.  Data Projections is a family-owned
company started by a school teacher who saw a need for a technology company
that specifically catered to schools.  They began by selling projectors and
now sell many different technologies.  They have expanded to include home
theater stores as well and have offices in Dallas, SA, Austin and Boise,
ID.  Gary used to work for HISD and Renee remembers him from several
professional development conferences etc.  Data Projections does not
manufacture any of the technology.  They preview many different brands of
the same type of technology and determine which products they think would be
best to sell to schools.
 
The items needed for the whiteboard to function include:    a computer
(laptop or desktop), a projector and the board itself.  The projector needs
to be free-standing and not mounted into the ceiling as it is too hard to
get it to hit the smartboard at the exact angle needed.  Renee indicated
that the school has at least 4-6 free-standing projectors floating around
but this could be a potential added cost if the smartboards were added to
all classrooms.
 
Extras include:  Document camera (Elmo is one brand, Smartboard uses
AverMedia products quite regularly as well.  Any document camera will work
with the smartboard.), Speakers (these are not completely necessary but do
enhance the use and can be bought cheaply at Radio Shack etc.) and a remote
board that can be manipulated without touching the smartboard but without
standing at the computer too.  Gary said this was mainly for hs students who
were reluctant to stand up at the front of the class but could operate the
smartboard functions from their desks.  I immediately wrote it off as
unnecessary and, in talking with Renee after the meeting, learned that she
had too. 
 
The software is included forever with the purchase of just one smartboard. 
Teachers can download it on their computers as can parents and admin.  They
are entitled to free software upgrades forever.  Because parents can have it
on their computers at home, teachers can email smartboard lessons to their
students who miss school.  There is a reader version similar to adobe reader
which uses less megabytes but still enables the students to view content,
just not interact at home.
 
The technology has been around for about 30 years and is widespread in the
UK.  Studies have proven that when children learn in an interactive
environment, they retain more information.  Video games are actually
re-wiring the brain to respond more readily to interactive lessons.
 
Here are a few examples of what he showed us:
 
He put a map of the US on the screen with all the states jumbled up.  We
used our fingers to move the states to the correct location.
 
He put a paragraph on the screen that he had written in word on his pc. 
When he wanted to insert a word, he touched the screen to make the cursor
appear where he wanted the word and then wrote the word he wanted to insert
directly onto the screen using a special pen(not needed, any object will do
the same but the smartboard does come with these pens).  He tapped on the
handwritten word and it was instantly transformed into type and inserted
into the proper location.
 
He inserted various shapes on the computer and created a lesson that taught
patterns.  Smartboard software contains over 5000 pieces of free clipart
that can be used/manipulated for various assignments.
 
He put a clock on the board and was able to move the hands with his
fingers. 
 
He put an angle on the board and then inserted a clip art protractor which
could be enlarged to any size in order to measure the degree of the angle.
 
Smartboard also comes with several flash items.  Gary demonstrated rolling
dice, flipping coins, spinning a spinner, playing a xylophone and setting a
timer.
 
There was a program where you had to put all of the respiratory parts
correctly into the “patient” and then press “go”.  If the parts were in the
right place the patient started breathing.  If not, he flatlined.  (this was
a funny little cartoon so not traumatic!  J)
 
He demonstrated the functionality of the document camera and showed how you
can save images projected onto the smartboard for quizzes, students who
missed school etc. 
 
The tool bars can be moved above, below, left or right on the smart board
which ensures they do not get in the way of the teaching material.  The
left/right function works well for team presentations etc as it can be
changed with a tap on the board.
 
Teachers can use their own teaching websites that they are accustomed to
(ex. www.starfall.com <http://www.starfall.com/> , google earth, etc.) as
the smartboard is basically your computer with your finger serving as the
mouse.
 
 
 
Teacher training does not come with the package.  They try to sell
everything a la carte in order to keep costs low.  Gary says he can teach
what you need to know in about 6 hours.  He can break that up into two
3-hour increments.  He also offers training for $150/person at his office
every Thurs.  Renee was leaning toward sending one rep from each grade to
the training one Thurs.  His August training sessions are already booking up
so she was going to check and see about him coming to the school right
before it starts but thought the training in his office might be the way to
go.  EVERYONE agreed that training was absolutely key to the success of
these items.
 
I then asked him some questions Traci had given me as she was unable to
attend…..
 
1.       What are the benefits of the smartboard over the StarBoard (Ms.
Pryor has a starboard now in the library and seems to think it has more
features than the smarboard- for less money)?
Data Projections reviewed Starboard before selecting smartboard to
represent.  Gary claims that Smartboard is more flexible.  Many of the tool
bars are built into the StarBoard system and cannot be moved around as
opposed to the smartboard which has most of its functionality embedded in
its software so is more easily manipulated.  He also said that the Starboard has more buttons to
press etc. to activate certain functions.  Another example he gave is this: 
he projected a video onto the smartboard.  When he removed one of the pens
at the bottom of the board, the video automatically stopped and froze.  He
was able to write onto the screen and provide a teaching moment and then
simply replace the pen to re-start the movie.  We immediately panicked and
asked if you had to have the pens for the board to work.  He said no and
demonstrated how any object that covers the sensor at the bottom of the
board (he used his keys) would simulate the existence of the pen.  You can
use worn-out markers etc….But I digress!!!  On the Starboard, you have to
turn on the pen etc. which is much more distracting—so just way more steps
and not as much flexibility.
 
2.       Will they give us a discount in price for purchasing multiple
units… and do we get any discount for being a school or non-profit?
We are already receiving the HISD discount, so no.  We can maybe get one for
the document cameras but it may be only for very large orders.

3.       Are there any disadvantages about having the smartboard on the
portable wheeled unit?  (Kelly gartner uses them at her school and seems to
think they are difficult to ‘wheel’ down the hall and are more stable when
they are mounted to the wall)
He showed us how you can unlock the wheels to roll it and then lock them
back again so there is virtually no risk of tipping etc.  It’s not the
easiest thing to wheel
around but it didn’t look any harder than a wheeling chalkboard or dry erase
board—maybe a little heavier but not to the point where you’d just give up.

4.       With respect to the portable unit… is there any insurance/liability
that smartboard takes if the thing, say, tips over while on their wheeled
unit?  What about if the screen gets scratched/vandalized (with, say a ball
point pen)… what are the options to fix/replace it if this happens?
Smartboard accepts no liability but he says it is very rare that they have
to do repairs on their boards.  He can count on one hand the times that they
have had to do extensive repair due to vandalism etc. and he has been with
the company (3?) years.  He has never heard of one tipping over.  He said
most things can be easily cleaned off the board with 409 and it is his
experience that the students treat the boards with respect.  We all agreed
that the pens would probably disappear at some point but they are only about
$15 to replace and can also be replaced by other items already in the
classroom.

5.       What is the average life span of a smartboard? 
VERY long according to Gary.  The company has been in existence for over 20?
years and he just did a training session on a board that had a 00____
serial number (they are now up to 80___)  He said it worked beautifully
because the board is just a board—it’s the software that needs to be
periodically
updated and we get all updates free.  (He said to check and make sure that
was the case with Starboard because he is not sure that it is).
 
The purchase of one by Emily Kennedy's father, coupled with the Dad’s Club
means that two will be forthcoming very soon.  In talking with Renee, she
expressed an interest in having two immediately, four by the end of the year
with the goal of having 6 by the time school started. 

 
I was impressed and thought that they would be great teaching tools in the
classroom.  Again, I think the training aspect is key because there is a lot
to learn.  It’s pretty intuitive but it’s not like you want to just be
playing around with it while trying to teach the class.  And the fact that
each grade level will most likely be sharing one at best, there won’t be
tons of time for each teacher to play around with it on her own.  The great
thing, though, is that teachers can come up with their smartboard lessons
without the board itself on their own pc’s and then just project them on the
smartboard when it’s their turn to use it.  It’s not like they need the
board to write the lesson.  There are also hundreds of free smartboard
lessons online for teachers to use.  He said to just google smartboard to
see. 
 
Renee asked for a bid to be faxed to her for 6 boards with stands plus a bid
for the document cameras. 

Also, he suggested we call Longfellow ES if we have questions re use etc as
they have recently added a bunch.
 
Please let me know if you have any further questions at all and I can either
answer myself if I know the answer or forward to Gary Teeter.