Tech Tip #1 – Three ways to Orientate your SMART Board

One of the easiest things to keep your SMART Board in good working condition is to reorientate it regularly. You know you will need to reorientate when you are writing at one spot in Notebook but the annotation is displaying an inch or two away from your point. This tip will share three ways to reorientate your board.

1. Push down the two buttons, the right click and keyboard buttons, on the pen tray. You will find these to the right of your styluses. (I have found that the trick is to push the right click button, hold it down, then push the keyboard button, release the keyboard button, then release the right click button.)

2. The second way is to click the SMART Board icon in the system tool tray in the lower right hand corner by the time and select Orient from the menu.

3. Finally, do you use the Start Center? It's the vertical tool bar with the icons of SMART Board tools available. The icon with the ellipsis (three dots) will also give you the option of reorientation.

Tech Tip #2 – Precise SMART Board Orientation

Last week I shared several ways to reorientate your SMART Board. This week I want to continue with orientation issues. There is a way to set your board to orientate to more than just 9 points. Orientating to more than the 9 points would be a good thing to do for more precise orientation or if your board doesn't stay orientated very well. Here are the steps for changing that.

1. Open the SMART Board control panel. (Click the SMART Board icon in the tool tray by the time, select control panel.)
2. Select SMART Board Settings.
3. Using the drop down menu, select Orientation/Alignment Settings.
4. Change the settings to Wide Standard or Fine Point precision.
5. Click OK and try reorientating your board.

Tech Tip #3 – Care for Projector Bulbs

This tip is just a reminder about the care of your projector bulbs. Projector bulbs are very expensive, so please keep this tips in mind as you use your projector:

1. If you will not be using your projector for longer than the next 20 minutes, TURN IT OFF! It saves bulb life!
2. If your screen saver comes on, turn off your projector. That's a pretty good sign you are not using the SMART Board, therefore don't need the project on.
3. Try to keep your chalk use to a minimum. The extra dust chalk produces is hard on the projector and shortens bulb life.