Many schools are standardizing on Google Chromebooks for teacher and student use and because of this, we receive a lot of questions regarding the use of Chromebooks with SMART Board Interactive Flat Panel (IFP) Displays.

In this post and accompanying video, you will learn how your SMART IFP is designed to work seamlessly with your classroom of Chromebooks.

Touch Interaction

Basic Chromebook info: your Chromebook is running the Chrome operating system, which does not allow for the installation of software such as SMART Notebook or SMART Product Drivers — both of which are required for the SMART Board touch and pen interaction.

However, the Chrome OS has its own built in touch drivers. These enable touch interaction with a variety of interactive products, including the complete line of SMART Board Interactive Flat Panels. By simply plugging in the USB cable into your Chromebook, you will have enabled the touch interaction for the SMART Board.

Simultaneous Touch Points & Gestures

A 6000 Series SMART IFP supports up to 4 simultaneous touch points and a 4000 Series SMART IFP supports up to 10 simultaneous touch points when run by the Chrome OS. With either SMART Board you will have plenty of touch points if you decide to have multiple students working together at the display.

Having access to simultaneous touch points is also important if you are using certain cloud-based applications. If your school subscribes to digital content providers like GOMath or ReadyGen, you will be able to access the content through the Chrome Web Browser and utilize the simultaneous touch points feature. You will also be able to perform gestures such as zooming in and out by using the familiar “pinch” common on many smart phones.

Inking

Using a Chromebook, you lose some of the great features that make inking on a SMART IFP such a great experience. Features like SMART Ink, Pen ID, Object Awareness, and automatic tool switching in SMART amp do not work.

To ink on the SMART Board using your Chromebook, you will need to access an app that has built-in inking tools like SMART amp.

With the absence of SMART ink and other premium features such as Object Awareness, having the ability to pick up a pen and have the board recognize the difference between your finger and fist as an both a pen and eraser are affected. However, any cloud software with built in inking tools such as SMART amp will allow you to use the embedded inking tools by simply selecting them with your finger.

Check out the video below where I demonstrate the different types of interactions you can have with a Chromebook on a SMART IFP. In the video, I am using a 6000 Series SMART Board.

Written by Joseph Sanfilippo, Director of E-Learning