1. What is a SMART Board?

A SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard that has a touch sensitive screen and connects to a computer. It is an interactive tool that is easy to use and invites student participation in the learning process. A SMART Board facilitates the use of graphics, video, sound and images which can be manipulated on screen and engage the students in the educational process. The user's finger is the mouse, and by touching the screen the teacher or student controls the information on the screen. SMART Boards make class time more efficient and focused, allowing the teacher to instantly display information or diagrams and not waste class time writing or sketching.

2. What are participating schools required to do?

Schools selected to receive SMARTBoards are required to submit at least ten qualified SMART Board lessons for every SMART Board received to the Legacy Heritage Fund Educational Database, SJED.

3. What is SJED (SMART Board Jewish Educator's Database)?

Legacy Heritage Fund has developed SJED, a database which provides access to SMART Board lessons created by educators currently using SMART Board technology in the classroom. The database has a variety of lessons for grades 1-12 listed by educational subject and topic and includes both secular and Judaic studies lessons. Teachers from participating schools are required to load SMART Board lessons that they develop onto SJED in order to facilitate the sharing of materials by educators. Teachers may also search SJED for SMART Board lessons they would like to use or adapt for use in their classroom.

4. What is a qualified SMART Board lesson?

A qualified SMART Board lesson is a lesson which teaches a specific concept, thought, or idea and makes use of the dynamic capabilities of the technology that the SMART Board offers. A qualified SMART Board lesson should include interactive components which invite participation by students in grades 1-12 in the learning experience. A qualified SMART Board lesson is more than merely scanned pages of text (e.g. a page from the Talmud or science textbook) or notes which could have been done without an interactive tool such as an overhead projector.

You may view some examples of qualified SMART Board lessons include on the SJED website using SMART Board software. For example, you may search for:

• English: Language Arts - Homophones 
• Holidays: Shavuot - Shavuos- Names, Customs, and Tefillos
• Math: Percent - Three Types of Percent Questions
• Science: Weather - Meteorology
• Tefillah, Diverse Topics - The Many Meanings of Baruch
• Ivrit & Dikduk: Diverse Topics - Shopping for Fruit 

To view these lessons, you must have the appropriate software. The SMART Board Interactive Viewer is available at http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Support/Downloads/default.htm

5. What are the minimum specifications of the computer that must be attached to the SMART Board?

The minimum specifications for the computer are as follows:

PC's:

• Pentium II 450 MHz processor (700 MHz or faster recommended)
• 256 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended)
• 150 MB of free hard disk space for minimum installation (840 MB for full installation with Gallery collections)
• Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista operating system
• Internet Explorer internet browser 6.0 or later
• Adobe Flash player version 8
• Microsoft DirectX technology 8.1 or later

MAC's:

• 700 MHz processor (1 GHz or faster recommended) PowerPC G3, G4 or G5 processors and Intel processors (universal binary)
• 256 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended)
• 85 MB of free hard disk space for minimum installation (825 MB for full installation with Gallery collections)
• Mac OS X version 10.4.11 or 10.5.4 operating system software
• Safari application program version 1.3.2 or later