If your idea of a whiteboard fits in an extruded aluminum frame and rolls in to a meeting venue for use with dry erase markers, you may be surprised at the features and functionality you can find in the technologically advanced world of its interactive descendants. These large display boards still offer surfaces that accept markers, but with the ability to turn your fingers into writing instruments and save what you write in digital form, you may not miss your eraser.
Whether you use an interactive display content that you’ve prepared in advance or you create live content as you progress through your presentation, interactive whiteboards support and capture what you write and draw. Depending on the whiteboard technology you use, you can write with an electromagnetic pen or wireless stylus, included with the whiteboard itself, or uses your finger as a writing instrument. As you present graphics or multimedia programming, you can pause for annotations or invite audience members to the front to write on the board. The boards can also incorporate handwriting recognition technology to translate what you write into live text. With sizes that top out at more than 8-foot diagonal measurements, these screens can accommodate large presentation and meeting venues.
Interactive white boards connect to a host computer through a USB port or a wireless module. Although the USB specification limits the distance between computer and whiteboard to the maximum length of a cable, whiteboards with optional or standard wireless support can communicate at greater distances over a Bluetooth radio-frequency connection. Whether you use a Mac, a Windows PC or a Linux-based computer, you can find interactive whiteboards that support your operating system. With a projector connected to your computer or on a whiteboard that includes projection capabilities, it becomes a giant annotate-able display screen.
Infrared interactive whiteboards ship with software that supports their standard or optional functions, including handwriting recognition, screen capture, of projected and written material, screen sharing with remote participants and transformation of session content into saved files. They make it possible for you to run and control standard computer software in front of a group, extending their annotation control to the document content you display and capturing the notes and markings you add to prepared documents. With support for standard Web browsers, you can incorporate online content into the materials you present.