About six years ago I acquired a Smart Board in my classroom for the purpose of meeting the needs of a visually handicapped student in one of my math classes. I learned, mostly through trial and error, how to use the software and eventually created all of my Every Day Math lessons with Smart Notebook. Even though the student moved on at the end of the year the Smart Board stayed. Then a few years ago I received a grant to purchase two iPads and an Apple TV. With the apple TV and an app called Splashtop Whiteboard I was able to control my math lesson from anywhere in the room. This was a huge advantage as I was able to have greater proximity to the students. Things were running pretty smoothly, but there were frequent glitches. However, as we all know technology continues to improve and advance.
In the fall of 2012 Smart Notebook released an app for the iPad. I was intrigued. Could this be a way to resolve the glitches I was bumping into using the Smart Notebook software with the Splashtop app? At first it wasn't and I was very disappoint and a little angry since the app was expensive, at least as far as apps go. The problems were numerous, it would crash, it would freeze, and it was difficult to get the lessons from my laptop to the iPad. In my disappointment I even wrote an unfavorable review and went back to using Splashtop. But I knew the app had potential and I was betting on Smart Technologies to make it right. Several months later they did. With an update to the Smart Notebook app many of the problems disappeared. So I gave the app a second chance and this time I wasn't disappointed.
There are differences between what you can do using Smart Notebook on a laptop and what you can do with the iPad, but the Smart Notebook app has gotten smarter. The crashes and problems with screen freezing have disappeared. Now I can easily access my lessons by storing them in Dropbox. I can also upload the lessons to the two student iPads in the classroom and have students follow the lesson at their seats, this is a big deal to 10-year olds. When a student is absent I can have them review the lesson with a classroom support person when they return to school. This year I had a student who struggled with math and her parents asked how they could help. They had an iPad at home and were willing to purchase the Smart Notebook app, so I started to send the lessons home on a weekly basis. The parents would review the lessons with their child and her math confidence began to improve.
While the Smart Notebook app is smarter now, I am hoping that the next update will make it a genius.
