Using an iPad with an interactive white board

As far as I know, there are not any Interactive White Board (or other IWB) apps for the iPad  and it would require some serious engineering on the part of the manufacturers to create one. IWBs are dependent on connecting to a computer in two ways – through the VGA or HDMI (for the display) and for the USB (for the interactive “touchscreen” functionality).  Also, mirroring will only work with the iPad 2 connected to an HDMI source (most basic projectors that are in schools do not take HDMI in).

All that said, I think there are a couple of options for using the iPad with an IWB, but none are going to allow us to connect the white board directly to our iPad. I believe that this information would be accurate for android tablets as well.

1. VGA/HDMI display (mirroring only works on the iPad 2)

Using the iPad on a projector would make the “touchscreen” of the Smartboard/Promethean unneeded – you could work directly on the iPad and see the results on a projected screen. However, the Smart software as written would not work because it’s not on the iPad.  Essentially it’s just a projected image.

2. Remote Control – Use the iPad to control a computer connected to the IWB. There are many options for doing this.  In fact, I may do an entire post on this in the future.  For example, GoToMyPC is $110/year and has a free iPad app that let’s you control your computer completely.  LogMeIn Ignition is very similar.  There are also free apps, but they may lack some features. Currently I’m testing TeamViewer HD, Jump Desktop (on android) and I’ve heard of folks trying Air Display

3. Use the iPad to have students add content to a cloud based application running on the computer connected to the Smart Board.  You can have students interact with the cloud app from any device like laptops, netbooks, iPads or phones.  Anyone can log into the same cloud application and all changes are displayed live on all devices as well as on the Smartboard. Examples of such apps are Stixy, Wallwisher and Edistorm

Finally, It is possible to use Smart Notebook Express in a web browser to open Smart Notebook files from any web browser.  Unfortunately, it uses flash.  If iPad would allow flash, you should be able to use Smart Notebook express to interact with your smartboard.