Wii smart-board, is it worth the savings?

This week in class, we were introduced to Wii smart-boards by a classmate. When introducing the Wii smart-board, she explained that when created properly it can create a saving of $2000 for people who are interested. For schools, the introduction and use of Wii smart-boards, rather than the regular smart-boards would mean a great deal of savings. Aside from the savings I think that the Wii smart board would be more available to schools and accessible to students in all schools if it were cheaper. Also, instead of just having one smart-board per school, we would be able to purchase more and thus familiarize the students to smart-boards or in this case Wii smart-boards more.

A Wii smart-board can be easily created by following a few easy steps.

The facilitator would need:

* A Laptop

* A Projector

* A Wii remote

* A Bluetooth Driver

* Infrared Pen

Examples of where the Wii smart-board could be useful:

* With garageband manipulating it and projecting it onto the board

* In chemistry, projecting a molecule and watching it and learning about it in various perspectives.

After viewing my classmate demonstrate the use of Wii-smart-board, upon collaboration I have come to see that there are many features that can be useful when used in the classroom. It would be useful as it would be a good tool to use when teaching. As an educator, it would be beneficial and cost-effective for me to use this piece of technology in the classroom. My only concern with this technology, however, is that it seems as if it requires the user to be very tech savvy. Andrea, seemed to really know what she was talking about when collaborating the devices, and having the outcome she did with this piece of technology. If I were given all of the resources and asked to introduce the concept of the Wii smart-board in the classroom, I would definitely not be as successful. I think that although the smartboard would essentially cost more for me to use in the classroom, I would feel a lot more comfortable using it. For that reason, although I am really big on saving money, due to the technological background that I find you need to have to run this tool I would choose to use the contemporary smartboard.

Wii smartboard youtube videos that I found:

How to make a Wii Smartboard

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQJQFTHiPJo

Building Wii Smartboard

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw5kmErQgu0

Wii Smartboard Success

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUucM8CfxQg