Turn Your Digital Whiteboard into a Rotating Slideshow

Since my dream of replacing bulletin boards with wall to wall HD TVs (think Buffalo Wild Wings) to display tech projects seems like a long shot...I went with the next best thing and turned my SmartBoard into a rotating slideshow that adds to the "Print Rich Environment" in my classroom.

Supplies:

- Digital whiteboard connected to computer with internet (Windows 7 in this example)

- Cloud storage with app that syncs to local storage (Drive, Dropbox, and Copy will all work fine)

- iPad (not required but helpful for gathering images)

Simplified Idea:

When I find share-worthy images, I save them on my iPad and then upload them to a folder in Drive. I pointed the desktop background to that folder on my SmartBoard computer and then you will have a slideshow playing in the background.

Detailed Steps:

1) Images can come from any source, but I like to use Twitter images from Commander Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) on the ISS. If you go to his profile page on the iPad and tap one of his images, it will appear in full screen with the Tweeted text below. When I find one I want to display, I do a screen capture (hold power button and then press the home button).

2) Create a folder in the cloud storage service of your choice. The screencast shows Drive. I named the folder "Desktop Pictures" so it is easy to find.

3) Navigate to that folder and tap "+" in the top right corner. Then tap "Upload Photos or Videos" and "Camera Roll." You can select photos to upload by tapping multiple thumbnails and then tapping "Upload."

4) On your Windows computer, double click the Drive app to open your folders. Open the "Desktop Pictures" folder. Click in the address bar to select the path and then Copy it.
5) Open desktop background settings. It is easy to find by hitting start and then typing "wallpaper" or "Change Desktop Background."

6) Change "Picture Location" to "Pictures Library" by selecting it from the drop down menu. Remove the libraries that are already there unless you want them to display in addition to your new images in Drive. Click "Browse," clear the box and Paste the path that you copied in step 4.

7) Set "Picture Position" to "Fit" and adjust the setting for "Change picture every:" to a shorter time like 30 seconds or 1 minute.

8) Save changes and your slideshow will be live.

This is a also a great motivator for cleaning up desktop icons!