Jamboarding at the Library

The Library is making its Jamboard available to San José City College faculty and staff through reservations of L-307, a presentation space on the third floor of the Chávez Building that seats 9 to 15 people. Whether you simply want to get some hands-on time with a Jamboard or wish to use it in a committee meeting, the Library is here to help.

To use the Jamboard, you must reserve L-307 and request the Jamboard. You do this online on the Library’s Lab and Room Reservations page. Check the calendar to be sure there are no schedule conflicts, then use the online reservation form to make your request.

What’s a Jamboard?

In short, a Jamboard is a 55-inch electronic whiteboard that is uniquely designed for collaboration. As long as meeting participants have access to the Internet, they can contribute to a Jamboard session in real time from just about anywhere. During the session, participants can interact with one another though a Jamboard mobile app, which can be downloaded via Google Play or Apple iTunes. Jamboard whiteboard activities are also recorded and can be shared easily when a session has concluded. Because Jamboard leverages G Suite, a familiar package of Google Cloud applications, such as Gmail and Google Documents, Jamboard is, for most users, fairly intuitive. See Google’s promotional video (below) for a brief demonstration.

How Do I Get Training?

While the Jamboard is fairly intuitive, the friendly folks in the Library’s Technical Processing unit have laminated a couple of Jamboard Quick Start Guides that will be delivered to L-307 with the Jamboard itself. If your preference is to learn something about the device before you actually use it, we recommend some one-on-one time with a staff member. The Library’s Technical Processing Office is located in L-301.

How Can I Use Jamboard in My Work?

Jamboard works best for small group meetings that are collaborative. If you like using a whiteboard to generate ideas or to hash out problems with people, you’ll find it immediately useful. While Jamboard wasn’t designed for classroom use, it is getting some traction in higher education and K-12. For more information on how to proceed in the classroom, we recommend Ben Wilkoff’s screencast (below), Jamboard in the Classroom: A Look at Google’s Digital Whiteboarding Tool.

A version of this article was originally published April 8, 2018 on the San José City College Division of Library, Learning Resources & Distance Education Blog.