Posts made in January 30th, 2009

The Big Picture

Posted on Jan 30, 2009 in Digital Media, Other Subjects | 0 comments

One of the nice things about using an interactive whiteboard is that it gives you the chance to use high-quality images. The fact that you can project digital images is much better than having to use overhead projectors and acetates, and much easier to use than a slide projector.

You can make an impressive start to a lesson by having a dramatic or inspiring image up on the screen as the students come into the room. The image may be something that can spark debate or discussion. They may illustrate a particular point, or be used as a stimulus for some creative writing or project work.

Recently, a fellow twitterer digitalmaverick posted a link to a fantastic set of photos from The Boston Globe of London at night, as seen from above. There are some truly breathtaking photos of a city I know very well at street level. Seeing it from a few hundred feet brings a whole new perspective on things. And as Digitalmaverick says, also makes you think about how much energy is being wasted on lights that could be switched off.

This section of the Boston Globe is called The Big Picture, and you can search its archive for more excellent images on a range of topics. There are fantastic ice sculptures, images of the Sun and The Earth from Above to name just a few. These pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope just blow me away, as do these Cassini photos.

I’m sure there are many lessons you teach that could be enhanced by some of these amazing images. Go there now and take a look! The site even has an RSS feed so you can add them to your RSS reader and keep track of the updates. The site seems add a new page of images every few days, so it’s worth going back again and again.

Senteo 2 video tutorials

Posted on Jan 30, 2009 in SMARTboards, Tutorials and Guides | 1 comment

If you use the Smart Senteo voting kits then you may already know about the brand new version of the Senteo 2 software. If not, you can download it for free here.

When I installed it I had a few issues. I think this was because I tried to install it over the top of the old Senteo and Smart Notbook install. I found I had to completely uninstall Smart 10 and Senteo v1, and then install Senteo v2 and it all worked fine. That may not be the case when you install it, but be aware.

To accompany the new version of Senteo 2, Smart have updated their training guides with some new printable guides and also 2 minute video tutorials. Follow the links below;

Printable Senteo 2 Guides

2 Minute Video Tutorials

If you haven’t been to the Training section of the Smart website before it’s well worth a visit.

Don’t forget you can also ask for help and support on Smartboards and Senteo kits in the Smart Exchange forum; http://exchange.smarttech.com/forums/

Happy voting!