Posts made in May 5th, 2009

Go Fish

Posted on May 5, 2009 in Activity Ideas, Interactive Whiteboards, Promethean, Resources | 1 comment

Here’s a quick idea for a lesson starter or a plenary. Hidden in the bucket, on the ends of the fishing rods are different keywords. When you pull the fishing rod out of the bucket it reveals the keyword. Students then have to explain what that word means, or explain what it does etc.

You can put anything you want on the end of the fishing rod. You could adapt it to include maths problems, chemical symbols, times tables, words in french/spanish, or even images and shapes.

The rods were created using the line tool and grouped together. The words can then be added as text boxes and then grouped with the rod to stick it on the end of the line.

One thing you may have to do if you adapt your own is change the ordering of the bucket to send it to the front. You might also want to lock the bucket in place to stop it being dragged accidentally.

You can download the ActivInspire and Smart Notebook versions of this file from the Think Bank website here. I’ve included one quick version for organs of the body, and a blank page which you can adapt to include your own keywords.

Update – Lynne Horne (@lynnehorne) has already produced a nice variation to use in Numeracy. Get the file here.

Update – you could also lose the bucket and use a large blue rectangle across the bottom third of the screen (as shown above). With this rectangle moved to the front (top layer) you can hide the words / objects behind it. This will give the impression of pulling things from the sea!

Senteo Rebranded as SMART Response

Posted on May 5, 2009 in Interactive Whiteboards, SMARTboards, Voting Kits | 1 comment

Smart have just announced that their Senteo Voting System has been upgraded and rebranded as Smart Response.

If you already own Senteo handsets then there is a new upgrade to the software available. If you’re still running Senteo v1 then you really need to upgrade as version 2 came out a few months back. Version 2 users should still see some improvements. Download it here.

This is taken from the Smart website:

Senteo software 2.0 users
If you’re upgrading from Senteo software 2.0, you’ll see that we’ve made a few improvements, such as offering you the choice of seeing test results displayed in both pie charts and bar graphs. You can also drag the chart or graph onto a SMART Notebook page to get a closer view and add your own annotations in digital ink.

Senteo software 1.0 users
If you’re still using Senteo software 1.0, upgrading to SMART Response will provide you with many new features and enhancements. We’ve redesigned the interface to make it easier than ever for you to use all of the system’s tools and features.

SMART Response software allows you to do the following:
• Display performance and test results in pie charts or bar graphs. By dragging the chart or graph onto a SMART Notebook page, you can get a closer view and add your own annotations in digital ink.
• Use the new tab in SMART Notebook software to conveniently access all of the assessment features in SMART Response software
• Insert content pages between questions to enhance quizzes and lessons
• Organize and track grades and test results using the new built-in gradebook
• View and manage all assessment data from one location using Teacher Tools
• Assign different point values to individual questions within any quiz, test or exam
• Tag questions and student names with keywords to track and evaluate results in greater detail
• Produce instant reports on student or class performance

The upgrade to SMART Response software is available free of charge for customers using Senteo software and is compatible with all your existing hardware components for the Senteo interactive response system.

You can download this upgrade from the Smarttech website here. When I upgraded from v1 to v2 I found it worked better if I uninstalled Smart Notebook and installed this upgrade from scratch. I don’t know yet if that will be the case again, but it’s probably a good idea to do so.

There was an issue with the first release of the new version yesterday, but Smart have apparently fixed this driver issue now. You will need to download Service Pack 5, the site has not yet got links to it, but for now you can get it from these 2 links:

Service Pack 5 for the PC

Service Pack 5 for the MAC

(Thanks TeqSmart for the links)

ActivInspire Update Patch 1.1

Posted on May 5, 2009 in Interactive Whiteboards, Promethean | 0 comments

ActivInspire users should be aware that Promethean have released a patch which fixes some of the initial bugs that were present on release.

You can get hold of the update by running ActivInspire and going to Help > Check for Updates. You will then be directed to a download page. Download and install the patch file.

For a set of patch notes, and discussion about the changes, go here.

Bug Fixes

• Start-up crashes on MAC related to internet plugins/phonon.
• Intermittent window jitter when docking toolbar on Windows Vista.
• Extract text by dragging selected text in text edit mode not working – Mac
• Text symbols not being displayed properly on Mac
• Text edit, to fix missing cursor issue
• Text edit marquee select issue, text marquee select was not recalculating text height properly
• Screen recorder does not display an error response if user has configured unsupported codecs
• Color on main toolbox not being saved between sessions, only in Studio mode
• Teacher lock not handled properly in case of desktop flipchart, desktop tools, switching browsers
• You can NOW select a printer in the print dialog
• Vote results now display in numeric order
• Fixed crash when using legacy votes
• Can now enter accented characters onto page on the Mac
• Fixed crash when printing on Mac
• Clock now remembers countup/down value
• Import from mathtype improved
• Extract text now copies the correct text
• Screen recorder now displays progress
• Mac help will display correctly
• Admin.ini will create a path if it doesn’t already exist
• Fixed screen recorder crash on Mac

Functionality Changes

• Now available in Arabic, Spanish, French, Russian, Trad Chinese, Simp Chinese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Turkish, Swedish, Korean, Kazakh, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hebrew, Brazilian Portuguese, German & Vietnamese
• Arabic, Turkish, Hungarian handwriting recognition languages added.
• Trial mode length increased to 60 days
• Mac system keyboard shortcuts Cmd-Q, Cmd-H and Cmd-Shift-Q are no longer overridden by Inspire.
• When inserting flash and/or videos using the menu main (Insert->Media) a placeholder object will be created and not a link.
• When dragging on flash and/or video files onto the canvas a placeholder object will be created and not a link.
• If the display size of a video cannot be obtained then inspire will display at 400 by 300.
• New shapes now snap on creation.
• Flipchart object settings – transparency now works OK.
• Property Grid. Numbers now use correct floating point separators for locale
• Grid Designer. Numbers now use correct floating point separators for locale.
• Clear Grid. Undo / redo now works correctly.