Using your Whiteboard Software at Home

I was amused yesterday to find out that the technician at a school I had been in recently complained that I had been making some “bold statements” during my training.

Apparently I had told all the staff in the school that they were allowed to have copies of Smart Notebook 10 to run at home for lesson preparation, and that they should see the technician for the product key.

He was under the assumption that this was not the case. Thankfully, my training manager explained to him that I was correct and he learnt something new that day. Which is good.

It makes such a difference to be able to prepare IWB materials away from the IWB. To be able to produce a lesson resource in the same way that you might produce a powerpoint or a worksheet. And Smart and Promethean agree, which is why the terms of their licence do cover teachers to install it at home, as well as in their classroom.

But it is a shame that so many schools do not know this. They are either not told when the boards are installed, or the information is not disseminated down to the teachers from the one person in the school that does know this. I make sure when I deliver training that all staff are aware that for both Smart and Promethean boards – staff are allowed to have copies of the software to use away from the IWB for preparation of lesson materials.

I’ll say that again.

Teachers are allowed to install Smart Notebook or ActivInspire onto their home machines to prepare lesson resources.

Please spread the word to your teachers and schools that you know.

Smart Notebook can be downloaded from here. It is a 30 day trial and you need the product key to unlock it. You can use your serial number of your board to get an unlock key. I’ve written a guide on how to do that here.

Promethean users – you can download ActivInspire from here. Check with your ICT coordinator/technician for the serial number.

Please spread the word. There are plenty of users out there who don’t know this. And who don’t know they don’t know this

Still at least one more technician now does know this

(Image credit : Analog by Aopho via Flickr.)

Related posts:

1. Screencasting with IWB Software
2. Back to School : Got a new interactive whiteboard?
3. Check your Interactive Whiteboard Gallery
4. Senteo Software Update
5. Lesson Starter Ideas for your Whiteboard