Illustrated Tutorial of ActivInspire Features
Table of Contents
Objectives
Overview of Interactive Whiteboard Technology
Promethean Planet
Main Toolbox
Browsers
Page Browser
Resource Browser
Object Browser
Notes Browser
Property Browser
Action Browser
Inserting Images
Object Toolbar
Locked Objects
Inserting Links
Importing PDFs
Importing PowerPoint Presentations
ActiVote and ActivExpression Learner Response Systems
Conclusion
ActivInspire illustrated TutorialPage 1
Illustrated Tutorial of ActivInspire Features
Objectives
This packet is designed as a reference for teachers who are beginning to integrate the interactive whiteboard and Promethean Board software into their classrooms. My objectives are to familiarize staff with the basic features of ActivInspire, emphasize techniques that will engage students in their learning, enable staff to create resources that they can use immediately in their lessons, and to provide instruction to staff of how to access Promethean's online learning center and user-friendly tutorials. This packet focuses on ActivInspire, but will still be beneficial to those teachers using ActivPrimary or ActivStudio. Prior to delving into the many features of ActivInspire, a short overview of the Promethean software is provided. This instructional packet provides an in-depth look into the following features of ActivInspire: main toolbox buttons, understanding browsers, inserting images, locking objects, inserting website links, inserting links to files,importing a PDF,importing a PowerPoint Presentation, and finally, ActiVote and ActivExpression classroom response systems.
Overview of Interactive Whiteboard Technology
Interactive Whiteboards have revolutionized learning in the classroom, and is a sure way to engage 21st century students and students of different learning styles. The term “interactive whiteboard” refers to any board which can project a computer screen and elicit a response from the computer through touch with an electronic pen or finger on the board itself. There are many different brands of interactive whiteboards such as the SMART board and the Promethean Board, and wide variety of software that is available. Some of the many benefits of an interactive whiteboard (
- Teach as with a traditional chalkboard
- Write and draw, then erase, just as you normally would.
- Save your pages as a flipchart file, and then retrieve them for use with a different class, or in another classroom.
- Add pictures, movies and sounds to your lesson’s flipchart pages.
- Quickly structure your lesson content and timing to match your lesson plan.
- Add text, for example from Microsoft Word®, or directly from the Internet. ActivInspire can even recognize your writing and convert it to text.
- Use Learner Response Systems - ask your students questions, or display prepared questions in your flipcharts. Students can vote or text answers on ActiVote and ActivExpression devices and the results can be displayed in different formats.
- Quickly adapt your flipcharts in response to results from your class
- Use simple but effective tools to stimulate thought, engage your students and focus their attention.
Promethean Planet
A great feature of the Promethean software is that there are thousands of flipcharts available to download that are teacher-created. Simply search for the topic you’d like to teach, preview the search results, and download the flipcharts you’d like to use with your students. Once downloaded, the flipchart can be edited to suit your preferences. You can delete slides, edit text, and add your own content. This is a great way to use the interactive whiteboard with your students even if you don’t have time to create your own flipchart.
To download a flipchart, type into your web browser. If you have not yet created an account, click register in the upper right corner and create an account. Once you log in, be sure to check the “remember me” box so you will conveniently remain logged in each time you visit Promethean Planet.
Type a topic into the search field and click search. You can refine the results be adding another search term or refining by age or subject.
Preview the flipcharts until you find one you’d like to download. Click the download button, and choose save.
Make sure you save the flipchart in a location you can find, i.e. My Documents. Once downloaded, you can open the flipchart and edit it.
Promethean Planet also has a variety of flipcharts that provide instruction on features of ActivInspire. Type “Activtips” into the search field, and download the flipchart about the feature you would like a tutorial on.
Main Toolbox
The main toolbox contains tools that you will use most frequently as you create flipcharts and also as the flipcharts are used interactively in your classroom. Below is an overview of the function of each icon.
By clicking either of these icons, you will move to the previous or next page in your flipchart.
This is the select tool that will allow you to manipulate objects in the flipchart.
This is the pen tool that will allow you to annotate in your flipchart. After selecting the pen, choose the color you would like to write in from the color palate. You can also choose the line size from fine (2) to thick (8).
This is the highlighter tool. This accents text without covering it up.
This is the shape tool. Once you select this icon, a shape menu will open. Choose the desired shape, and click and drag in the flipchart to create the shape as big or little as you would like. Don’t forget to click the select tool when finished so you don’t add another shape.
This is the fill tool. After selecting the fill tool, choose a color from the color palate. You can fill in the color of the background or any shape.
This is the text tool. Select this icon and click in the flipchart where you would like to add text. When finished, click the select tool so you can move the text to the place you want it.
These are the undo and redo buttons. If you make a mistake, click the undo button.
This is the clear annotations button. When clicked, the menu to the right will open. Clear Annotations is helpful after students write out the answer to a math problem, and you want another group to try the same problem.
This is the reset page button. When clicked, this will revert everything on the page (not the entire flipchart) to its original settings from the last save. This is helpful if students move words around the page, i.e. in alphabetical order, or if you or the students annotate and you want another group of students to do the same activity.
This is the desktop annotate icon. If you click this icon, ActivInspire will disappear and only the page browser and main toolbox will be visible (if you have them pinned.) You can now annotate over anything on your computer from the background to a website. You can also use the ActiVotes or ActivExpressions to answer questions from a website.
To return to your flipchart, click the desktop annotate icon again. Close out the desktop flipchart by clicking the x.
Additional tools can be found under the Tool menu.
If you use these tools frequently, you can add them to the main toolbox by clicking the View menu and choosing “Customize”. Click the tool you’d like to add and click “Add”. Likewise, you can remove icons that you do not use frequently.
Browsers
Page Browser
It is helpful to be familiar with the various browsers found in ActivInspire. One of the most commonly used is the page browser.
The page browser allows you to not only see the pages you have created, but also allows you to drag them into different positions in your flipchart and delete pages you may not want. You can also copy a page from this browser and paste it into a different flipchart. This is particularly useful if you download several flipcharts from Promethean Planet and want to combine the best pages of each into one new flipchart. Simply right click the page you want and copy it. Paste it into the new flipchart. You could also left click and drag the page to the new flipchart and drop it in.
You can increase or decrease the size of the page thumbnails shown in the page browser by moving the scrollbar in the lower right-hand corner. This will increase the size of the pages for better viewing, or decrease the size so more pages are displayed.
If the pin in the upper right corner of the page browser or the toolbar is highlighted, that means it is locked and will not move. To have it hidden until your mouse rolls over it, click the highlighted pin to unpin it.
Resource Browser
The resource browser allows you to search for media, wallpaper, interactive tools, clipart, magic reveals, templates, and more that you can add to your flipchart. There are already resources included in “Shared Resources” that you may use. Resource packs can be downloaded from Promethean Planet and imported to “My Resources”. For example, you may wish to download voting templates, presidents, maps, or other resources that will help you create flipchartsfor your curriculum.
To search for resources, type a key word into the search field and click the blue arrow. It will take a few moments for the results of your search to show up. If you are prompted to index your resource library, click yes and wait for it to finish. Once your search yields results that you would like to add to your flipchart, left click and drag it into the page.
To browse the resources rather than to do a keyword search, click the “Shared Resources” iconand scroll through the results. Any topics that have a plus+ next to it can be expanded to reveal more specific subtopics. Click a subtopic topreview what resources are available.
To import a resource pack that you have downloaded from Promethean Planet, click “File”, “Import”, “Resource Pack from My Resources”. You will then have to find the file on your computer click open.
Object Browser
The object browser is helpful to those who are looking to use magic ink, magic reveal, or hidden text. Every object in the flipchart is in a layer, whether it be the top, middle, bottom, or background. The layer can be changed in either the Object Brower shown at the left, or by right clicking an object and choosing a layer.
To use magic ink, the magic ink must be in the top layer above all other objects. The object that is hidden must be below the object that is covering it up.
For example, the Text12 (Fantasy) is in the middle layer because it is behind the orange shape. The orange shape (Shape1) is in the top layer. The magic ink (Pen146) is also in the top layer but it is higher than (Shape1). For more information on magic ink and magic reveal, download the Magic Ink Tutorial from Promethean Planet.
Notes Browser
The notes browser is useful when you are working with a flipchart that you’ve downloaded from Promethean Planet. The creator often includes notes and instructions in this browser. There may be different notes on each page. For example, you may not realize there is hidden text on a page in the flipchart until you read the notes section. The instructions may tell you to click on the photograph to reveal a textual caption, the answer to a math problem, or an overview of the topic.
Property Browser
This browser gives you the flexibility to manipulate any object in the flipchart. You can see the many options available to the left. To expand the options, click the plus+. Creating containers is a great way to have students engaged in a sorting game. Tutorials for containers can be found on Promethean Planet.
One of the useful tools in this browser is in the “Restrictors” section. First, click on an object (text, shape, image) and then open the Property Browser with your object selected. Click the plus+ sign to expand the options next to “Restrictors”. Click the arrow to drop down the options next to “Can Move”. If you select “Vertically”, your object will only be able to move up and down. If you select “Horizontally”, your object can only move side to side. This may be useful in different activities you have planned for students.
Action Browser
A great feature of ActivInspire is the ability for you to add actions right into your flipchart. This can be done through the Action Browser. There are over 100 actions you can add to your page of existing objects, and you can also drag and drop action icons.
To add an action to an object, simply select the object and open the Action Browser. Select the action you would like to add to the object and click “Apply Changes” at the bottom of the browser. After you apply the changes, click on the object to activate the action.
You may also decide to add an action to the page by just dragging the icon of the action from the “Drag and Drop” tab right onto your page. The icon will be an active link and when clicked, the action will be activated. For example, you can drag the highlighter icon from the “Drag and Drop” tab onto a page in your flipchart. When you click the image of the highlighter on the page, your cursor will change to the highlighter tool.
Inserting Images
Images add great visual stimuli to learners. Images can be clip art, word art, animations or photographs. I am going to show you how to add images from the Internet and also from Microsoft clip art. The easiest way to add images is by using the Copy and Paste function. You can right click and choose “copy” or “paste” or use the hot keys Ctrl +C for copy and Ctrl + V for paste. (Command key for Macs)
Microsoft clip art contains illustrations and photographs, and evens pulls in clipart from Microsoft online. When I create a flipchart, I always have a blank Word document open so I can use the resources in clip art as I build my flipchart. To add images from Microsoft clip art, first open Microsoft Word. Go to the Insert ribbon, and click Clip Art. Search for an image and click one you like to add it to the Word document. Copy the image, and paste it into your flipchart.
You can also create WordArt in Microsoft Word and paste it into your flipchart the same way.
To add an image from the internet, you simply find an image from a website and copy it. Paste it into your flipchart the same way you would for clip art. You can use Google Images to search, or also If you use Google Images, be sure to first left click the image you want from the search results to see the full image, and then right click to copy it. (Otherwise you will copy the hyperlink instead of the image.)
Object Toolbar
Once an image, shape, or text is added and selected, this image toolbar appears above or below the object:
Freely Move Object: When an object is selected, click and hold this button to move the object to any desired place.
Rotate Object: When an object is selected, you can rotate it to any degree by clicking and holding this button while you move the object to the desired angle.
Object Edit Men: This button reveals more options to edit your object. Many of these options can also be found by right clicking on the object.
Translucency Slider: When this button is selected and held, the slider can be moved to make the object more or less translucent. This is a great tool to create a background on a page.
Group Objects: This button is gray an inactive when only one object is selected. If you drag using the select tool over two or more objects, this icon will turn green and allow you to group as many objects as you selected. Once grouped, the objects will move as one. You will know what objects you have selected before you group because the handlebars will appear around them, as shown below.