Friday, February 11, 2011

ActiveInspire From a Beginner's Point of View

I am very excited to be learning about ActivInspire and Promethean's ActivBoard. Since I am new to the software, I thought I would do a blog series about the things that I am learning. I am very familiar with SMART Notebook software and will be interested to compare what is the same and what is different.

Lessons that are created in ActivInspire (which is the software that controls the Promethean ActivBoard are called flipcharts. So, if you are looking for lesson plans to use, look for "flipcharts" after a title.

When I opened ActivInspire, a window also opened up called the ActivInspire Dashboard. This Dashboard allows you to go to Promethean Planet (where lessons and tutorials can be located), configure your board, and many other things. I saw where I could click on the check box at the bottom of the Dashboard if I don't want the Dashboard to open each time I open ActivInspire.

Browsers are on the left hand side of the screen after opening the software. I accidentally closed it and then couldn't figure out how to open it again. I finally realized that the title of the box was Browsers. Since I knew the name of the window, I could then click in the menu bar on View, click on Browsers, and the Browser window opened back up.

I have a Symbaloo webmix for Interactive White Boards with a lot of resources. The first resource I chose was GeekMonkee (aka Matt Barfield) and his Tech Tutorials. I am going through the ActiveInspire Basics flipchart first. This flipchart shows the different parts of the software, how to calibrate the board, how to clean it, etc. I highly recommend this tutorial (created by Kathryn Vaughn, Technology & Learning Consultant at Promethean World).

Make sure to join Promethean Planet so that you can start viewing and/or using flipcharts that have already been created. Promethean Planet also has links to tips, best practices, webinars, etc.

As I continue to learn about ActivInspire, I will be sharing my thoughts and what I have learned. Please join me in my journey.

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