ActivInspire

Promethean Planet has some great flipcharts available.  But what if you only want a page or so and not the entire flipchart?  Can you copy those pages into your own flipchart?  Yes!  This not only saves valuable time during your lesson, but also helps you to make your flipcharts match your curriculum and students better.  An added bonus, your students will not be wondering what are on all of the extra pages you are skipping!  Copying a single flipchart page to another flipchart is simple--just follow the steps below. 

1. Open a new flipchart.  (Or if you prefer, you can use an existing flipchart you want the page inserted into). 
2. Open the flipchart you wish to copy a page from.
3. Go to the Page Browser.

4.  Click, hold, and drag the thumbnail image towards the top of your screen. 

5.  Drag and drop the thumbnail image directly on the tab of your new flipchart.   

6.  Check to see if your page was copied on your flipchart by clicking on the other tab. 

Thanks to the West Frederick Middle School cadre and TRT Amy Boehman who came up with this quick tip.  In the past, to add a hidden caption that appears when you hover your mouse over a flipchart page was slightly tedious if you wanted to use 1 image but have multiple captions appear.  You would have to take a snapshot with the Camera tool of each section you wanted to add a caption to.  Next, you would then align it perfectly on top of the original picture.  This was difficult if you had a map and were trying to label areas which were small or would overlap.  Now, just follow the simple steps below.

In the example below, I had one picture of pillars.  However, I needed to add the name of each pillar of Character Counts to each separate pillar on the image. 

1. Put in a text box with empty spaces on the section of the picture that you would like to have a caption appear.
2. Make sure that the "invisible" text box is selected. 

3.  Open the Property Browser.

4.  Scroll down to the "Label" section.

5.  Type in the Caption you would like to appear. 

6.  Choose Behavior "tooltip" to have the caption appear when you hover over it on your flipchart page. 

Repeat the steps for as many captions as you need.  How clever that you can use a text box with a couple of blank spaces to attach the caption.  Thanks West Frederick!

I learned a cool new trick with creating flipcharts.  The Father of ActivSoftware, Nigel, gave me some ideas right out of his head.  You can actually open up his head and pull out his thoughts.  (See his flipchart below to try it out). 

Follow these steps to make your own object that can Rotate Freely:
1.  Select an image.
2.  With the camera tool, take a snapshot of the top part and the bottom part of your image.  Now the image is "sliced" into two parts. 
3.  Make a small circle with the shapes tool in order to rotate around. 
4.  Place the top and bottom of your image at the base of your flipchart page.  (This is necessary so you can have objects mysteriously be pulled from your image). 
5.  Select the top part of your picture and in the Resource Browser go to the Rotate section.  By "Can Rotate" choose "freely," by "Rotate About" choose "Other Object" and by "Rotate Object" click on the  . . . and find your small circle image. 
6.  Still in the Resource Browser scroll down to "Can Move" and choose "No."  (This will make sure that your top part of the image will rotate 360 degrees around the small circle and not move off). 

7.  Now just fill the image with objects layered behind your image. 
8.  Optional:  If you would like, select all of the images into a long strip and group them with the marquee toolbar.  Move them completely behind and off the page at the base of your flipchart.  Set a restrictor vertically for this group of images in the Resource Browser. 

Just think about the possibilities!  I can just imagine how students would remember Newton's Laws better if it came out of his head or better yet take snapshots of your students and use their heads!  Or have a picture of a mouth that you can open and close with the caption "You took the words right out of my mouth." I created a treasure chest so that vocabulary and spelling words could be pulled out and reviewed. 

The XY Origin tool allows you to move objects around a specific point.  You might be demonstrating the revolution of the earth around the sun or rotating different shapes in math class.  Try this tool out.  If you do not have the button already on your toolbar, go to View and Customize (Control + U) to add the XY Origin button. 

1.  Place your object(s) on the flipchart page.
2.  Turn on the XY Origin feature by clicking on the button.

3.  Move the XY Origin on your flipchart page to the central location of where you would like to rotate the objects.   

4.  To move the object around the XY Origin, you must first select the object.  On the Marquee Toolbar, click and hold on the Rotate Object symbol.

5.   Continue holding the Rotate Object symbol while moving your object around.  It should allow you to circle the XY Origin.  In this example, the earth can now revolve around the sun.  

 6.  Note that the XY Origin tool will still appear on other pages in your flipchart.  To turn the tool off, simply click the XY Origin button again in the toolbar. 

Magic Ink is a new tool in ActivInspire.  If you are brand new to ActivInspire skip down to the Using Magic Ink section below.  If you have used ActivStudio and ActivPrimary in the past, this explanation is just for you.   The simplest way to explain the new tool:  Magic Ink is the "old eraser" and now the new eraser in ActivInspire actually erases.  You probably are used to Magic Revealers with ActivStudio and ActivPrimary.  You can still create them, but I believe it is easier by using Magic Ink along with the new Object Browser.  Just follow the steps below. 

Using Magic Ink

1.  Select two images.  (I chose a potato and french fries). 
2.  Resize the images so one fits "inside" the other.  (I have it so the potato can fit inside the french fries). 
3.  Using the Object Browser, make sure the object you want revealed is on the "Middle Layer."  (For me, the potato is on the middle layer). 
4.  Using the Object Browser, make sure the object that covers the other object is on the "Top Layer."  (For me, the french fries are on the top layer). 
5.  Select the Magic Ink tool and click on top of your top image (the french fries).  You should be able to view through to the other layer (the potato). 
6.  Switch back to the arrow select tool.
7.  Move the Magic Ink spot around. 
8.  If the Magic Ink is working, you probably want to lock down the two images so that students do not unintentionally move them and reveal what is beneath without the "magic."  To lock the objects, go next to the images in the Object Browser and turn on the lock symbol.  Do not lock the magic ink! 

If you want to go a step further, you can create a Magic Revealer using the Magic Ink.
1.  Go to the Resource Library and from Lesson Builder Tools pick a Gadget such as the magnifying glass or spectacles. 
2.  Move the revealer to the "Top Layer."
3.  Using Magic Ink, click on the revealer. 
4.  Make sure the magic ink spot is listed above the revealer on the Top Layer in the Object Browser.
5.  Group the revealer and magic ink spot together.
6.  Test out the revealer with correctly layered objects such as the ones from the activity above (french fries/potato).                          

Don't forget--you can create your own unique Magic Revealer with different shapes.   

Did you know you can change the font color with the fill tool (paint bucket icon) in ActivInspire?  As long as you choose a big, chunky font, you can change the color of the font of an ENTIRE word by clicking on any letter in the word with the fill tool.  This is an easy method to make plain text on a flipchart into an interactive activity for kids.  Have the kids color code text for:

• Parts of Speech
• Main idea/detail
• Characters, setting, problem, solution
• Keywords
• New Vocabulary and Definitions
• Prepositional phrases, clauses
• Etc.

Instead of directly inserting a media file on your flipchart page, sometimes you may want to add an object that links to the video.  In that case, follow these steps.

1.  Insert an image.
2.  Right click on the image and choose "Insert link to file . . ."
3.  Browse to the video and Open.
4.  Choose how you want the video to store (store file externally, store file in flipchart, etc.)
5.  Choose your Multimedia options (autoplay, loop, controller)

Now when you hover over the image, you will see a blue play action button.  Click on it and your video will appear!

Don't forget to make sure the video is large enough for your students to see.   As it opens, just choose the double arrow on the corner of the video player to enlarge.   

One of the nice features of the video player is the "Insert Video Frame into Flipchart" button.  It allows you to take snapshots while you are playing a video you inserted into your flipchart. 

Just think of the educational implications:

• sequencing
• steps of an experiment or math problem
• visual notes

Go one Promethean step further and use the Connector tool to connect the images in order.  They will maintain their connection no matter where you put the images on the page!   

Did you know ActivInspire software has 2 different software programs in it? There is ActivPrimary (geared for K-5) and ActivStudio (geared for grades 6-12). If you open ActivInspire and you see a primary version of the software by mistake, follow the directions below to change the software back to ActivStudio.

To get out of the primary version (shown above), click "Configure" on the Dashboard and check the box "Launch next time using Studio look and feel".

Close out of the program completely and launch the program again. This time you should see Studio software appear (see picture below).

There are three easy ways to insert media into your flipchart.  You can choose which one works best for you:

• If you prefer the main toolbar, go to "Insert" and "Media." 
• If you prefer commands, try Control + M. 
• If you insert a lot of movies, you might consider customizing your toolbar to include the "Insert Media from File" button. 

Next, the "Choose media to insert" window appears.  Navigate to where you saved your media file.  Select it and choose "Open." 

The media file is now inserted onto your flipchart page!

You can also customize the video to start when clicked or automatically when you turn to that flipchart page. 

1.  Select the video clip.
2.  Go to the Property Browser.
3.  Scroll down to the "Multimedia" section.
4.  Customize the Autoplay function to "True" or "False" if you want to control when to start the video by clicking.  (Notice the other preferences here include:  force overlay, loop, hide control, force aspect, and transparent).