Basics of ActivInspire - PDF Free Download

Basics of ActivInspire Course Instructor: Ashley Witman witman@wlake.org Handbook by Heather Hamker Flipchart by: Ashley Witman 1 credit class 1

Table of Contents Topics Page # Module 1: Breaking it Down Dashboard Breakdown 4 Inspire Settings Layout Tab 7 Commands Tab 8 User Defined Buttons 14 Settings Tab 16 Module 2: Where Did it Go?! Design Mode vs. Presentation Mode 18 Menu Bar 19 Browsers Page 22 Resource 24 Object 29 Notes 31 Properties 32 Action 38 Drag and Drop 39 Voting 40 Object Edit Box 42 2

Topics Page # Module 3: Actions And Other Ideas ToolTip 44 Hide & Show 46 Grouping 48 Group & Pulley 49 Magic Ink 52 Using Colors 54 Layering Objects 56 Module 4: Inserting Media 58 Inserting Sound 64 Inserting a Weblink 68 Course Objective: By attending this course, you will have learned the basics to ActivInspire and be able to use the software in your classroom and be able to create flipcharts. Course Requirements: In order to earn a credit for the class, you must attend class each day and have a flipchart to show by the end of the week. Your flipchart can be as basic or elaborate as you choose. 3

Module 1: Breaking It Down Dashboard ActivStudio 3 Dashboard ActivInspire Dashboard Click this box if you want the dashboard to pop open on start up 4

To open up Inspire in Primary, click here. The dashboard breakdown: Quick links to flipcharts Immediately opens desktop flipchart Immediately opens the ExpressPoll Goes directly to Promethean Planet Quick links for Profiles, device registration, and updating software Opens Promethean s Web Support 5

If you are creating a new flipchart, you can click on this link to open a blank flipchart page. Open a flipchart already saved from this link. Import a Powerpoint presentation from this link. Actions from your powerpoint s are disabled in a flipchart. Unless you are getting lessons from a Smartboard website, you won t use this link. 6

Settings This is the section that used to be the Studio Settings, Toolstore, and Customize in ActivStudio 3. All sections have been condensed into one area found under File. LAYOUT Tab You may use already created toolbars or customize toolbars for different content areas by clicking on the Profiles drop down menu. How large do you want the icons on your toolbar? The main toolbox can be docked at the bottom, top, left, or right of your program. It can also be floating as in ActivStudio3. You can easily switch between profiles by clicking this icon on your toolbar. What are the different Profiles created already? At The Board This profile was created with the basic tools that you would need while using a flipchart during a lesson. If you write and erase and use a few basic tools, this is the profile to use. Authoring This toolbox has been expanded to include the Text tool, along with some user defined buttons in the third column. When creating flipcharts, this is a quick toolbox to use. Language Arts The language arts profile includes more writing tools like the Text, Handwriting Recognition, Tickertape, on screen keyboard, and spell check. Math The math profile switches to include more math tools such as the ruler, protractor, calculator, dice, and XY origin. 7

COMMANDS TAB The Command Tab used to be called the Toolstore. To create a profile, start with any created profile. Open a profile Save a changed profile Save a new profile 1. Delete a profile 2. 3. 4. Undo changes Adding tools to your toolbox: 1. Click on the tool that you want to add. 2. Click on Add at the bottom of the menu box. 3. IF you want to move the tool on the toolbox, click move up or move down. 4. Don t forget to click Done when you have made your changes. ** When creating a new profile, click Save As before changing your toolbox and change the name of the profile. That way you won t change an already created toolbox when clicking Done. 8

Some of the basic tools: Old New Old New Look Look Look Look Desktop Annotate Tools Previous Page, Next Page Start/Stop Voting & Express Poll Pen Old: eraser New: Magic Ink Highlighter Text Tool Page Reset Fill Tool Clear Tool Tickertape Undo/ Redo Page Zoom 10

New Tools Desktop Tools You will use this wheel when working on a program other than Inspire or if you want to take snapshots of pictures online. Promethean Planet Go back to Inspire flipchart Keyboard ExpressPoll Camera Screen Recorder More Tools New Tools: Eraser- it actually erases! Shapes Tool- This replaces the pen modifier (right clicking on the pen) Connector Insert Media from file Page Browser (The old page selector and organizer combined.) Math Tools 12

USER DEFINED BUTTONS Tab User defined buttons are programs that you use along with a flipchart (Word, Excel, pdf file, etc). These programs will show up in the third column on your toolbox. To add a User defined button, go to the settings and click User defined buttons. You will probably get nothing showing in Button properties, so click Program/File in the Type box and then click add, you should then be looking at the screen below. 1. Step 1: Make sure the Type selected is Program/File 2. Step 2: Search your computer for the file you want to select. 3. Step 3: Label the file in Tooltip In order for your User Defined File to show up in the third column, make sure the roll in box for main toolbox is unchecked in the Layout tab. 14

SETTINGS Tab The setting tab is similar to the Studio Settings in AS3. What can you do in Settings? Apply settings to ActiVote or Expression questions. (Learner Response System) Set the clock tool to analog or digital. (Clock Tool) Set the Spotlight and Reveal tool colors. (Effects) Set the Resource Library to display as a grid or list. (Flipchart Objects) Change the default web browser page. (Online Settings) Enable the spell checker (spell checker) Set the colors for your math tools, select a calculator, or set dice speed. (Tools) Choose to use the system keyboard or Inspire keyboard. (User Input) Change recording settings when making flipchart recordings. (Recordings) Set the World color and default page scale. (Flipchart) Show or hide the sound controller. (Multimedia) Set visible objects in Design Mode. (Design Mode) Profile and Resources will most likely be set by the district tech office. This area tells Inspire where your resources are located. 16

MODULE 2: Where did it go? Design MODE vs. Presentation MODE Some people created flipcharts in design mode in ActivStudio. Design mode would turn off all actions while you worked. In Inspire, you can toggle between design mode and presentation mode with one click. Presentation Mode- Blue Star Design Mode- Red Star If your actions are not working on the page, check the upper right hand corner of your screen to make sure you are working in Presentation Mode. 18

Menu Bar Multiple flipcharts can be opened at once and tabbed along the top. To close the flipchart, click the x on the tab. BE CAREFUL! The red X in the upper right hand corner will close down Inspire and will not ask you if you are sure you want to exit. Keeps track of all open flipcharts. Flipchart Sizing Toggles between full screen and Windows mode. Show Desktop 19

RESOURCE BROWSER The Resource Library is no longer called a library and no longer contains only your resources. It is now called a Resource Browser and contains EVERYTHING! Page Browser (Page Selector & Organizer) Object Browser New Item! Properties Browser Voting Browser New Item! Resource Browser Page Notes Browser Actions Browser (Resource Library) On the next pages, we ll go through each browser and how what it contains. 20

Page Browser The Page Selector and Page Organizer in ActivStudio are now called the Page Browser. In this browser you can maneuver through your flipchart or rearrange flipchart pages. You can shrink or enlarge the size of the browser by grabbing the side of the browser and dragging. Move the slider up to create smaller thumbnails or to use the browser as a page organizer. 22

Within your page browser, is another drop down menu for each flipchart page. This menu will allow you to alter the flipchart page or flipchart with ease. Adding a blank page between pages in easy by clicking on Insert Page If you need to duplicate a flipchart page, click here. Delete a flipchart page. 23

Resource Browser The Resource Library from ActivStudio is now called the Resource Brower. My Resources Shared Resources Other Resource Folder Browse to another folder Search The view shown above is in List View. See the next page to view it in Grid View. 24

In Grid View, you can see more of your resources. Let s look at the items on this browser more closely. This button will Roll Up the top half of the browser, so you can view more resources at once. Toggles Transparency or In ActivStudio this was a box at the bottom of the library. Rubber Stamp Select an image and stamp it on your page multiple times. 25

Here s how to change the view mode to grid each time you open up Inspire. First, go to File and then Settings Then follow the steps below. 1 2 3 26

You can also change the view directly from you Resource Browser. 28

OBJECT BROWSER The Object Browser is new to Inspire. In the Object Browser you can actually see which objects are located on which layer of the flipchart. You can then easily move an object to a different layer while in the Object Browser. Here s a screen shot of a flipchart page with the Object Browser open. 29

Here s an up close look at the Object Browser for the previous page. These objects are locked on the flipchart page. To unlock, click on the lock next to the object. You can also lock all objects on the page by clicking Locked once. These objects are hidden on the page and set to be revealed at a later time. Notice that all the layers are separated in the Object Browser along with each object on that layer. Any object that is locked on the page shows up with a lock next to it. Any hidden objects show an eye with a red X. 30

Notes BROWSER By clicking on the Format Toolbar you will open up the text formatting options such as font, size, color, and alignment. 31

Property browser The Property Browser can be overwhelming when it is first opened. Here s the breakdown of each section: The Identification tag contains the name, any keywords associated with that object, and whether it is a question, option, or label. The Appearance tag shows you which layer the object is on and its level of visibility. The Position Tag basically tells you where the object is located on the flipchart page as well as its size. From this menu, you can invert, angle, reflect, or lock down the object. Continued. 32

You can add labels to your objects from this tag. Labels allow you to name an object and have the label be attached to that object without grouping. This is also where you can create a ToolTip (see Actions). Containers can now be made in one window! The Rotate Tag allows you to set mobility preferences to an object. You can set the object to rotate in a certain direction and also to rotate around other objects. 34

Restrictors allow you to set an object to move on a certain path, block other objects, or set sizing preferences. Miscellaneous contains the background properties of the object. Do you want a certain color or background of the object to be transparent? You can also set Drag a Copy to be True and make infinite clone of that object. 36

Action Browser You can set an object to contain an action by selecting an image and clicking on the action you want it to contain. Once you ve set an action to an object, don t forget to click Apply Changes otherwise your action will not be set. 38

New! Drag and Drop Feature You can now drag an action out of the Drag and Drop menu right on top of an image and the image will contain that action. Or just drag the action out of the Drag and Drop menu right onto your flipchart and the action will be there ready to click. 39

VOTING BROWSER In this box you can register your voting devices and keep track of the results. Switch to ActiVotes Use Expressions Toggle to anonymous voting Device Registration Assign students to devices. This is also where you can create multiple classes using one set of devices. After voting, results will show up under this heading. Vote Settingsclick the box if you want the results shown after each question. 40

Object Edit ActivStudio 3 Object Edit Box 3. 4. 9. 10. 8. 6. 7. Inspire Object Edit Strip 1. Freely Move 3. Object Edit Menu 5. Group 7. Send Backward 9. Increase Object Size 2. Rotate Object 4. Transparency Slider 6. Send Forward 8. Duplicate 10. Decrease Object The highlighted numbers on the ActivStudio 3 object edit box correspond to their new icons in Inspire. 42

What s New? The Freely Move icon is now on your object edit strip instead of on the object itself. The Rotate Object is also on the object edit strip instead of located on the object. All of the editing tools (cut, paste, copy, delete) and the properties icon are now located in the Object Edit Menu. 43

Module 3: ACTIONS and other Ideas ToolTip In this section, I ll walk you through how to add an action on to an object. Here s a cool new feature called a Tooltip. When you hover over an object a label will open on the object. Here s how to set a Tooltip: Step 1: Go into the Properties Browser Step 2: Go to the Label section Step 3: Type in a caption Step 4: Fix the font name, size, and color. Step 5: In the Behaviour box, change it to Tooltip. That s it! 44

Hide and Show In ActivStudio 3 there was an action to hide an object and then one to show an object. Inspire has the same action, but it s created differently. Step One: Put all of your objects on the flipchart page Step Two: Click on the object that you want to use to reveal the hidden object. In this case I want the speech bubble to reveal the words that I will eventually hide. Once I click on the speech bubble, Open up the Action Browser and scroll to Object Actions. 46

After following these steps, you will be able to click on the speech bubble to hide and show the text. Step Three: Find Hidden on your menu and click it. Step Four: Click this button to open up the Select Object box (below). Select the item to hide. After clicking OK in the Select Object Box, click Apply Changes. If you do not click this bar, your action will not take. 47

Grouping When you want to move two objects around on the page together you will need to group those objects. Here s how to do it in Inspire. Step 1: Choose two objects to group. I used an apple and typed the word APPLE on top of the image. Step 2: Highlight both images by clicking and dragging over both images to open you object edit icons. Step 3: Click on the group icon and you are done! You can go even further and create a text box to pull from the side of your page. This is very helpful if you tend to run out of space on your flipchart page. 48

Group & Pulley In this case I am going to make a flipchart about the geography of the United States. I want the map visible at all times, but I have no room for questions. AH! But I can put questions on the page by pulling them in from the sides. Here s how to do it. Step 1: Create your flipchart page. I used an image of the United States from the Resource Browser. Step 2: Click on your Shapes Tool and pull out an arrow. Step 3: Create the arrow on your flipchart page by dragging the shape. Step 4: Create text (I used a green background from the format toolbar) that goes along with the arrow and group them together. 49

Step 5: After you group the two objects together, drag the arrow to the place on the flipchart where you want to drag it from. If you want your arrows to move in a certain direction and not float all over your flipchart page, you can use a restrictor. Do you remember which browser Restrictors are in? Hint: To set the direction the arrow can move, click on it. Then open your Properties Browser. Go to the Restrictors section, pull down the Can Move menu and click Horizontally. This will allow your arrow to only move horizontally across your page. 50

Magic Ink Magic Ink is the old Magic Revealer that you could make in ActivStudio 3 that would look through objects. In AS3, when you used the eraser it wouldn t erase a mark, it would put a transparent object over whatever you were erasing. You could move the eraser mark and have your writing still be on the flipchart page. Your marks would not be erased. The eraser in Inspire will erase anything on the top layer, completely. If you want to be able to look through the Top Layer, but not erase it, use Magic Ink! Here is an object using Magic Ink. First I dragged a dinosaur and a red box from the Resource Browser. Then, I moved the red box to top layer. I clicked on Magic Ink and made a box. It is looking through the red box to see the dinosaur. I can also move the mark made by the Magic Ink tool to reveal anything else under the red box. 52

Using Colors Here s a fun way to spice up your flipchart. Use colors! This seems like magic, but it s not just an illusion! Look at the flipchart page below. When I drag the text to the green box, new text magically appears. Actually it s there the whole time but is revealed when you use different colors. Here s how to do it: First, use the paint bucket and drop a color onto your flipchart. Then click a rectangle from your Shapes Tool and create a rectangle on ½ of your flipchart page. When working in my blue section I used the same color green as my box when typing i maid a mistak then I clicked enter and in the same text box I typed I made a mistake in the blue color. (You may not see the text so I would use a different color first and then change the font color when you are happy with what you wrote.) Then drag your text box into the green field and the top text disappears while revealing the blue text. If you don t want your original text to hide, you can change whichever text you want to hide in the blue (or whatever color you choose) and then when you drag it into the green, the original and new text will be revealed. (See the math problems) 54

Layering Objects You can hide objects on your page and reveal them whenever you want by using layers. For example I want all of the coins to be hidden behind the treasure chest on this flipchart page, so students can pull the coins out for an activity. Right now all the objects are on the middle layer and since the treasure chest was the first object I put on the flipchart, all the coins will sit on top of the chest. To fix this, move the treasure chest to the top of the middle layer or move it to the top layer by opening up the Object Browser and dragging the treasure chest to the top. Now all you need to do is right click on the treasure chest and lock it in place and drag all the coins behind the chest. 56

Module 4 Adding video clips Inspire will embed Windows Media files. All Quicktime videos will open in a separate window. There are 2 ways to add video to your flipcharts. First Way Go to Insert Media then find the file to insert Use this way if you do not want to embed the video to be used by others. You can always change the media s characteristics by going into the browser. Click on the video and then open the Properties Browser 58

Second Way Go to Insert Link File Then find your file on your computer. When you click on a file you will then see the box on the next page. 60

Filename of media Store your file in the flipchart to make it transferable to other computers. When inserting your media, how do you want it to look on your flipchart page? Text Image Icon Action Object 61

Existing Object You will be asked to locate an object on the flipchart page by pushing the button with the three dots. Placeholder The video placeholder will contain your video and embed it onto your flipchart page. Make sure you check the controller in the Insert File menu box to keep the controller on the bottom of the video clip. Your video will begin playing when you turn to the flipchart page. Your video will play over and over until stop it. Use this for animations. Keeping the controller checked will make it easier to start and stop the video. 62

Adding Sound to an OBJECT There are a few different ways to add sound to an object depending on your comfort level with your computer. Let s start with an easier way. Step 1: Choose an object from your Resource Browser. Step 2: Open up the Sounds folder in your Resource Browser and find the sound for the object. Step 3: Drag the sound out of the resource library and stretch it to cover your image. Step 4: Use the transparency slider to make the sound image transparent. Step 5: Click and drag over the image and the now transparent sound and group them together. 64

Now every time you click the image the sound will play. If you are a little more daring and more comfortable with finding files on your computer, then you can embed the sound right onto the object. As in the previous way, pull an object from the Resource Browser. Click on the object and go to the Actions Browser and then Document/Media Actions. Click Open Document, File or Sound AddING A WEBLINK Click this button to search for your sound files. Don t forget to Apply Changes When searching, I usually find my sound files in this location: Desktop Public Public Documents Activ Software Activstudio3 65

Helpful Hint: copy your sound file to your desktop, so when searching for sounds, you only have to navigate to your desktop. There s one more way to add a sound! Step 1: Choose your object. Step 2: Right Click on the Object and select Insert link to file Step 3: Find where the sound file is located. (See the path on the previous page) Step 4: Once you find the file, click it open. Then the Insert File box will open. 66

This is where your sound file will be found. Always store your file in your flipchart. It makes traveling with your flipchart easier. For sounds, you do not have to have any of these boxes checked. Don t forget to click OK 67

Inserting Web links When creating flipcharts, you may want to insert a website that correlates to the lesson. Here s how to do it. Step 1: On the Menu Bar, go to Insert Link Website The following box will pop open. Type your web address in this box 68

www.google.com After typing in the web address, how do you want to add the link? Here s what your choices will look like. Text: Image Icon: Action Object: Drag this box over a part of your flipchart to open the website. Existing Object: When clicking Existing Object you will be prompted to find an object on the flipchart page to attach your file to. 69