SMARTBoard: How to install the SMART Notebook software on your computer at home

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: A step-by-step video tutorial on how to install the SMART Notebook software on your personal computer at home. A SMARTBoard at home is NOT required.

How can it be used in the classroom: A common question I hear is, “How am I supposed to prepare a SMARTBoard lesson at home without an actual SMARTboard?” Well, you can use the SMART Notebook software. This is the same software that runs on the SMARTBoard in your classroom, but it is also available for use on your home computer and doesn’t require a SMARTBoard to operate.

What is the advantage to doing this: SMARTBoard lessons prepared in advance using a combination of the text tool, images, and other interactive elements from the Notebook Gallery, tend to be more polished than those created “on the fly” in front of students. In addition, it also forces teachers to move away from relying only on using the SMARTBoard pens (similar to chalk on a regular blackboard) when presenting a lesson. The true strength of the SMARTBoard is evident when lessons are developed with functions that make them interactive and student driven. Remember, there is more to a SMARTBoard than simply using the pens like a fancy blackboard!

How do I get my lesson on the SMARTBoard at school: Once you’ve completed your lesson at home, you would save your SMART notebook file (.notebook) to a USB thumb drive. Next time you are at the school, you would load it up on your SMARTBoard connected computer in your classroom.

Video Tutorial: To see an on-line video of how to install the SMART Notebook software on your computer at home, please click the large play button below:

ICT Tip: How to create a “transparent hotspot” in a PowerPoint presentation

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: This technique could be used in a PowerPoint presentation to give the illusion that the user is zooming into an image (when clicked) for a close-up or to setup a navigation system between different PowerPoint slides.

How does it work: This technique creates a transparent hotspot in a PowerPoint presentation. A hotspot is an invisible graphic. Clicking on a hotspot can be setup to link to other slides in a PowerPoint presentation. This advanced ICT Tip requires previous experience with PowerPoint.  (Source: Marc-André Lalande, RECIT FGA)

Video Tutorial: Here’s a step-by-step video tutorial which shows how to setup and use transparent hotspots in a PowerPoint presentation:

ICT Tip: Etherpad allows instant collaborative document editing, no signup required, a great tool for brainstorming!

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: EhterPad allows multiple students to work simultaneously on one word processing document over the Internet.  As each student types, their edits appear INSTANTLY in the EtherPad document. To help a group keep track who is typing what, each student’s edits are represented by a unique text color.

How does it work: In many ways, EtherPad (www.etherpad.com) is similar to Google Docs which I’ve highlighted in an earlier ICT Blog posting. In a nutshell, both EtherPad and Google Docs allow multiple people to edit a single document at the same time over the Internet.

How is Etherpad different from Google Docs? When multiple people are working in Google Docs, it takes about five to fifteen seconds for any edits to appear. Edits in EtherPad are instant. Google Docs does NOT indicate which person is typing, so things can get confusing with multiple students working in a document at the same time. Lastly, Google Docs requires each user to sign-up and create an account to edit documents, EtherPad does NOT.  The benefit of not having to sign-up for an account is that you can start right away and do not have to worry about lost student passwords and logins.

How can it be used in the classroom: As it only takes a few seconds to start a new Public EtherPad document, this website could be used as a quick and dirty class brainstorming tool. For example, students could divide up and write down common ideas in one single Etherpad document.  Classmates could then refine their own ideas and even those of their classmates. Each student works on a different computer but everyone works in the same document.

How to collaborate: To collaborate on an EtherPad document with other classmates, students can log into the site with a guest account and start working.  They can then share a unique weblink that is automatically associated with each Etherpad document, called an “invite” link.  This link can be copy and pasted into an e-mail or even scribbled down on a piece of paper. However, be careful! The link is case sensitive which means your students need to make sure that they pay attention to all the capital and small letters when writing down the link to share with other classmates.

ICT Tip: The Biography website features over 25,000 on-line biographies

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: The Biography Channel website (www.biography.com/search) contains thousands of on-line biographies for your students to consult.

How can it be used in the classroom: Even though The Biography Channel is a commercial entity, it maintains a free-to-use website. Students can search for biographies by person’s name, alphabetically, keyword, or browse by category (i.e – inventors, athletes, physicists) in the search bios section. Certain biographies contain more information than others, depending on the celebrity level or historical importance of the individual being searched. In the bio’s best section, students can find special features dedicated to topics such as black history and notable women in history.