Number 1 tip for new SmartBoard Users

1. As they say in sci-fi movies, we’re not alone! There are many generous educators out there in the World Wide Web who share their lessons, create tutorials, and help teachers keep it fresh! Try my page of links at Delicious.com/AnneMcCormack.
PS: I really do mean Worldwide. British educators have been posting their advice, gallery items and tutorials for years now. It’s useful to know that in the UK, it’s not a SmartBoard; it’s an IWB (interactive white board). One of the best sites is 100 Interesting Ways

#2 Tip for new SmartBoard users: Save page as Gallery Item

2. Gallery: In my elementary & middle school computer classes, I often post a page showing the print dialog with instructions about how to print at the end of a project. Although I knew about the Gallery, it hadn’t occurred to me how useful it would be to keep some of my own pages there. Saving a page as a Gallery item means that it can be instantly added to any lesson. Under File, choose “Save page as Gallery item.” Here’s the weird part—it now saves it on desktop (or in Documents), leaving you to load it into the Gallery. That’s easy enough, if you know you’re supposed to do it. Click on Gallery, and then select “My Content” in the list. Use the triangle drop-down menu to choose “Add to my Content,” then browse till you find the file you just saved; or simply drag it from the desktop into your “My Content” folder. To access it later, click Gallery, My Content, and find it in the list. Choose “Insert in notebook,” as with any Gallery item.

Tip #3: PDFs

3. Homework Help: This is my favorite new trick. Under File, export your Notebook lesson as a PDF. That brings up the print dialog again. This time choose “Full page” as described in Tip #4. Name the file and save it to the desktop. The advantage of saving it as a PDF is that anyone can open it, whether or not they have your software. Also, they will see it with your fonts, whether or not their system contains them. Now you can email it to an absent student. An even better idea might be to upload the PDF version to your school web page. Students can then view it on the web, or download it and print it if they wish. It’s useful to remember that Macs can save any file as a PDF—just go to the print dialog, but instead of hitting “Print” on the bottom right, choose “PDF” on the bottom left.

Tip #4: Printing Notebook files

4. Printing: I teach in a computer lab. Machines are arranged in a horseshoe with an island. Not only does this mean that none of the chairs face the SmartBoard, but some of the younger ones have trouble seeing over the monitors even when they turn to look. And since my students vary widely in their ability absorb instructions and navigate through menus, some need the information displayed on page 4 although I’m am displaying page 5, while others are ready for 8. Solution: Print and distribute the whole file. Notebook thumbnails can be printed in what the dialog box calls “Large;” i.e., 2 slides to a printed page, medium (4 slides to a page), or small (6 per page). The thumbnail “full page” gives you a framed, horizontal slide in the middle of a vertical page—a waste. The true, horizontal full page is the third option on the left; full page. If you’d like room on the page for notes, choose “handouts”—large means 1 per page, medium is 2, small is 3 per page. Interesting but mysterious: colors print truer from the PDF version than they do directly from Notebook software.

Top tips for SMARTboard use: Tip #5 Rename Page

5. Rename page: When I started using Notebook software for the SmartBoard, I didn’t pay much attention to the thumbnails of all the pages displayed when not in “full-screen.” As I created and used more files however, I found that the tiny pages on the side helped me transition to the next item in the lesson. Renaming the pages is even more helpful, reminding me how much I have to cover in my remaining class time. By default, each page is named with the time it was created. Right-click (or control-click for Mac users) on the name and it turns blue to allow you to name it with something useful.

Create a TimeToast Timeline

If you're unable to view the movie, click here.

There's Got to Be a Better Way! Copy Notebook Page

Tip #6 for new users of SMARTboard/Notebook: I begin a Notebook file for a lesson on research paper for my 8^th grade and a different introductory file for my 6^th grade. Now it occurs to me that my review page in the 8^th grade file would work very well for other class too. I select all; then copy—uh-oh, text and images are locked. Up to Edit > Select all locked items, then command-u to unlock. Copy all; then to the 6^th grade file, add a new page, then paste. Finally, add the page background from the Gallery or Format > Page background again. Nine steps—there’s got to be a better way! There is: Line up the 2 Notebook files so that the thumbnails show. Just drag the thumbnail of the page to be copied into the other file. Done.

Select all Locked Items

Tip #7.  The first time I attempted a Notebook page--that's the software designed for SmartBoard--with animations and hyperlinks, I worked on it for quite some time. At last it was finished. But I had misspelled one of my links. That sent me back to the animation/link-lock jail described in Tip #8. I ended up deleting the page, then starting over. Of course, once I deleted it, other pages that were linked to it didn’t work either. Frustration like this can lead to some pretty bad grammar. The cure: Under the Edit menu at the top is something I had overlooked: “Select all locked items.” Clicking this of course selects everything you so carefully locked, and now you can use command-u to unlock them all. Fix the ones that need fixing, then select all (command-a), and lock (command-L) again. Mental health is restored.

Lock Last

Tip #8 for new users of SMARTboard and its software, Notebook. Here's a great time waster: Add animation to 5 or 10 text boxes--say, spin--then try to lock them. Every time you click a box, it spins so can't access the menu. The cure: Take care of your color, animations, links, etc. As the last step, use command-a to select all. Notebook selects the text boxes and images that are not locked. Use command-L to lock them all without starting the animations or activating links; or use the pull-down menu to choose "Lock > Allow move" for all items at once.

Stuttering Finger--Won't You Give?

Tip #9: Lock: Many of my carefully prepared Notebook lessons--"Notebook" is the software designed for the SMARTboard--were pounded to mush as students tried to drag words into the right category—a condition called “stuttering finger.” The student touches the text box; the finger slips and taps again. This double-click opens the text box for editing, whereupon, the next slip rearranges the order of the letters till the lesson is unintelligible. The cure: Lock. Select the text box, pressing on the downward-pointing triangle to choose “Lock.” If you prefer, use Command-l. In the case of a text box that needs to be placed somewhere else on the page during the lesson, choose “Allow move”--no keyboard shortcut for this.  Now the words in the text box cannot be changed until you use the same pull-down menu to “unlock”--or Command-u.

Freeze! Tips for New SmartBoard Users

New to SMARTboard? These are my top ten tips for new users of Notebook, the software designed for the SMARTboard, starting with number 10.

Tip #10: I've just put up the instructions for the assignment on the SmartBoard. Just then I remember that there’s an important email to check. I used to just wait to use the computer for this or any other task till the SmartBoard wasn’t needed. Then I learned about “freezing.” There’s a button on the remote for the projector labeled “freeze.” It captures the picture and doesn’t allow it to change till you hit “freeze” again. So, check your email, print an extra set of instructions or another copy of the parent newsletter, then return to your presentation and hit “freeze” a second time. Seamless.

Da Big Leap: A Blog Review

After reading Rebecca Blood’s article about the two types of blogs, I realize that for education issues, I prefer the “filter” type rather than the “web log.” I subscribe to a number of blogs, using Google Reader to “aggregate” them. Like a morning newspaper written just for me, they appear on my start page. I doubt that I’d read any blogs at all without my Reader packaging them conveniently for me. The “filter” blog searches the web for obscure items of interest or links with “how to” lessons. These are more useful to me than blogs of personal sharing, rants, and the like. I admit however that I seldom make it through my Google Reader page before some of the items are weeks old. When I read a how-to or an experimental lesson, I like to try it out. This takes lots of that scarce commodity, time. Certain writers have proven that their contributions are worth the time.

One that's worth the time is called “The Teacher Teacher,” written by “dabigleap”-- a technical trainer from Columbia, Missouri. He often writes about SmartBoard use, which is of particular interest to me since I’ve had one in my classroom for a year. If you haven’t used SmartBoards, a year may seem like plenty of time to learn the tricks of the trade, but I’m just beginning to realize its potential. In a February 23, 2009, post he explains how to use lessons in other formats, ex., PowerPoint, and turn them into an interactive activities at the SmartBoard. He describes how to change the blanks of the worksheet to text boxes, and working with the “Ink Aware” toolbar, transform the working into a game, engaging all the students in the discovery process. Next, he explains how to import an existing PowerPoint lesson into Notebook—as the software for the SmartBoard is called—and not only keep the advantages of your work in PowerPoint, but add to the interactivity of Notebook. I had known about Ink Aware tools in the SmartBoard system, but I never understood the advantages of using them. He explains how to engage students in writing notes on the SmartBoard and how to savethem to be used as part of the lesson. “Dabigleap” writes in a casual style about technical tips for classroom teachers. He often links to other blogs or web pages with more information. His entries are sometimes very short, sometimes more in depth. He keeps his advice practical, without philosophy, politics, or unsupported predictions about Technology Utopia. I like that.