ActivInspired?

ActivInspire has been installed on ALL Primary School college PCs and Macs so you can confidently prepare and use flipcharts safe in the knowledge that your students can open files that they or you have created and open and edit them anywhere.

If they want to work on them at home, that's an option as well, as the ActivInspire is also a free download for Mac, albeit without the resources.

Any flipchart can be saved as a PDF when finished, or of course printed the old fashioned way.

I've also included a PDF file that shows what resources you should have installed on ActivInspire on your Mac, there are loads, and if your list doesn't look like mine, let your friendly neighbourhood ICT Tech know and they can dump the lot on your Mac quite easily (no install needed).

Remember that ActivInspire is a LOT more than a tool for your IWB, it is actually a fantastic general purpose creation tool, drawing , painting, mind mapping, collating and presenting, image compilation, all without the stresses of needing an Internet connection, and a seamless link between modelling via the IWB, and individual work on laptops and PCs.

It it completely cross platform, so any files you create on your Mac, can be transferred to the shared drives and easily owned and edited by students with PCs.

Can't find it on your Mac? Just use spotlight (the magnifying glass at the top right corner) and search for 'Inspire' - I'd keep it in the Dock as well. (right click > options > keep in dock)

My favourite way to use ActivInspire is to either create or even better download/modify one (from Promethean Planet), kick the task off at the IWB with student input - save this 'starter' on a shared drive (Primary Pupil Resources) and let the students open it and save it as their own copy - they continue work on their own in their own space. The most I ever send creating my own flipcharts is about 15 mins max, and only if I can reuse it. The best ones are the simplest.

Finally - I would advise you to use the ActivPrimary interface, rather than the ActivInspire one, apart from the obvious fact that is designed for Primary students (Studio is aimed at 11+) the kids do prefer it. If they have to switch between interfaces it is very confusing for you and them. If you need to change the interface, here's how:

On the menu at the top go to View > Dashboard:



Click Configure, then tick the little yellow box. Quit the Application and Open it again - *Voilá* Primary.

If you would like Grade level help with this über tool, just check my Calendar, and let me know when you want me, or ask me during 'Team Team' (Grades 3-5).


Here's a handy guide to what the pretty little icons mean: