SMART: External Links

At some point you may be doing a lesson that would benefit from showing several websites or documents. You can create links to external elements in your flipchart for easy one-click access to these items. Here's how it's done:

Website:

1. Choose your website you would like to link to. 

2. You can put the link directly in the page or add the link to an image. 

To link directly to the page go to Insert-->Link (You may notice you can also add pictures, flash files, and sounds using the same Insert menu.)

To link to a picture, add the picture. Click on the picture arrow on the top right. Go to Insert Link.

3. Type or Copy/Paste the URL into the box that comes up.

You can click on the link in the page to get to the website. 

You can also click on the picture to get to the website. 

File:
Follow the same steps as above. Except, instead of a website, click the down arrow and choose File from this computer. Find your file and Insert.

Video:

You can also insert videos into your Notebook. Just go to Insert--->Video File

The only thing is that you can only insert an .flv file (Adobe Flash Player).

If you are downloading videos from Discovery Education, just make sure to change the download file type to Flash. This is located under the video on your screen when logged in to Discovery Education.

If you don't have a .flv file, you can download a file converter, but you are not able to do that from the network or on your school laptop.

The media converter that SMART recommends is mediacoderhq.com/dlfull.htm. This information was taken straight from the SMART User Guide available on the SMART website: http://www.smarttech.com.

I hope this helps you beef up your lessons and organize websites and files for an easier flow.

Promethean: External Links

At some point you may be doing a lesson that would benefit from showing several websites or documents. You can create links to external elements in your flipchart for easy one-click access to these items. Here's how it's done:

Website:
1. Choose page to insert link and website.

2. Go to File-->Insert-->Link-->Website

3. Type in the website URL (or copy/paste)

4. Choose how you would like this link inserted. I have chosen to put it in a picture that I have on my page. To do this, click on the three dots on the right side. (You can choose text or symbol instead if you want.) Then choose the existing object to insert the link to. The task pane shows you a preview of the images so you know you are choosing the right one.

5. Click OK and your link is there! Now all you have to do is click on it with your pen and it will open right up.

The same can be done for a file, like a Word document, Power Point, or even a PDF. Just choose Insert-->Link-->FILE instead and choose your file. This is useful for linking to worksheets you want students to complete, presentations, or even EOG materials.


Movie or Video Clip:
1. Choose your video clip and have it downloaded to your computer. These are easily downloaded from Discovery Education.
2. Go to Insert-->Media or the Media icon on your toolbar.

3. Choose your video file. Click OK.
4. Your video will be inserted into the page and is ready to view. You can click on the video to resize and move. There are buttons on the bottom of the video screen for Play, Pause, Stop, and Volume. (I recommend using your computer's or speaker's volume menu though.)

Now you have two easy ways to pull in external elements, jazz up your lessons, and organize what you'll need.

Triptico Interactive Whiteboard Resources

Triptico is an AWESOME resource you can download for FREE.

Basically, a former educator, David Riley, created resources to use in his classroom. He  then decided to create this app for your computer to make the resources available for other teachers to use. And these resources are really cool.

To start, visit the Triptico website here: http://www.triptico.co.uk/

On the main page, you can click to download and it will take you through the very easy and fast process. When I downloaded it today, it said there was an update and I chose to go ahead and install the update too. It took maybe 5 minutes for everything to download and be up and running.

Once you have downloaded the app, you can view the resources by scrolling through the scroll bar on the bottom for all of the resources or by clicking "Favorites" for a short list. More resources are found through the scroll bar.

There are a variety of resources from games to timers and organizational tools. Just click on any activity to view it. You can move the activity around on the screen and you can adjust the size by pulling at the corners. 

You can preview each activity by clicking the demo button for example questions.

You can also run two of the applications at one time. 

There are so many great activities that you should take a look at. Here are a few I think you'll like:

1. Timer: You have timers in your Promethean and SMART software, but this one is pretty cool too. When you open it up there are three timer choices. Choose one, place anywhere on your screen, and press start. 

2. Team Scoreboard: This resource would have come in handy during all the team games I played with my students. I used to split my math class into teams and hand everyone a whiteboard and marker. I'd give them a math problem and reward points to the teams who got the questions right. I kept score with a tally chart, but this little app would have been very cool. You can choose how many teams you want, and even name each team and award or take away points. I could also see this being used for other things you do in groups or for classrooms who seat students by tables and award points for behavior.

3. What's the Question: This is a game that is like Jeopardy. You can open it up and create a set of questions and answers. You save the file and then open it back up to play the game. It is very fast and easy to use. This would be a great quiz review.

4. Find 10: This game has students find ten answers to a question. The demo has Shakespeare plays, but I could see this being used for any subject. It would be a great morning exercise for ways to make a number or activities to complete that day. 

There are quite a few games and tools. You should absolutely, 100% go download this app and begin using it today. Go do it now!

You can find another review of this product here: http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/category/iwb/smartboard/