While I’m a big fan of iPads in the classroom for one-on-one learning (I mean a really big fan), I also realize how incredibly valuable the SMART Board is for small group collaboration as well as whole classroom learning. I still find it hard to believe some people think that iPads can replace a SMART Board. To do so would be devastating to the learning process. Oh, I forgot to mention that the research supports this conclusion as well.

Okay, okay…I’ll jump off my “high horse” now and share this wonderful video. Enjoy…

Thanks Tom for sharing your ideas and providing a wonderful example for other teachers (including me) to follow.

If you liked the video, please take a few seconds and leave a comment for Tom to let him know what you think. Or, you can always share some of your own similar Smartboard learning moments.

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One of the best features of the new Notebook 11 software is the ability to record and attach audio to an object directly inside the program. However, using specialized sounds (i.e. – sound effects) is extremely important and teachers need to be able to find and use various sounds to make their lessons more effective. Since Notebook requires “mp3″ audio files, it’s also helpful if these resources provide “mp3″ formatted audio files so teachers don’t have to convert the file to use in their Notebook lessons.

Finding Audio on the Internet:

Here is an updated list of my favorite resources that allow teachers to preview and download sounds to incorporate into their Notebook lessons:

1. SoundJay – Great site that makes it extremely easy to preview and download mp3 audio files. To find sounds, click on one of the categories and then scroll through the listing. Be careful of the ads at the top of the pages.

2. SoundCli.ps – This site was just shared by Richard Byrne on Free Technology for Teachers. I liked it so much that it prompted me to write this blog post. To find audio on SoundCli.ps, just type in a search term or use the really cool spinning Tag list. When you download, the files are saved in mp3 format.

3. Find Sounds – Great way to search for audio since you can specify that you only want to search for “mp3″ files. To download file, you’ll need to right-click on the link and choose “Save As…” (or Save Target As… or Save Link As…). Be very careful not to click on the big Download Button; that’s an advertisement.

4. Sound Bible – Another fantastic site for finding audio clips. Just type in a search word and when you find an audio clip you like, you click on the link and it will take you to a download page. Once again, be very careful not to click on the big Download Button. Instead look for the little music icon on the left that has “mp3″ on it. When you click on it, it will let you save it directly to your computer.

5. PacDV – Good site but be very careful of the ads. Also, to find audio, do not use the Search Bar that shows on the main page. Instead, click on one of the categories and then browse through all the descriptions. To download, you can right-click on the link and then select “Save As…” (or Save Target As… or Save Link As…). Also, this site provides both “wav” and “mp3″ formatted audio files so be aware of the file type before downloading.

6. Simply the Best Sounds – It’s very easy to preview sounds on this site and you can select “mp3″ only when looking for audio. Unfortunately, when you download the audio, it saves it as zip file that you will then need to extract to get the mp3 file.

7. GRSites: Sound Effects – Another terrific site that makes it very easy to preview the audio and download directly to “mp3″ format. To download, right click on the MP3 link and then select the option to save.

Converting Audio Files to “mp3″ Format:

If you have an audio file that is not in “mp3″ format (i.e. – a wav file), you can convert it to “mp3″ so you can use it in your Smart Notebook lesson. Here is a short list of resources that make it easy to convert your audio files to “mp3″ format:

1. Media.io – I just discovered this website a few weeks ago and it is by far the easiest method to convert audio to “mp3.”

2. Media Converter – Another great site for converting files from one format to another.

3. IE Download Helper – (Internet Explorer Only) – This is an add-on for the Internet Explorer browser that lets you download any video and/or audio file found on a webpage. In addition, it has an option for converting files from one format to another format  automatically in case the audio you found is not in “mp3″ format.
Using audio is an extremely powerful way to reinforce information and provide positive feedback in your Notebook lessons. That’s why it’s so important to share these resources with the other teachers at your school.

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abc Find and See - Decipher the Olympiads

If you’ve just downloaded the new Smart Notebook 11 software, you may want to take a look at a new Notebook activity called abc Find and See: Decipher the Olympiads that reinforces mean, median, and mode. This activity, created by abcteach.com, is available for free download on the Smart Exchange.

What’s special about this activity is that it utilizes three new features of Notebook 11: the Embedded Web-browser, the Activity Builder, and the built-in Audio Recorder. (Since these features are only available in the new version, you must use Notebook 11 for the activity to function as intended.)

The quality and creativity of this Notebook activity is unparalleled. It contains a review and practice section, three Olympiads to decipher (nine word problems), and three fun pages on the Olympiads. Two of the Olympiad pages provide additional activities that utilize the Embedded Web-browser and the practice pages utilize the Activity Builder Add-on to provide feedback that includes both animation and audio.

To use this activity, students need to FIND the correct Nation, City, and Year of a specific Olympiad. If they can decipher the Olympiad, they are taken to a page with some fun facts about that specific Olympiad. In order for the students to find the correct Nation, City, and Year of the given Olympiad, they have to solve word problems for the mean, median, and mode. If they solve a word problem correctly, the Nation, City, or Year will be revealed to them so they can decipher the Olympiad and SEE the fun fact page for that Olympiad.

Here are some sample pages from abc Find and See – Decipher the Olympiads

You can download this activity for free on the Smart Exchange.

If you really like this activity, abcteach.com has an extended version of abc Find and See: Decipher the Olympiads on their Member Site that includes eight (instead of three) Olympiads to decipher and 24 word problems. The extended version is compatible with ALL prior versions of Notebook. I should also mention that abcteach.com has a huge collection of quality Notebook files in their Member area including additional abc Find and See activities.

Receive a $10 discount on a 1-Year membership to abcteach.com

Since I was mentioning resources in the Member area of abcteach.com, I asked them if they would be willing to offer a membership discount to my readers. They readily agreed to a $10 discount on a 1-Year membership. To apply the discount, go to the abcteach Order Information Page, enter Promo Code TLSB2010, and click on the Apply Code button. This offer is available through the end of April, 2012.

Please share this information with the other teachers at your school.

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The eagerly awaited Notebook 11 Software update will be available for download on Monday, April 23. That’s right! You will be able to download the new version of Notebook in just a few days.

You can download the new version of Notebook now!

Click here to go to the Smart Notebook Download page.

Notebook 11 is a major upgrade from version 10 and I must say that Smart Technologies did a fantastic job of adding new features to it that not only make it more powerful but also make it more user-friendly.

To help my readers get ready for the launch of Notebook 11, I called Danny Nicholson of the Whiteboard Blog to discuss the new version and get his reaction. After my conversation with Danny, I came up with a list of my favorite new features. I’ve also included a few videos that demonstrate how these new features can help you create even more engaging and useful lessons for your SMART Board.

Activity Builder

This is a new feature that allows you to create interactive drag-and-drop activities that actually respond to student choices. For example, you can create a Animal Classification activity that spins the correct answer and plays a positive reinforcement message when it is dragged to the correct location. If students drags a wrong answer, it can play a short audio feedback and bounce the answer back to its original location. This new feature is extremely easy to use and provides a powerful method to reinforce information in an engaging manner.

Audio Recorder

With the new version, you can now record audio directly inside Notebook and attach it to an object in one step. You can even save the object with the new recording in the Gallery for later use. This is an extremely useful feature of Notebook 11 and one that should be utilized as much as possible. The only issue with using Notebook 11 to record your audio is that the audio will not play on earlier versions of Notebook.

Here’s a video demonstration that uses the Activity Builder Add-on as well as the Record Audio feature to create an authentic learning activity.

Embedded Web Browser

This is a great new feature that lets you view a web page directly inside Notebook by inserting a Web Browser object onto any page. You can even save your Web Browser object in the Gallery. One of the really useful features of the new Web Browser object is the ability to drag both text and images from the browser object to your Notebook page. I can already think of lots of great uses for this feature!

Customizable Creative Pen

The Creative Pen lets you draw using a collection of small images like a star or a smiley face. This is a fun pen option that is currently available in earlier versions of Notebook. In Notebook 11, you can now add your own image to the Creative Pen collection.

Improved Toolbar

The new Toolbar in Notebook 11 is fantastic! It actually responds and displays Property options automatically depending on what type of object is selected. For example, if you select a Text Object, the Toolbar will automatically display options for changing the basic properties of the text including font type, font size, alignment, color, and even transparency. This alleviates the need to use the Property Tab to set most of the object properties.

Here’s a video demonstration that shows an embedded web browser reinforcing a lesson on the Olympic Games. It also highlights the new features of the Toolbar and the Creative Pen.

Create Freehand Shapes

Notebook 11 now gives you the capability of creating a freehand shape that you can modify just as you would any other shape that you create using the Shape Tool. To create a freehand shape, just draw something with one of the pens and make sure it is enclosed (or almost enclosed) and then click inside your drawing with the Fill Tool. Notebook will create a shape that is the same size as your drawing. You can then change the size, fill color and even the line properties of your new shape. This feature gives you a very easy way to fill in a freehand drawing.

Full Screen Page Border Guides

This feature allows you view a page border guide when creating Notebook lessons. This is an extremely useful tool to use to ensure that you do not place objects below the boundaries of a full page. When objects are placed below the full page boundaries, it may cause your page to narrow when viewing in Full Screen mode on the SMART Board.

Fading Pen

You can now set your pen drawings to fade away after a specific amount of time has passed without using the Magic Pen. This allows you to customize your pen properties and still be able to make your drawing disappear.

Conclusion

While there are other new features (including a new Crayon tool, a Reset Page option, and the ability to insert custom Widgets), I’m sure I’ll continue to find some other hidden gems. However, like any new software release, I’ve already found a few bugs and a few changes to functionality. With that being said, I’m very pleased with the new version of Notebook and I’m excited to start using the new features to create even more engaging activities for the SMART Board.

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In addition to my review of Socrative, I’ve also included links to additional information about Student Response Systems in general and their potential effectiveness in the classroom.

Even if you haven’t used a Student Response System, this would be a great opportunity to incorporate a few assessments in your lessons to better understand why real-time assessment is such a powerful tool in the classroom. Do it now while it’s free!

I hope you’ll share this article with the other teachers and administrative personnel at your school. Remember…

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Recently, someone asked me why I thought the SMART Board interactive whiteboard was so much fun to use. I really couldn’t answer the question but I remember having the same “wow factor” when I used the SMART Board for the first time. What was it about the SMART Board that gave me that feeling? After spending some time posing as Rodin’s “Thinker,” I had an epiphany: maybe I should start selling tanzanite rings! In addition to my tanzanite realization moment, I think I also figured out what gives both the iPhone and the SMART Board that “wow factor” compared to similar products on the market. Unfortunately, my realization was kind of boring so I’ll try to keep the technical mumbo jumbo to a minimum.

My epiphany (not the tanzanite one) was that the iPhone and the SMART Board do something that very few tools do. They allow you to interact with information in a very unique and personal way. What makes the iPhone so cool is that you don’t use a cursor (or a pen) to select what you want, you simply touch it with your finger. With the SMART Board, you do the exact same thing! To interact with the computer you simply touch the SMART Board with your finger (or any other useful body part) and the computer magically does what you ask. You don’t need a mouse, you don’t need a pen, you don’t need an infrared pointer; all you need is your finger (no, not that one). In essence, YOU become the input device. This may sound silly, but I’ll bet you a $300 tanzanite ring that you also had that wow moment when you first used the SMART Board or the iPhone.

My epiphany also made me realize what Apple and Smart Technologies (the makers of the iPhone and the SMART Board) did to help create this “wow factor.” They each created a tool that seems to work as both an input and an output device.

(Technical mumbo jumbo coming…hit yourself with a hammer for full effect)

Actually, the SMART Board is technically just an input device like your mouse or your keyboard; all it does is send information to the computer. It’s not an output device because the computer doesn’t actually send any information to the SMART Board; the computer sends information out through the projector which gets displayed on the surface of the SMART Board.

The software that comes with your SMART Board actually integrates the SMART Board with your projector and the two magically become one (this would be a good time for meditating). However, the ability of Smart Technologies to make the SMART Board seem like an output device similar to your monitor only gets us half way to the wow factor. The breakthrough, and what I think makes the SMART Board so cool, is that they removed the need to use any other tool to interact with the information. All you do to interact with the SMART Board is touch it with your finger. This is what makes it seem like YOU’RE the input device.

Removing the need to use a mouse or a pen to tell the computer what to do may seem subtle; however, I believe it’s the difference between telling a taxi driver where to take you and driving there yourself (although the smell of a New York City taxi has it’s own unique “wow factor.”)

I’ll admit that the wow factor lessens to some degree (sorry Penelope) but the wow factor is still higher than with similar tools on the market. In the classroom, the wow factor of the SMART Board will stay around a long time (long enough to give your SMART Board a name) and it helps create a level of excitement that can, in turn, help increase student engagement. In addition, the unique interface of the SMART Board makes it incredibly easy (and fun) for students of all ages to interact with the learning material.

So, the only question I have for you now is, “do you got wow?

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These games would be a lot of fun to play on the SMART Board. I think it would be fascinating to play the first level of each game and then watch the corresponding video that demonstrates a technique to help students improve their score for that game. After they watch the video, have them play the last two levels and see how they do.

[Unfortunately, I was unable to view the videos directly from the Brainsmart site because of where I live so I searched for them on YouTube. If you're unable to view the videos on the site, I've included them here.]

Here are the direct links to the games and the corresponding video:

Play the Name That Name Game

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

YouTube Link

Play the Objects In Order Game

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

YouTube Link

Play the Name That Number Game

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

YouTube Link

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For example, if your objective is to broaden your students’ understanding of Place Value, you could use JigZone to create a puzzle that shows an engaging chart that correlates the standard form of a place value with the word form. You can even place your custom puzzle on your blog.   

When you add your own images, you have a lot of control over the puzzle difficulty including what type of cuts you use for the puzzle pieces.

I like using Notebook to create a page of information containing images and other important information that I want to introduce. I can then export the page as a jpeg image type (File –> Export –> Image File…) and then use JigZone to create a puzzle of the exported image. Now that’s cool.

This one is definitely worth sharing!

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James provided many outside sources to integrate into what we were learning. I enjoyed that he allowed us to practice in class. This is a good way to present technical material. He was wonderful!

The Advanced Notebook workshop is for teachers who know the basics of creating lessons in Notebook but want to take their development to a new level. These are full-day workshops and teachers in Illinois are eligible to receive CEU credit by filling out the Illinois Evidence of Completion form. Participants also receive a flash drive containing a wealth of resources including all the tutorials from the workshop, a collection of Notebook lessons, and step-by-step video instructions for completing the final workshop project.

For more information about the Advanced Smart Workshop, click on one of the buttons:

• Advanced SMART Notebook Training – Schaumburg, IL April 11, 2012

• Advanced SMART Notebook Training – Troy, MI May 17, 2012

The company organizing the workshops provides Group Rates so please forward this information to the person in charge of PD at your school.

Hope to see you there and don’t forget to bring your laptop!

Jim

Until the new version is released, you may want to use the site recordmp3.org to record your own audio and download the file directly to your computer. Once it’s downloaded, you can attach it to an object inside Smart Notebook. This is a great way to add audio positive feedback to an object or to play an audio version of a particular word or phrase when you touch the corresponding text object.

Here’s a quick video on setting up and using the recordmp3.org recording feature.

Please share this great resource.

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