jacobitejake
01-03-2009, 03:39 AM
Wow... after downloading the program I immediately found the desktop wheel, I’d read about it in the forums, what a great idea that was ... nice and neat and virtually everything you need... whoever dropped that one in the suggestion box deserves a big pat on the back... seeing the desktop tools and desktop annotate buttons at the top of the default toolbar was a big relief, as I had half expected to have to dip into customise to sort out the tools I use most.
My first stop was the resource banks, it's surprisingly full of core resources even before you install the resource pack, after which, it was then filled with some excellent image banks.
I had fun dragging out the animated robots and creatures but it took me a minute to work out how to move them again after dropping them onto a page... if you’re interested, you double click on them using your right mouse button...
Just a little problem I stumbled on, I couldn’t get the ‘blockbuster’ activity to work... the little white and blue areas you needed to click on to change the colour of the hexagons showed as being active but nothing happened when you clicked on them...
So, what have I found having played with it for a while...
Firstly, I was surprised to see that the screen recorder no longer gave the option to capture just an area... I found this very useful in Studio and Primary and had hoped that it was going to be dropped back in after reporting it missing in the preview version. The size of video file is always an issue and if you can choose to capture only the relevant area, this invariably reduces the size of the finished clip. But the main benefit, as I see it, is the ability to record a video that is pleasing to the eye without all the clutter of the windows, toolbars and surrounding objects...
I also found that the ‘add to page’ function is missing when using the calculator tool... it was a great way to quickly add basic sums to a flipchart ready for a closed procedure activity...
So, after watching some rubbish tv, was it worth staying up for, just to be one of the first to have a play, not arf!... Activinspire is a fantastic achievement and I’m certain that today will be looked back on as a major leap forward in the linking of the whiteboard, the teacher, the student and indeed the community. It’s a proud day for the Promethean team and so it should be... enough excitement for one night... time for bed...
My first stop was the resource banks, it's surprisingly full of core resources even before you install the resource pack, after which, it was then filled with some excellent image banks.
I had fun dragging out the animated robots and creatures but it took me a minute to work out how to move them again after dropping them onto a page... if you’re interested, you double click on them using your right mouse button...
Just a little problem I stumbled on, I couldn’t get the ‘blockbuster’ activity to work... the little white and blue areas you needed to click on to change the colour of the hexagons showed as being active but nothing happened when you clicked on them...
So, what have I found having played with it for a while...
Firstly, I was surprised to see that the screen recorder no longer gave the option to capture just an area... I found this very useful in Studio and Primary and had hoped that it was going to be dropped back in after reporting it missing in the preview version. The size of video file is always an issue and if you can choose to capture only the relevant area, this invariably reduces the size of the finished clip. But the main benefit, as I see it, is the ability to record a video that is pleasing to the eye without all the clutter of the windows, toolbars and surrounding objects...
I also found that the ‘add to page’ function is missing when using the calculator tool... it was a great way to quickly add basic sums to a flipchart ready for a closed procedure activity...
So, after watching some rubbish tv, was it worth staying up for, just to be one of the first to have a play, not arf!... Activinspire is a fantastic achievement and I’m certain that today will be looked back on as a major leap forward in the linking of the whiteboard, the teacher, the student and indeed the community. It’s a proud day for the Promethean team and so it should be... enough excitement for one night... time for bed...