Great resources from SMART Technologies

Every teacher using a Smartboard should subscribe  to ED Compass and its blog and receive monthly updates on free PD, apps, widgets,  lesson plans and latest class activity material for Smartboard, including STEM material. This complements checking out the Teachers Smart Exchange which includes downloadable lesson plans and activities organized by standards, grades and subject area.

Also, if you have an Iphone or Android smart phone, get the SMART PD app, which alerts you of new, free  PD training and also allows to access them directly on your handheld device.

Enjoy!                                                                                                             Jude

SMART Notebook app for iPad coming soon

Teachers on the ipad pilot program, soon you'll have even greater interface capability between your two favorite devices: your Smartboard and your iPad. Check this out! 

Thank you Tara T. for alerting me!
                                                                                  Jude

How to open and create Smartboard Notebook files without the software

Profile teachers,

In order to access, create, and modify a Notebook file, simply go there, nothing to install. And if you are not sure whether you'll have internet connection later, you can quickly install the lite version of Notebook and keep working on your file :

http://express.smarttech.com/#

Enjoy!                                                                                                   Jude

Adobe Creative Suite 5 available throughout the school

This is one of Profile's best kept tech secrets: we own a site licence for Adobe Creative Suite 5. 


Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium software is the ultimate toolkit for designing eye-catching print content, immersive digital magazines, elegant eBooks, dynamic PDF files, world-class websites, and interactive SWF content that displays consistently across screens of virtually any size. This includes, among others, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Illustrator and even Acrobat Pro 9.


To install Adobe CS5 on your school computer, just download the install file and key from the Tech Stuff in the Staffshare folder. 


Wonder how to master the beast? Use the tutorials on Atomic Learning. Login and password infos for our e-subscriptions are shared on Google docs.
 Enjoy!                                                                                                    Jude

Aliens stole my Student Response System software

If, one day, your Smartboard Student Response System (aka, clickers)  is gone, don't blame aliens for it. It's just that it is time to update your notebook software to version 11. The process requires to uninstall manually each and every component of Smart software and then install the brand new package.

If you do not use the Student Response System, you can keep using Notebook 10. But I have to tell you, you'll love the Notebook 11 improvements.

How to update: The daring ones can do it entirely by themselves. Download Notebook 11 here, and remember to uninstall first every part of Smart software, including a printer driver called Black Ice. Plan a couple of hours. You will not need to enter a license number, it is stored in your computer. When the installation package starts, choose only the software you already have (notebook, drivers, smart tools, and  math tools if you are a math teacher) For the less daring ones, just send me a tech request.

There is a good news: starting this year, all updates from Smart Technologies will be sent in June, so they can be installed after the end of the year.
                                                                                                     Jude

Access to filtered websites

Access to filtered websites

- For occasional, on the fly access, teachers can override the filter for a default period of time of three hours. You do not need to enter the amount of time, these three hours apply automatically when you override the filter.

- Only teachers can override the filter. Also, they need to be logged in with their own credentials to the computer that will acess filtered sites. In other words, it is not possible for a student to override the filter, and it is not possible for a teacher to override the filter from a computer if someone else has already logged in this computer.

- If there is a need for permanent access to a blocked website by the general student population, please do call Dan Inghram (x 219) in advance to unblock this site. There is no guarantee that the site will be unblocked as various factors may be involved, some being technical, other requiring administrative or policy approval. The earlier you contact Dan, the better. 

Jude

Harvard Business School Blog

I never thought I would ever do this one day but, in all fairness, I must admit that  the Harvard Business School Blog Network features excellent entries on professional strategies which are quite transferable to the world of education. So, as the saying goes, "if the shoe fits..."
                                                                                 Jude