User manual PROMETHEAN ACTIVPRIMARY 3

[. . . ] This guide is designed to familiarise you with Activprimary's interface and features to make a successful transition from PX. Activprimary is a lot more feature rich than PX, and will allow you to engage your pupils in lessons a lot more than PX can, thanks to the redesigned interface. You can start Activprimary by double clicking the icon on the desktop. THE DASHBOARD When you first open Activprimary, you will be presented with the Dashboard. This is a central point from where you can choose what you wish to do e. g. [. . . ] Anything that can be deleted can also be moved and modified ­ i. e. When you select an object, you will notice a series of boxes appear around it. Most modification tasks can be done by using these boxes (now on referred to as handles). Here are four separate instances of the same object, each modified in a different way. The handles containing just a single dot (seven handles at regular intervals around the object) are freeform shape modifiers and can be used to resize or extend objects. However, using these tools will not retain the object's proportion / aspect ratio (see top right). In other words, if you resize an image using these handles, you will likely end up with an out-of-shape image. If you wish to retain the object's proportion, you should use the handle that is always at the bottom right of the image, with a \ (backslash) going through the handle (see bottom right). To rotate an object (bottom left), use the handle featuring a curved line. Move the mouse around the shape until the object is rotated to your desired angle. The remaining handle featuring four arrows will simply let you move the selected object to another location in the flipchart. Double clicking an object will present you with one of two menus, depending on which mode you are in. open web browser, move to next page), but this can only be done in Design Mode. The buttons in Design Mode (from left to right) are: Increase/decrease object size, cut, copy, paste, delete, properties (set up actions), duplicate, bring object to front/back. The slider beneath alters the object's transparency ­ very nifty! AC / SPPS / Nov 2007 Page 10 / 18 ACTIVPRIMARY OPERATION ­ EXPLORING THE TEACHERS' MENU Now we have covered the tools available in the Pupil's Menu, it is now time to take a look at the Teacher's Menu. This is where some of the more interactive and engaging tools are kept. We have already visited the Teacher's Menu at the beginning of this guide, but just to recap, the top two buttons (left to right) are the Teacher's Menu Button (File open/save/new etc) and Close. The next level down are Activities Explorer and Sound Control (Record/play), then Special Tools and Clear Tool and finally, Desktop Mode and Activote. We will start with the Teacher's Menu Button, as this does provide more functionality than just open and save. We have already touched on the first three buttons here, so let's concentrate on the fourth button­ Print. There isn't a lot to say about printing flipcharts as it is rarely needed, but nevertheless it is included as a feature in Activprimary. You may want to change the layout from Portrait to Landscape (as your screen is wider than it is tall), and perhaps specify which printer to use but other than that, not much needs to be changed on this screen. In order to conserve paper, it is a good idea to click Preview before clicking Print, just in case your flipchart uses unnecessary blank pages. [. . . ] As we do not have this, these options will not do anything if you click them. The Calculator, a vintage tool from PX remains in Activprimary. Except now it has been given a new look, and by default loads itself in "child" mode. You can right click anywhere on the calculator to change back to the one found in PX if you so wish. Again, to switch off the calculator, either click the icon in the Resource bar or click the X at the top right of the calculator. The Camera tool, another PX veteran, will allow you to take a "snapshot" of anything on your screen. [. . . ]