This section explains Dual User mode and also the interactivity offered by this feature:
Promethean Technology supports true multiple user interaction and multiple operations happening at the same time. This takes the idea of multi-user to a new level. Individual users are differentiated in the Promethean system and while emulating any other multi-touch surface - it also “knows” who the teacher is and who the learners are.
Promethean’s approach offers a completely new Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) paradigm – that opens a new world of easy to manage, but pedagogically advanced teaching and learning opportunities.
Benefits when used by two or more users include:
It's non-technical - As easy as two people drawing on a big sheet of paper!
Allows people to work at the same time on screen and in the same application (specially developed) – all other systems require users to take turns.
Users can collaborate to solve problems or puzzles.
Users can compete in real time.
Enables team or role-based use of the board/display.
Greatly increases productivity at the board.
Teacher can work with a child providing close support and advice, exploring ideas with no pen or role swapping.
To enable Dual User mode you must ensure you have the following hardware and software:
An ActivBoard v3 OR an upgraded ActivBoard v2 (containing ActivBoard firmware v2.3 or later).
Dual User ActivPens (Teacher Pen and Student Pen).
The Dual User enabled ActivDriver.
ActivInspire.
For further information regarding Dual User hardware and software requirements please contact Promethean Ltd.
The Dual User functionality of ActivInspire is available whenever the software detects a Dual User enabled ActivBoard connected to your computer. If this is not the case, the Dual User functionality will be unavailable within ActivInspire.
This section is written with the assumption that Dual User is enabled.
Dual User is designed around the concept of a Teacher Pen and a Student Pen:
Teacher Pen |
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Student Pen |
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By default, when Dual User mode is not enabled, both the Teacher and the Student pens behave as standard single input ActivPens, in that you can use either of the pens, but only one at a time.
With either of the pens you can enable Dual User functionality as follows:
From the Main Menu, select Tools
> Dual User
When Dual User is enabled, a second, floating Student Toolbox is displayed within ActivInspire:
Student Toolbox (ActivInspire Studio) |
Student Toolbox (ActivInspire Primary) |
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When Dual User mode is enabled:
The Student Pen is restricted to the following areas of the program:
Positioning the Student Toolbox.
Selecting and using tools from the Student Toolbox on the flipchart page.
Interacting with the contents of the flipchart page.
The Teacher Pen will continue to control the full functionality of ActivInspire, with the exception that it cannot be used to interact with the Student Toolbox.
The computer mouse cannot interact with the flipchart material or the Student Toolbox, but will continue to control all other aspects of ActivInspire.
The Student Toolbox offers the following tools... |
These allow the student to... |
Select |
Move and size page objects. |
Pen |
Annotate on the page. |
Highlight |
Highlight areas of the page. |
Fill |
Fill page objects. |
Shape |
Add shapes to the page. |
Connector |
Connect page objects. |
Handwriting Recognition |
Add recognized text objects to the page. |
Shape Recognition |
Add recognized shapes to the page. |
These tools behave in much the same way as the standard tools for single pen input.
For details, see the individual sections on these tools in this Help file.
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It is important to rrealize that any Student Pen activity can occur on the page independently from and simultaneously to the Teacher Pen activity. This therefore provides for many types of collaborative activity, including:
All the actions and properties of page objects such as containers and restrictors apply to both Teacher and Student Pens. |
Dual User Mode within the ActivInspire Primary interface offers some additional tool trays.
When the Student Pen selects the Pen
,
the Student Pen Tray is displayed in the Tray area, allowing the Student
to select pens, highlighters and colors:
When the Student Pen selects the Fill Tool, the Student Fill Tray is
displayed in the Tray area, allowing the Student to select the Fill
color:
These trays will appear alongside any trays currently in use by the Teacher Pen.
When working in Dual User mode, ActivInspire imposes the following rules of engagement:
The Teacher Pen cannot select Student Tools. The Student Pen cannot select Teacher Tools.
Any ActivInspire windows and dialogs (for example, those for the Clock, or Dice Roller) are inaccessible to the Student Pen.
When you select a page object (or objects) with one of the pens, so that the Marquee Handles are showing, these objects will be inaccessible to the other pen. This rule stays in force until the Marquee Handles are removed by whatever means. In other words, each pen can define its own independent selection of Marquee Handles which are inaccessible to the other pen.
If one pen is interacting with an object on the page, for example, the first pen is in the ‘pen nib down’ state over an object, the second pen cannot interact with this object until the first pen releases its hold on the object.
The Student Shape
Tool does not display the Shape Toolbox.
The Shape Toolbox must be shown by the Teacher
Shape Tool, whereupon both the Student and Teacher pens can select shapes
from the common Shape Toolbox. Both pens will always
use the most recent shape as selected by each pen.
When the Student Pen uses the Handwriting
Recognition
Tool, no word alternatives are provided
once the word is recognized (unlike the Teacher Pen).
If both pens are writing, the stacking order of the annotations are defined by the relative pen down events of both pens. Therefore if Pen 2 is in the process of drawing an annotation, Pen 1 can always draw over the top of this annotation (and vice versa).
If two Maths tools are showing on the page (for example, rulers, compasses, protractors), each pen can interact with its own maths tool.
When using the ActivInspire Primary look and feel, the position of any Teacher and Student trays will depend upon the position of the Teacher and Student Toolboxes. If the Teacher Toolbox is to the right of the Student Toolbox, then the related trays will appear in the same order.
When Dual User mode is enabled, you can use the Teacher Pen or the computer mouse to ‘turn off’ Dual User mode as follows:
From the Main Menu, select Tools > Dual User. Once Dual User is turned off, both pens revert to standard, single pen use (the default condition).
All pages support dual user input, single user input and sequential use. Multiple users will not be a prerequisite for use of pages, yet pages used in this way will be most effective due to the very nature of collaborative learning and its benefits.
The criteria for multi-user templates are as follows:
Activity templates which students can use as a focus for information collation, ideas exchange and discussion.
Activity templates in which students can work together to manipulate or engage with page elements to co-construct and consolidate knowledge.
Activity templates that promote higher order thinking skills encouraging students to think of concepts in more advanced or complex ways (from basic levels of thought to more complex levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation).
Activity templates allowing synchronous completion of the identical or similar activities - with or without a competitive element according to teachers’ preference.
Activity templates enabling joint creative exercises.
Activity templates which serve to enhance understanding when used as a core part of learning – to encourage student engagement and interaction with concepts and each other, and not necessarily lower order ‘interaction’ with the IWB/IWB tools alone (technical versus conceptual interaction).
Activities employing the ‘Back-to-back’ technique in collaborative or competitive tasks.
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There are plenty of multi-user page templates and multi-user activities to be found within the Shared Resources Library sub-folders in: Shared Resources > ActivInspire |