The Primary Teachers

Guide to ActivInspire
Grasping the basics
Amy Pohl

14

Contents
Introduction

Page 2

Downloading ActivInspire

Page 3

Opening ActivPrimary

Page 5

Profiles and Editing

Page 7

The Toolbox

Page 9

The Pen Tray

Page 10

The Shape Tray

Page 11

The Tool Tray

Page 12

Inserting Text

Page 16

Inserting Media

Page 17

Resource Browser

Page 18

Page Browser

Page 19

Notes Browser

Page 20

Object Browser

Page 21

Property Browser

Page 22

Action Browser

Page 23

Voting Browser

Page 24

ExpressPoll

Page 25

Desktop Tools

Page 26

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Introduction
This guide will aim to develop your knowledge of ActivInspire, mostly in the case of
ActivPrimary.

ActivInspire is the foundation for any 21st

century learning experience. Designed for use in
the classroom, it enables teachers to lead the
lesson on an interactive whiteboard.
Create new lessons filled with rich, powerful
activities, and support Assessment for learning
tasks with students, groups and the whole class.

With a choice of age appropriate interfaces,

ActivInspire gives teachers the ability to access a
wealth of teaching activities, tools, images,
sounds and templates, with a world of
additional resources available on Promethean
Planet.
From Promethean Planet (online)

Page 2 of 26

Downloading ActivInspire
It is the schools and subject leaders job to download and manage ActivInspire within your
school; however you may wish to download it onto your personal computer to help with
planning.
ActivInspire Requirements

It is first important that you check your home computer has all the necessary requirements.
Windows

Mac

Linux

Operating System Requirements

Operating System Requirements

Operating System Requirements

Windows XP SP

Windows Vista SP2,

(Snow Leopard / Lion / Mountain

Windows 7 SP1 (32 & 64-Bit)

Lion)

Mac OS X v10.6 - 10.8

Ubuntu 12.04

Windows 8 (32 & 64-Bit)

PC Recommended Spec

Mac Recommended Spec

2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster for

2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

HD-quality videos

1Gb of RAM is required to play HD-

Linux Recommended Spec

2Gb of RAM
1024 x 768 resolution

2.0GHz processor or faster for HDquality videos

1Gb of RAM is required to play HD-

quality videos

3.0Gb of free disk space

1024 x 768 resolution

Java 6 required Available

1024 x 768 resolution

1.5 Gb of free disk space

fromhttp://www.java.com/getjava

1.5Gb of free disk space

Java 6 required Available

Adobe Flash 11 Available

Java 6 required Available

fromhttp://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

fromhttp://www.java.com/getjava

quality videos

Adobe Flash 11 Available

fromhttp://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

fromhttp://www.java.com/getjava
Adobe Flash 11 Available
fromhttp://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

PC Minimum Spec

Mac Minimum Spec

Linux Minimum Spec

Pentium 4 1Ghz (800MHz for Vista)

Intel Processors (Universal Binary)

1Ghz processor

512Mb of RAM

1Gb of RAM

512Mb of RAM

1024 x 768 resolution

1024 x 768 resolution

1024 x 768 resolution

1.5Gb of free disk space

3.0Gb of free disk space

1.5Gb of free disk space

Java 6 required Available

Java 6 required Available

Java 6 required Available

fromhttp://www.java.com/getjava

Adobe Flash 11 Available

fromhttp://www.java.com/getjava

fromhttp://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Adobe Flash 11 Available

fromhttp://www.java.com/getjava

fromhttp://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Page 3 of 26

Adobe Flash 11 Available

fromhttp://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

You can then easily download ActivInspire onto your personal computer by going to the
ActivInspire website and choosing the appropriate version. If you do not already have an
account, you will need to register with promethean- this is free and will allow you to access
a full bank of teaching resources.

ActivInspire download address:

http://support.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=nav.29751&changeCountry=United+Kingd
om

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Opening ActivPrimary
Once you have downloaded ActiveInspire, simply double click this icon to open it:
OR open it using your computers start menu.

Sometimes you may find that ActivInspire Studio will open insead of ActivInspire Primary
(seen in the image below). If this does happen, follow the simple instruction below to open
ActivPrimary.

How to change from ActiveStudio to

ActivPrimary
Step 1- Open the dashboard
This can be done by clicking on view and then by selecting
dashboard. Alternatively, you could press F11.

Page 5 of 26

Step 2- Navigating the dashboard

Once the dashboard appears, you will need to
move onto the configure options menu.

Step 3- Selecting ActivPrimary

Simply tick the box so that when relaunched, the ActivPrimary version of
ActivInspire will be opened.

Step 4- Close the program and then re-open it

Once re-opened, the program should look like this

Page 6 of 26

Profiles and Editing

Your ActivInspire program will include five pre-made profiles; At The Board, Authoring,
Languages, Mathematics, and Media. Using these profiles will make finding different
tools so much easier, for example, the Mathematics profile contains tools which are useful
in mathematics lessons; such as a protractor.

How to change profile:

Simply click on the change profile button, which looks like an
identification card. A drop down menu will then appear; click on
the profile you want to change to.

Managing Profiles:
In the ActivInspire
dashboard, select the
Configure option and
then Manage profiles.
You will now be able to
edit the existing
profiles, save your
profiles and open
previously saved
profiles.

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Editing Profiles:
Here, you can select which profile you wish to edit.

Here, you can change the layout of different

features within the ActivInspire program.

Here, you can add and remove items from

your main toolbox.

These buttons allow you to open, save, delete and reset profiles.

Here, you can change the settings

for your profile, such as spellchecker.

Here, you can add your own buttons.

The Toolbox
Flipchart Vote:

Next Page/ Previous Page:

Click to start/ stop voting.

When green the flipchart
page has questions
available for voting. (Also
see ExpressPoll section)

Use the next and previous page buttons

to move through pages in your flipchart.
More Tools:
Click this button to bring up more
tools in the tool tray. (Also see
Tool Tray Section)

Select Tool:
Use the select tool to move objects on
the screen and to drag resources from
the tool tray.

Text Tool:

Use this to enter a block of text. Click on the page where

you wish to insert the text. You can then input text using
the computers keyboard or use the floating keyboard.
(Also see Inserting Text section)

Pen Tool:
This allows you to add free-hand writing
to the screen. (Also see Pen Tray section)

Page Browser:
Use this button to move between, view,
copy, and delete pages in your flipchart.
(Also see Page Browser section)

Clear Tool:
Use this button to clear the screen.

Reset Page Tool:

Redo/ Undo
Click this button to change the page back
to the way it looked when last saved.
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The Pen Tray

Highlighter
s

Pens

Erasers

Pen Modifiers:
Click here to bring up this menu for
line drawing.

Colours:

Right click for more options.

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The Shape Tray

Click on a shape to
select it.

Click here to select pen

colour.

Click here to see more

shapes.

Click here to select line

weight.

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Click here to select fill

colour.

The Tool Tray

Desktop Annotate:

Dual User:

Pen:

Eraser:

Magic Ink:

Use to annotate things on

the whiteboard, e.g.
when evaluating work.

Use this when you want

to have two people
writing on the board.

See the Pen Tray section.

See the Pen Tray section.

Allows you to erase

objects on the top layer
e.g. to uncover words.

Desktop tools:

ExpressPoll:

Highlighter:

Fill:

Pen Modifiers:

See Desktop Tools section.

See ExpressPoll section.

See the Pen Tray section.

This can be used to colour

shapes, backgrounds or
even keywords.

Brings up the Pen Tray.

Page 12 of 26

See the Pen Tray section.

Can choose from a range of

snapshots

Handwriting Recognition:

Revealer:

Camera:

Set Square:

Protractor:

Changes freehand text

into word-processed.

Blacks out screen, so you

can to reveal from one of
the four sides.

Able to take pictures of

the screen.

Brings a set square on

screen.

Brings a protractor on
screen.

Shape Recognition:

Torch:

Launch ActiView:

Ruler:

Compass:

Changes freehand shapes.

Blacks out the screen and

allows you to shine a light
over certain areas.

Connects to ActiView
visualiser.

Brings a ruler on screen.

Brings a compass on
screen.

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XY Origin:

Calculator:

Full Screen Recorder:

Keyboard:

Tickertape:

Allows you to move

objects around a specific
point.

Brings up a calculator on
screen.

Allows you to record the

whole screen.

Brings up an on-screen
keyboard- useful on an
IWB.

Can be used to display

messages across the
screen.

Dice Roller:

Sound Recorder:

Area Recorder:

Clock:

Web Browser:

Can be used to produce

random numbers on
screen.

Allows you to record

sound clips for the
flipchart.

Allows you record parts of

the screen.

Brings up a clock on
screen- also includes a
count-down function.

Brings up the web

browser.

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Spellcheck Flipchart:

Device Registration:

Page Browser:

Object Browser:

Property Browser:

Checks for spelling

mistakes.

Allows you to register

devices such as
ActivExpressions.

(See Page Browser

section).

(See Object Browser

section).

(See Property Browser

section).

Teacher Lock:

Resource Browser:

Action Browser

Can prevent any changes

to the flipchart while
away from the board.

(See Resource Browser

section).

(See Action Browser

section).

Edit User defined

Buttons:
Allows you to add and
edit your own buttons.

Notes Browser:

Voting Browser

(See Notes Browser

section).

(See Voting Browser

section).

Page 15 of 26

Inserting Text
To insert text simply click on this button:

Change font

Bold/ Italics/ Underline/

Superscript/ Subscript

Change size

Text colour
Select
all

Background
colour
Alignment

Move

Line
spacing

Menu

Indent

Send back/
forward

Symbols

Bullets

Bigger/
Smaller

Edit text

Slant

Transparency

On-screen
keyboard

Group

Page 16 of 26

Duplicate

Inserting Media
To insert media, you will first have to find this icon from either the toolbox or tool tray:

Then simply find the media you wish to insert and it will be added to your flipchart page:

Page 17 of 26

Resource Browser
Click on the resource browser button, it can be found in either the Toolbox or tray:

This menu will then appear when the upward arrow is clicked:

You will then be able to choose from a range of resources. These can then be added to your
flipchart.

Teaching Idea:
Get the handwriting grid by
clicking on grids and then lined
horizontal, then drag and drop
into the flipchart.

Page 18 of 26

Page Browser
The page browser allows you to oversee and move between pages within your flipchart and
can be accessed by clicking on this button:

Page 19 of 26

Notes Browser

Using the notes browser will allow you to add useful prompts to your flipchart to help your
lessons run smoothly.

Page 20 of 26

Object Browser
The object browser allows you to oversee everything included on you flipchart page.

By clicking on each object, you will be able to rename and move object to different layers.
Top Layer: this is the annotations will go on when using the pen tool. If you want to use the
magic ink tool on you flipchart page, you will need to
ensure that the item(s) you want to rub out is located on
the top layer. Objects on this layer can be locked so they
cannot accidently be moved (see right).
Middle Layer: this is the layer all text will automatically be
included on. Objects on this layer can be locked so they
cannot accidently be moved (see right).
Bottom Layer: this will put objects behind the middle
layer. Objects on this layer can be locked so they cannot
accidently be moved (see right).
Background Layer: this layer is automatically locked, and was used in the above picture for
the book background.
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Property Browser
The property browser allows you to edit things within your flipchart. As a beginner, you will
not need to worry too much about this. But within this menu you can find useful things like
page turn effects and background.

Page 22 of 26

Action Browser
The action browser will allow you to assign different actions to objects in your flipchart, so
when clicked they will fulfil different operations. You will also be able to drag and drop
different tools to make your teaching run smoothly, so you are not spending too long
looking in the tool tray for certain tools.

Page 23 of 26

Voting Browser
The voting browser allows quizzes to be carried out with pupils. Backgrounds similar to the
one below can be found in the resources section.

Register new devices.

Anonymous voting.

Choose the type of

voting system.

Assign devices to
pupils.

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ExpressPoll
The ExpressPoll can be used to set up the voting with children.

Multiple choice

Text Question

Sort in order

True/false

Number Question

Likert Scale

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Actions

Desktop Tools
Desktop Tools can be used outside of your flipcharts.

Return to flipchart

Promethean Planet

ExpressPoll

Screen recorder

Keyboard

Camera

More tools

Page 26 of 26