Smart Notebook Webinars

Today, I "attended" two Smart Notebook webinars. The first was titled "Notebook 1 Training" and the second was "Notebook 2 Training". It was really cool because as the instructor was talking to me on the phone, I could see exactly was he was doing in Smart Notebook. I learned some neat things about how to change the properties of objects, pictures, and videos. Also, he showed me how I could find images or videos from the internet and "drag" them into my gallery to be available for future use. This was really nice to know because sometimes I find things on the web that I want to use in other presentations, and now I will be able to find them really easily.

Another useful tool that I learned was how to use the magnifying glass to show hidden answers or images. I discussed with him how I could use this in my math class. From what I learned, I can now type my answers to the problems in ahead of time and make the font WHITE so it is not visible. Then, when I move the magnifier over the text box, the answer will appear. This feature is something that can be used in ANY classroom. Something else that can be used in any classroom is the "screen shade" which can be applied to any page to show only the part of the page that you want the students to see. This works just like a piece of paper works with an overhead projector.

I really enjoyed the webinar, especially because I was able to ask questions that pertain to what I use the software for everyday. I use Smart Notebook for almost ALL of my lessons now because there is so much interaction and variance in the way I can deliver an otherwise "boring" topic. I definitely recommend, if you have not use the software much, that you try to make just one lesson with it. Just play around with the pictures and the shapes that are available. Let me know if you have any questions- I have learned a lot about it in the past few months!