Video demonstrates how you will soon be adding links from any object on your Workbook / AlphaTeach canvas. Links can launch web pages (internal or external browser), or other files on your computer such as slideshows, programs, sounds or videos.
Digital whiteboarding is all about ink and annotation – and its no surprise that this is a strong point for Workbook / AlphaTeach whiteboarding software. Learn to use different pens for different jobs: different colours, line types & thicknesses, opacities….
Today, we feature the latest from Dr Will Thalheimer, the long-respected instructional design expert and contemporary education blogger on education best-practice (www.willatworklearning.com).
Will has just re-issued his ground-breaking 2003 tome “The Learning Benefits of Questions: Research to Practice.” As he points out: ” Questions still rock, the research is still sound, and you will still get great value from this paper’s concepts! “
Among many other activities, Will also maintains AudienceResponseLearning.org, a web site dedicated to improving learning outcomes through audience response techniques. Visitors to that site will find his report Questioning Strategies for Audience Response Systems: How to Use Questions to Maximize Learning, Engagement, and Satisfaction. To quote Will on why you should read it:
“I continue to maintain this website because I am concerned that people sell and see audience response technology as a quick fix to maintain learner interest. While interest may be temporarily raised, if this is all you do with audience response technology, you are committing educational malpractice. The research report will give you a much deeper insight into the many ways that well-designed audience response learning can support deep and meaningful learning.”
Any object’s properties can be changed instantly in Workbook. Change fill, stroke, opacity, line properties, label properties etc…. Right click on the object and select “properties”, or (once the object is selected) just hit the relevant button the Properties toolbar.
Importing all or selected pages from other Workbook files is a very useful way of capturing work done in earlier files, and bringing it into the current Workbook activity.
The Grids function lets you display a grid as a background. It’s much more as well however! You can choose from square or isometric grid types, or otherwise apply lined, handwriting or music score templates to your pages. You can also (with square or isometric grids) apply the popular “snap-to” functionality, resulting in perfect alignment of objects to the grid coordinates (whether or not they are visible).
On the Page Sorter, each page thumbnail offers a menu through which you can access a number of page formatting options. You can right-click on the thumbnail, or just click on the down-arrow in the upper right corner of the thumbnail to access this menu of options. Using this menu you ca adjust page size and orientation, background colour (or image i background), set grids and switch them on or off, clear pages of any content, and delete pages altogether from the Workbook.
Video demonstration on how to set the page background…. Backgrounds can be coloured, and they may have an image applied to them in various ways. Putting items in the background means they cannot be changed by mistake while using the canvas. Grids can be sued as well as backgrounds.
Select and use stamps such as tick marks, crosses, happy faces etc, to instantly apply frequently symbols onto the canvas. Drag them to create “magic pen” like streams of your chosen stamp. Great to apply speech bubbles, highlight key items, mark right / wrong etc.
Annotation Mode in Workbook / AlphaTeach is also known as “Glass Mode”. Here’s where you can use your favourite Workbook pens or other tools right over any software or document in your computer. This is a great way to extend the power of Workbook to any other tools on your computer. Mark up documents; draw on images, maps and charts; use the magnifier or the spotlight to focus viewer attention on part of your screen…. It can all be done using Annotation Mode.
The built-in (“internal”) web browser in Workbook / AlphaTeach makes it even easier to integrate web presented materials with your classroom activities. You can manage the view easily, and write or draw over the top of the web page without having to move away from your Workbook whiteboard page. Perhaps best of all for those interactive pages, you can take snapshots to record your progress, and build them up as a “stack” or a storyboard for later….
The porcelain steel surface is impervious to all of the usual glass cleaners: these work a treat when removing stubborn ink stains. An isopropyl alcohol based fluid is ideal. Do not use abrasives or scourers as these might scratch the enamel surface of the whiteboard.
Workbook’s custom toolbars are the key to making Workbook work for you. Choose just the tools and resource links that you need. Eliminate unwanted clutter & distraction. Share toolbars with colleagues to maximise productivity and ease of use.
Workbook’s “glass mode” (or “annotation mode”) provides the freedom to use all of your Workbook tools, to annotate and draw over any of your software. Mock up web pages, documents, brochures, designs in an instant – and get the detail design work done outside of the team sessions.
When you press the “Glass Mode” button, Workbook’s canvas minimises to your tray and a “floating toolbar” appears with all your favorite Workbook pens and tools. This floats over your desktop, your browser, maps, or any software you are displaying on your screen. One press of a button and you can draw ink, type text, use a spotlight or ruler or other tools – right over the top of the displayed content.
Press the camera tool to save a snapshot of the screen into your minimised Workbook, or drag to select the desired capture area.
Xorro Workbook’s Glass Mode lets you annotate with any tool, over any displayed content.
