Promethean’s free online community is designed to provide interactive white board (IWB) or smart board resources and applications for teachers around the world. This also includes the ability to share innovative lessons, have access to a wide variety of professional development materials, share best practices for web tool integration, and connect with fellow IWB and smart board teachers.
Membership in Promethean is free for teachers and the basic software program ActivInspire Personal Edition is also free. The ActivInspire software program is designed for use with any brand of interactive whiteboard, bringing this program into a single and easy-to-use platform. The program is intended for real-time classroom use by teachers and students alike.
Resources provided by Promethean are available as interactive flipcharts (slides) designed for use with IWBs or smart boards. These flipcharts only function with the ActivInspire software provided free to teachers. Promethean does offer a more advanced ActivInspire software product for about $100.00; however the free version is best for teachers in school districts that do not offer financial support to purchase the advanced program.
Interactive White Board Applications
Resources and applications for IWBs that support all content and lessons include:
- the ability to import files and content from other applications such as Microsoft Office products and smart notebooks
- tools such as spotlight, clock, time stamping, and learner response system or clicker support
- an additional six strategies for using smart boards and IWBs in the classroom
Content Area Resources for Interactive White Boards
These resources are designed for all IWBs and smart boards:
Themes – examples are math, science, literature, poetry, plants, English as a second language, library media, ancient civilizations, and over 30 more themes from which to select.
Lessons – select from any of 14 lesson content areas such as science, math, language arts, and social studies. All lessons are further broken down by grade level, K–12. There are thousands of lessons to select from including air pollution, active passive voice, world history, algebra, art of weaving, Spanish verb conjugation, and thousands more.
IWB Resources that Support Themes and Lessons
These resources are designed for all IWBs and smart boards:
Resource Packs – these are collections of images, videos, and more that increase the overall visual appeal of lessons to make students so they sit up and take notice. Available resource packs include oceans, graphic organizers, interactive buttons, plants and trees, geometry, and over 200 more from which to select.
Weblinks – these are pre-selected websites which support lessons through interactive and non-interactive activities.
Personalized Learning – is an option that allows students to provide individual input into lessons involving problem solving, data collection, voting, and other options in secret. This provides an ideal resource for involving students in lessons without the impact of peer pressure.
Making Connections with Interactive White Board Resources
These IWB and smart board resources provide the opportunity for teachers to implement research-related best practices in their classroom. All of the resources available in this Promethean online community were developed by educators from around the world. Resources have been classroom tested and adaptable to most any situation.
Any teacher may add their resources to share the best practices developed in their own classrooms in this online community. These resources can also be combined with project based learning resources to challenge students through creative and critical thinking activities.
David R. Wetzel - Dr. David Wetzel's experience includes more than 25 years in continuing, adult, and teacher education.
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