SMART Notebook Update for Mac - Floating Toolbar

Your SMART Notebook software for Mac has a new update if you have not noticed so far - 11.3.  Most of us should be at 11.2 currently.  Though this update is not much, it does have a couple of nice features.  The SMART Technologies package that comes with the update includes SMART System Menu, which, when launched, provides an icon in your system menu bar.  This icon acts as a hub for all of your SMART products, including Notebook, Screen Shade, and more; as well as the ability to show or hide the Board Tools.

If you are a frequent, or even minimal, Floating Toolbar user, you are familiar with the Board Tools icon that appears in the dock on your laptop.

From this application you are able to utilize the Floating Toolbar of SMART Tools to integrate with any application on your MacBook.  This is great when you want to annotate or interactively feature something on your projector from your computer for the classroom.

With the 11.3 update to Notebook, you can access the Floating Toolbar from the SMART System Menu - Show or Hide.  No longer will you see the Board Tools icon in your dock; so, don't be alarmed. It's nice having the one, integrated center to access Notebook and the Notebook features and tools.  And, the SMART System Menu icon will remain in your system toolbar when you log in to your laptop.

Local SMART Technologies Professional Development

At our Mid-year point, I want to make sure that all teaching faculty from my district understand that they can take advantage of some local SMART professional development for any of your SMART Technologies products.  Please contact me at anytime, and I would love to sit down with you during a planning period and help you utilize and make the most your SMART Board or any SMART product you are using in your classroom.  I, also, love doing some low-profile class visits just to see your teaching style to help me understand how I can help you better implement your SMART product in your classroom.

nasonb@sad1.org

SMART Notebook - Pen Tool

Latest video upload.  What your SMART Notebook Pen Tool can do.

SMART Notebook - Infinite Cloner

SMART Notebook's Touch Recognition

Back in the beginning of 2009 SMART released a feature that tremendously helps with your workflow when using the interactive whiteboard.  Please do not get this confused with Notebook's Text Recognition feature.  If you like to frequently use your SMART Board pen tray, writing and annotating, the Touch Recognition feature will allow you to do more while you're holding the pen.  You can write and erase what you have written with the palm of your hand and you can write or draw then move the written text or drawing; all done before you have to put your pen back in the pen tray.

Below are two videos demonstrating this feature.

Our SMART Boards currently have this feature, however it may not be enabled.  If you are interested in trying this feature out and do not have it activated on your interactive whiteboard, please contact me and I will stop by to take care of this for you.

No longer will you have to remember to put the pen back in the tray in order to move your text or drawing around.

SMART Notebook Toolbar Tool Video Snippet #1 - Text Recognition

I will be putting together less-than-one-minute video demos of each of the tools you can use in the SMART Notebook program.  Here is the first one.

SMART Notebook Toolbar Tutorial

I just uploaded my latest podcast covering the basics of the SMART Notebook Toolbar; apx 7min.  Check it out at Youtube and view below:

My plan is to do more of these by making short 30sec snippets of each tool and how it works.   Then placing them at my Google Site (Ratkacher Station also) with a directory for those specific tools which you can look up at any time.  That will be in the future.

Let me know what you think of the video content and quality, or let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to see as a video tutorial.  Place these comments in the comment section below this blog post or at the YouTube location of this video.

SMART Notebook 10 Toolbar

Hot off the press.  By yours truly.

Please leave constructive comments below if this was helpful or if you think there could be any improvements.