ActivArena

[jeisentrager]

I just received my ActivArena pens in the mail and have installed the necessary software. So far everything seems to be working just great. Has anybody else done this yet? What have you learned that you can do and can't do with the dual pens?

I have learned that the old pens become a students pen.

I have learned that the teacher pen does not have functionality in the student tool box. (I thought it would.)

What have you learned?

[LisaD]

I made a pdf of the pages in the help file that explain more details about the Dual User Mode. Maybe this will help!

Lisa

[Rosie MacAlpine]

Thanks Lisa! This document will be really useful!

Can I give a copy to teachers who are upgrading (crediting you of course!)

Also (and apologies if you mentioned this already) I'm assuming that dual use will only work in ActivInspire, is this correct? Or will students be able to use it on the internet (an online jigsaw etc).

[Nigel Pearce]

Hi Rosie,

Currently two pens only work in ActivInspire. However, its dual pen functionality offers you a blank flipchart canvas with a good range of tools, so we'll all be interested to see just what collaborative flipchart activity you guys start inventing.

But Promethean are also planning to offer lots more dual pen goodies

Another thing to mention is the arrival of Windows 7. The two pens of ActivArena will allow you to operate all the new multi-touch features of Windows 7. So you will be able to perform two pen zoom and rotate gestures in other applications. How neat is that? We'll also start to see an explosion in multi-input applications for Windows 7 over the next few years and you should be able to run the majority of them on your dual pen Activboards. Remember, if you haven't got dual pen capability on your Activboard, it is possible to upgrade it so that it has. Simply contact Promethean for more details or search for ActivArena on our sites.

If there are any developers out there who fancy writing an application that makes use of our dual pen technology, our ActivSDK now provides you with this option. The important benefit of using our system is that we can differentitate between the two inputs. In other words we can track contribution. This is a very powerful feature that we have yet to make full use of.

Finally, if any of you guys have got any great ideas for 2 people at the IWB, in terms of activities for collaboration, competition and contribution tracking, send me a private message. I would love to hear from you.

[Rosie MacAlpine]

Thanks Nigel, this sounds very exciting! I'd wondered if Windows 7 functionality would work with the pens in the future. I'm getting my new board fairly soon, so I'll look forward to doing some creating!

Cheers,
Rosie