Using BrainPop With Student Response Systems

[Will Kimbley]

How to Use Senteo Smart Response with BrainPop and other Classroom 2.0 apps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW1BmI-sooY

Using BrainPop With Student Response Systems

I began using BrainPop with classroom responders four years ago. At the time I was
using a Promethean ActivBoard and ActiVote student responders. I started out by
entering the questions from BrainPop quizzes, along with questions of my own,
into ActiVote quizzes using the Promethean software to assess students. It made
grading so much easier than paper and pencil, not to mention all the paper it
saved. I could show the printed quiz on the Promethean for students to answer
allowing them to answer the questions at their own pace instead of having to
wait for all students to answer before going on to the next question. They
don't actually have to see the page the individual question is on to answer it
on the ActiVotes. The quiz can run in the background. So instead of displaying
each question one at a time, I could display all the questions at once on the ActivBoard
or a printout of the questions that way we didn't have to wait for everyone to
answer before we move to the next question. When the quiz was done, I exported
the results into Excel and posted the results for students to review and
transferred the grades into my gradebook. We also got instant feedback by
viewing the results in pie charts and other graphs and discussed the questions
that gave us the most trouble.

Then I discovered how to use the ActiVotes for on-the-fly quizzes. I noticed that the ActiVote
response status bar sits at the top of the ActivBoard software, so I started
using it with Classroom 2.0 resources such as BrainPop by lowering the browser
page to just below the ActiVote status bar. I then used the Promethean pen to
label the pertinent parts of the website we were viewing so students could
answer multiple choice questions I posed. Once all students answered, we could
view their responses and I could easily assess the whole class’ understanding
as we went through the video.

Two years ago I changed schools and began using a SmartBoard and their Senteo Smart
Response system. The Senteos are a more sophisticated response system (although
Promethean now has a comparable product) and allowed for numerical answers as
well as multiple choice, but on-the-fly questions were not as easy for me to
figure out. I continued to convert the BrainPop quizzes into Smart Response
quizzes for assessment and grading using a similar method to what I did with
the Promethean software. Smart Response quizzes run in the background while I
display a complete list of the questions on the SmartBoard in the foreground or
a printout. However, recent upgrades in the Smart Notebook software have made
it very easy to use the Senteos for quick checks. The most recent Smart
Notebook update allows a transparent view so you can have full access to all
the Notebook tools even when viewing websites or other software. So, now I can
use the transparent view while watching a BrainPop video and pause the video to
check for understanding with the Senteos.

The way to do this is to have a blank Smart Notebook page open in transparent view over
the BrainPop. Transparent view can be activated by clicking on “View” then
selecting “Transparent Background.” You can write over the video with the pens,
highlighting for emphasis and making notes using the floating toolbar that
appears when in transparent view. When you reach something you want to ask a
question about, pause the video and switch out of transparent view using the
floating toolbar and open up the Smart Response tools. You have a choice of inserting
a multiple choice, yes/no, true/false, or numerical answer. Select the type of
question you want and switch back to transparent. If you are using multiple
choice, the letters will still be visible and you can drag them to the location
you desire. When everyone has answered, switch back out of transparent view,
open the Smart Response tools, and stop the question. Select “properties” and
show answer key and you can select the correct answer. Results can be displayed
graphically and also exported to Excel.

These new features have really opened up many possibilities and have really added a lot
to my 21^st Century teacher toolbox. My students love BrainPop and it
really brings a lot of life to my classroom. I am looking forward to the day
when we can get closer to full integration between the various tools we use in
the classroom, such as SmartBoards and BrainPop, but this brings us one
exciting step closer.

[Will Kimbley]

Nick. I don't think we can do that yet, but I have been talking to some Smartboard trainers and put a bug in their ear about it.

[Vickie Powell]

Thanks Obe. That .pdf actually opened another question I had, as well.

[Obe Hostetter]

I read that transparent view is not available for MAC yet on the Smarttech website. See this pdf on the differences between Windows & MAC.

[Vickie Powell]

Is this feature only on the PC version of the software? Or does it work on a Mac, but I need Mac OS X 10.6 for it? (I'm running Mac OS X 10.5)
Yes...I have the newest update...even checked on the SMARTTech website.
My teachers use Brain Pop and this would be a neat feature to use!

[Nick Romero]

Is there a way to change the tools on the floating toolbar? I haven't seen a way to do it yet. Then you could add instant questions straight from it.

[Will Kimbley]

Hi Amy, Run "Check for Updates" and upgrade

[Dawn Sayre]

Amy, It is available in the 10.6 upgrade.

[Amy Schwab]

I am having trouble finding the transparency option in my tools. I have found it in the help section expalining its use, but not able to locate it. Is this available from a recent upgrade? I would love to have this option for my use with Brain Pop and Study Island! Thank you for your help.

[Tara Mattingly]

Great idea to use transparency while using brain pop. This allows easy flow from one application to another.