Just recently I mentioned that Promethean had released the beta version of their IWB software, Activsoftware Inspire Edition. Like others, I’ve started to have a play around (Chris Betcher seems to be putting the software through its paces).  Here’s just a few things I’ve noticed that I like the look of:

Did someone give you a SMART Notebook file to view or use?  Whereas you had to previously resort to the SMART Notebook viewer, you can now import the notebook into a flipchart.

Some very common flipchart activities are now available as a quick menu selection, saving you finding the resources in the library to put them together.

Being a Year 1 teacher, I use the hundred chart fairly regularly in Mathematics lessons.  Once I choose “100 chart” from the menu, this dialog box appears for me to make my selection.

Finally, something I have been hanging out for.  Previously I’ve been frustrated, wondering why I can’t simply insert images, etc. in a similar way to Office documents (after all, it is pretty easy and straightforward).  Well now you can, with the Insert Media option.  Not only images, but sound, video and more.

Now it is really quick and easy to insert media files directly into a flipchart page.

I’m sure (in fact I know) there are many new features, but there were the first to grab my attention.  I look forward to using it some more.

Promethean has made the announcement at the BETT 2009 show in London that a brand new version of their IWB software is now available for preview.

Called Activsoftware Inspire Edition, it can now be downloaded my registered users (it’s free) from Promethean Planet. It’s a huge download though (it’s still not 50% done on my computer yet), so those with download limits at home may want to wait to download it at school.  The download is a trial prior to the official release in March

Promethean reports that it is a complete rewrite of its former products, Activstudio (which we use) and Activprimary, so it will be interesting to see what it can do and how it improves on its predecessors.