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Ask a Master
Ask a Master allows you to contact a Mimio Master to pose a question, raise an issue, or explore a situation on any topic. Masters are practicing teachers, tech coordinators, and other educators who have completed a rigorous course of study on how to use interactive teaching and interactive technology products in the classroom. Their answers to your queries will add new ideas and methods to your teaching.
Question:
I am having students select the correct answer on a notebook page. I want to have applause when they click on the correct answer. Is there a way I can hide the sound icon but still have the sound when they click on the correct answer.
- Submitted By:
- Carrie McCool
- Date:
- Jul. 19, 2010
Answer:This is a function within MimioStudio that is easy to set up. This technique involves the ability to lock objects down. So let's say that you have your correct answer whether it be a graphic or word and you have your sound file imported in. Change the order of the sound icon so that it can be placed behind the answer object. To change the order of objects, select the item, right-click, choose Order and then choose front or back to meet your needs. To send file behind the other image, choose back. Alternatively, you could select the object and from the top menu, choose Format > Order > Back. Then, select both objects by using the Selector tool and Lock them. To Lock, once the item(s) are selected, right-click and choose Lock or use the top menu and choose Format>Locking>Lock. If you need to unlock objects that have been locked, right-click and choose Unlock All or from the top menu choose Format>Locking>Unlock All. This should solve your problem making your lesson even more interactive.
- Mimio Master:
- Travis Rink
Question:
How does a teacher share a mimio with a neighbor? I have seen some schools where one mimio is purchased to be shared by several teachers and I wondered if you had any tips on how to make that work effectively.
Thanks!
- Submitted By:
- Sue Ritchie
- Date:
- Jul. 16, 2010
Answer:As a teacher in this situation, there must be a lot of pre-planning either at the beginning or end of the week to coordinate when your Mimio will be utilized. Guidelines need to be worked out in advance to ensure equity among those using it and to prevent ill will between staff. Mapping out who will be using your Mimio when and for how long will be instrumental in the successful implementation of a valuable curriculum tool. Another option to alleviate this situation is to share in smaller groups as possible and to investigate other funding options such as local grant writing and parent teacher organizations to possibly help support this initiative.
- Mimio Master:
- MimioProfessor
Question:
How do I convert my handwriting to text recognition in my notebook?
- Submitted By:
- Nita Springle
- Date:
- Jul. 16, 2010
Answer:The process is fairly straight-forward when doing the conversion. You need to first highlight the writing you want to convert. To do this, choose the selection tool from your toolbar (it's the arrow on the top, in the left hand column). Click and drag from the upper left hand corner of the writing to the lower right hand corner of the writing. You want to make sure you cover all of the writing. A box gets created around the writing. Now, do one of two things, click on [Ctrl + R] or go to Tools in the menu and choose "Recognize ink." I wouldn't recommend going to Edit and clicking on "select all" to convert everything at once because that will convert the handwriting into text lined up in a column. If you had writing randomly done throughout the notebook page and wanted to keep that format, it would be lost if you used the select all method. One other thing to keep in mind is that the larger your handwriting is to start, when converted, it will be a larger sized text. If you want to keep it large, that is fine but you now have the option to make it smaller, just like with any text being editable.
- Mimio Master:
- Tracy Tishion
Question:
When you download a gallery, where does it go and can you move it to another folder once it's in your gallery?
- Submitted By:
- Lori Robbins
- Date:
- Jun. 30, 2010
Answer:When a gallery is downloaded, you start the process with choosing the place where you'd like it saved (which is usually on your hard drive or a flash drive). Next,open your notebook gallery to place the file in there, you don't have a choice of where it goes in your gallery. This is because you weren't the creator of the file. These galleries get placed in the location of where the CREATOR has placed it in their gallery. You do have the option though of changing the name of the file (done with a right-click on the folder) and then choose "properties." Another option to place a gallery item directly into yours from the website is to have your own gallery open on the page with the download page under it. Click on "open" and the gallery gets dropped immediately into yours. For more information on galleries, check out our FAQs section which is found on the "home page" located in the upper right hand corner above the Language choice box in blue letters.
- Mimio Master:
- Tracy Tishion
Question:
Is it possible to insert an animated .gif file into Mimio notebook? One of the teachers in our district has been trying to do this but the animation is not working.
- Submitted By:
- Abby Thaker
- Date:
- May. 21, 2010
Answer:This is a very common question that comes up when users are wanting to spice up their mimio files with great animations. Animated gifs that you might find on websites and such and want to incorporate into mimio studio files are treated as static graphics. This means that they lose their animation when brought into mimio and are simply just a graphic. Animated files that can be included are Flash files. Many websites use interactive Flash files and there are a variety of methods that will allow you to use Flash animations that are described in the Ask a Master section and the Forum area on mimioconnect that will hopefully suit your needs. Keep thinking of ways to increase the interactivity of your lessons!
- Mimio Master:
- Travis Rink
Question:
When using the handwriting recognition feature with converting your writing to text, does it automatically transform the writing into the mimio notebook's default font and text size?
- Submitted By:
- Peggy
- Date:
- May. 12, 2010
Answer:Not necessarily. The larger the actual handwriting is, when converted to text, will be expressed as a much larger font size. This doesn't mean that the text size can't be altered after the conversion. Simply click on the text and that opens the text editor which allows you to change the size, font, even color of the chosen word or phrases.
- Mimio Master:
- Tracy Tishion
Question:
Why is it, that in the mimio notebook, when you put a spinner on a page, it doesn't save changes to the setup of the spinner? Or is there a way to make sure it does save the changes? For example, I want a six color spinner that matches the colors of the groups in my class, blue, green, yellow, purple and white (for me). I put in a spinner, and change the settings to six, adjusting the colors to match my class. Then I lock it in place. When I go to the next page and come back to it, the spinner has changed by to the default four color spinner. Even when selecting the 6 color spinner, I have to reset the colors I want to use. I want to be able to set the number of spots and colors once, save it and not worry about it again.
- Submitted By:
- Dan Matthews
- Date:
- Apr. 27, 2010
Answer:This is an excellent question that many users are asking about. The spinner is a Flash file and it resets every time you navigate away from the page it is placed on. It's treated just like a movie file in that each time the page is opened, it starts back at the beginning. In this case, the original design of the spinner. This means that for now you'll have to reset it each time you open the file or navigate away from the page you have it on. All Flash files that are integrated into your files will reset in the same manner. It would be great for the settings to stick and these suggestions have been passed on to our development team for consideration in future updates but this may ultimately depend on the programming of the Flash files. On a side note, there are other types of spinners that you can find on mimioConnect that might suit your needs. Simply by searching for 'spinner' will reveal other options. One such is a floating spinner that could be placed on any existing pie chart or other object. This might be the ideal fix in many situations. The direct link to the gallery file is http://www.mimioconnect.com/content/lesson/floating_spinner_v13. As is the case for all Gallery files (.mcf), you should open your Gallery first and then double-click on the downloaded Gallery file allowing it to import into your Gallery. Thanks for a great question.
- Mimio Master:
- Travis Rink
Question:
How can I import Word and PowerPoint files into mimio Notebook for Mac?
- Submitted By:
- Date:
- Feb. 25, 2010
Answer:mimio Studio software allows educators to easily import Word and PowerPoint files into their mimio Notebook! This feature allows teachers to bring their old tried and true documents to life using mimio interactivity. To easily import Word and PowerPoint documents into mimio Notebook for Mac please do the following: 1. Open the document in either Word or PowerPoint. 2. Click on “File” then “Save As.” 3. Next use the “Format File” drop down menu to save the Word or PowerPoint file as a .PDF file. Be sure to remember where you saved the file on your computer, for example your desktop or documents. This action will create a .PDF file containing your entire Word or PowerPoint file. 4. Now open your mimio Notebook for Mac. 5. Click on “File” then “Import.” 6. Use the Import menu to locate and open your new .PDF file. Your mimio Studio software will now create a mimio Notebook page for each of the Word pages or PowerPoint slides.
- Mimio Master:
- Paul Gigliotti
Question:
Is there more than one way to enter calibration mode?
- Submitted By:
- Angela
- Date:
- Feb. 21, 2010
Answer:Yes, there are a couple of ways to calibrate your board. The first, and most widely used is done by pressing the fifth button down on the board mounted bar. The second way is to go through your computer to get into calibration. You'll need to open a notebook page, then, go to "Tools" in the menu tabs across the top and choose "Settings". From this screen choose "Interactive." You'll notice a box off to the right that says "Calibrate." Click on that and the calibration mode should be displayed on the whiteboard. Now, just go over to the board and go through calibration with the stylus pen.
- Mimio Master:
- Tracy Tishion
Question:
How can I create the effect of having an object go behind or in front of a set of objects to determine the right or wrong answer?
- Submitted By:
- Barb B.
- Date:
- Feb. 17, 2010
Answer:Good question! Here's a method that will work. I'm going to use a simple example to illustrate the process. The question on a notebook page might say: On which object should the eraser be placed? Three pictures on the right side of a notebook page could be a car, chalkboard, and house. To the left you will want 3 copies of an eraser which are placed one on top of the other. For the 3 pictures on the right side, you will right click on each and choose "Order." The car and house will be ordered to the "front" so the eraser disappears when you drag it to those pictures. The chalkboard will be ordered to the "back" so that when you drag the eraser to the picture, the eraser will stay on top of the board, or in front of it. Obviously you can modify this process to meet your particular needs. Thanks for the question!
- Mimio Master:
- Tracy Tishion
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