Transcript
Contents Credits
2
Minimum Specification
3
Introduction
3
Installation
4
Opening the ChooseIt! Library
5
Playing an Activity
5
Stopping Play
8
Options for Playing Activities
8
Rewards
8
Prompt
9
Colour
9
Switch Access
10
Scan Speed
11
Delay
11
Personalising Activities
12
Switch Access
14
Troubleshooting Guide
15
ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
Credits Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. ChooseIt! Ready-mades was created using Adobe Macromedia Flash. Flash ® is © 2006 Adobe Macromedia, Inc. ChooseIt! Ready-mades is © 2007 Inclusive Technology Ltd. Sassoon Font is © 1993 Sassoon and Williams. No part of this publication or software may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or part by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Whilst every care has been taken with this product, the author and publisher cannot be held responsible for any errors it may contain. No liability is accepted for any loss or damage resulting from the use of this product. ChooseIt! Ready-mades was designed by Rod Boyes and Ian Webb. Programming by Ian Webb. Graphic design by Chris Thornton. Animations by Steve Blower. Music by Helen Melhuish. Manual by Rod Boyes, Alison Littlewood and Peter Butler. We welcome your comments on all Inclusive Technology products. Inclusive Technology Ltd Riverside Court Huddersfield Road Delph Oldham OL3 5FZ UK Tel: +44 (0)1457 819790 Fax: +44 (0)1457 819799 email:
[email protected] www.inclusive.co.uk
ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
Minimum Specification OS: Windows 2000 to Vista. Processor: 350MHz Pentium 2. RAM: 32Mb. Audio: SoundBlaster 16 bit compatible sound card.
Introduction Note: This general user guide should be accompanied by another for the Activity Set you have purchased. Following the publication of ChooseIt! Maker 2, a program for making your own multiple-choice activities, we recognised a demand for ready-made activities covering core elements of the curriculum. A range of Activity Sets are now available, which are purchased separately on CD. Every CD contains at least 20 activities covering a section of the curriculum, for example, Numbers 0 to 5. (Each activity contains between 20 and 40 questions.) When installed, these Activity Sets reside together in a ChooseIt! Ready-mades program. This provides an easy way for you to access and play these Activity Sets without need of the original ChooseIt! Maker 2. On running the ChooseIt! Ready-mades program you will see all of your Activity Sets in a single list, ready to go. All of the activities are designed for pupils who need switch access, although they can also be used with the mouse, interactive whiteboard or touch screen. They are an aid to inclusion because through these activities all pupils are able to take part in a curriculum-based group session. Each CD has a selection of activities which can be used as either a teaching aid or for an assessment of the pupil’s knowledge in that area. Because the topics have been broken down into very small steps, they are easily linked to SEN pupils’ Individual Education Plans. Some activities are suitable for the pupil to do independently, but to get the most out of each activity a 1:1 situation is advisable.
ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
This way the language of the subject can be developed alongside the concept being practised. All activities are self-correcting so the pupil does not experience failure. A simple scoring scheme allows you to track progress. You can find out more about the activities in your new activity set from the user guide provided with it. A great advantage of the ChooseIt! Ready-made activities is that you can modify and personalise them to suit your particular needs. This requires purchase of the ChooseIt! Maker 2 program, which contains a very easy activity editor. Using ChooseIt! Maker 2, you can change any of the pictures, text, speech or music in any question. See the Personalising Activities section of this manual for details.
Installation You will need to install your ChooseIt! activity set on you computer before you can run it. You only need to do this once. This will install the ChooseIt! Ready-mades program with the CD’s activity set within it. If you already have the ChooseIt! Readymades program installed on your computer, your new activity set will be incorporated into this. Windows Insert the CD. If your computer is set up to Auto-run CDs the installer window should appear on the screen after about ten seconds. Otherwise, double-click on My Computer* (this may be on the Desktop or in the Start menu), then double-click on the CD icon. Double-click on presetup to run the installer. You can now choose to install the program or view the printable resources on the CD. * Just called Computer on Windows Vista.
ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
Opening the ChooseIt! Library All ChooseIt! Ready-made activities are installed into the ChooseIt! Ready-mades program for ease of use. If the ChooseIt! Ready-mades program icon is on your computer screen (the Desktop), double-click on it. Alternatively, click on the Start button, then Programs, then Inclusive Technology, then on ChooseIt! Library.
Playing an Activity When the ChooseIt! Ready-mades title screen appears, click on the Start button to open the Library. Your installed activity sets will now appear in a list, with a short description and a picture.
This picture shows the ChooseIt! Ready-mades program with four activity sets installed. If you have more than six activity sets installed, you will need to use the scroll bar on the right-hand side of the screen to see them all. To open an activity set, just click on it once. The screen will now change to show the activities within the set. You can use the scroll bar on the right-hand side of the screen to see all the activities. To play one, tick the box next to it and click the Play button.
ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
You can find out more about an activity from the user guide particular to that activity set. There may also be printable support materials on the activity set’s CD.
The activity will now start. The text at the bottom of the screen is spoken automatically. Click the left mouse button on the correct box to get a reward and the next question. Clicking an incorrect box gives no response. Click on the loudspeaker button to hear the question again. To skip forward and back through the pages of an activity, either to review its content or to find particular questions for the learner you are working with, you can use the left and right arrow keys:
ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
The left key will take you back to the previous question. The right key will skip forward to the next question. Switch support is provided for pupils who cannot use a mouse or a touch screen. See the Options and Switch Access sections of this user guide. Press the Esc key on your computer’s keyboard to finish playing. This will display performance results.
These give some essential statistics about the player’s performance. You may want to copy these to your own pupil record system, or use them to decide what action to take next. If the pupil has been working alone and the score is low, you may want to supervise the pupil while s/he plays the same activity again to find out more. The low score may be due to reasons other than poor knowledge retention or problem-solving ability. You can now choose to re-start play, resume play from the last question or go back to the activities list.
ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
Stopping Play Whilst playing an activity, press the Esc key on your computer’s keyboard to stop. From the results screen, click the go back button to return to the list of activities. Click the go back button on this screen to go back to the Library screen. Click the Exit button to stop the ChooseIt! Ready-mades program altogether.
Options for Playing Activities These options are available on the screen where you choose an activity to play. Rewards
Here you can decide whether the on-screen reward will be accompanied by sound and/or animation. You can also set how long the reward should last.
ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
Prompt
To make an activity easier, you can use this option to display the correct answer at the bottom left corner of the screen. This screen also allows you to turn off the loudspeaker button that appears at the bottom right corner of the screen. (Learners can click on the loudspeaker button to hear the question again.) This may be of benefit to learners using switch scanning, or those that need a visually minimal presentation. Colour
Use this screen to set the colour of the question text and background throughout your activities. You can also choose a colour for the mouse rollover box or scan box. ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
Switch Access
Switch Access contains three options which control how an activity is played. Select the first option to access the program using a mouse, touch screen or interactive whiteboard. The second option is for single switch scanning. The user presses their switch, the spacebar on the keyboard or a mouse button to start the scanning. When the scan box is over the required answer, the switch should be pressed again. The third option allows for two switch scanning, whereby one switch controls the movement of the scan box and the second switch selects.
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ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
Scan Speed
This option is for single switch scanning. Here you can decide how quickly the scan box will move between the answers on the screen. Delay
ChooseIt! Ready-mades has a ‘pre‑acceptance delay’ function. This is useful for students who make brief involuntary switch presses which you don’t want the program to recognise. For example, if you set the delay to 0.4 seconds, the program will only accept switch presses that last longer than 0.4 seconds.
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Personalising Activities A great advantage of the ChooseIt! Ready-made activities is that you can modify and personalise them to suit your particular needs. This requires the ChooseIt! Maker 2 program (available separately), which contains a very easy activity editor. Using ChooseIt! Maker 2, you can change any of the pictures, text, speech or music in any question. ChooseIt! Maker 2 has an Import button on its options screen that allows you to open and/or edit external activities. All you need to know is where the activity is stored. By default, ChooseIt! Readymades activities are stored at: C:\Inclusive\ChooseIt Ready-mades\Activities Inside the Activities folder you will find a folder for each activity set you have on your computer. Inside these you will find a folder for each activity. See the ChooseIt! Maker 2 user guide for more details on importing and editing activities. We suggest you also change the name of the activity to distinguish your edited version from the original. Click the Manage button next to your imported activity in the Activities menu, then click the Rename button in the Manager screen.
Updating the ChooseIt! Ready-mades Activity Set Once you have edited an activity, you can play it within ChooseIt! Maker 2. However, you may also want to put it back in the ChooseIt! Ready-mades Activity Set.
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ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
Click the Manage button next to your imported activity in the Activities menu (see picture above), then click the Export button in the Manager screen. The program will ask where you want to save the activity, so just navigate to the ChooseIt! Ready-mades folders again, as you did when you imported the activity. You can either export the modified activity back to the folder you imported it from, or export it into one of the folders we have specially created for you: C:\Inclusive\ChooseIt Ready-mades\Activities\05_My Sets\10_My Activities Set 1 C:\Inclusive\ChooseIt Ready-mades\Activities\05_My Sets\20_My Activities Set 2 C:\Inclusive\ChooseIt Ready-mades\Activities\05_My Sets\30_My Downloads
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Switch Access Switches can be connected to the computer in a variety of ways. As a rule however, ChooseIt! Ready-mades requires interface boxes to act as if the Spacebar or Enter keys are pressed. The descriptions below will cover many of the options: Windows o
Don Johnston Switch Box
Plug your switch(es) into the sockets identified for [1] and [2]. o
Serial Switch Box
Go to the Teacher Options screen, click Access and then on Serial Switches. Select the COM port through which your switch box is connected. o
Mouser
Switches connected through a Mouser act in the same way as mouse buttons. o
USB Switch Box
If this has software, it should be set up to act like the Spacebar and Enter keys. o
Inclusive SwITchBox
By default, switches plugged into sockets 1 and 2, Space and Enter, should act like the Spacebar and Enter keys on the keyboard. If not, run the software for the box. o
SwitchBoard
Plug your switches into the sockets marked Enter and Space.
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ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
The Inclusive Technology Troubleshooting Guide This is a simple guide to common problems when trying to install, remove or use any new software. If you need any further assistance, please contact us. Our online support website is available at www.inclusive.co.uk (click on support), e‑mail us on
[email protected] or telephone Technical Support on 01457 819723.
1. I put my CD in and nothing happens. To install the software, do the following: • Click on ‘My Computer’. This is either on the desktop of your computer or in the Windows Start Menu. • This will open a window showing all your computer drives. Doubleclick on your CD drive (usually the D drive) and you will see a list of everything on the CD. There will be an icon called ‘Setup’. Doubleclick on this icon and the software installation will start. 2. I have installed the program but no text appears in the menu. To complete the installation you must restart your machine. After a reboot, all text will appear. 3. How do I set switches up? It’s a popular misconception that switches plug directly into your computer when used with switch accessible software. You actually need to plug them into a Switch Interface. These come in various shapes and sizes including switch boxes and roller/joysticks (see www.inclusive.co.uk). The most popular interfaces are dedicated devices that sit between the switch and the computer and convert the switch press into the press of a chosen keyboard key. The software recognises this key press (usually Space and/or Enter) and acts accordingly. When using two switches (one to scan, the other to select), all Inclusive Technology software uses the same key presses: Space to scan and Enter to select. Some switch interfaces are programmed using their own software; others are simply a case of plug-in and play. If you require further help regarding switch set-up, please contact us.
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4. I would like to remove the software but don’t know how. There are two ways to remove programs: a) Go to the Windows Start menu. Click Settings and then Control Panel. Double-click on ‘Add or Remove Programs’. This will bring up a window showing all software installed on your computer:
Click on the Change/Remove button and follow the prompts to remove the software. b) Not all software appears in Add/Remove programs. If your software does not, follow these steps: • Open ‘My Computer’ (see Question 1). • Double-click on the C drive. • Double-click on the Inclusive folder. • Highlight the folder with the software you want to remove and press ‘Delete’.
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ChooseIt! Ready-mades User Guide
