Easy Interactive Tools

Your touch panel monitor comes with Easy Interactive Tools which provide annotation capability for your desktop. Anything that you can display on the desktop of your instruction station you can annotate and save to provide to your students as a review tool.

  1. Look for the Easy Interactive Tools icon on the desktop of your instruction station computer.
  2. Double-click on the icon to open the interactive tools. They will display on one side of your computer monitor. A small arrow will appear on the opposite side of your monitor. This arrow can be used to move the toolset from the left side of the monitor to the right and back.

The Toolset Explained

Annotation Mode: When you click on the annotation mode by default the mouse cursor or your finger is now an annotation pen with black ink.

Whiteboard Mode: When you click on the whiteboard mode your desktop is transformed into a whiteboard ready for you to write on.

In annotation or whiteboard mode you can use the basic pens tools in black, red and blue. If you click on the small dot to the left of the pen you will draw with a small line. If you click on the large dot to the right of the pen you will draw with a fat line.

The last two icons are for the eraser tool. You have access to both a small eraser on the left side of the eraser icon and a larger one on the right side. The eraser at the very bottom of the toolset is to clear the screen of all annotations.

In annotation or whiteboard mode you can also use the special pen or highlighter. The small arrow to the left of the tools opens the color and line width display. Select the color you want to write in from a wider range of colors. Select the specific width you want to draw with from very fine to very wide. This gives you greater flexibility than the basic pen tools.

When you are in annotation or whiteboard mode you can select the MOUSE icon to return you to normal mouse functionality. If you switch from whiteboard mode back to annotation mode, be sure to select the mouse icon to return you to normal functionality on the desktop.

SAVE will let you save any annotations you have created as a JPEG, Bitmap, PNG image or as a PDF document. When you click the save button the Save as dialog box will appear along with a keyboard/annotation pad if you want to write your file name. You can just close the keyboard/annotation pad and type you file name into the Save As dialog box.

These icons indicate UNDO and REDO.

These icons indicate PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN, which can be used when working in documents like Word or PDF.

The icon on the left is to CAPTURE WEBCAM. If your computer has a webcam integrated you can take a picture with this icon. The icon on the right is for a KEYBOARD.

The icon on the left is a MAGNIFIER and the icon on the right is an arrow POINTER.

The TOOLBOX icon opens to provide you with additional resources.

From the top left are the SPOTLIGHT that grays out everything on the desktop except a spotlighted area that you can move around. To the right of that is the WINDOW SHADE that can be used to cover and expose areas of the desktop as needed. The next row left is PRINTand to the right is SETTINGS. The third row is a CAPTURE tool to capture an image of the entire desktop. The fourth row icons are RIGHT MOUSE CLICK menu and HELP.

The SHAPES icon provides access to a variety of shape from straight line, oval, square, triangle with the options for outline for solid. To the left is a menu for line width for the outline versions, and the color palette at the bottom for fill and outline.

Whiteboard Mode Detailed

The whiteboard mode provides you with the ability to build pages and save a document. When you click on the whiteboard mode icon your desktop becomes a whiteboard and the tools in the toolset change.

At the upper right of the whiteboard you see the page count and the MAXIMIZE/MINIMIZE button. This will allow you to minimize the whiteboard, move it anywhere on the desktop and then maximize it when you want to use it again.

The Whiteboard mode toolset

Use these two icons to move between annotation mode and whiteboard mode.

The BACKGROUNDS icons allows you to select from a variety of premade background grids or to access the desktop, import an image from file or capture an image from an integrated webcam.

The PAGE VIEW icon on the left lets you quickly access other pages in your document. It displays the pages of the document down the left side similar to PowerPoint. The icon on the right is the ADD PAGE to add a new page to your document.

INSERT IMAGE icon when clicked provides the choice to insert an image from file or from an integrated webcam.

DELETE PAGE will delete the page you select.

Annotating over a PowerPoint Slide Shows

  1. Start the PowerPoint slide show.
  2. Right-click with the mouse.
  3. Choose "Pointer Options".
  4. Choose either "Pen" or "Highlighter".

OR

  1. Export the PowerPoint as images.
  2. Import the images into Easy Interactive Tools whiteboard.
  3. Use the Easy Interactive Tools to annotate the slides.
  4. Save the annotated slides as a PDF to use as a review resource for students.

Capturing annotations from your desktop to the whiteboard

  1. Use the pen tool to draw or write on your desktop or website
  2. Click on the toolbox and click the CAPTURE icon.
  3. Open the whiteboard and go to the toolbox and select PASTE capture.