Creating Classroom Suite Activities With Choice Making (Using Page Buttons)

Transcription

1 Creating Classroom Suite Activities With Choice Making (Using Page Buttons) Open Classroom Suite and select Creativity Tools. From the Creativity Tools page, select Design Tools. An untitled document will open with a blank page and text box. Use this blank page to create a template page that you will duplicate for your activity. By setting the preferences and advanced options on this first page and then duplicating it, you will save yourself some work with each new page. If desired, insert a text box. Do this by clicking on Text Tools. Next, click on the "T", then click and drag on your page to draw a text box. The text box can be resized by clicking and dragging from any corner. It can be moved by positioning the pointer over an edge (not corner) until a hand appears. Then click and drag to move. Format your text as desired (i.e. font, size, color and alignment), then enter text. Now you are ready to set the Text Box properties. Hold down the control key while clicking on the text box. This will open the Text Box Properties window. You can set a variety of properties in this dialog box, but for our activity, we will select Read Only Text and Lock Position. Click on OK. (You can set Scanning preferences for the text box by clicking on the Scanning tab, but we'll save that for another day.) 1

2 Next, you will set your Page Properties. Hold the control key and click anywhere on the page (except text box) to access Page Properties. Go to the Background tab to select the background color or picture by clicking on the Picture Library icon (on the right) or Insert Picture icon (on the left). Under the Page Sounds tab, you will later record sounds for each page, but there is no need to do that on your template page. If you choose not to add a picture, you can go to Background and choose a background from the drop down menu Click on the Page Actions tab. Here you will determine what happens when the page is opened. You may choose to include sound on your page. In this case, under the Page Actions tab, select Play IntelliMation and Page Sound from the drop down menu, then click on the Add Action>> button.. Click OK. This is what we will do for our sample activity. We will come back and add sound after we have copied all of our pages. Alternately, you might want the student to click on a page button to play a sound or other action. In that case, select Play Intellimation and Page Sound from the added actions and delete. Click OK. Then later you would need to format the page button accordingly. 2

3 Let's add page buttons to your page. From Design in the main menu bar, select Page Button Tool. Crossbars will appear that allow you to click and drag on to draw a button on your page. The Page Button Properties window appears immediately after drawing the button, or you can access it later by using control key/mouse click on the button itself. Name your button (i.e. wrong/right, yes/no, read/music, etc.). For this sample activity, we'll name it "Next". Under the Picture tab, select a picture for the button using the Picture Library or Insert Picture icons. Let's add an arrow for this button from the Picture Library. Click on the icon Type "arrow" in the bottom left field. Click on desired picture, then click on Insert. You need to choose the action for each button. For the first button, select Next Page. Scroll down to Next Page in the left window and select it. Click on Add Action >>. Delete any other actions that appear in the right window. Do this by clicking on it, then clicking on Delete. Under the Scanning tab, be sure that Automatic Scan and Step Scan are selected if you will use this activity with a student who uses switch scanning. Set button appearances under the Appearance tab. We will use the default button appearance for this activity. Click on OK. 3

4 Let's add your second page button. Your first button should still be selected (indicated with flashing border). If not, then click on it to select it. Go to Edit in the menu bar and select Copy. Then under Edit, select Paste. Move your new button to the desired location. Use Control Key/Right Click to go to Page Button Properties. Rename it. We'll call ours "Read Again". Use the Picture Library icon to change the picture. Let's add a mouth. Click on the Actions tab. Select Play Intellimation and Page Sound. Click on Add Action>>. Delete Next Page from the right window. Click on Lock Position, then click on OK. Now go back to your first button. Use Control Key/Right Click to open the first button's property page. Select Lock Position and then click on OK. You now have your template page. Have you saved this activity yet? Go to Save As from the File drop down menu, and name your activity. Save frequently as you work (each subsequent time you will simply select Save instead of Save As. Go to Pages in the main menu, drag down and select Duplicate Page. Do this for each additional page. For our activity, we will add three duplicate pages. You can navigate from page to page using the previous page and next page arrows at the top corners of the screen, or you can go to Pages in the main menu and scroll down to Sort Pages to easily navigate from page to page. (You will want to use the Page Sorter initially because every page is identical at this point.) Go to the second page. Do this by clicking on it in the page sorter, then clicking on OK. Use Control Key/Right Click to select text box and open text box properties. You will need to deselect Read Only Text so that you can edit this text box. Click on OK. Edit text. 4

5 If desired, change the page background or add a picture to the page. Change page background by using Control Key/Right Click anywhere on page to access Page Properties dialog box, OR Add a picture or background by clicking on the Add Pictures and Backgrounds button in the upper left corner. Choose from the Picture Library using the picture toolbar that appears at the bottom, OR Choose a picture from your own computer's files by clicking on the Insert Picture icon. Then locate the desired graphic from your own library and click on Open. Once you have inserted a picture, use the Transform and Arrange button to change the properties of your picture, such as size and orientation. REPEAT THIS PROCESS FOR EACH PAGE 5

6 Finally Let's add our page sounds. Use the Page Forward or Page Back buttons (or the Page Sorter) to go back to the first page. Use control key/mouse click to access the page properties, and click on the Page Sound tab. You have three choices for sound. You can choose synthesized speech, record the sound, or import a sound (such as a music clip). We will record our sounds. Click on Record. Name your sound if desired (this is useful for some activities when you may use this particular recorded sound numerous times). Use the red Record button to record your sound. Play it back to be sure you are content with it. Click on OK. Click OK again. Repeat for each page. Go to Edit in the menu bar, and scroll down to Custom Toolbars and Buttons. Delete each toolbar that you do not want to have displayed in the activity. Click on each Toolbar to select it. A yellow Selected Toolbar window will open. Click on the X to delete the Toolbar. Click on "yes" to delete it. Repeat for each Toolbar that you wish to delete from your activity. Don't forget the "hidden" toolbars, which appear as small gray squares. Click on Done when you are finished. Now you will navigate between pages using the Page Sorter or the Page Buttons. Save your activity! Always try out your activity to make sure it works properly. Lisa Tebo, OTR/L, Assistive Technology Specialist ADK Abilities, 5 Cherry Lane, Tupper Lake NY , lisatebo@adkabilities.com 6