Get Ready to Enter the ActivArena

ActivArena Pens

Yes, it’s here – ActivArena made its big debut at the NECC ’09 conference in Washington, DC this week.  For those who haven’t heard about it, Promethean has launched a new enhancement to their ActivClassroom arsenal that makes it possible for there to be two users at the ActivBoard at a time.  This new enhancement opens a world of new options for teachers to create collaborative or competitive activities. 

Of course Promethean hasn’t left all us early adopters out in the wilderness alone and ActivArena can be used not only with Promethean’s new line of ActivBoards, but with the original ActivBoards as well.  Included in the ActivArena upgrade are four new ActivPens (2 teacher pens and 2 student pens) as well as a disc that is used to upgrade the firmware on the ActivBoard to enable the new functionality to work.  Also in the package is a copy of Inspire Professional, the latest version of the formerly named ActivStudio software, a sticker to adhere to the back of your ActivBoard so that you know the firmware has been upgraded, and last but certainly not least is a disc with approximately 6,500 new resources including new templates and activities designed to make use of have the new dual-pen mode.

TLC’s Shannon Lohse and Kathryn Vaughn

I had a chance to see ActivArena up close and personal when our favorite Promethean TLC Ben Posner gave me a 1 on 1 guided tour and I attend one of the many sessions that Promethean held over the course of the NECC at their booth on the exhibition floor.  The two new pens look different from each other to make it easy to know which is which.  The appropriately named teacher pen replaces your old Activpen (which will no longer work).  When you change your board to dual-pen mode a second, much smaller toolbar appears and the student pen will now be able to simultaneously work with the teacher pen.  The student pen’s smaller toolbar has a smattering of tools that can be selected, and otherwise it functions just the teacher pen does, however it will not be able to do some other things.  And either pen can work anywhere on the board – the board does not get divided into a student and teacher area.

What does this mean for our students?  Well, now the ActivClassroom can be a place where two student perhaps work together in a cooperative manner to solve a problem or challenge.  Or maybe they participate in an activity where each student works independently on the same task, providing two sets of results that can be compared and contrasted.  Or a teacher could work with a student at the ActivBoard, allowing the teacher to assist the student with the give task.  If the possibilities were endless before in an ActivClassroom, now they are “infinity plus 1”!

Pricing for the upgrade is $149.   For more informaiton on ActivArena check out the information available at Promethean World.