SMART Technologies Sync 2009 User guide

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SMART Sync™ 2009

User’s Guide

Windows® Operating Systems

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SMART Sync, SynchronEyes, SMART Board, SMART Notebook, smarttech and the SMART logo are trademarks or

registered trademarks of SMART Technologies ULC in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista

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Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.All other third-party product and company names are

mentioned for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Copyright Notice

transcribed, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language in any form by any means without the prior written

consent of SMART Technologies ULC. Information in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not

represent a commitment on the part of SMART.

Patents pending.

02/2010

Contents
Getting Started 1
Starting SMART Sync 2
Connecting to Students 3
Transferring Students to Your Class 4
Working with Teacher IDs and Classes 5
Navigating the User Interface 6
Customizing the User Interface 9
Working with Thumbnails 11
Working with Groups 13
Exiting SMART Sync 15
Observing and Controlling Students 17
Observing the Class 17
Observing a Student’s Desktop 19
Controlling a Student’s Desktop 20
Writing Over a Desktop 22
Capturing an Image of a Student’s Desktop 23
Locking Student Desktops 24
Disconnecting Students 25
Shutting Down, Logging Off and Restarting Students’ Computers 27
Broadcasting and Communicating 29
Broadcasting 30
Sending an Announcement 34
Conducting a Poll 34
Sharing Media 35
Sharing a Web Page 38
Organizing Collaboration 41
Starting Collaborative Assignments 41
Completing Collaborative Assignments 42
Monitoring Collaborative Assignments 44
Viewing Completed Assignments 45
Answering Questions 47
Viewing and AnsweringQuestions 47
Deleting a Question without Answering 48
Saving the Question History 48

i i
Clearing the Question History 49
Chatting 51
Chatting with Students 51
Saving the Chat History 53
Clearing the Chat History 53
Enabling and Disabling Student Chat 54
Sending and Receiving Files 57
Sending Files to Students 57
Receiving Files from a Student 58
Clearing Files from the File List 59
ControllingAccess to Applications 61
Creating and Using Application Blocking Rules 61
Starting and Closing Applications 67
Controlling Access to the Internet 69
Blocking Internet Access 69
Creating and Using Internet Blocking Rules 70
Working with Other Teachers and Teacher Aides 75
Controlling Teacher Aides 75
Disconnecting Teacher Aides 76
Joining a Class as a Teacher Aide 76
Configuring SMARTSync Teacher 79
Setting the Language 80
Setting the SMART School File Location 82
Setting the Lock-Out Message 83
Setting the Optimization Preferences 84
Setting the Control Preferences 85
Setting the Broadcast Preferences 86
Setting the Digital Ink’s Appearance 87
Setting the File Transfer Preferences 88
Setting a User Authentication Password 89
Setting the Advanced Preferences 90
Setting the Logging Preferences 94
Customer Support 95
Online Information and Support 95
Training 95
Technical Support 95
General Inquires 96
Registration 96
| C O N T E N T S

Getting Started

Starting SMART Sync 2

Connecting to Students 3

Transferring Students to Your Class 4

Working with Teacher IDs and Classes 5

Navigating the User Interface 6

Thumbnails View 6

Collaboration View 7

Questions View 7

Chat View 7

File Transfer View 7

Applications View 8

Internet View 8

Main Toolbar and Menus 8

Group Tabs 8

Students List 8

Customizing the User Interface 9

Showing or Hiding Toolbars 9

Setting the Selection Method 10

Working with Thumbnails 11

Rearranging Thumbnails 11

Resizing Thumbnails 12

Changing Thumbnail Information 12

Working with Groups 13

Changing the Type of Class 13

Creating, Editing and Deleting Groups 14

Exiting SMART Sync 15

With SMART Sync™ classroom management software, you can manage your

classroom and communicate with your students without leaving your computer.

SMART Sync lets you observe and control your students’ computers using the

Thumbnails view, which displays real-time images of your students’ computer desktops.

You can customize this view’s appearance. In addition to viewing the desktops, you can

Chapter 1

2

capture snapshots of students’ screens, take control of students’ desktops, temporarily

lock students’ computers, remotely shut down students’ computers, block Internet

access and block the use of specific applications.

You can also use SMART Sync to communicate with your entire class, a group of

students or an individual student. You can broadcast your desktop, conduct polls, send

messages to students and receive replies, send files to your students, organize student

collaboration and more.

If you’re using SMARTSync with a SMART Board™ interactive whiteboard, you can

write notes using a pen tray pen and your students will see your notes on their desktops.

If you’re working at a computer, you can write notes using the tools in SMART Sync.

Starting SMART Sync

When you first start SMARTSync, you create a teacher ID and class. Students can then

connect to the class (see Connecting to Students on next page).

Every class is unique. The only similarity between two classes may be the room in

which they’re taught. Everything else may be different, including the students, the

seating plan and more.

Teachers and classes can be administered, which means they’re centrally defined in a

SMART School file (see Setting the SMART School File Location on page 82), or

non-administered, which means they’re defined in your computer's installation of

SMART Sync.

l If you select a non-administered class when you start SMART Sync, you can

save changes to your class at any time.

l If you select an administered class, you can’t save changes to the original file, but

you can save it with a new name.

N O T E

(Administered) appears beside administered classes in the Welcome to SMART

Sync dialog box.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

3

To create a new teacher ID

1. Double-click the SMART Sync Teacher 2009 icon on your desktop.

The SMART Sync window and the Welcome to SMART Sync dialog box appear.

2. Type the teacher ID in the Teacher box.

N O T E

The teacher ID can’t contain the following characters: \ / : * ? < > | "

3. Click OK.

A message appears, asking if you want to create a new teacher ID.

4. Click Yes.

SMART Sync displays the Thumbnails view and the All Computers tab.

5. Connect to students (see Connecting to Students below), and then save the class

(see Working with Teacher IDs and Classes on page 5).

To select an existing

teacher ID

1. Double-click the SMART Sync Teacher 2009 icon on your desktop.

The SMART Sync window and the Welcome to SMART Sync dialog box appears.

2. Select a teacher ID from the Teacher drop-down list.

3. Select an existing class in the Class list.

OR

Select New Class in the Class list to create a new class.

4. Click OK.

SMART Sync displays the Thumbnails view and the All Computers tab.

5. Connect to students (see Connecting to Students below) and, if you created a new

class in step 3, save it (see Working with Teacher IDs and Classes on page 5).

Connecting to Students

You or your system administrator can install SMART Sync Student on students’

computers in one of two modes:

Mode Description

Visible The user interface is visible to students.

Hidden The user interface is hidden from students.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

4

You or your system administrator then selects a connection option depending on the

chosen mode:

Connection Option Description Visible

Mode

Hidden

Mode

Allow the student to

select from a list of

available teachers

Students must manually connect

to the correct teacher ID.

Yes No

Automatically

connects with this

Teacher ID

Students automatically connect

to a teacherID.

Yes Yes

Automatically

connects with this

hostname or IP

address

Students automatically connect

to a teacher through the host

name or IP address. (Host names

and IPaddresses identify

computers on a network.)

Yes Yes

Uses this Class List

Server hostname or IP

address

You connect to your students

based on the information in a

SMART School file (see Setting

the SMART School File Location

on page 82).

For information on creating and

maintaining SMART School files,

see document 129773.

Yes Yes

N O T E

l If a student with a version of SMART Sync Student that is incompatible

with your version of SMART Sync Teacher attempts to connect to your

class, warning messages appear on the student’s screen and your screen.

l In Hidden mode, students can’t ask questions, initiate chat, send files or

complete other tasks requiring the SMARTSync Student user interface.

Transferring Students to Your Class

If you connect to students through SMARTSync Class List Server, you can transfer

students connected to other teachers’ classes to your class.

N O T E

This feature is only available if you use SMARTSync Class List Server and if

one or more other teachers currently have a class running on SMARTSync Class

List Server.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

5

To transfer students to

your class

1. Select Connection > Get Missing Students from Other Teachers.

The SMARTSync – Class List Connection dialog box appears. This dialog box

shows all students connected to other teachers through SMARTSync Class List

Server and the teachers they’re connected to.

2. Select the check boxes of the students you want to transfer to your class.

T I P

You can select all students in the list by clicking Select All.

3. Click Transfer.

SMARTSync transfers the selected students to your class.

Working with Teacher IDs and Classes

You can change to a different teacher ID or select another class at any time, and the

customized profile loads automatically.

If additional students join your class or you reorganize your groups, you may want to

save the current class.

To change the teacher ID

or class

1. Select File > Change Teacher or Class.

The Teacher and Class Selection dialog box appears, displaying your current

teacher ID.

2. Select the teacher ID you want from the list.

OR

Clear the current teacher ID and enter another one.

3. Select the class you want.

4. Click OK.

The SMART Sync title bar changes to reflect the teacher ID and class.

Students connected to the previous teacher ID receive a message asking them if

they want to switch to the new teacher ID. They must click Yes to connect to the

new teacher ID.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

6

To save a

non-administered class

Select File > Save Class.

To save an administered

class or to save a class

with a new name

1. Select File > Save Class As.

A dialog box appears.

2. Type a new class name, and then click Save.

Navigating the User Interface

The SMARTSync user interface consists of views, menus and a toolbar. Each view

contains a subset of SMARTSync’s features. The menus and toolbar contain links to

features and change depending on which view you’re in.

N O T E

In all views, you can lock student desktops (see page 24), block Internet access

(see page 69), send an announcement (see page 34) and conduct a poll (see page

34).

Thumbnails View

When you start SMART Sync, you see thumbnails (miniature images) of the connected

students’ desktops. These thumbnails change in real time (though slightly delayed) with

every instance of student input. You can customize the appearance of the Thumbnails

view by editing thumbnail names, changing thumbnail sizes and rearranging the

thumbnails (see Working with Thumbnails on page 11).

In the Thumbnails view, you can:

l Observe the class (see page 17)

l Observe and take control of a student’s desktop (see page 19 and page 20)

l Broadcast your desktop (see page 30)

l Broadcast a student’s desktop (see page 31)

l Capture an image of a student’s desktop (see page 23)

l Share media files (see page 35)

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

7

l Share a web page (see page 38)

l Shut down, log off or restart a student’s computer (see page 27)

Collaboration View

Using the Collaboration view, you can organize and monitor collaborative assignments

(see Organizing Collaboration on page 41). You can separate your class into groups of

two or three, distribute an assignment for them to complete as a group and view their

progress.

Questions View

Using the Questions view, you can view, respond to and save your students’ questions

(see Answering Questions on page 47).

Chat View

Using SMART Sync, you can chat with your whole class, a specific group or selected

students. The Chat view displays all the chat messages, including messages between

students.

In the Chat view, you can:

l Chat with the entire class or selected groups (see page 51)

l Control student chat (see page 54)

l Save the current chat session as a text file (see page 53)

l Clear the chat history (see page 53)

File Transfer View

Using the File Transfer view, you can send files to your class, a group or selected

students (see page 57) and receive files from them (see page 58). The view is divided

into Sent Files, which lists the files you’ve sent to students, and Received Files, which

lists the files you’ve received from students.

In the File Transfer view, you can also:

l Cancel a file transfer (see page 57)

l Open a sent file (see page 57)

l Open a received file (see page 58)

l Clear a file from the list (see page 59)

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

8

Applications View

Using the Applications view, you can block applications on your students’ computers,

giving you complete control over the applications your students can use (see Creating

and Using Application Blocking Rules on page 61). You can also remotely start and

close applications on your students’ computers (see Starting and Closing Applications

on page 67).

Internet View

Using the Internet view, you can block students from using specified websites and

pages (see Controlling Access to the Internet on page 69).

Main Toolbar and Menus

Although you can access some buttons and menu options regardless of the current view,

some buttons and menu options are specific to a particular view. For example, the

Shut Down button appears only in the Thumbnails view.

When you select a view, the toolbar buttons and menu options change to the buttons and

options appropriate for that view.

Group Tabs

If you want to interact with some students but not with the entire class, you can create

groups. Each time you create a group, SMART Sync creates a tab for the new group

(see Working with Groups on page 13).

Depending upon your viewing options, the main tab is named All Computers or

All Students.

Students List

The students list appears on the right side of the interface when you’re in the Questions,

Chat, File Transfer, Applications or Internet view.

N O T E

The Thumbnails view and the Collaboration view don’t include the students list.

You can get the same information from the students’ thumbnails.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

9

The students list includes:

l All the currently connected students (if you’re viewing the All Students or All

Computers tab).

l All the currently connected students in a group (if you’re viewing a group’s tab).

When you select one or more students in the student list, you can interact with the

selected students using SMART Sync features, including locking students’ desktops,

broadcasting, chatting, sending and receiving files, conducting polls and more.

The symbol next to each student’s name indicates the student’s status. The symbols

appear below in order of most important status (Disconnected) to the least important

(Connected).

Symbol Status Description

Disconnected The student is disconnected.

Locked Out The student is locked out.

Vote The student has yet to respond to a vote.

Vote Yes The student has responded affirmatively to a

vote.

Vote No The student has responded negatively to a vote.

Question The student asked a question.

Chat The student received a new chat message.

Application Block The student is blocked from using one or more

applications.

Internet Block The student is blocked from using the Internet.

Connected The student is connected.

When more than one status applies to a student, the most important symbol appears.

For example, if a student is both connected and locked out, the Locked Out symbol

displays beside the student’s name.

Customizing the User Interface

You can customize SMART Sync’s user interface following the instructions in this

section.

Showing or Hiding Toolbars

You can show or hide the toolbars to customize the SMART Sync interface.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

1 0

To show or hide the

main toolbar

Select View > Toolbars > Main.

To show or hide the

Views icons

Select View > Toolbars > View.

Setting the Selection Method

You can change SMART Sync’s selection method to suit your preferences. The two

available methods are Standard and Sticky.

In Standard selection:

l If you click two items, you select only the second item.

l If you hold the CTRL key and click two items, you select both items.

l If you hold the SHIFT key and click two items, you select both items and every

item between the two.

In Sticky selection:

l If you click two items, you select both items.

l If you click a selected item, you clear the selection.

l Holding the CTRL or SHIFT keys has no effect.

T I P

If you’re using a SMART Board interactive whiteboard, it’s easier to select and

clear selections using the Sticky selection method.

To set the selection

method to Standard

Select Options > Selection Types > Standard Selection.

To set the selection

method to Sticky

Select Options > Selection Types > Sticky Selection.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

1 1

Working with Thumbnails

You can rearrange, resize and change the information of the thumbnails in the

Thumbnails view.

Rearranging Thumbnails

By default, the student thumbnails are arranged alphabetically in the Thumbnails view.

However, you can rearrange the thumbnails in any way you like. For example, you can

rearrange them to reflect the room’s seating plan for all students or groups.

To rearrange thumbnails

in a customized order

1.

Click Thumbnails .

The Thumbnails view appears.

2. Click All Computers or All Students to rearrange the thumbnails for the class.

OR

Click a group’s tab to rearrange the thumbnails for the group.

3. Make sure View > Thumbnail Arrangement > Align to Grid isn’t selected, and

then click and drag the thumbnails vertically or horizontally.

N O T E

If a new student joins the class or group, that student’s thumbnail appears

at the end of the thumbnail arrangement.

To rearrange thumbnails

alphabetically

1.

Click Thumbnails .

The Thumbnails view appears.

2. Click All Computers or All Students to rearrange the thumbnails for the class.

OR

Click a group’s tab to rearrange the thumbnails for the group.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

1 2

3. Select View > Thumbnail Arrangement > Alphabetical Ordering.

The thumbnails are rearranged in alphabetical order starting at the upper left

corner.

N O T E

If a new student joins the class or group, that student’s thumbnail appears

in alphabetical order in the thumbnail arrangement.

Resizing Thumbnails

There are advantages and disadvantages to increasing the size of the thumbnails. If you

make them larger, it’s easier to see details, but you have to scroll to view some of the

thumbnails. If you make them smaller, you can view more of them without having to

scroll, but it’s difficult to see details.

To resize thumbnails 1.

Click Thumbnails .

The Thumbnails view appears.

2. Select View > Thumbnail Size, and then select one of the following options:

o

Very Large (two thumbnails wide)

o

Large (three thumbnails wide)

o

Medium (four thumbnails wide)

o

Small (five thumbnails wide)

o

Very Small (six thumbnails wide)

o

Best Fit (automatically adjusts the thumbnail display to the best

arrangement)

Changing Thumbnail Information

When you’re monitoring a class or group in the Thumbnails view, you can display the

student’s logon ID, student ID or name below each thumbnail. The Collaboration view

also displays this information.

To change thumbnail

information

1.

Click Thumbnails .

The Thumbnails view appears.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

1 3

2. Select View > Thumbnail Name/Description.

3. Select Logon ID, Student ID or Student Name.

Working with Groups

If you want to interact with some students but not the entire class, you can create

groups.

When you create a group, SMART Sync creates a tab for the group. Depending on your

viewing options, the default group tab is named All Computers or All Students.

When you select a group’s tab, you can interact with the members of that group. For

example, you can lock the group’s desktops, broadcast your desktop to the group, chat

with the group, send a file to the group, conduct a poll of the group and more.

By creating groups, you can tailor specific actions to a certain section of the class. For

example, you can create a group made up of students who are easily distracted, and

then monitor the computer screens of that group.

You can also edit the members of existing groups and delete groups that you no longer

need.

Changing the Type of Class

Depending on your viewing options, the default group tab is named All Computers or All

Students. The All Computers group includes every computer in your lab and names the

thumbnails using the computer name. The All Students group includes every student in

your class and names the thumbnails using the student ID.

To change from a lab

to a class

Select View > View Class As > Student Class List.

To change from a class

to a lab

Select View > View Class As > Computer Lab.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

1 4

Creating, Editing and Deleting Groups

To create a group

1. Select Edit > Add Group.

The New Group dialog box appears.

2. Type a name for the group in the Group name box.

3. Optionally, select the Allow students to join this group on their own check

box to allow students to join or leave this group.

N O T E

If you don’t select this check box, only you can add or remove students

from the group.

4. Click OK.

The group appears as a new tab in the main SMART Sync window.

To edit a group 1. Select the group’s tab.

2. Select Edit > Modify Group.

The Edit New Group dialog box appears.

3. Optionally, change the name of the group in the Name box.

4. Optionally, add students to or remove them from the group:

o

To add a student, select the student’s name in the Students list, and then

click Add.

o

To remove a student, select the student’s name in the Group Members list,

and then click Remove.

5. Optionally, select the Allow students to join this group on their own check

box to allow students to join or leave this group.

N O T E

If you don’t select this check box, only you can add or remove students

from the group.

6. Click OK.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

1 5

To delete a group

1. Select the group’s tab.

2. Select Edit > Remove Group.

A warning message appears.

3. Click Yes.

To interact with a group or

all students

Click a group’s tab to interact with the group.

OR

Click the All Computers or All Students tab to interact with all students.

Exiting SMART Sync

Before you exit SMART Sync, consider the following:

l If you exit while a file transfer is in progress, the file transfer is canceled.

l If you want to continue to use SMART Sync but you want to change to a different

teacher ID, you don’t need to exit SMART Sync.

To exit SMART Sync Select File > Exit.

| C H A P T E R 1 – G E T T I N G S T A R T E D

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SMART Technologies Sync 2009 User guide

SMART Technologies Sync 2009 User guide

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