Existing Promethean Boards – Chromebox & Promethean Tools

Modified on Tue, 25 Aug at 9:49 AM

Overview

Many existing PBSD Promethean classrooms have both a Chromebox and Promethean's built-in classroom tools.

Understanding which environment you are using can make your Promethean board much easier to use. For most daily classroom activities, teachers should use the Chromebox. The built-in Promethean environment can be used when you need Promethean-specific classroom tools.

Audience

Teachers using an existing PBSD Promethean board

Using the Chromebox

For most daily classroom activities, use the Chromebox.

The Chromebox provides access to:

Google Chrome
Google Drive
Google Classroom
Google Docs
Google Slides
Clever
District bookmarks
Web-based instructional resources

Recommended: Use the Chromebox as your primary classroom computer for Google Workspace, Google Classroom, Clever, websites, and other district instructional resources.

Using Promethean Tools

Your existing Promethean board may also provide built-in Promethean classroom tools.

Depending on your board, available tools may include:

Annotate – Write, draw, or highlight over displayed content.
Whiteboard – Use the board as a digital classroom whiteboard.
Timer – Display a classroom timer.
Spinner – Make randomized classroom selections.
Screen Share – Display content from compatible devices.

These built-in tools provide the traditional Promethean experience that many PBSD teachers may already be familiar with.

Annotating Over Your Lesson

If you are accustomed to using the built-in Promethean Annotate feature, you can continue using it when it is available on your existing Promethean board.

Annotate can be especially useful when you want to quickly:

Highlight something on the screen
Write over a website
Mark up a presentation
Draw attention to something in a lesson
Annotate over displayed classroom content

Tip: If you are used to the traditional Promethean workflow where the built-in Annotate tool remains available while moving through classroom content, continue using the built-in Promethean environment when that workflow works best for your lesson.

Which Should I Use?

Use the Chromebox for:

Google Workspace
Google Classroom
Websites
Clever
District resources
Normal classroom computing

Use the built-in Promethean tools for:

Annotate
Whiteboard
Timer
Spinner
Screen Share

Important: This article is for existing PBSD Promethean boards. The new ActivPanel 10 uses a different ChromeOS-based Promethean application workflow. If you have an ActivPanel 10, use the ActivPanel 10 instructions instead.

Not Sure Which Promethean Board You Have?

Start with the Promethean Boards – Start Here article to determine which instructions apply to your classroom.

Need Help?

If you have trouble using your Chromebox or the built-in tools on your Promethean board, contact PBSD Technology Support at techsupport@pbsd.net .

When submitting a ticket, include your building and room number and describe which Promethean feature is not working.

Promethean Boards – Start Here
ActivPanel 10 – Getting Started & Installing Promethean Apps
ActivPanel 10 – Using Promethean Annotate