Clear Touch - Intermediate (formerly Beyond the Basics)

The newest technology for the CMCSS is the Clear Touch Board. The board has smart, multi-touch technology that allows for 20 points of simultaneous touch and 10 points of writing, making it the perfect tool to excite and engage students in their learning. A trial use of the boards was done at Kirkwood Middle School in the spring of 2023. Summer, 2023 saw over 250 teachers from across the district being trained on their newest tool for their classroom. Then, in August, 2023 Kirkwood High School opens with all teachers having a Clear Touch Board. At Spring Break of 2024, nearly 300 more Clear Touch boards were distributed across schools in the district.

Clear Touch : Board Basics

Clear Touch: Intermediate (Beyond the Basics)

Clear Touch: Advanced (Chorus Lesson Creation)

This page will provide directions, links, and suggestions for how to use the Clear Touch Board. If you do not find what you seek, please reach out to your building's Technology Integration Coach.

Clear Touch: Beyond the Basics

Clear Targets

You will be able to…

Learn tools in Android side of Clear Touch that weren’t shared in introduction class
Use Snowflake Chorus on the PC Side
Favorite Snowflake Lessons and make Quick Edits
Integrate content with the Google Docs App
Curate resources in the Snowflake Browser App

PC Side of Clear Touch

For this section of our Google Site, you will need to be logged into the PC side of the Clear Touch board. To accomplish this, switch using 1 of the 3 methods below.

Using the Remote Control, press the INPUT button, then the Left Arrow button until PC is selected, and finally tap the ENTER button.
Touch the bottom middle of the board in the black box around the screen and swipe up. Tap PC.
Tap the Android overlay toolbar arrow on either the right or left side of the board. Tap the purple button for Inputs. Tap PC.

When you leave your board unattended, be sure to either Sign Out or Shut Down your account so no one else can access your online tools as you.

Change Sound Settings

When you 1st sign into Windows 11 on your Clear Touch Board, the settings for sound output may be wrong. Luckily, it is quick and easy to fix. This can be done in SETTINGS.

Tap the Windows button in the bottom left corner.
Tap the Settings gear wheel.
It should start in the SYSTEM group, tap on SOUND.
Look at the OUTPUT settings.
Tap to select PC MONITOR, instead of "Speakers".

Access Onsceen Keyboard

An Onsceen Keyboard comes in handy when tapping into text fields. Most of the time, one will launch for you, but there are a few instances when one does not. To access an onscreen keyboard, turn on this feature in SETTINGS.

Tap the Windows button in the bottom left corner.
Tap the Settings gear wheel.
Tap on PERSONALIZATION.
Scroll down and tap on TASKBAR.
Scroll down and tap on the drop-down menu for TOUCH KEYBOARD and choose ALWAYS.

Right-Click on a PC Touchscreen

On a Windows 11 Touchscreen PC, it is very easy to left click. It is simply done by tapping on the screen. It is the same motion as you use on your smartphone. Right-clicking is different. To right-click on a PC, touch and hold your finger still until you see a square on the screen, then let go. The right-click's context menu will appear.

Snowflake Software

Alright, let’s move into your Clear Touch’s proprietary software called Snowflake. As we stated in the "Clear Touch Basics" training, this program was designed to work specifically with the Clear Touch board. It has some features you have seen on the Android side and some new ones that only exist here. Let’s start by launching Snowflake.

Elementary VS Secondary

If you are an elementary teacher, you should see the seafoam green background when your Snowflake finishes loading. If you are a middle school or high school teacher, I highly recommend switching yours to the secondary level of Snowflake by tapping the Q in the corner and then “Elementary”. A window will open where you can choose “Secondary”. This will change your background to the forest and give you access to middle and high school lesson activities when we switch to that portion of this training.

Snowflake: Chorus

Just as the Android side of the Clear Touch has the Chorus whiteboard app, Snowflake provides a version for the PC side to use. There are many tools that are the same for both versions. However, the PC version of Chorus has a few additional features not available on the Android side.

Let’s start by looking at the types of Multimedia Tools available in this version of Chorus. Tap on the Chorus icon inside of Snowflake to get started.

Snowflake Chorus - Picture Tools

Many of the tools and features of Chorus inside Snowflake on the PC side are the same as those in the Android’s version of Chorus. Both sides have Pictures Tool. What folders the Picture Tool accesses is the main difference, but it is a substantial one.

The Android side only showed folders in the FINDER section of the Android.
The PC version of Chorus shows Windows 11’s Folders, such as Desktop, Downloads, and Pictures of Windows 11.

In addition, the PC version of Chorus has access to "Recordings", "Screenshots" and "Content Gallery" folders built into Snowflake.

There are links to online storage services, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Our district supports the use of Google Drive through Snowflake Chorus. It does not allow Google Drive access on the Android side of Clear Touch. This is a district policy.

There are 3 tabs across the top - Media Browser, YouTube, and Lesson Activities

Media Browser - The media browser access Windows 11 folders, Snowflake folders like Content Gallery, and online storage services like Google Drive.
YouTube - As the name implies, direct access to YouTube videos is available to insert directly to Chorus pages. The first group are vetted videos from Clear Touch about Clear Touch boards and tools. The search box allows you to search for content from the rest of YouTube to embed directly into a Chorus page as playable videos.
Lesson Activities - These are the interactive lesson tools that are a main draw for using Snowflake. There is no equivalent on the Android side of Clear Touch. Embed lesson activities for students to use directly in a set of Chorus pages.

If you tap on the picture or video you've embedded, a set of tool buttons will appear below the image. Using the image above, the tools will be described below starting on the left and going right.

Duplicate - This creates a copy of the original image or video.
Flip Horizontally - This flips the image or video 180 degrees across.
Flip Vertically - This flips the image or video 180 degrees up and down.
Crop - Edit the visible portion of the original image or video to only show a portion.
Full Screen - Display the image/video over nearly all the page. Images/Video cannot be annotated on while in full screen mode.
Lock/Unlock - Freezes the image or video so it can't be stretched or edited while using annotation tools over it.
Bring to Front - If there are multiple images/videos stacked on the page, tapping a lower one and then this icon brings that window to the front of the stack of images/videos.
Straighten - If the image/video has become crooked while zooming or moving it, this button will
Delete - Deletes the image/video

Snowflake Chorus - Insert Webpages

This button, labeled ‘WWW”, is for adding full live webpages to your Chorus whiteboard. It is not just a screenshot of a webpage, but a full working webpage, with some caveats.

While it does say webpages, please understand that the web browser used within Chorus is a lite version of Chrome. It can handle text, images, and video clips, but falls short if the site has interactive web elements, such as HTML5 or WebGL. It is also a slower browser. If you only need text and images, it will be fine.

Snowflake Chorus - Text and USB Camera Options

Tap the UP button on the far right of the main toolbar. Most things should be the same as your Android Chorus, but there are some additions in Snowflake Chorus.

Text has font and color options that weren't in Android.
Camera is an option, but only if you have a USB camera attached to your board. If you have one of the newer document cameras and the right cable, you can connect it to your board to bring in images from it. If you have a ProMax DP580 or the Qomo QD700, I am sorry, but these are too old to connect directly to your Clear Touch board. Schools with a Hovercam wireless document camera will be able to use this feature. You may have to switch cameras in the drop-down menu.

Snowflake Chorus - Setup & Use a Whiteboard Slide Template

You can use the sidebar to add, duplicate, sort, reorder, and delete whiteboard slides to create a whole lesson slideshow of digital whiteboards.

If you have taken the time to create a set of whiteboards that build a lesson and want to reuse them with other class periods or in future classes, you will need to save that set as a template before making marks and annotating.

Saving is done in the Menu button in the bottom toolbar.

To build and save the template for repeated use,

Build your set of whiteboard slides by adding slides and content.
Tap the Menu button in the bottom toolbar. It is the black button with 3 horizontal bars.
Tap SAVE AS...
In the window that opens, choose where you wish to save it, such as Documents or Google Drive.
Type a name for the file and tap SAVE. This will create your saved slide set to use as a template.
Now that the clean copy is saved, use it with your class.
At the end of the class, tap the corner Q and CLOSE APP.

To use the template with the next class,

Tap on the Chorus app in Snowflake to open a clean whiteboard set.
Tap the MENU button in the bottom toolbar.
Tap OPEN.
Browse to where you stored the file you saved. It will be a ".wbp" file type.
Tap to select and open it.
Use the file with the new class.
When class is over, tap the corner Q and CLOSE APP. The Chorus program will be closed and no changes will be saved.
When the next class starts, repeat steps 1-7 of this section.

Snowflake Chorus - Export as a PDF

Another option for using the slides as a set in Snowflake Chorus is to create a PDF of all notes and work done during class to share with students through your learning management system, ie Google Classroom or Schoology. Here is how...

Open your existing slides or create them as you need them.
Annotate and work through the content of your lesson.
Before you close the app, tap on the MENU button in the bottom toolbar of Chorus.
Tap EXPORT AS PDF.
Choose a file name and a destination to save the PDF. Each slide becomes a page in the PDF.
Take your PDF with notes from the Chorus slides and upload them to your Google Classroom or Schoology account for students to access after class is finished.

Snowflake Chorus - Connect to Google Drive

As shared earlier in the "Beyond the Basics" section, Google Drive is available to Chorus and Snowflake on the PC side of the Clear Touch boards. With that being said, there is a process for connecting to it.

In Chorus, tap the MENU button in the bottom tool bar.
Tap OPEN or SAVE.
In the left column, scroll down until you see GOOGLE DRIVE.
Tap GOOGLE DRIVE.
A button will show that says LINK GOOGLE DRIVE. Tap it.
Sign in with your CMCSS Google account.

To make navigation in Clear Touch's access to your Google Drive. Make a folder that lists 1st in alphabetical order. One idea is to make a folder in your Google Drive called "000 Clear Touch Materials". This folder will be one of the 1st to show when Snowflake connects to Google Drive. You can put other useful folders inside. Some suggestions are "Materials", "PDFs", "Chorus Slides", and "Pictures".

Snowflake: Lesson Activities

One of the greatest appeals of the Snowflake software is the Lesson Activities app. Inside this app, there are thousands of pre-made interactive activities. They are divided across age level, content area, type, and language. It is easy to find something for nearly every teacher and student to use.

The 16 lesson activity types include...

Arrange - arrange in a timeline
Bugs - catch the correct answer.
Cards - flip the flash cards
Drop - drag and drop answers

Einstein - drag answers to questions
Geometry - work with shape and angles
Groups - categorize answers
List - make playlists of games

Match - find matching pairs
Quiz - multiple choice questions
Scramble - word search puzzle
Sentences - drag word tiles to make sentences

Spinner - spin to choose
Tags - drag numbered labels to an image
Tiles - (Took the place of the "Seats" activity) Uses tiles to randomize selections.
Words - drag letters to make words

Snowflake Lesson Activity Types Reference Sheet.pdf

Snowflake Lesson Activities - Edit Existing Lessons

While you have the ability to create any lesson activity you need from the tools listed above, it is not always necessary as Snowflake has a large library with thousands of lesson activities shared from other educators and from Clear Touch's content team. You don't have to use them "as is" either. Since it downloads a copy to your Clear Touch board when you tap PLAY, you can freely edit it without worry of changing the original. Here is how...

3 Ways to Edit Snowflake App Navigation

In Snowflake on the PC side, there are 3 types of icons loaded into the hexagonal buttons...

Lesson Activity Favorites
Browser Bookmarks
Snowflake Activity Buttons

Lesson Activity Favorites

Browser Bookmarks

Snowflake Activity Buttons

Lesson Activity Favorites

Snowflake's Lesson Activity Favorites come from inside the Lesson Activities app. These buttons are shortcuts that keep you and your students from digging through the My Lesson Activities section or the Community Lessons section to find when you need them that day. They can be quickly 'favorited' or 'unfavorited' as you need them.

First, open the Lesson Activities app.

Second, add the activity to "My Lesson Activities".

Third, click the Star icon in the thumbnail to either add or remove it from Favorites.

Browser Bookmarks

A second type of icon in the Snowflake navigation is the Browser Bookmarks. These are clickable buttons that go directly to a website in Snowflake's web browser.

Click the Browser button.

2. Go to the website you wish to add as a bookmark.

3. Click the Star icon to the right of the address bar.

4. Click the Bookmarks View button.

5. Click the Snowflake icon on the thumbnail to add or remove the Bookmark Button from the main navigation.

Snowflake Activity Buttons

The last set of buttons in Snowflake's navigation are for Snowflake Activities. These are apps within Snowflake that are not related to the lessons or the internet. They include options like "Google Docs", Clock, and Piano. They run within Snowflake.

Add a Snowflake Activity Button

Tap the Corner Q.

2. Tap the Settings Gear Wheel.

3. Tap OK on the Pop-Up message.

4. Tap the App or add an External App.

5. As needed, change the Background or Category Name.

6. Tap SAVE and CLOSE.

Remove a Snowflake Activity Button

Tap the Corner Q.

2. Tap the Settings Gear Wheel.

3. Tap OK on the Pop-Up message.

4. Tap the Gear button on the app.

5. Tap REMOVE APP.

6. Tap SAVE and CLOSE.

Android Updates

For this section of our Google Site, you will need to be logged into the Android side of the Clear Touch board. To accomplish this, switch using 1 of the 3 methods below.

Using the Remote Control, press the INPUT button, then the Left Arrow button until ANDROID is selected, and finally tap the ENTER button.
Touch the bottom middle of the board in the black box around the screen and swipe up. Tap ANDROID.
Tap the Android overlay toolbar arrow on either the right or left side of the board. Tap the purple button for Inputs. Tap ANDROID.

When you leave your board unattended, be sure to either Sign Out or Shut Down your account so no one else can access your online tools as you.

Collage Updates

Send Files & Privacy Desktop

If you have a Clear Touch board assigned to you, or if you access a board in a shared classroom or common area, this Tech Tip is for you!

This video is focused on a Collage software update that now allows users to wirelessly Send Files directly to the Clear Touch board and adds a Privacy Desktop feature for hiding distracting notifications and apps from student view. You can see notifications and apps, such as Outlook or Powerschool, on your laptop screen, but they are not visible to students viewing on the Clear Touch.

Why these new features matter…

SENDING FILES directly to a Clear Touch board eliminates the need for exporting documents or images from your teacher laptop to a jumpdrive and then uploading to the board. This makes creating great activities or lessons easier.

The new PRIVACY DESKTOP features allow you to eliminate pop-up notifications for email and other programs on the mirrored screen but still see them on your laptop. You can also access specific apps, such as Outlook email and Powerschool, from your mirrored laptop while hiding those apps from student view.

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