The Whizz

The annual Technology, Education, Design (TED) conference in Monterey, California produces some fascinating speakers every year, on subjects as diverse as Neurology, Architecture, Computing, Astronomy and, of course, Education.

One 2006 speaker - Sir Ken Robinson - gave a well-received talk on creativity in education (’Do Schools Kill Creativity?’) that has been doing the rounds on the education blogosphere since. Robinson discussed how we have to foster creativity in the next generation to equip children with the skills to face a rapidly-changing world.

Watch the video for yourself at the Whizz YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/whizzeducation or read on for our take on Ken Robinson’s talk.

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Discover Whizzy Worlds - a brand new range of Maths-Whizz CD-ROMS from Whizz Education.

Each Whizzy Worlds CD will cover a major topic area in the UK Primary Strategy for Maths and teach the essentials with our award-winning animated exercises and a bunch of additional features to stretch and education students.

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UKS (Universal Knowledge Solutions) is the new place to buy Maths-Whizz Online Tutor in the Middle East.

As mentioned here last October, Universal Knowledge Solutions, the Dubai-based education services company, struck a deal with Whizz Education to get Maths-Whizz into hundreds of schools in the region.

Now UKS have gone one further and are offering Middle East customers online Maths-Whizz subscriptions. Visit their site to find out more: http://www.uks.ae/whizz-me/.

You can read the UKS press release here. If you have already subscribed to Maths-Whizz and you are based in the region, you can continue to use Maths-Whizz at our main site - www.whizz.com - your service will not change.

This is due to the resource upgrade being installed into the wrong path.

Launch the updater again and when asked to select your current Maths-Whizz installation, browse to ‘c:\Program Files\Maths-Whizz’, assuming you originally installed the product to this location (this is the default location). Double click this folder then click ‘ok’. You will now see the correct path in the input box. Click through to complete the upgrade.

Earlier versions of Maths-Whizz (v2-v2.2) require ‘read & write’ permissions to the ‘c:\Program Files’ folder on each of the local/client machines. Upon run-time a folder called ‘Maths-Whizz’ is created as a subfolder under ‘Program Files’. If this folder has not been created on the machine you are using, then the software will alert you that you do not have a licence to use it, and you must adapt the permissions on that machine.

Another way around this is to create the ‘Maths-Whizz’ folder manually on the local machine and adapt the privileges to that folder exclusively.

A few users have experienced flickering when launching an exercise. A solution to stop the flickering is to load any of the resources (Matching Charts, User Guide, Licence Agreement etc). Once the resource has fully loaded and you return to the exercise, you will usually find that the flickering has stopped.

From version 2.3 onwards you can run an alternative Maths-Whizz program file, called  ‘Maths-Whizz(Low Res).exe’ that will fix the flickering. Find this file in the folder  ‘Program Files\Maths-Whizz’. If you installed Maths-Whizz in a different location, look in the Maths-Whizz program root folder.

This alternative file runs at a low resolution of 800 × 600, and should prevent any flickering.

Maths-Whizz® Teachers’ Resource works on a minimum screen resolution of 800 X 600.
However for the best performance we recommend running at 1024 X 768.

Instructions to change screen resolution:

Windows

1. Right click on the desktop and a menu will appear.
2. Click on ‘Properties’.
3. Select the ‘Settings’ tab.
4. Drag the slider under the ‘Screen Resolution’ until it is set to either 800 X 600 or 1024 X 768.
5. Click ‘Apply’ to change to the desired resolution.
6. When you are asked if you want to keep the new resolution setting, click Yes’.
7. The screen resolution has now been set correctly.

Mac

1. Click the apple button on the desktop.
2. Click ‘System Preferences’.
3. Under the hardware section, click ‘Displays’.
4. Select either 800 × 600 or 1024 × 768 from the list.
5. The screen resolution will change accordingly to your selection.

When installing Maths-Whizz® Teachers’ Resource, you need to ensure you have an internet connection during the activation stage.

Simply follow the instructions below to install ‘Maths-Whizz® Teachers’ Resource successfully;

1. Register your licence key(s) at www.whizz.com/registration, and continue through to enter all the details required. Once registration is complete you will be emailed a username and password which you will need at the activation stage.
2. Insert the CD and click through the installation process.
3. Once installation is complete, you will need to activate your software.Version 2 - 2.1- 2.1.03
   Upon the completion of the installer, ‘Registration.exe’ will launch. Click the ‘Existing user’ button located at the right of the screen. You will now be required to enter your username and password which was emailed to you when you registered.  

   Version 2.2 -2.3
   When the installation is complete, ‘Licence Activation.exe’ will launch. Enter your username and password to activate the software.

4. When your username and password has been accepted, exit the activation screen and launch Maths-Whizz.exe, from either your desktop shortcut or the installation path.

Yes! After successfully completing an animated exercise, the student is usually presented with five exam style questions. This is to ensure that the understanding the student has gained through the animated exercises is transferable to traditional paper-based questions. This way Maths-Whizz not only helps to develop understanding and confidence, but also improves exam results. Maths-Whizz currently meets key objectives covered in the National Numeracy Strategy for Key Stages 1 and 2 and Years 7 and 8.

Please email support@whizzeducation.com. Alternatively, call the Whizz Customer Service line on 0800 066 9980, Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm. Outside of these hours please leave a voicemail message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.