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Ask Slashdot: Alternate Software For Use On Smartboards?
SmarterThanMe (1679358) writes Teacher here, you can call me Mr. SmarterThanMe. I have a fancy smartboard installed in my room. Smartboards allow me to show students a whole range of other stuff other than just whatever I'm writing. I can prepare instructions and activities before the lesson and just move through the boards. I can pull up some students' work and display it through the projector. I can bring up some stimulus for use in a writing task. So much better than blackboards. Except the software that comes bundled with this particular brand of smartboard is ridiculously clunky. Without naming this particular piece of software, and highlighting its shortfalls, has anyone got any suggestions on alternatives (open source or otherwise)? The main features that I'd like are:
- Handwriting recognition
- The ability to make and use templates
- Grids or guides or *something* to be able to teach measurement
I have gold star stickers for any good suggestions.
Something like this?
http://education.smarttech.com/en/products/notebook
To someone smarterthanme?
Facts have a liberal bias.
http://alternativeto.net/software/smart-notebook/
And, you can also use the question as a reading/research/teach Google excercise for your students, which would allow them input and to feel a sense of ownership in the Learning Process (tm).
Sounds like you need Google Chrome. Remember, web browsers can do anything. JavaScript can do anything. HTML5 can do anything. CSS can do anything.
Smartboard, a product of SMART Technologies, is a specific family of devices.
Are you talking about general interactive whiteboard systems that include other devices as well?
One thing I LIKE about Smartboards (specifically) is that they are really just a giant touchpad. Projector or not, a giant touchpad can be used for lots of cool things. And the computer can use the input for any software, even adobe photoshop and illustrator. Like a giant low-resolution bamboo tablet.
Unfortunately (unless this changed), they aren't multi-touch.
Without naming this particular piece of software, and highlighting its shortfalls, has anyone got any suggestions on alternatives
What does the smartboard run, windows/linux/amiga os?
Is it a locked down custom embedded OS?
Whats the CPU/RAM/HDD specs of the smartboard?
Without any of this information, we (or i) cant assist you.
http://www.alfiekohn.org/parenting/tcags.htm
You really need to offer the make/model of smartboard for your request to be acted upon, not gold stars.
A "smart" board is just a touch sensitive surface that is recognized by the computer as pretty much a standard mouse. It plugs in through USB. The only thing "smart" about it is that there are a few extra sensors on the board that identify which color "marker" you're using (simple IR sensors in the holders) and a calibration button.
It's no smarter than the touch surface on your tablet or phone.
It's pretty much the worst investment a school can make, but the alternatives somewhat require a resident nerd willing to put in the effort to assembly them. I'm checking the price on Alibaba for a 48" x 96" infrared overlay. If I can get it for $300 a less I'll buy it and see how it goes with my own set up at my house.
Frankly, a $100 document camera and a simple whiteboard are perfectly sufficient for 90% of what a "smart"board is used for.
Work Safe Porn
What make/model is the smartboard? A 'smartboard' is a name that can be applied to many a device with varying different capabilities, plus varying interfaces. Asking for software that will run with yours is difficult to answer without knowing what you have.
The wii remote connects via bluetooth to your laptop or desktop, the Wiimote Whiteboard
software uses the infrared camera on the wii remote to track an infrared light (pen that you are holding which has a momentary switch). It works surprisingly well and allows for drawing on projection screens, annotating projected power point slides, etc. I have no affiliation with any of these products, see Wiimote Whiteboard at http://www.smoothboard.net/wiimotewhiteboard/
Teacher here. Smartboards are like Apple computers. If you want to do exactly what they want you to do, they are great. If you want to tinker (let alone be actually creative with technology), you are using the wrong device.
Last year I switched to a LCD projector coupled to a tablet (Surface Pro 2) displayed on a dry erase whiteboard. Despite the MS hate, OneNote on a tablet is an absolutely killer app. My instruction has been forever changed for the better. I now write on my tablet at my desk rather than writing at the board, allowing students to view the information unobstructed by my body. Each lesson is saved in OneNote, so if I ever want to recall an earlier idea for review, it's just a matter of pulling up that lesson. Just yesterday, I pulled up a Geometer's Sketchpad animation seamlessly during my lesson by simply switching tabs. I frequently pull up a TI emulator so I can live demo keystrokes for the kids. In future lessons, I will be pulling up some Mathematica workbooks I made. Interacting with worksheets as a class is so much easier when I can simply display a Word document, directing my students' attention to key phrases, augment diagrams, etc.
Finally, with software such as Camtasia Studio, you can even record each lesson and post them online for students' later use. See vimeo.com/hillercalculus for some Calculus lessons demonstrating the aforementioned functionality.
Ditch the SmartBoard. They are about as useful in a classroom as an iPad - maybe better than nothing, but there are far superior solutions out there.
My name's Mr. SmarterThanI!
Do you want a grammar lesson?
Except the software that comes bundled with this particular brand of smartboard is ridiculously clunky. Without naming this particular piece of software, and highlighting its shortfalls
I have a particular plan which involves some unnamed hardware and software. I won't go into details, but let's just say that everything of it is implemented through some specific steps. It allows the users to leverage various possibilities. Maybe this could be the solution?
Smart boards can be useful for businesses. The people who manage schools want the schools to have the same stuff as the businesses, so they end up investing in smart boards. Unfortunately, they are not all that useful in school.
Students quickly get tired of powerpoint slide shows (which is how smart boards would normally be used, run some type of slide show and draw circles and stuff as you go), and most presenters tend to overload slides with information - because they can, and because they are bad at organizing and prioritizing information. School is not about putting content before students, it is about students actually learning. Using a regular board is a great learning tool, because it forces the presenter to pace himself to a speed which students can follow. Plus you actually have to prioritize a bit.
Smart boards are usually a bad replacement for regular boards. Why? Because they add little value. I have not heard about any great smart board apps that are actually being used in class, it is all about the "possibilities" which never quite seem to actually happen in real life. But are there any disadvantages to smartboards? Yes, instead of a nice and big board which you can structure into segments and organize lots of content, you are now limited to this tiny little smart board. Plus you have to fire up the computer, and there are all sort of technological pitfalls.
The best type of board; an old style board for using with chalk. Extremely low tech, and as long as there is any tiny piece of chalk around, you have a functional setup. No PC to boot, no spending time getting the smart board set up - you just grab the chalk and start the lesson.
Unfortunately (unless this changed), they aren't multi-touch.
Multi-touch models have been available for a few years now.
I use a Smartboard in the classroom with Linux. The pens don't work, but I don't really care. It is basically just a touch screen for me. Here are a few tips.
-Our Smartboards were mounted by the custodian using angle iron. Alignment does not work. You will have to reposition the projector to align everything. Mock up the position of the projector and make sure that it has a versatile mount.
-Compiz works great with the Smartboard. All of the effects work, including writing with fire. You may need to get a faster graphics card though.
-Physics programs like Phun work great. Even flash games and Angry Birds work fine.
http://phun.en.softonic.com/
-DrGeo is similar to geometer's sketchpad, and works fine with the Smartboard. You can do all sorts of measurement with it. For instance, I use it to teach the difference between area and circumference.
http://www.drgeo.eu/ (installable through repositories)
-Cisco Packet Tracer works well with a Smartboard (if you teach networking).
-My Smartboard is not multitouch. Get a Wii remote and a light pen if you want to use it for that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s5EvhHy7eQ
-There are plenty of good handwriting recognition pieces of software for Linux, but Smartboards smudge and get dirty.
-Use Google Drive as a school (FERPA compliant) and organize assignments and student work into shared folders. Everything is at hand, instantly updated, and easily managed.
Conclusion: My Smartboard is a convienient novelty at times. I could work just fine without it.
Actually the 800 Series offers multi-touch.
First let me say that all that Smartboard is; it is a touch screen interface that is projector based. It in essence can do anything that a touch screen laptop can do with the following limitations:
1. Smartboards are limited to a very low points per inch sensitivity, even the smart tables.
2. Smartboards wear out over time both the controller board and the wire grid in the laminate board. This is due to schools being closed down during the summer and getting anywhere between 100 to 150 degrees depending on where you in the world your school is. (Air is turned off in the summer)
3. Any really good software costs a bundle and will require a large grant.
4. The desktop hardware may not have enough horsepower to run the programs you want.
This sound more and more like you want some kind of Smart table instead of a Smartboard these are extremely expensive so you better start googling for grans and get writing. but the Smart tables do come prepackaged with better software and open source tools to make apps for the Smart tables.
It doesn't do handwriting recognition, but InterLACE (int.erlace.com) is awesome on a smartboard/projector, especially for comparing student ideas. You can overlay sketches from different students, really good for graphs and diagrams.
//TODO: Insert catchy phrase
Yep. *Like* that. :)
Sure. Can you write something about the difference between descriptivism and prescriptivism? Cheers. :)
That's been suggested to me in another forum too. I'm taking a look. Cheers! If I had mod points...
Yeah. The 800 series are great. I've had a play with one at a colleague's school. They're still limited by the software used with them.
You wouldn't believe the battle I had to fight to get Google Chrome installed on my classroom computer and the bank of laptops that I use with my students. If you can believe it, the preference was for IE9.
Have you got a particular extension in mind? I have looked...
http://www.rocketboard.it
Teacher here as well; Onenote is probably by far the best application for this.
http://easiteach.com/aus/
It works on any brand Interactive Whiteboard.
I have schools that use it on Smartboards, Teamboards, and several other brands.
Personally, I find Smartboard + Smart Notebook the most 'well developed' of the brands.. Updates are regular, and the software and hardware are very well designed.
The only gripe I have against the company now, is the 'accidental' upgrade to the latest version, which their updater program does, and if you don't read the fine print, which says 'if you don't have a valid maintenance agreement, the software will cease to function', then you're in trouble.
The older version of the software works fine on the old SB680 boards we have, and with Win8.1x64... we've just had to ensure that the auto-updater is disabled everywhere
Easitteach is quite well liked among the staff who use it.. the versions we have, come bundled with a lot more teaching content, in specific areas
SMART Boards can be used with SMART Notebook (for Education) or SMART Meeting Pro (for business) software from the company that makes the SMART Boards, or they can be used with any software that can run on your computer; if you can control the software with a mouse, you can also control it with a SMART Board.
With both the SMART Notebook (for Education) and the SMART Meeting Pro (for business) software from the company that makes the SMART Boards, handwriting recognition is already included as a default feature. A quick internet search for 'handwriting recognition in SMART Notebook" will reveal many documents and many videos demonstrating this. The SMART Notebook software also supports templates and grids too, a quick internet search reveals many documents and many videos demonstrating this.
- James
Advice for a software: OneNote. Advice as a student: Please don't use a smartboard.
I'm not a teacher, but i ran across this recently: .pdf or .ppt documents. Available for Linux, Mac, Windows.
Open-Sankoré is a multiplatform, open-source program that is compatible with every type of interactive hardware. It is also translated into many different languages. Its range of tools is adapted to all users: from beginners to experts. In addition to commenting, drawing, and highlighting, the Open-Sankoré program gives you the option of enriching your course content by importing flash animations, images, audio, videos, or by including existing
Link here: http://open-sankore.org/
I have not tried it but it seems interesting
http://open-sankore.org/
Windows, Mac, Linux
For what it's worth, we've had fair success with Duck Hunt and a trash can full of crumpled up rejects from the printer.
Despite the MS hate, OneNote on a tablet is an absolutely killer app.
MS OneNote is the primary reason* I've kept Windows at home. Every year or two, I waste the better part of a day or so checking into Linux alternatives but I keep going back to OneNote.
I don't use a tablet -- when I'm away from the desktop I want to be away from a computer -- but I can easily imagine how much more awesome OneNote would be on a tablet.
(* The other reason is that I never seem to suffer from eye strain in Windows as much as I do in linux, at least for those Linux GUI DEs that I tried, but that's neither here nor there.)
Not sure if that is the 'clunky' software you describe, but it always used to be that SMART's main competitor (Promethean) did better software (and better boards, but that's the start of a flame war!)
Think this is it here: http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en/Support/ProductPage.aspx?product=22
At least last time I used it, it worked just fine on Smart boards as well as Promethean Activeboards...
Automated drawing of a cock and balls? With optional 'dotted emission' and hairs.
I'm assuming the question is Windows specific, and I use MacOS and Ubuntu, and haven't really had to use Windows since Windows 3.... So I'll just be only marginally helpful and say/ask, "Aren't there a ton of apps out there that do that already?" I know on Mac there's lots of little doodads that pop up a ruler. And doesn't OneNote, and a lot of other stuff, do that handwriting recognition? I know it's baked-in on MacOS; isn't it on Windows too? And doesn't any app, really, have the ability to make a template when it has "Save as", or if the file-system can lock a file? I'd bet Windows even has an equivalent to the Mac stationery file-attribute. Me, I get by with TextEdit (rtf editor), Keynote (presentation), and a free app called Highlight that throws a transparent drawing layer over my screen. I know everyone's uses are different, but--just to be clear--can't most of your problems be solved with some screen mirroring and a regular app? The bonus then is that you can transport your stuff to machines that don't have that bloated piece of Smartboard excrement on them.
Hello, I am an IT Administrator at a small private school. We have 10 SmartBoard brand installed in our school.
Teachers are the REAL problem!!! 95% of our teachers are NOTHING but robots that regurgitate information back to a student.
They can NOT learn on there own. It really is to bad that in one of the greatest nations on earth, Universities can't teach, teachers to
learn on there own after they graduate. The teachers that even begin to scratch the surface are out math teachers. They record everything they do on the SmartBoards and upload as pdf's so that students can go back and review. There are tons of options that are installed with the notebook software specifically designed for certain subjects. All a teacher needs to do is look! oh wait, that isn't written in my text book, I can't do that... Teachers stop being your own worst enemy! Learn to use Google, Bing, there are bunches of examples and other templates that other teachers have created for teachers that can't learn on there own!
I believe you've answered this in the spirit of the OP - this teacher came to a site that's well-versed in FOSS and asked a simple question. Mileage varied.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
How nice to see that teachers aren't skilled enough to do on their own what their students do every day -
Figure out how to use new software by going on-line to the appropriate sites and using search engines to answer questions.
This doesn't surprise me; most of the teachers I've had just plain sucked.
Have you looked into ClassFlow? It is a cloud-based presentation software geared toward classroom whiteboards. Some key features include: 1) Presentations are stored online, so you can access from work or home 2) Interacts with student devices including iPads, Nexxus tablets, laptops, etc for interactive features including polls, question/answer, and more. 3) It's FREE (for now) 4) It meets your requirements for handwriting recognition and and the ability to create templates. I've been using SmartNotebook and ActivInspire (from Promethean) for years, and I think ClassFlow blows them both away.
With all due respect, it seems like you didn't real look into the said software. Handwriting recognition is available:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ODF6IdcwA
as are measurement tools:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIy0t4KO2DU
and graph templates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_tcaTEUFs0
What an arrogant start to a summary. People who need to go out of their way to seem smarter usually aren't.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
I use MyPaint with my Lenovo X201 tablet, it supports touch and stylus input. The machine is connected to a regular projector and my students and I are very satisfied with this.
Here is an example of a discussion about hash functions in Python; it is a screencast where you can see me doing stuff in the terminal as well as sketching explanations on a blank canvas.
MyPaint is cross platform, it is designed for artists and painters, but I am happy with it as a teacher. I used to rely on OneNote in the past, but I've moved away from Windows quite a few years ago and never looked back.
The saddest poem
Actually, this is a perfect example of what almost everyone in OUR profession forgets. The most expensive part of any system, is the end user training. If it's so hard to use, that people have to take extensive (often very poorly done) training, or if we expect/demand that users spend large amounts of time training themselves, we've failed. Hard to believe, but most people don't want to spend a lot of their precious time and energy to figure out our latest new-shiny. Instead of struggling with software from a company that clearly had a much better marketting budget than useability budget, perhaps the best lesson teachers like this could give their students, would be about such pitfalls.