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.

Comments

Re:What advice can I offer?

[pspahn]

Honestly, I felt it was an apt commentary on the state of education.

A teacher comes to /. to ask a question about tools and software used primarily by teachers. They wouldn't be asking the question if they knew the answer, but what is the expectation from our geeky little comments site? Why are we the expected demographic to have the answer? Why wouldn't you ask this type of thing on a teacher's forum?

I'm being slightly rhetorical here. I don't think you'd ask this on a teacher's forum because you'd get the same response from all the drone teachers touting whatever the "one" tool is that school districts blow money on which is obviously not what the submitter is looking for.

I guess the apt commentary comes down to the fact that the one person we should be able to trust our kids' learning to doesn't know the answer to a teaching domain specific question.