Smart Notebook Alternatives (2016)

[TRC_MA]

Good afternoon,

 

The topic has come up a number of times but with the recent news regarding Smart and Steljes it may become popular again. We are looking at alternatives to Smart Notebook and are hoping to hear from anyone who has actually used other products and can share some feedback.

 

One requirement would be some way to open/import/convert Smart Notebook files. A lot of comments here going back a couple of years suggest various programs "should" or "will" do this and members here "might try it" but I didn't see anything concrete. Did this come to anything for any of you? I also read some years old information about the .iwb file standard that appears to have fizzled out as far as Smart Notebook compatibility goes - An experiment with the common .IWB file format in Smart/Promethean (and Easiteach)

 

 

I have seen a number of suggestions for Open Sankore. We tried this but decided it wouldn't be accepted by teachers. I just heard about Oktopus today in another thread here. If anyone has any recommendations they would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

[dannynic]

Thanks for the link to my blog

 

One setup to look at is ProWise. You don't need to use their boards, can just have their browser-based software. It does import Smart Notebook files quite well, and can also convert powerpoints etc. It also connects well to iPads using their Proconnect app to allow you to throw a screen to an ipad, have students annotate it,and send it back to the front.

 

More here : Prowise Presenter v6 is Out. What's New?

 

You can explore it for free - but you will need to buy a licence to get the most from it.

[TRC_MA]

Thank you very much, I will add it to the list. And thank you for the information on your blog, some real experiences from a third party helped us present our case for investigating alternatives.

[rheibel]

Whilst I know im restarting a old thread a promising continuation of open-sankore is OpenBoard. OpenBoard, tableau blanc interactif open source pour les écoles et universités. https://github.com/OpenBoard-org/OpenBoard has several features missing from our old version of sankore e.g customisation of ink colour and a simpler updated QT5.5 interface. They have also removed some of the more confusing half finished features.