ActivInspire/Classflow on Chromebooks

[richmackie]

Apologies if this has been posted before but I couldn't find it. Looking after a primary school with some very old (~10 years) teacher laptops. Pupils are all using Chromebooks now, so we got a few Chromebooks for staff to use. Trouble is, because they can't use ActivInspire on their Chromebooks they're still lugging around laptops in order to do lesson planning, which means not only do I still have to support all these laptops, but they're potentially saving work locally rather than OneDrive or Google Drive.

 

Anyway, Classflow was my first thought and I think it looks great, but the teachers basically refuse to use it as it's not identical to ActivInspire. Jamboard has been all but ruled out for the same reason, as has J2Whiteboard.

 

I did have a look at the Linux ActivInspire package but I quickly gave up as my Linux knowledge is very limited. In any case, they'd surely still have to transfer flipchart files back and forth, though it may encourage them to use Google Drive which would be no bad thing.

 

Anyone else fought this particular battle?

[Zoom7000]

Yes, I have fought this battle. It's not the answer they are gonna like, but the blunt truth, in that there is a need for change. Obviously you need to articulate this in nicer terms. But you can mention that ActivInspire is a package for yesteryear and that there is an urgent need for digital transformation in schools. Whilst it won't be comfortable, it is needed. You can showcase some of the schools delivering remote learning via the EdTech Demonstrator programme. Most have moved to platforms such as G Suite or Office 365 and thus have moved their delivery of learning to Jamboard/Google Slides, or Teams/Sway etc.

 

Even Promethean have toned down development of ActivInspire having initially said that they were gonna discontinue it altogether in 2016 before retracting due to backlash.

 

You need to sell it to the school that in order to move to a more flexible working platform that can help to drive down cost, they need to move away from old platforms that are holding back the digital transformation.

[paulkerton]

Anyway, Classflow was my first thought and I think it looks great, but the teachers basically refuse to use it as it's not identical to ActivInspire. Jamboard has been all but ruled out for the same reason, as has J2Whiteboard.

 

The worst mistake Promethean made was to continue supporting ActivInspire and not sticking to their resolve of moving support away and going purely to Classflow.

That damned application is going to trap schools for another decade yet.

 

The answer they're not going to like, is that they need to start moving their resources to other solutions. Start creating all new ones on Classflow, or through Slides etc. They need to refresh their resources, can't stick to the same ones forever!

[Zoom7000]

The worst mistake Promethean made was to continue supporting ActivInspire and not sticking to their resolve of moving support away and going purely to Classflow.

That damned application is going to trap schools for another decade yet.

 

The answer they're not going to like, is that they need to start moving their resources to other solutions. Start creating all new ones on Classflow, or through Slides etc. They need to refresh their resources, can't stick to the same ones forever!

 

This. Just how stagnation and complacency comes to bite in other sectors, the same applies here. Even though people might see if as just teaching resources, it's the platforms that those teaching resources run on.

 

I know it's not the answer you might be looking for @richmackie, but, I've been through the very same boat, where refusal to adjust only results in delaying of the inevitable. My advise is to stick to your guns and put a solid business plan together as to why this move is necessary, highlighting the benefits from a teaching and remote learning perspective, but also from a cost perspective. (Moving from Windows to ChromeOS, usually means lower cost devices and less reliance on an on-premise AD server, which is sure to bring down costs drastically).

[richmackie]

You're very much preaching to the converted here. If I had my way, everyone would be using Google stuff by now but because they already have Office 365 and J2E, it's a bit much for them to take in.

[Primus]

The worst mistake Promethean made was to continue supporting ActivInspire and not sticking to their resolve of moving support away and going purely to Classflow.

That damned application is going to trap schools for another decade yet.

 

The answer they're not going to like, is that they need to start moving their resources to other solutions. Start creating all new ones on Classflow, or through Slides etc. They need to refresh their resources, can't stick to the same ones forever!

 

On that note, if Slides would just support ink/annotation that would make such a difference!

[Zoom7000]

You're very much preaching to the converted here. If I had my way, everyone would be using Google stuff by now but because they already have Office 365 and J2E, it's a bit much for them to take in.

 

The question then needs to be posed from a perspective that they've moved to Office 365, which is great, but then they purchased Chromebooks. Whilst the decision was probably financially motivated, the two ecosystems don't line up effectively, albeit you can run Office 365 apps just fine on a Chromebook.

 

You could spin this in a way that highlights to the school that you've already invested in the devices, the migration of the platform is an inevitable change given the investment (even though they probably didn't realise this!)

 

Failing that, it would be an idea to put them in touch with the EdTech Demonstrator programme, so that they can connect with other educators using Office 365 who can support them with the digital transformation away from an ActivInspire environment.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

On that note, if Slides would just support ink/annotation that would make such a difference!

 

We've been asking for years! Please do leave feedback! The more people that ask, the better the chance Google will look at incorporating this into Slides!

[Primus]

The question then needs to be posed from a perspective that they've moved to Office 365, which is great, but then they purchased Chromebooks. Whilst the decision was probably financially motivated, the two ecosystems don't line up effectively, albeit you can run Office 365 apps just fine on a Chromebook.

 

You could spin this in a way that highlights to the school that you've already invested in the devices, the migration of the platform is an inevitable change given the investment (even though they probably didn't realise this!)

 

Failing that, it would be an idea to put them in touch with the EdTech Demonstrator programme, so that they can connect with other educators using Office 365 who can support them with the digital transformation away from an ActivInspire environment.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

 

 

We've been asking for years! Please do leave feedback! The more people that ask, the better the chance Google will look at incorporating this into Slides!

 

Sigh I have - also directly to senior Google staff, for whatever reason no one is listening. It's a feature PowerPoint has had for years and they clearly have the tech as they use it in Jamboard.

[richmackie]

It's not really moving towards cloud-based things in general that's the issue - though I think if ActivInspire was removed from the equation that would make a huge difference - the more I think about it and the more replies I read, the more I start to think it's the lack of a clear strategy that's the issue. I'm in favour of ditching Office 365 altogether and shifting to Google Workspace, linking J2E to Wonde which is doing SSO for Google and a few other things, and simplifying things massively. As yet I haven't managed to get anyone to understand how much better that would be, but that's my fault. But then again, the MAT the school may join in the next couple of years are favouring Office 365 so that could lead to a conflict further down the line.