Online whiteboard apps (updated)

March 2020: I wrote this in 2015, but it has obviously gone out of date: Smart Notebook is still in beta, and requires Flash, so not much good for most schools. Prowise Presenter is now free for the professional version, and Microsoft Whiteboard is a new addition. 

The current trend seems to be for whiteboard software to exist in the cloud rather than as desktop applications. This has a number of advantages in the classroom:

• It allows a teacher to prepare lessons from anywhere with an internet connection and deliver then on any interactive screen without relying on dedicated applications to be installed or updated.
• It allows lessons to be stored online, rather than carried about on USB sticks.
• It often allows students to participate in the lesson using tablets or from a web browser.
• Some of the software is easier to use and faster than the heavyweight alternatives.

There are of course some downsides as well:

• You need an internet connection and a modern browser.
• The software often lacks the resource banks of larger applications.
• Applications in the cloud find it difficult to link with hardware such as visualisers or written with multi touch screens.

There are three applications I've come across that seem to fit well in a primary classroom: Smart Notebook Express, Microsoft Whiteboard, Classflow and Prowise Presenter.

Microsoft Whiteboard

This seems pretty basic, and I wouldn't use to prepare lessons. However, if you only want to scribble on a board, much as you would in a classroom situation, it could be useful. It's a free install on Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store.

Promethean Classflow

Promethean are the people who make ActivInspire and Classflow is integrated in recent versions of their desktop software.

A community file in Classflow

It's quite a complex interface, revolving around creating classes and enrolling students. The interface allows you to create a series of 'cards' and play them back in a presentation, including different types of quizzes that the students can participate in. The cards are in sections, and each section has a background image, but it isn't clear what the merit of this is.

Classflow offers quite impressive interactions with learners, but quite difficult to get your head around.

It does allow a quick whiteboard mode for jotting on the board, and gives you an impressive number of ways to save and load presentations to its own cloud drive as well as Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. You can also import ActiveInspire flipcharts and Smart Notebook files, which seems to work well.

Ultimately, Classflow felt complicated, yet limited and I wouldn't be using it in front of students unless I got a lot more experience with it.

Prowise Presenter

This is the only app here I would use in anger. I tried out the free version, though there is a paid free upgrade which gives you more online storage. Presenter seemed both the simplest and also the most powerful, matching an effective whiteboard application with some powerful interaction options.

Prowise Presenter presenting an actual maths lesson in my class

In comparison to Classflow, the presenter interface is minimal, with all the main tools in a bar at the bottom of the page. This gives you lots of working space at the board. As a bonus, you can use the Presenter app in a browser, including fullscreen, or you can download a standalone version. The latter behaves identically, but with the added bonus of a desktop annotation tool, visible in the bottom right hand corner of the screen above.

Presenter allows you to load and save to its own cloud storage as well as to the local computer. It also allows you to import documents in various popular formats, including Smart Notebook and Powerpoint, which saves time if you don't want to recreate previous material. This was not always very successful, but did work on simpler files.

The toolset was impressive in Presenter, with a good range of backgrounds (including my favourite, squared grid paper for maths), and all the tools you would expect. Some of useful additions include maths tools, and the ability to set objects to repeatedly duplicate (as in Smart Notebook). It was easy to group and move objects, as well as setting actions or links for them.

Once you have created the presentation, it's easy to use on the whiteboard. You can step through the slides with the arrows, or pop up a slide sorter. You can even reduce the toolbar to a floating set of basic tools to give even more space on screen. There were several more advanced functions, such as handwriting recognition (surprisingly good) and the ability to embed Youtube videos.

Students can connect using the ProConnect app or website. You can set up votes and simple activities such as maths races. A great option is the ability to send the screen to the students, who can then annotate it on their ipads before sending it back. The teacher can then review the different submissions and add any good ideas to the presentation.

There are some rough edges to Prowise presenter, but as a standalone presentation tool it works well, and the collaborative functions are an exciting addition to a good application.