Scriblink

This week I explored some of the different online whiteboards that are available.
I looked at Scribblar and Dabbleboard; Which both have some great features. In the time I had I found Dabbleboard I little hard to get going so Scribblar seemed easier and friendly for a teacher to get use to the interface and do a quick tutorial for some chemistry students.



The session was successful but at the end of it the teacher found the deliema of having no way of blocking the room or access after she left the class. For teachers of students under 18 this is an issue and has some ramifications if students abuse these spaces.

Scribblar is bringing a feature of being able to lock the rooms which should make this a little safer and I am looking forward to that change. Scribblar is a really friendly design and has great features. The pro version gives you much more freedom but working in a public school it is not an option for us.

Today I found Scriblink - I had to reread the about page a couple of times because I couldn't quite believe that you are given a room that is private straight away. You then can share the room with others via email or the given url.

It also gives a range of symbols and mathematical operators which is what we were looking for - to be able to write chemical equations. Some of the functions aren't as great as what you can do in scribblar, such as I adding the images and adjusting them.

There is still the issue of not being able to block the room after you are finished the lesson and therefore students still could abuse this space........I also noticed there is no way of clearing the text chat so that could work in positive way by knowing if anyone came to the space.

From the Scriblink about page:
Scriblink is a free digital whiteboard that users can share online in real-time. Sorta like pen and paper, minus the dead trees, plastic, and the inconvenience of being at the same place at the same time.

Whether you're here for fun or more practical things like layout planning, concept diagramming, or tutoring a friend in math, Scriblink brings you the power of free hand expression with anyone, at anytime, anywhere in the world.

They have mentioned new features but haven't placed anything on their blog since July.

I think online whiteboards are great places to hold classes and it is really up to the teacher to work out which one of Dabbleboard, Scrbblar or Scriblink is right for them and what they want to do.