Educators Review SmartDraw: SmartDraw, a software application from SmartDraw.com, allows users to create charts, diagrams, timelines, technical drawings, and a variety of professional-looking documents and presentations. Recently, Education World reviewers checked out SmartDraw and found a myriad of uses for the software, both in their personal and professional lives. Our reviewers rated the software on a scale of 1-4 and shared their thoughts about the program's strengths and weaknesses. This is what they had to say!

SmartDraw by SmartDraw.com is a software program for creating charts, diagrams, timelines, flowcharts, technical drawings, documents, and presentations. The software includes more than 50,000 symbols and clip art images, as well as templates and tutorials. With SmartDraw, you can create newsletters, maps, labels, posters, and more ¡X and then publish your work on your free SmartDraw Web space.

Recently, Education World asked our reviewers, all teachers or educational technology specialists, to check out SmartDraw in actual classroom situations. Reviewers were asked to use SmartDraw both in their personal and professional lives for a period of at least one month, note specific strengths, weaknesses, and/or quirks of the program, record their observations ¡X both positive and negative ¡X and rate various qualities of the software on a scale of 1-4.

The results are in ¡X and this is what our reviewers had to say!



OVERALL COMMENTS
"I really like this program. I used it years ago for a networking class, and it helped so much for students to actually design layouts with standard symbols used in the real world. It brought meaning to the class when they could actually print their diagram and hand it to a professional and have them understand exactly what was on the page."

"I used this software to prepare for a course I'll be co-teaching next term with language arts preservice teachers. I could easily see how classroom teachers might use it create such materials as newsletters and integrated timelines with their students."

"I would love to purchase this program for our educational studies department. This one software piece can be used instead of Microsoft Office, Inspiration, Print Shop Deluxe, Microsoft Publisher, TimeLiner, Graph Club, and more! When it comes to the presentation of instructional materials, this program has the ability to perform the tasks of four to five other applications."

"I used the networking library for training teachers of networking classes. Participants drew an 'existing' network layout, printed it as a visual aid, and then revised the plan using SmartDraw. The participants were very impressed with the software and with how easy it was to use. I also demonstrated the software for technology directors."

"I used the flier library to create information to distribute. The end product looked very professional."

"I experimented with in the program and created graphic organizers and flowcharts. They were surprisingly easy to do. I especially like the automatic alignment and sizing options."

"I would recommend the purchase of this program for school use. The Professional Plus version includes 50,000 symbols and clip art images. This program could be used in a lab setting by any grade level and in any subject area. It is also a great administrative tool ¡X for both teachers and administrators. The other versions can have libraries added on after purchase. This would give a school district/user many options."

"I used SmartDraw to create handouts for student use and to create a variety of images to include in a PowerPoint presentation that will be used at a future conference. Several students used the program to create graphics for their graduation projects, and my husband used it to generate illustrations for test questions."

"I have this program loaded on one machine that is available for teacher use, and the teachers are fighting over that specific machine ¡X they all want to use it."

"This software is very versatile and easy to learn to use in a short amount of time. I used the program to draw a living room floor plan; create a timeline of actions steps for our district technology plan; create a state map that students used Paint to add cities, rivers, and regions to; and made some stationary. I also created flowcharts and organizational charts."

"I used this program to create fliers; I imported a picture into one of the frames and saved it as an HTML file, which worked very well. I also saved some drawings I made as gifs, which worked very well too. The only feature I didn't like very much was the one that allows you to e-mail what you create. If you use the SmartDraw method (and don't export it into another file format), you get a file that has to be viewed by a SmartDraw viewer, which you have to get at the SmartDraw site. It's a fast download and worked well, but I found it to be an inconvenience."

"What did I like about SmartDraw?

• The software was fairly easy to learn to use. Many of the tools were consistent with ones I often use with MS products, Adobe, and Macromedia.
  
• The pop-up Advisor can be very helpful, and having the option to turn it off is also important.
  
• I liked the linking feature for the charts, and that items stay connected even when moved. Being able to choose infinite connection points is also an important option.
  
• The option that included adding text to a line was wonderful. It made it easy to rearrange a chart and have everything move with it.
  
• Using the arrow keys to 'nudge' items into position is a great and useful option.
  
• Being able to add your own shapes or symbols to the libraries is wonderful.
  
• The publishing options ¡X e-mailing a file with a viewer, publishing to a Web page, or printing straight from SmartDraw ¡X were many and worked conveniently.
  
• Having templates to edit ¡X and so many ¡X is great!