A free DrawPlus alternative for schools
Steve Benton, computing teacher and founder of SubjectHub
My school is dropping DrawPlus. It has to be installed on every machine, it is no longer updated, and pupils cannot open their work at home. I needed a free DrawPlus alternative for schools before the next graphics unit started, not after.
A free DrawPlus alternative for schools, already in the browser
We already had two Studios that run in a web browser: Image Studio for photos and posters, and Vector Studio for logos and icons. Nothing to install, and a pupil with an account can carry on at home.
What they lacked was teaching. A pupil facing a blank canvas does not know where to start.
Picture coming soon
Vector Studio with a team badge part-way through its step-by-step project, the steps listed beside the canvas
23 projects, one step at a time
So I wrote 23 step-by-step projects: 14 in Image Studio and 9 in Vector Studio. The first Image Studio project is a film poster. The Vector ones start with a team badge and an app icon.
Each step is checked against the pupil's actual file, so a ticked step means the work is really there.
There is also a free pack of 17 pictures pupils can use without worrying about copyright. And there are two KS3 graphics units built on the Studios, Graphic Design and Digital Graphics Skills, with eight lessons each.
Both Studios are free to open without an account. The rest of the free tools are on the free tools page.
