SMART Response 2 and Monsters is great so teachers don't have to go outside of SMART to have a quiz feature such as Quizizz or Kahoot. The benefits of using a quiz feature ( static code) in SMART notebook can be a big time saver and not having to jump to another platform to give a fun quiz.

I have mixed feelings about SMART Response 2. While I'm all in favor of making a product easier to use and more modern, I'm sure there will be many teachers in our district who will be disappointed at seeing the teacher tools going away. It will also be a deal-breaker for the teachers in buildings where a great deal of money has been invested in SMART Response devices which can no longer be used. Please consider keeping the original SMART Response as an available option.

I like that you can add images. However, I echo what Mike said. Not sure why I keep coming in as anonymous when I am logged in with my email address?

Keep adding more and more themes! The more choices, the better! Love these new ones!

I think this comment section is attached to the SMART response and to the new lab themes. As far as the lab themes go, I like the additions. The more student interests we can tap into the more students we are going to be able to engage.

I am going to miss some of the other aspects in Response, Grade book, ability to import question sets. What is my building to do with the 25 sets of clickers we have, when our students are not 1:1 or BYOD? What is the advantage to using with Google or Microsoft?

I don't like how you have to type in questions and responses. With the old response, I could use my own equation editor and paste it onto the notebook page, leaving the actual question blank. There is no way to do this and no equation editor that works well for higher math...it makes me sad.

On another note, I do like the ability to add images..

Is there a way to preview the actual slides that the students sees prior to running the activity?

As to Response 2...I like the additions, you are moving in the right direction, but think you need to also keep the older, more robust version with the Grade book and ability to import question sets, etc My teachers who regularly used the previous version are going to be disappointed. Can they both be available in future versions?

As to new themes in LAB...anytime you broaden the scope of the themes you pull in the interests of more students.

Still hope there will be a solution for the clickers.
We aren´t allowed to do BYOD in my school - that´s why I got the clickers in the first place. My students and I loved them and used them (nearly) each day. I hope we can get back to this with Response2

Nicely stated SGraham, I was just thinking, there has to be a clear motivating factor why I should use Response2 over Google Forms, I use forms because it is slick and intuitive to the type of assessment that I want to share with my students, and it is easy to evaluate where my instruction needs to go from there.

Many of these new features will support teacher ability to engage students. However, i'm wondering what SMART Response 2 is doing to gather student responses that can't be done in Google Forms. What extras does linking a Google or Microsoft 365 bring? This needs to be clear to educators or it will become another available but under/never used feature.

+Mike McGowan listening to your last paragraph, you are exactly right. Thanks for saying something, I spent all year waiting for my district admin to allow my GAFE domain to be changed to allow Amp. I want either more control or as you say, the tools should "just be standard."

Sorry but for me this is a huge step backwards. This is one feature I just don't think I will get use to and to call it Response 2 when features were removed doesn't seem right. I always thought Response was one of the most solid tools SMART every put out and was near perfect as is. There are so many aspects that I have now lost that made me want to use Response. Importing questions, using the screen capture tool to make my tests, using the answer key function just to name a few and these are without the teacher tools that I lost. But those I could part with if I had the same Response functionality.

Also as a Tech Dir the Google log in thing I am not a huge fan here. There are so many things that having a connection with Google or MS that we could benefit from but this is not one of them. Also with the things you need access to in our accounts doesn't really make sense but they could just be standard from Google. You will need to remember some GAFE domain admins control this aspect of Google and teachers might not be able to authorize SMART themselves.

Love the sports themes! Students will love them too....

Awesome! Teachers will love this.......

The new "Export Results" feature, now we're talking. It is now functional, credible, user friendly and a sweet layout on .xlsx (that took some scripting, good job)!