Xournal
Xournal is an application for note-taking, sketching, keeping a journal using a stylus on Tablet PCs and other platforms. This a great little tool for anyone that uses a linux tablet notebook. This app is also great for pdf annotation. It's very lightweight and works great on older systems.
This is a wonderful tool for teachers to use in and out of the classroom. I added student assignments in pdf form on my old educational websites when I taught 6th grade science and 5th grade science (I'm in the process of resurrecting my old 5th grade science webpage for a friend). I would let my students edit the pdf assignment and send it to me electronically. Xournal worked great for grading or marking up student assignments. I used a digital slate or graphic digitizer in my classrooms and this worked great for filling out "fill in the blanks" worksheets or going over homework. Students used Xournal to fill in missing information in online notes and homework assignments. Xournal works great in MS Windows. Check out the nightly release for Windows. If you're installing this on Windows 10, click the More Info option and click Run Anyway.
This works great with the Promethean ActivSlate. I could pass the ActivSlate around to students and interact with them on the Promethean ActivBoard. We used Xournal to go over assignments, fill in guided notes, or interact with math or science related problems.
This works great with the Promethean ActivSlate. I could pass the ActivSlate around to students and interact with them on the Promethean ActivBoard. We used Xournal to go over assignments, fill in guided notes, or interact with math or science related problems.
Below is an example of using Xournal to review for a science test or exam. I opened a released 6 grade science exam that teachers can use to help students prepare for a future 6th grade science exam.
I used the Text tool to fill in my name in the empty Student Name: section. I can change my font and size by selecting the Text Font... feature in the Tools menu.
I then used the Highlighter feature to highlight the correct answers. Xournal has a built-in Shape Recognizer feature (found in the Tools menu) to help keep my lines straight. I can disable that feature to draw freehand lines. You can use a variety of colors and line thickness to highlight text or objects in a pdf file.
You can add comments via the Text tool or write a freehand message via using Pen tool.
To save your changes to your edited PDF file you need to use the Export to PDF feature. To do that click on the File menu and then click on Export to PDF.
You'll be prompted to give your exported file a name in the Export to PDF dialog box. I recommend that you give your new PDF a new name if you're putting it in the same folder to prevent messing up your original file.
Using the Save or Save As features in the File menu will not save your document with a PDF file extension. Instead, it will create a file with a .xoj file extension. This gives you the opportunity to save your progress in Xournal if you're working on a very large PDF file. We are so used to clicking on the Save or Save As features in most applications to save our changes, so this may take a while to get used too.
You can do so much with this program. It has a variety of built-in paper styles: Plain, Lined, Ruled, and Graph. It also gives you the ability to load your own background. The example below is using Lined paper style.
This is an example of the Graph paper style.
You can use Xournal for any subject in school. It's great for high school and college students, but it works good for middle school and upper elementary school students too.
How to Install Xournal:
1. Open the Terminal (Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T)
2. Type the following command: sudo apt update
3. Press Enter or Return and type in your password
4. Type the following command: sudo apt install xournal
5. Type Y and press Enter or Return
How to Uninstall Xournal:
1. Open the Terminal (Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T)
2. Type the following command: sudo apt-get remove xournal
Illustrated Steps (for installing):
1. Open the Terminal (Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T)
2. Type the following command: sudo apt update
3. Press Enter or Return and type in your password
1. Open the Terminal (Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T)
2. Type the following command: sudo apt update
3. Press Enter or Return and type in your password
4. Type the following command: sudo apt install xournal
5. Type Y and press Enter or Return
How to Uninstall Xournal:
1. Open the Terminal (Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T)
2. Type the following command: sudo apt-get remove xournal
Illustrated Steps (for installing):
1. Open the Terminal (Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T)
2. Type the following command: sudo apt update
3. Press Enter or Return and type in your password
4. Type the following command: sudo apt install xournal
5. Type Y and press Enter or Return
5. Type Y and press Enter or Return
The nightly builds found in MS Windows has a lot of nice new features which will eventually get into the stable Linux builds.
I hope that you found this piece of software to be helpful.
Take care!
Take care!
Aug 22, 2019