About Slate
A whiteboard for teaching, that works without an account and without a connection.
What it is
Slate is a whiteboard you draw on, write on and build lessons with. It runs entirely in the browser: there is no sign-up, no server holding your work, and nothing to install. Once it has loaded, it keeps working offline.
Your boards live in a .slate file that you save wherever you like. Slate does not keep a copy.
Who it is for
It was built for teaching — a lesson on a projector, a group working through an idea, a class that needs to see something drawn rather than described. Much of it is useful well beyond a classroom, and it is not limited to one.
The ideas behind it
- Yours, not ours. Work stays on your device unless you choose to share it.
- Offline first. A lesson should not depend on the school Wi-Fi.
- Nothing is a dead end. Anything Slate draws for you — a chart, a diagram, a table, an infographic — can be broken apart into ordinary marks you can edit.
- Quiet by default. No accounts, no adverts, no tracking, no notifications.
What is in it
Drawing and handwriting, sticky notes, text and lists, shapes and fills, tables, calendars, labels, reward stickers, thinking frames, infographics, charts, diagrams and equations. Boards can be replayed, recorded, printed and exported, and shared live with a room.
The guide covers all of it, chapter by chapter.
How it was built
Slate was written by one teacher and one AI, version by version, with every feature answering something that went wrong in a real lesson. The making of Slate tells that story across twelve versions, with the numbers kept open.
Suggestions
Slate is shaped by the people teaching with it. If something is missing, awkward or broken, say so — it goes straight to a mailbox, with no form service in between.
Privacy
Slate collects nothing about you. The privacy note sets out exactly what happens with the microphone, saved recordings and live collaboration.
Using Slate for…
a Jamboard replacement · Google Meet · Zoom · Microsoft Teams · an online chalkboard · online tutoring · recorded lessons · timers and class games. The guide is also one chapter per page.