Looking for a drawing pad for my computer

August 11, 2008 5:57 PM

I am an algebra teacher and am interested in demonstrating problems by recording them onto my computer using some type of drawing pad input device (so that I can post the solution to my web page for easy out of class access by my students). I also would like to narrate my 'recordings' What drawing pad should I buy?

I am imagining embedding youtube videos into my class web page, where I have recorded and narrated solutions to algebra problems. What input device should I buy? A quick search on amazon leaves me with this>Does anyone else have any input?

posted by yoyoceramic to Education (6 answers total)

Something like a wacom tablet combined with a screen-recording app (the term you may need to look for is 'screencasting', many screencasting tools will let you self-narrate.)

On the mac, one of the better screen recording apps is Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro or possibly ScreenFlow.
posted by Wild_Eep at 6:36 PM on August 11, 2008

There are some programs out there that claim to convert powerpoint presentation to flash format (swf, not flv), but I don't know how well they work. I also don't know much about recording audio in Powerpoint, but if the combination of those two things worked, it might be cheaper than new hardware.
posted by chndrcks at 6:55 PM on August 11, 2008

Try searching ebay for a used wacom tablet to save some $. You won't need any of the high end artist-targeted features so an older basic one would do just fine. Follow the above posts about screencasting and draw in Photoshop or the like (or MSPaint).

You could always just do this with the mouse if you think you can wield one that well...

Alternatively, use a digital camera that does video or buy one of the very low end video cameras that records to memory cards, write on a chalkboard and narrate away. Something like this would work, though I'm sure that there are cheaper ones available. Then connect to the computer, upload, and let YouTube worry about the conversion.
posted by PixelatorOfTime at 12:35 AM on August 12, 2008

I read about this thing just a couple of weeks ago and thought about getting it for note taking:

http://www.livescribe.com/

It's a pen that writes on special calibrated paper. The pen digitizes what you write and also records the sound in the room, so if you are recording a lecture, the lecturer's voice is in sync with what you wrote when you play the file back.
posted by eeyore at 5:58 AM on August 12, 2008

Go with a Wacom tablet of some sort. For screencasting (on the Windows side) there are three proprietary options I've used: Adobe Presenter (which comes as part of the Adobe Acrobat 9.0 Extended bundle), Adobe Captivate (my favorite), and TechSmith Captivate (everyone else's favorite). All three of the above offer some form of PowerPoint connectivity. You can download demos of the Adobe products and try them out of a month. Not sure about TechSmith (but probably so).

There are free options, but I've never found one I like.
posted by wheat at 9:44 AM on August 12, 2008

*sorry: TechSmith's product is called "Camtasia" (but it's such a stupid name I have a hard time remembering it).
posted by wheat at 9:45 AM on August 12, 2008