Best setup for online tutoring (requiring freehand drawing)?
August 5, 2019 11:01 AM Subscribe
I'm trying to figure out a good way to tutor maths online with one (and potentially, hopefully more) of the kids I've been working with for a while. Tutoring maths really requires me to be able to draw/write freehand. I'm looking for advice on what hardware and software would make this process as slick and intuitive as possible, especially for the student. Ideally, I need a way for my student to be able to solve a past paper (i.e. writing solutions on a physical copy of the paper), and for us to then be able to both look at it and write on it at the same time.
So far, I feel my method is pretty clunky. My student's mother sent me photos of the paper he'd done. I looked at them using the Photos app (Windows laptop). I had one of these photos on one half of my screen, while using Skype to talk him through what he'd done and should do differently. I have a graphics tablet, and I was able to use this to write in a Paint file, which I had open on the other half of my screen. I was using Skype to share my screen with him, so he could see what I was writing. He doesn't have a graphics tablet, so I couldn't see what he was writing. Even if he had had one, I didn't have any way for us to jointly edit the same document. Google Documents wouldn't work (even if he had a graphics tablet), because it isn't a "drawing" app. I tried various online whiteboards, but what I really wanted them to let me do was upload his past paper so we could write on it; when I tried this, either the photos uploaded as tiny awkward-to-adjust images in the middle of a whiteboard - not good if I have to start fiddling with adjusting images in the middle of a tutoring session - or they were too large to be uploaded at all. And even if I had been able to upload files to an online whiteboard, I also have the unsolved issue of how to put all the separate past paper photos into one file, such that I can easily page through it. I guess I'd like something like the ability to combine all photos into a pdf file that could be not only drawn on, but drawn on by two people at once using the internet to see it. I like the idea of a pdf file because its structure is more like the structure of a past paper than, say, a jpg file would be.
Some thoughts I had:
* obviously it would be helpful for my student to have a graphics tablet-like device
* I wonder if a tablet computer would be a good thing for me to have, so I would be able to write directly on the screen. Doesn't solve most of my problems, though.
Any advice? I think I most need advice about the software/online tools, even more than the hardware (though all advice is welcome - please!)
So far, I feel my method is pretty clunky. My student's mother sent me photos of the paper he'd done. I looked at them using the Photos app (Windows laptop). I had one of these photos on one half of my screen, while using Skype to talk him through what he'd done and should do differently. I have a graphics tablet, and I was able to use this to write in a Paint file, which I had open on the other half of my screen. I was using Skype to share my screen with him, so he could see what I was writing. He doesn't have a graphics tablet, so I couldn't see what he was writing. Even if he had had one, I didn't have any way for us to jointly edit the same document. Google Documents wouldn't work (even if he had a graphics tablet), because it isn't a "drawing" app. I tried various online whiteboards, but what I really wanted them to let me do was upload his past paper so we could write on it; when I tried this, either the photos uploaded as tiny awkward-to-adjust images in the middle of a whiteboard - not good if I have to start fiddling with adjusting images in the middle of a tutoring session - or they were too large to be uploaded at all. And even if I had been able to upload files to an online whiteboard, I also have the unsolved issue of how to put all the separate past paper photos into one file, such that I can easily page through it. I guess I'd like something like the ability to combine all photos into a pdf file that could be not only drawn on, but drawn on by two people at once using the internet to see it. I like the idea of a pdf file because its structure is more like the structure of a past paper than, say, a jpg file would be.
Some thoughts I had:
* obviously it would be helpful for my student to have a graphics tablet-like device
* I wonder if a tablet computer would be a good thing for me to have, so I would be able to write directly on the screen. Doesn't solve most of my problems, though.
Any advice? I think I most need advice about the software/online tools, even more than the hardware (though all advice is welcome - please!)
My wife solved this problem by getting a document camera and requiring that her online students have one, too.
posted by restless_nomad at 11:59 AM on August 5, 2019
posted by restless_nomad at 11:59 AM on August 5, 2019
What about Google jamboard software (not the hardware)? It's meant for a whiteboard / classroom type experience. This is a youtube video of an educator explaining how he uses it.
posted by ellerhodes at 8:12 PM on August 5, 2019
posted by ellerhodes at 8:12 PM on August 5, 2019
MS OneNote may work well for this.
* You can create a notebook with multiple pages
* Share that notebook for editing with another
* Student can insert pictures from a file OR from the mobile app (camera capture)
* Write or type on the image with decent pen tools
* Syncs up pretty fast (about a second after I finished a line-stroke in my test)
* Is free on Windows (store version not office version) and mobile
* Your student could get the mobile Onenote app and write with their finger on their phone, so they wouldn't need a new tablet to write back to you
As for your tablet computer question, I teach (in a classroom ) with a windows tablet + pen + onenote every day and it's great! Writing on the screen is amazing, it doesn't quite replace paper but it's close, and I have so many more color and style options. Pluse onenote keeps me organized and I can pre-prep images and problems to write on.
posted by Wulfhere at 9:38 AM on August 6, 2019
* You can create a notebook with multiple pages
* Share that notebook for editing with another
* Student can insert pictures from a file OR from the mobile app (camera capture)
* Write or type on the image with decent pen tools
* Syncs up pretty fast (about a second after I finished a line-stroke in my test)
* Is free on Windows (store version not office version) and mobile
* Your student could get the mobile Onenote app and write with their finger on their phone, so they wouldn't need a new tablet to write back to you
As for your tablet computer question, I teach (in a classroom ) with a windows tablet + pen + onenote every day and it's great! Writing on the screen is amazing, it doesn't quite replace paper but it's close, and I have so many more color and style options. Pluse onenote keeps me organized and I can pre-prep images and problems to write on.
posted by Wulfhere at 9:38 AM on August 6, 2019
I guess I'd like something like the ability to combine all photos into a pdf file that could be not only drawn on, but drawn on by two people at once using the internet to see it.
If your student doesn't have any kind of drawing tablet, than this part might be difficult, but I can tell you about my set up that I use for a similar situation:
- Notability is my app of choice for annotating pdfs. I've experimented with other possibilities, but I find it the most intuitive to use for this kind of thing. It allows you to set up "subjects" and "dividers" that allow you to easily flip through multiple documents. The only thing I don't love it for is text annotations, but it doesn't sound like that's an issue for you.
- After recent events, I'm a little hesitant to recommend it, but I use zoom for the web conferencing thing. It allows students to see the screen in real time as I'm annotating. Zoom also does apparently allow meeting participants to all annotate on the screen, although I've never tried that out. But if your student doesn't have access to any kind of tablet, I'm not sure how easy the annotation would be. Although possibly they could use a smart phone if they have an iphone or similar. It does also apparently allow for content sharing in the meeting.
- For doing the actual annotations, I have a wacom tablet. The one I use is something like this. It's kind of like a giant trackpad. Although it sounds like you already have a drawing tablet, so I guess you probably have this part taken care of.
posted by litera scripta manet at 5:40 PM on August 6, 2019
If your student doesn't have any kind of drawing tablet, than this part might be difficult, but I can tell you about my set up that I use for a similar situation:
- Notability is my app of choice for annotating pdfs. I've experimented with other possibilities, but I find it the most intuitive to use for this kind of thing. It allows you to set up "subjects" and "dividers" that allow you to easily flip through multiple documents. The only thing I don't love it for is text annotations, but it doesn't sound like that's an issue for you.
- After recent events, I'm a little hesitant to recommend it, but I use zoom for the web conferencing thing. It allows students to see the screen in real time as I'm annotating. Zoom also does apparently allow meeting participants to all annotate on the screen, although I've never tried that out. But if your student doesn't have access to any kind of tablet, I'm not sure how easy the annotation would be. Although possibly they could use a smart phone if they have an iphone or similar. It does also apparently allow for content sharing in the meeting.
- For doing the actual annotations, I have a wacom tablet. The one I use is something like this. It's kind of like a giant trackpad. Although it sounds like you already have a drawing tablet, so I guess you probably have this part taken care of.
posted by litera scripta manet at 5:40 PM on August 6, 2019
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posted by jacquilynne at 11:41 AM on August 5, 2019