Software to use iPad with Windows Machine

October 2, 2024 6:58 AM

I tutor math, sometimes in person and sometimes online. The software my workplace uses for online tutoring is baaaad, and the computer they provide is a windows machine. I'd like to be able to use my iPad and Apple pencil as a tablet for demonstrating math stuff onscreen for students. Suggestions?

My iPad won't work with my windows laptop natively. (I'd love to be told I'm wrong about this.) There are a number of software options that show up on a search, but I have no idea which of them are any good/safe to download. Do you have experience with this?

Also, in addition to software that will let me use my iPad like this with my work computer, do you have any other tips?

Thanks!

posted by Well I never to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

What software are you using for the online connection to your students? I've done this sort of thing very successfully over Zoom by starting the Zoom call on my laptop (which is a Mac, but that doesn't actually matter for what follows) and then joining the call as a second instance of "me" from my iPad (I have the Zoom app installed on my iPad and logged in as the same user, which makes it convenient to find the meeting room). Then I share-screen from the iPad and pop over to the "Notes" app for drawing/writing. This lets me still manage the call from my laptop which is way easier than trying to simultaneously do it from the iPad.

The one thing to watch for is that you'll need to Disconnect Audio on the iPad or you'll get a terrible audio feedback loop between the two devices.
posted by heatherlogan at 7:35 AM on October 2 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: We use WebEx
posted by Well I never at 9:34 AM on October 2

I've used uxplay for wireless screen mirroring on Linux. There's a chance you could get it to work under WSL.

A high latency option is to use something like the Office 365 Whiteboard (I believe this is free). I've done this with Google Jamboard and it was serviceable, but not great. They've now killed Jamboard, of course, but the Whiteboard app is the same concept.

I'm pretty sure OBStudio(?) will let you get this working quasi-natively, assuming it has a Windows version, but you have to make WebEx believe it's a webcam.
posted by hoyland at 12:24 PM on October 2

Response by poster: Thanks for responses! My problem was solved today by me finally getting one of the graphics tablets my workplace provides to work with my computer without deal-breaking latency.
posted by Well I never at 1:30 PM on October 2