*I didnβt know this myself going into this article, so excuse any omissions.Β If you have any corrections, feel free to tweet them at me.
And at the end, Iβll discuss the overarching questions of how tablets can be useful in the online classroom, and if you as a teacher need one. Letβs get into it!
Kami
Get three months of Kami free when you purchase a Wacom Intuos or a Wacom One.
Kami (pronounced Cammy, not like Kami-sama) is a feature-packed PDF annotation app billed as βYour digital pen and paper in the classroom.βΒ It works like Google Docsβ comment system, but instead of just notes and suggestions, it lets you add extra formatting, highlighting, strikeouts, drawings, and audio/video comments to passages.Β It can import said docs too, and automatically convert them to PDFs, as well as syncing to your Google Drive to autosave your work.
Itβs primarily a Chrome extension, but also has a paid version that adds the ability to integrate with Google Classroom and Schoologyβas well as the ability to insert JPGs, new pages, and video comments.
Visit their website for more infoΒ or download the extensionΒ here.
How do you use a tablet with it?
The βdigital pen and paperβ bit should explain it.Β As will be the case for all three apps, the most Wacom-relevant feature is the drawing tool, which can be used for something as simple as red-circling passages to something as involved as an illustration.Β βItβs a lot easier if you have a stylus to draw directly onto the page,β saysΒ Aden Cooper of their customer success team.
Not to mention a pen on an infinite canvas will always be better for demonstrating equations than fill-in-the-blank boxes or equation toolbars that are nowhere near as intuitive as writing.
Pear Deck
Get three months of Pear Deck free when you purchase a Wacom Intuos or a Wacom One.
Pear Deck is an add-on for PowerPoint and Google Slidesβsupposedly the most popular one for the latterβthat lets you make your presentations interactive.Β In fact, itβs such a huge mod that it changes the format itself.
Letβs be honest: Slideshows can be boring, especially with Google Slidesβ minimal design.Β Pear Deck is a great way to build engagement: Create multiple-choice slides, Q&A slides, and of course, slider slides, that can be used to solicit responses from students, conduct polls, and even pop quiz students. …And to check in to make sure theyβre actually paying attention.
The Orchard, their templates gallery, lets you download premade designs, but also serves as great inspo for what can be done with the app.Β Turns out thatβs a lot of things:
(And weβre really liking the consistent pear theme.Β Not to mention it has this fun little loading screen.)
Only tens kids will remember this.
How do you use a tablet with it?
Pear Deck allows freehand drawing on slides with a mouseβor, should I say, an input device.Β EdTechβs Stacy RoshanΒ wrote an entire articleΒ on why Wacom tablets are great with Pear Deck.Β She teaches calculus, and says she relies on tablets to demonstrate complicated equations, and when she hands out worksheets, βStudents are free to handwrite their responses directly on the question Iβve presented, just as they would write on a piece of paper.β
It allows you to watch students in real-time as they write, a feature she calls βparticularly powerful,β explaining, βAs a math teacher, it is far more important for me to see a studentβs process than their final answer.βΒ She can then switch to the projector view to share the studentβs work with the class (without revealing their name, if they don’t want to), opening up a discussion that would never occur if the answer was merely told to them.
Flipgrid
We savedβ¦ well, not theΒ bestΒ for last, since all of these programs have very different uses, but the most full-featured one.Β Microsoftβs Flipgrid is a stand-alone app that, in the words of teacher and Youtuber Sam Kary, βcan combat some of that feeling of loneliness from distance learning.β
The idea of Flipgrid is to recreate the face-to-face discussion aspect of the classroom:Β Teachers record lectures and questions on video, and then students do the same for their responses. Itβs free and integrates with Google Classroom without you having to pay for a subscription plan.
You can even post your course materials for the public if you want them to reach a larger audience, or check out the gallery for ideas and sample course material from other schools.
From the discover section
This one does come with a couple warnings, though:Β First, be aware that some students are uncomfortable recording themselves speaking and then being forced to rewatch it, which can cause a reluctance to participate that wouldnβt exist in a one-way lecture with responses through text, or even in the spontaneous setting of a live videochat.Β And secondly, it can create disparities, as Google Play reviews say Flipgrid doesnβt run very well on slow phones and tablets, which may create a barrier for students without computers, especially low-income ones.
Itβs a tool with a lot of potential, but see if itβs right for your subject and teaching style before going in on it.
How do you use a tablet with it?
Flipgrid includes βdraw over videoβ and whiteboard options as well, and they have more uses than you might think.
For the former, both you and your students can write, draw, or circle things over the video, whether itβs playing or paused.Β The same goes for the photo sticker tool, which lets them add uploaded images to the video as well.Β And the latter is live, which means students can watch you, say, work out a math problem as you verbally walk them through it, and (if you want them to) add to it themselves.
βDigital inking can take ideas and explanations to a whole new level,β say teachers slash tech bloggers The Merrills.Β Β They have a whole article on it.
Oh, and by the way:
All of these programs have image uploading, so if the in-program draw feature is too unwieldy, you can always prepare images in advance.
What tablet should I use these with?
Early this year, I did a whole article about how the tablet you should use is the one youβre comfortable with: The goal is to get so fluid with it that you forget itβs thereβto be able to use it as casually as a marker on a whiteboard. But since weβre working towards a specific purpose, here are some specific recommendations:
First up, the Wacom One.Β Itβs fantastic for notes.Β For those of you who are used to using pens and the whiteboard in the classroom, the One mimics the feel of physical media better than any input device Iβve ever used.Β Other tablets are clearly geared towards digital painting, but the One just feelsΒ like itβs meant for sketching and casual use, in a way thatβs hard to fully convey unless youβve tried it. Β It feels very much like paperβcertain types, anyway; while not exactly as toothy as copy paper, itβs very similar to Bristol board.Β And where other drawing monitorsβ big, thick pens are good for stability, the One’s is designed for zippiness, with the same diameter and weight as a ballpoint.
Iβve been using it full-time for my next article project, both for drawing and as a second monitor, and I can attest that itβs also the most comfortable tablet Iβve ever used for writing.
Hereβs an image intended for my next article, but itβs relevant here too.Β Done on the One in Bamboo Paper
But I can also admit my own bias.Β I got mine for working here, and I completely understand why youβd be reluctant to drop $399 on a drawing monitor if youβre only going to use it for this.Β If you already have an iPad or Android Tablet, any ofΒ our line of smart stylusesΒ will get you the same result.
They all do the same thing, but with differences in handling and features. And all of them are smaller and lighter than the Apple Pencil, which I’ve personally found like trying to draw with a telephone pole.
For Microsoft Surfaces and other Windows devices, we have the Bamboo Ink and Ink Plus (the Plus has an eraser and tilt support).Β For iOS, weβve got the Bamboo Sketch and Fineline, offering two different nib precisions, which are in the names.Β For multiplatform use, thereβs the Bamboo Tip, with a laundry list of compatible devices.Β The full lists for each one can be found here.
If you donβt have either kind of tablet yet, give the One by Wacom a try.Β (…itβs not the same thing as the Wacom One, no.)Β Itβs our entry-level flat tablet, meaning there will be a definite learning curve to writing and drawing on itβIβve always said that learning to use a flat tablet for the first time feels like fingerpainting.Β But itβs still miles better than a mouse, and once you get used to it, itβs perfectly fine.Β At only $60, Iβd recommend this one for people who want to give drawing tablets a trial run to see if they like them.
If you’re looking for a good deal, both the Wacom One and the Wacom Intuos come with 3 months of free access to five pieces of education software: Pear Deck, Kami, Limnu, Explain Everything and Collaboard.
Finally
If you liked this article and would like more information on these programs before picking one, check out Stacy Roshan’s panel on this exact subject from last month’s Connected Ink:
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About the Author
CS Jones is a Greater-Philadelphia-based writer and illustrator, currently doing both for a debut novel in between articles. You can see all of his work, including most of his contributions to this blog, at thecsjones.com, or follow him at @thecsjones onΒ InstagramΒ orΒ Twitter.