Kami + Wacom: The perfect pair for student collaboration

September 12, 2022
stacey roshan headshot
Stacey Roshan is an educator, consultant, and author. She is passionate about leveraging technology to cultivate deeper compassion in the classroom and provide each learner the optimal platform to express their ideas in a format that best fits their learning style. She aims to empower teachers with ideas and tech tools to create more equitable and empowering classrooms for every student to find their voice, build their confidence, and take ownership of their learning.

Wacom products can be incredibly powerful tools for teachers – especially when they’re paired with the right software.

Fortunately, every purchase of a Wacom Intuos Wireless, Wacom One, or One by Wacom comes with a free three-month trial bundle of powerful education software, including Kami. In a webinar during Wacom’s thINK21 Education Summit, Roshan shared three of the most impactful ways she has used Kami in the classroom.

We’re going to break down each of them. First, she shared how to give meaningful feedback and annotate documents. Next she explored utilizing the digital whiteboard and screen capture. This week, she explains how Kami and Wacom work together perfectly to support student collaboration. The video below is cued up to when she begins discussing collaboration, but you can watch it in its entirety if you’d like.

To see all of Stacey Roshan’s Kami posts, click here. To see all of our Back to School 2022 content, click here!

Today, we’re covering from 24:40 to 30:12 of the above presentation.

How can Kami be used for collaboration?

With Kami, multiple students, or students as well as teachers, can work on the same document simultaneously. This is useful in-class as well as if any students are working remotely.

Frequently, teachers wonder if digital tools can ever replace the experience of looking over a student’s shoulder and coaching them in real time as they work on a task. Kami’s collaboration tools allow this, and take it to the next level — teachers can digitally coach multiple students at the same time, in real time!

It can also be used asynchronously — students can do work digitally in class or for homework, and the teacher can ink on top of students’ work and leave comments. Those comments also have powerful functionality: when a student replies to the comment and revises their work, you can get a notification, giving you the opportunity to confirm that their revision is correct and then noting that they have learned the skill. 

These collaboration tools work across grade levels and subjects. Roshan’s example is for simple addition, but she has used it when teaching AP Calculus, for example.

math collaboration kami wacom

Other features

Kami’s collaboration tools can electrify learning in a variety of classes, grade levels, and subject areas.

Foreign language classes, for example, have found that using the audio comments and replies, including for read alouds, can be a great way to read through a text and add comments together — and the teacher can ask students to work together and learn from each other to perfect pronunciation.

Kami does have text to speech, as well, and nearly any document with text uploaded into Kami can be recognized and read out loud, which is great for accessibility.

There are also multiple ways to give feedback, including “stickers,” which are like emojis, to give short visual responses to student work. These, in conjunction with text, audio, and video comments, can be applied to individual work or a collaborative assignment multiple students contributed to.

The power of Kami + Wacom

Whether you’re using a Wacom Intuos Wireless, Wacom One, or One by Wacom, pairing the device with Kami can powerfully elevate your teaching this year with Kami’s simple, intuitive, and powerful tools to give meaningful feedback and annotate documents live. Kami works seamlessly with Wacom pens and tablets, on a Mac OS, Windows, or Chromebook computer. The extensions are especially simple to install if you use Google Chrome, and as Stacey Roshan demonstrated above, work especially well with Google Suite.

Which Wacom products work best with Kami?

Wacom Cintiq Pro 16

Wireless Intuos pen tablet

Wacom Intuos is designed to make teaching hassle-free. With Bluetooth connectivity, you’re free to move about the classroom while still controlling your computer with the digital pen and tablet. ExpressKeys can be easily programmed on Mac or PC as your favorite keyboard shortcuts to save time when instructing.

Wacom Cintiq Pro 16

Wacom One pen display

Whether in the classroom or online, teachers can use the Wacom One pen display to present lessons, illustrate learnings, take notes, annotate, and answer questions. When it comes to students, the pen makes the switch to digital working easy and intuitive.

One-by-Wacom

One By Wacom pen tablet

Ideal for students, the One By Wacom takes learning to the next level. The realistic digital pen recreates the classroom experience from anywhere. It gives you the freedom to write, annotate, create, collaborate, study or teach in ways like never before.

Want to learn more about Kami? Check out the Wacom + Kami page. Want to learn more about how Wacom products can elevate education in your school or district? Fill out this interest form.
abeni jones headshot

About the author

Abeni Jones is a former graphic designer, illustrator, and educator, and current writer, who bought her first Wacom tablet in 1999. She’s passionate about video games, design, and the great outdoors.

Related posts:

Etherington Bros’ Comics Crash Course #5: Concept art

Etherington Bros’ Comics Crash Course #5: Concept art

Preparing Students for Careers Using Professional Tools: A Wacom Case Study

Preparing Students for Careers Using Professional Tools: A Wacom Case Study

Etherington Bros’ Comics Crash Course #4: Storytelling through character design

Etherington Bros’ Comics Crash Course #4: Storytelling through character design

Wacom’s digital art lesson plans: Exploring light, shadows, and highlights, Part Three

Wacom’s digital art lesson plans: Exploring light, shadows, and highlights, Part Three

Connect with Wacom on social media

Today, we lift our heads high and draw one another in even tighter. 🤲🥹⁣
⁣
We extend our deepest sympathies to all those enduring the aftermath of the distressing fires in Los Angeles. The sorrow wrought by this tragedy is close to our hearts, and in this time of trial, we embrace our community with unwavering support.⁣
⁣
Art by the wonderful @yingshiart ⁣
⁣
766 5
Change is scary sometimes. It also requires time. 🫠
For @adam_theillustrator, it took some time to switch the mouse over a stylus, but he never looked back. 💪
Do you remember what it was like for you? How many tries did it take you to master drawing with a tablet? What advice do you have for new users? 
#wacomtablet #wacomintuospro #digitalartist #digitalart #wacom #wacompen
1863 61
Time flies when you're absorbed in the details, hyper focusing on every stroke and thinking about every line. 👀🤓🧐🔍🐲
Love seeing @andrezgalviz_art taking advantage of his beautiful Cintiq Pro 24 canvas to sculpt for hours. 
#madewithwacom #Wacomworkspace #wacomcintiq #CintiqPro #3dmodeling #3dsculpting #3dart
1017 9
Don't mind us, we're out here mesmerized watching @andreaalice.nz make petals 🌺🌸💜🖌️
What beautiful things are you making today? Tag us #MadeWithWacom
Now go feast your eyes and check out Andrea's stunning botanical prints. 
#creativeprofessionals #digitalart #artistsoninstagram
369 7
How many strokes to draw Rengoku? 🗡️💥❤️‍🔥
@caleo_real did this challenge and the results were..... Interesting 🤯😂
Do you count your strokes? An artist may choose to paint with as few brush strokes as possible for many reasons, including aesthetic effect, style, technique or emotional impact. 

#madewithwacom #digitalartist #digitalart #demonslayer #rengoku #fanart #artchallenge
1061 11
One of the most important steps in animation is BLOCKING! 
We asked @fabgioffre to walk us through his process to show you how easy it can be, especially if you're using the right tools like @toonboomanimation and a Wacom tablet (Fabio is using the Movink on this video). 
Head to Fabio's YouTube channel for the full tutorial or head to our stories to get there. 
#toonboom #wacommovink #madewithwacom #animation
206 8
A seamless blend of design, engineering, technology. 
The Cintiq Pro 27 is designed to let professionals work and move in complete harmony. 
Ready for an upgrade? 
#wacomcintiqpro #CintiqPro
776 35
It's assembly time! 🔨📏💪🪛
Watch @hannarybak_ upgrade her #WacomWorkspace with the Wacom Flex Arm. 
Are you good at assembling things? We think Hanna made it look like a breeze. 
#wacomcintiq #CintiqPro #digitalart #artistlife #creativeprofessionals
342 11
New year's resolution: spend more time outside! 🌞🌼🌿🪴⁣
Where's your favorite place to draw? ⁣
With the Wacom Movink, you can transform any charming park nook or quaint café into your creative haven.⁣
Video by the lovely @ho_yingching
299 3
#HappyNewYear2025⁣
Just as the snake sheds its skin, we're encouraged to release fears and opening ourselves up to growth and renewal. ⁣
⁣
May 2025 be a year of profound transformation 💙✨⁣
⁣
Art by @here_4_cheese and calligraphy by @miki.amn ⁣
#Wacom #MadeWithWacom ⁣
2727 10