UKH

I teach Maths online, mostly using web resources, but also need to be able to write text and Maths notation on-screen.

Currently I just use MS Paint and write/draw with my mouse, which is rubbish really. So I'm thinking of buying a cheap graphics pen tablet for text and drawings. (Not a tablet with a screen like an iPad). But I don't know anything about them, never even seem one in use.

I don't need any of the fancy arty facilities, just reasonably clear handwritten text and maths notation. I will need to draw straight lines and shapes but I can use Paint for that. And I can use a graph plotter website for graphs. 

Can I use a table with a mouse as I switch from websites to drawing, or do I have to use the tablet stylus as my mouse pointer.

I've seen the Huion H420 recommended, it's only £23 quid, but at 102x57mm semms ridiculously small! 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Huion-Graphics-Drawing-Tablet-Board/dp/B00TB0TTAC?....

 

In reply to Alex Pryor:

I have a Genius Tablet, large enough to fit an A4 sheet of paper under the plastic film.  M712X seems to be the model number.  Years old but fantastic for the sort of thing you want.  I've just been using mine those morning to teach payback periods and discount factors for investments so lots of numbers and maths involved.  Feedback from the students was great, they found it really useful.

Link here to what I have but no longer made perhaps. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Genius-FBA_31100022100-G-PEN-M712X-Tablet/dp/B003D...

There is one on a certain well known auction site, search for "Genius G-Pen M712X Pen Tablet", £45.00 buy it now plus £5 postage.

In reply to Alex Pryor:

I've been tutoring in maths and physics online since March 2020.  I tried various solutions, but in the end I've settled on having my phone held in a cradle pointing down at the desk, and joining the Zoom meeting with that as well as through the webcam on my PC.  So the student sees two screens from two 'participants' - one is me, and the other is a live video of my working.  It's a little crude, perhaps, but no software or hardware is anything like as flexible as simply being able to write exactly what you need on a piece of paper! 

At the end of each session I quickly photograph everything I've written and upload it to a shared folder in my Google Photos.   

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

I’ve lectured using a video camera pointed at pen-on-paper, it’s not awful with the right lighting and it’s great being able to grab pre-prepared bits of paper from a physically laid out stack.  Plenty of cheap ring illuminators that’ll go round a phone camera.

Much preferred it to doing maths on an iPad touchscreen.

A few moments spent tweaking a well lit still photo or scan of maths-on-paper (and diagrams) in an image editor can work wonders for its look.  Typically I’d use The GIMP to punch up the contrast by editing the RGB level curves.

In reply to Alex Pryor:

Check out blackpenredpen on YouTube.  

In reply to Alex Pryor:

I use Wacom 1, medium. It’s £45 or so but I find it really easy and clear for teaching A Level Maths remotely. Mostly scribbling on powerpoints but also with MS whiteboard and online whiteboard sites.

Ive disabled the pen buttons as I kept pressing them accidentally.

In reply to Alex Pryor:

yes, I use a mouse and a tablet, It took me a bit of figuring out as I expected the computer to think the tablet was a mouse, but it knows the difference, so can recognise the tablet input as a pen stroke and the mouse click and drag as a panning action.

Thanks for all the alternative suggestions, but I think in my circumstances I'd rather go with the graphics tablet option. 

In reply to ablackett:

Thanks, my local computer shop recommended a Wacom, so this is the way I'm likely to go. One thing I don't understand, how do you know where you're pointing on the screen before you start writing? Do you see a mouse-type pointer on-screen and then have to press a pen button to start writing (much as you do with a mouse)?

Also I'm wondering if the Wacom 1 Small would the be big enough. What are the disadvantages? Does the pen active area cover the whole computer screen, in which case I guess it would be difficult to write small (eg subscripts and powers) with the small pad?

I use Zoom so I don't think I can use MS whiteboard? What other online whiteboard sites would you recommend?

Thanks, Alex

In reply to Alex Pryor:

Any specific reason why not iPad  or other tablet ? I use my iPad Pro + apple pen and Concept app (a sort of infinite whiteboard) all the time to share ideas / formulas and it works great (sharing the iPad screen over zoom)

Totally worth it, been quite transformative to my workflow and saves me a lot of time in communicating concepts to people, because I can just do it on the spot instead on spending hours making a PowerPoint in advance. And it sounds like it would work well in your use case too. And I guarantee you’ll love it for personal use.

In reply to ETPhoneHome:

A reason might be the minimum £900 cost of iPad Pro and Pen.

In reply to ETPhoneHome:

Rom, is that you?

In reply to Alex Pryor:

I use a Samsung Active tablet with the free Bamboo app on it. I find it very difficult to get decent written words and drawings because of the stylus and screen. If the stylus touches the screen it makes a mark but there seems to be a tiny disconnect between the point and the mark.

I have seen people use them online and produce excellent results but I can't. 

In reply to ETPhoneHome:

I don't have an iPad or tablet and my online teaching is more of a hobby/charity than a business, teaching refugees and children of friends. So my budget is very limited.

In reply to Alex Pryor:

With my tablet, holding the pen just above the surface of the tablet moves the pointer, pressing down then writes or draws. I use MS whiteboard and then just share screen on whatever video calling software I am using. You can then record the whole session so it can be reviewed at leisure.  Works a treat.

In reply to Alex Pryor:

Mention of Wacom reminded me that about 12 years ago I bought one of their devices, to help with photo editing I suppose, but never found any use for it and it's been gathering metaphorical dust ever since. The working area is about 200x150mm. 

If you would like to try it, PM me your address and I'll post it to you asap, no charge, something in the local MR tin maybe.

In reply to Alex Pryor:

Try and find a used iPad pro, nothing else comes as close to pen on paper!

CB

In reply to Alex Pryor:

If you hover over the tablet it shows where you are about to write.

The active area does cover the whole screen, yet I think the small would be big enough for most things, it might be slightly harder to write small stuff, but you can zoom in to write, then zoom out.  I like the medium, but have had good enough experience with a small one.

As mentioned you can use MS Whiteboard and share screen, if you use whiteboard.fi or whiteboard.chat your students can write on their screen and collaborate with you.  bitpaper is a good simple whiteboard with enough free features. 

Advantage of MS whiteboard is you can copy and past stuff straight into it with no fuss, images, text, documents, pdfs, can all be dropped straight onto it.

In reply to ablackett:

Thanks for the explanation - I wasn't sure about the hovering.

I think my typical use would be to do a step by step answer of a GCSE or A Level question or simlar. I usually cut (with Snipping Tool) then paste the question into MS Paint then type where possible, draw with mouse (badly) if I can't. So, it could be a screenfull of maths stuff. I work one-to-one so don't really need collaboration etc. I've had a quick look at Ziteboard which looks promising, but I'm not sure of the free features are significantly better than Paint. (Paint allows me to enter sub and superscripts in text with Shift-CTRL-+ or =, which other sites don't, but not much else).