whiteboard on skype

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Permalink Reply by Christian Stapfer on October 21, 2009 at 10:08am

Since the free version is limited to 10 minutes it is not really usable for serious math tutoring, I think.
As to the "pro" version: There are free alternatives that are at least adequate - and in some ways may even offer superior functionality.

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Permalink Reply by SHIV AWASTHI on October 24, 2009 at 9:07am

what do u think of writing pen?. i find it uncomfortable to write with mouse.not sure whether a digital pen can attach to it and work properly
shiv

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Permalink Reply by Christian Stapfer on October 24, 2009 at 10:33am

Input from an external tablet, like, for example, the Wacom Bamboo, will surely work all right, because the operating system is capable of treating it like an ordinary mouse trace. I certainly would not advise you to use a mere mouse to do math tutoring. With an external tablet you can at least write readable math formulas without getting a cramp...
I did use an external tablet, a Wacom Intuos2, for some time (actually: years) when tutoring math online, but I use a tablet-pc now: With a tablet-pc handwriting feels very natural, really almost like writing on a sheet of paper. And it looks nice when printed out, too, because the pen resolution is way higher than the resolution of a mere mouse trace. And because the tablet-pen also gives pressure information (i.e. how hard the pen is pressed against the screen when writing), the width of one's handwriting gets nicely modulated to make it look more natural. However, because all freely available whiteboards that I have seen so far (certainly the server based ones, like WizIQ, dimdim and scriblar) cannot properly handle pen input on a tablet pc, I have to use a whiteboard that I have written myself.
Btw. Old but quite usable tablet-pcs can sometimes be found on ebay. I got one ( a MotionComputing slate) for merely $450. For a picture, see section "Prerequisites" of this page.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Palat on October 24, 2009 at 3:16pm

Writing using the usb pen is something you'll get used to in time. Depending on the details of the subject you are tutoring, you might not have to use the usb pen at all. With any online whiteboard, you always have the option to use the mouse or the text tool.

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Permalink Reply by Christian Stapfer on October 25, 2009 at 1:32pm

Since his original question contained the phrase "it is helpful in tutoring maths", I think he is tutoring math. - So, no, in that case using the mouse won't cut it, and the text tool won't help either when it comes to writing formulas.
An USB pen may be great, I just could not possibly recommend using one: for I have not yet had an opportunity to use an USB pen myself...

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Permalink Reply by SHIV AWASTHI on October 27, 2009 at 8:24am

talkandwrite recommends genius mouse pen5*4.i dont know usb pen &mouse pen are different or same app.i agree with u as u said elsewhere that one can write with mouse higher level maths too but it would certainly need a lot of practice and energy.i tutor maths and many notations are hard to write.like sign of integration trigonometric functions with exponents etc.can i call u on your email. my email ad sktutions@yahoo.com

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Permalink Reply by Christian Stapfer on October 29, 2009 at 6:58am

You can find my email address on the contact section of my homepage.
As regards the Genius tablet: I have never used a Genius tablet. You can find several discussion threads on the web regarding the relative advantages or disadvantages of Wacom vs. Genius tablets.
To sum up what I have taken from such discussion threads: It seems that Wacom has the superior technology, and is probably better quality overall - but is higher in price.
Please note two problems as regards the quality of handwriting you can expect to get from a tablet (be it either Wacom or Genius): First, tablets are advertised with a certain number of levels of pressure sensitivity (1024 levels, for example), but you will hardly be able to make use of that feature when writing on a typical whiteboard. It is possible that not even my own whiteboard, that is compatible with the pen input system of .NET Framework 3.0 (which is part of Vista and Windows 7), can properly render that many pressure levels: this is because of a bug in Microsoft's ink input system (a bug that, hopefully, will be fixed soon, see the discussion thread http://www.gottabemobile.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5823, especially the messages by Thomas Feston from Wacom's support).
Second, your tablet will be mapped to your entire screen: which means that if you have a very small tablet but a very large screen, the resolution of your tablet may possibly not be sufficient to address every single pixel on the screen. Thus your handwriting might get coarser than the raster of your screen. Wacom tablets allow the tablet to be mapped to a part of the screen (which can be used to mend this problem, but having to map and remap the tablet to the appropriate section of the screen when tutoring might be a nuisance). I don’t know whether Genius tablets can be mapped to parts of the screen in the same way. Your handwriting cannot get any finer than the raster of your screen, however (no matter what the relative size of tablet vs. screen), except if you use a pen-enabled whiteboard (almost all whiteboards that I have seen so far are not pen enabled).
USB pens, since they do not have a fixed writing surface, may at first appear not to suffer from this problem of the relative size of tablet and screen. However, it depends on the resolution (of the actual positioning) of the USB pen, and I have not seen any clear technical documentation on this question so far. Which makes me suspect that this might possibly be a relatively weak point of USB pens. (But as I wrote elsewhere: not having actually used an USB pen I cannot really judge.)

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Permalink Reply by Jane Ramirez on October 28, 2009 at 12:54pm

I have used a white board with several applications. It does take some practice, but you can become adept a using the pencil.

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Permalink Reply by SHIV AWASTHI on October 31, 2009 at 1:32am

i dont have any details of whiteboard which u have referred.so it is not possible to make any statement.are u using it to tutor maths ?

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Permalink Reply by kaanthi srujana.pendem on October 27, 2009 at 9:38pm

hi,are you at present working as a online tutor on your own

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Permalink Reply by Scott Palat on October 28, 2009 at 10:12am

I help tutors start their own online tutoring business after running 3 successful online tutoring companies since 2003. Others on this forum are working as online tutors + the clients I have at TutorFi.com.

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Permalink Reply by SHIV AWASTHI on October 31, 2009 at 1:36am

hi
i am doing online tutoring in maths and science.do u want some advice?i am working with a company and independently also . i plan to expand it.

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