Last week at Online Educa 2009 I stopped by at the Wacom booth to take a look at their latest range of graphics tablets. I was interested because they’ve started to promote their hardware as a useful aid for anyone running live web conferencing sessions. A graphics tablet is a far superior drawing device to a mouse and much better suited to sketching on an electronic whiteboard. If a facilitator adds a tablet to their kit, they’ll be able to work on-screen much as they do on a conventional whiteboard or flip chart. I reckon that could make a very significant difference in terms of engaging learners and break the reduce our dependence on PowerPoint slides. I’ve got a small Wacom tablet tucked in a drawer, so I’ll be dusting that down before my next live session.
Wacom have prepared a free white paper on the use of graphics tablets in web conferencing, which can be downloaded here.
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This looks like a very useful tool. Trying to draw using (in real-time) using the online classroom software is pretty difficult. I usually find myself creating partial drawings in Fireworks, uploading when needed, then annotating – but this is cumbersome. What is the pricing for this type of unit?
I have a small Wacom and have found it extremely useful when webconferencing with subject matter experts (SMEs) too. Typically, as we review a course’s storyboards, I can use the Wacom to add notes, edits, even sketch out proposed graphics. All of which they can see on their end and I can save directly to the storyboard when done.
Thanks for the great post.
The larger tablets as shown in the photo double as your monitor and I would imagine they are quite expensive. The small tablet which I have (6″ x 6″?) is fine for the job and costs a few hundred dollars.
I was using small pentagram tablet, very cheap but useful