Many teachers are familiar with the annotation tools and whiteboard function within Zoom. This allows teachers and students (if desired) to make notes on a shared screen or shared whiteboard space. The annotation tools can be especially useful when teaching math, reading, or writing, when it is useful to demonstrate, highlight, underline, etc. It also allows teachers (and students) to draw, make diagrams, explain what they mean visually.
The Zoom whiteboard does have drawbacks, though. Though they can be saved, it can be hard to find where the whiteboard image is saved on your computer. And once it is saved, it can’t be modified easily. If students use whiteboards in a breakout room, they disappear once the breakout room is over. This makes it difficult for students to bring work back to the main group in Zoom.
There are many other whiteboard tools available through the Internet. Each has their own pros and cons. Here are some possible whiteboards with pros and cons based on the versions that are freely available.
Zoom whiteboard and annotation
Pros:
- Part of Zoom tools. Check settings to make sure annotation is turned on.
- Available within Zoom, so participants don’t have to access an outside tool.
- Annotation tools are relatively easy to use.
- Annotation can be used on any screen that is shared.
Cons:
- Annotation doesn’t work on all devices. Participants using Chromebooks, for example, won’t be able to annotate.
- Annotation and whiteboards disappear when screen sharing ends.
- Saved images can be difficult to find.
- Students have to be in Zoom to use the whiteboard together.
Google Jamboard (http://jamboard.google.com)
Pros:
- available through free Google/Gmail login
- Jamboards are saved in Google Drive and can be copied and shared similar to Google Docs, Slides, and other documents.
- Multiple people can work in a Jamboard at the same time.
- Participants can keep working in a Jamboard after the Zoom session has finished.
- You can insert images onto the screen. This could be useful if you want to insert a math problem or a writing prompt or a table with columns and rows.
- Multiple “frames” allow for adding as many pages as are necessary. Frames can be added for different questions in an activity, or different groups working on the same question.
- Works well with multiple devices.
- You can now type in a resizable text box! This is a big improvement.
- Students do not need to set up an account or login to anything to access a Jamboard link.
Cons:
- On a phone or tablet, participants must download the free Jamboard app.
- Drawing is difficult with a mouse or trackpad (though this is probably true of all whiteboards). It is easier to use through a phone or tablet.
Math Whiteboard (https://www.mathwhiteboard.com/)
Pros:
- Free for teachers and students
- Tons of math tools: equations (solves hand-written equations!), graphing, etc.
- Share whiteboard with a link
- Input: handwriting, typing
Cons:
- None that we can see yet
Whiteboard.fi (https://whiteboard.fi)
Pros:
- Teacher invites students with a class code. No registration needed. Instantly available. Students don’t have to register.
- Each student is connected through the class but has their own whiteboard.
- Simple mode can be chosen to make use of the whiteboard easier.
- Teachers can look at each of the whiteboards worked on by different students.
- The teacher can create a whiteboard with something for students to review, then “push” their whiteboard so that all of the students can annotate it on their own screens.
- Images, backgrounds, text can be inserted.
Cons:
- The tools take some getting used to.
- It’s challenging to use the whiteboard on a phone.
- Whiteboards are deleted after inactivity of 2 hours. You can save whiteboards as pdfs for reference later.
- Students write on their own whiteboards, but not the main whiteboard.
Bitpaper (https://www.bitpaper.io)
Pros:
- There are many drawing tools and images that can be inserted.
- You can insert images onto the screen.
- Each page has offscreen space in all directions, so there is plenty of room to create drawings or notes anywhere.
Cons:
- It works with multiple devices.
- Only one “paper” is allowed for the free version. Since multiple pages are allowed within a “paper,” a teacher could use the same “paper” for all of her classes, with different pages for different projects or classes.
- Bitpaper is designed for use as its own synchronous platform, so moving the focus within a page or to another page affects all users. For example, it is not possible for one user to be on page 1 and someone else to be on page 2.
Geogebra Notes (https://geogebra.org/notes)
Pros:
- Integrated with Geogebra, a set of online tools for math teachers. Made for teaching math.
- Includes geometry drawing tools.
- Equations, graphs, and tables can all be inserted easily.
- Images, pdfs, and even sounds can be inserted.
Cons:
- Typing is available through text boxes that can be resized.
- Can only be used by one person at a time.
- Like other Geogebra tools, it takes longer to learn than simpler tools.
There are many other whiteboards. Let us know if you have a favorite whiteboard that isn’t listed.
