Drawing Tablet for Online Teaching: How to Choose and Set Up

The best drawing tablet for online teaching matches how much you write: a pen tablet without a screen on a low budget, a pen display if you write all lesson, or a tablet with a stylus if you want one portable device. Check the active area, latency and pen comfort, then practise for a week.

Writing with a mouse is like writing with a bar of soap. It works for arrows, shapes and typed text, but handwriting, equations and quick sketches come out shaky and slow. A drawing tablet or a stylus fixes that, and for many online teachers it is the single purchase that makes the biggest difference to how a lesson looks.

Do you actually need a drawing tablet?

Not every teacher needs a drawing tablet. If your lessons are mostly typed text, images, sticky notes and shapes, a mouse or trackpad is enough. A pen becomes essential when you:

• teach math, physics, chemistry or anything with formulas and working,
• write characters or scripts that are hard to type, such as in language lessons,
• draw diagrams, maps or sketches freehand,
• correct student work by writing beside it.

If two or more of these describe your teaching, a pen will save you time in every lesson.

What types of drawing tablet are there?

There are three main types of device for teaching: a pen tablet without a screen, a pen display and a tablet with a stylus.

A touch-screen laptop with a stylus sits between the last two: one device, but a full computer.

Educastic runs in the browser and works on laptops, tablets and touch screens, so any of these setups can be used with Educastic. There is no app to install.

What should you look for when buying a drawing tablet?

Look for a comfortable active area, smooth lines with low latency, a simple connection, a pen that fits your hand and support for your system and browser. Ignore marketing terms and check these points instead:

1. Active area size. For a pen tablet, a small to medium area is enough for teaching. A very large one means moving your arm more for every line.
2. Pressure sensitivity. Useful for varying line weight, though for teaching, smooth and consistent lines matter more than very high numbers.
3. Latency. The delay between the pen moving and the line appearing. Try it in a shop or read reviews that mention it, because lag makes handwriting messy.
4. Connection. Wired is simplest and needs no charging. Wireless is tidier but adds a battery to manage.
5. Pen comfort and buttons. A pen that fits your hand matters over a long teaching day. Side buttons can be mapped to actions such as undo.
6. Compatibility. Check the device supports your operating system and works in your browser.

How do you set up a drawing tablet for teaching?

Set up a drawing tablet for teaching by installing its driver, mapping it to the screen that shows the whiteboard and choosing your pen and background.

1. Install the device driver from the maker's website, then restart your browser.
2. Map the tablet to one screen. If you use two monitors, map a pen tablet to the screen that shows the whiteboard, or the cursor will jump between screens.
3. Turn off features that get in the way. Some drivers add handwriting recognition or press and hold gestures. Disable them if they interfere with drawing in the browser.
4. Open the whiteboard and pick your tools. Choose a pen that feels right for you. Educastic offers several pen styles, such as ballpoint, fineliner, gel and fountain pen, plus a highlighter, a pencil and an eraser.
5. Switch to a ruled or dotted background. It keeps your handwriting straight while you learn.

How do you practise writing on a tablet?

Practise by writing your most common content slightly larger and slower than feels natural, every day for a week before your first lesson. Writing on a tablet is a skill, and it improves quickly:

• Write bigger than feels natural. Students may be watching on small screens. Zoom the board in rather than shrinking your handwriting.
• Slow down slightly. Neat, steady strokes are more readable than fast ones.
• Practise your most common content. Write ten equations, a labelled diagram or a paragraph in the script you teach. Do it every day for a week.
• Use undo instead of the eraser for a stroke that went wrong. It is faster.
• Record a practice lesson. Record a short session on your own and watch it back. You will see at once whether your writing is clear enough.

Small habits that help on camera

Keep the pen in your hand while you talk, even when you are not writing, so you can point and underline the moment you need to. Use the laser pointer to draw attention without adding marks. Give students the pen too: if they have a stylus or touch screen, they can write on the Educastic board when you grant them annotation access.

For math-specific techniques, see online whiteboard for math tutoring.

Frequently asked questions

Is a pen tablet or a pen display better for teaching? It depends on how much you write. A pen display feels more like paper, while a pen tablet costs less and works well once you get used to looking at the screen while you write.

Can I teach from a tablet without a computer? Yes. Educastic runs in the browser on tablets and touch screens, so a tablet with a stylus can be your only device.

Do my students need a drawing tablet? No. They can follow on any device. A stylus or touch screen helps if you want them to write on the board.

Does Educastic need an app to work with a tablet? No. Educastic runs in the browser; there is no native app.

Try your tablet on a real whiteboard

Connect your pen, open the Educastic online whiteboard and write your first practice page on a ruled background.

Try the whiteboard free