Ever had to tutor someone in mathematics ONLINE!!? It can be difficult, especially if you’re just using an IM like MSN / AOL / ICQ / QQ / AIM / that google one / whatever else I’m missing 😀
I decided to try out a few different online sites to make the process easier. In this blog entry I’ll be reviewing my experience with ScribLink. I also checked out a couple of others and may talk about them later ^_^.
ScribLink
Website: http://www.scriblink.com.
I
played around on it for like 30 minutes drawing silly graphs and such.
I loved using it, but here are some pros/cons in my opinion 😀
Pros:
- No advertisements! Definite pro. If you like the site and use it a lot, I suggest donating towards it.
- Can easily add formulas using LaTeX.
- Easy to use, simple interface, attractive looking.
- Can easily choose colors of the board and the pencil thingy.
- Very easy to invite others to the session. Just click on Get URL.
- Has the option to save the image and email it.
- VOIP and chat options.
- Scriblink team seems to be very open to suggestions about improving the service.
Cons:
- Hard to erase. I would recommend the site make it so that “right click” on the mouse
button acts as an eraser, and make the eraser a bit more powerful. - I
can’t find any option to graph functions. There was another whiteboard
website with this option (but I didn’t like their interface). But
inserting functions of lines, parabolas, trig, etc would be highly
useful. - It won’t let me move formulas around after it’s been
placed on the screen. Ideally, I’d like to move “objects” around on the
board.
Overall, my experience was great. I drew up a
short lecture about area between two curves with graphs and colors and
formulas! It turned out pretty awesome. All in all, check out the site!
And if there is anything you don’t like about the site, bugs, etc, let
the ScribLink team know 😀
Edit (Nov 30th, 2009): I love the color palette the site uses. You can also insert nicely written formulas and equations, which I didn’t do above (see the x=x^2 stuff on the left panel which can be added and moved around as pointed out by Jordan – the double clicking did work, not sure how I missed that ^_^).
Hey,
Thanks for the feedback (and write up). You actually can move equations around on the board. Just double-click the equation and it will allow you to drag.
Thanks again,
Jordan
The Scriblink Team
Hey, thanks for the comment Jordan!! The double-clicking works, I think I was just being dumb before heh. Love the site, it’s a great tool.