Online teaching with the iPad and GoodNotes
Our recommended set up for teaching classes and lectures virtually while universities are closed because of Coronavirus
Universities across the globe are reacting to the spread of Coronavirus and are either suspending the start of the new year or announced to teach all classes virtually until further notice.
Naturally, it is now important to come up with solutions on how to teach these classes online without compromising the learning outcome for students.
Our app GoodNotes is predestined for teaching and presenting virtually, which is why our team has experimented with the ideal set up for online classes. We hope that our findings help every educator, lecturer, teacher, or even student to set up a virtual teaching and studying environment while we’re trying to overcome the Coronavirus crisis.
The set up for teaching virtual classes
Here’s what we recommend if you want to teach classes online:
- GoodNotes on the iPad, ideally with Apple Pencil
- An app that allows you to mirror your iPad screen to your computer, for example, Reflector 3 (single purchase under 20 US$ with a 7-day free trial)
- An app that allows you to share your screen with a large group of people. Examples are Zoom, Webex, or apps like OBS Studio that let you live-stream content to a Twitch channel
How it works
GoodNotes transforms your iPad into digital paper and lets you take handwritten notes and annotate PDF, PowerPoint, and Word files as well as images using your Apple Pencil. One of the reasons why teachers worldwide are already using it is the “Presentation Mode”, which allows you to hide the user interface and any app in slide-over or split-screen on the external screen from the audience — thus, making it the perfect digital whiteboard/blackboard replacement.
Screensharing from the iPad with Zoom
Zoom already anticipates that presenters may want to share their iPad or iPhone screen and built a feature for it.
Here’s what you have to do:
- Connect your iPad to your computer via USB-C or Lightning cable
- Start or join a Zoom meeting on your computer and click “Share Screen”
- Select “iPad/iPhone via AirPlay”
- Open the Control Center on your iPad and select “Screen Mirroring”
- Choose “Zoom-your computer”
This is using the AirPlay connection of the iPad, which triggers GoodNotes’ Presentation Mode. While you can comfortably write on the iPad screen and stay in full control, your students won’t be distracted by any elements you don’t want them to see, for example, apps yo bring in using split-screen or slide over.
AirPlay with Reflector 3 for live streaming or other conferencing software
Sadly, not every software has this feature built-in already, which is why you will need to build a bridge first.
Entering Reflector 3.
The app turns your computer into an “AirPlay receiver”, which will again trigger GoodNotes’ presentation mode.
After installing and opening Reflector on your computer, here’s what you have to do:
- Again, connect your iPad to your computer with a cable (we found the connection to be more reliable than without a cable)
- Open the Control Center
- Select “Screen Mirroring”
- Choose “Your Computer Name”
- Use your conferencing app or streaming service to share the Reflector window to your audience, which now shows your iPad interface.
We hope that this set up helps you to overcome the Coronavirus spread and still teach outstanding lectures and classes online. When we checked Twitter for research, we found that some people are already trying out this setup, so we highly recommend connecting with them to exchange ideas and experiences.
Let us hope that we don’t have to depend on this set up for too long 🤞
We collected some more articles that you may find useful for teaching online during the Coronavirus crisis:
