Coming soon · November 30
Running the lesson · Document camera
What’s on your desk, live on the board.
Comment enseignez-vous ?
Pencil Spaces turns a document camera, a second webcam or your iPhone into a second camera for your lesson. Share the page next to your own video, flip and zoom it, and write on it live. Put it on the board and everyone can work on it with you.
Your student is stuck on step three of the worksheet. Slide it under your document camera and work through it together, with your pen on the page and your face still on screen.
Thirty students need to see the same worked example. Put the page under your document camera and every student can read your handwriting and still see you explain it.
Some ideas are quicker to sketch than to put on a slide. Put your notepad under a second camera and the group watches the idea take shape while you talk it through.
The worked example is on paper at your desk. Put it under the document camera and it’s on the board at the front of the room, big enough for the back row, without switching the projector input.
A participant has sketched the process on a notepad. Put it under the camera and it’s on the shared screen for the whole room to mark up together.
The homework page is on the kitchen table and your child is stuck. Point your iPhone at it and the page is big on the laptop, where you can both see it and write on it.
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Share second camera
Click the arrow next to Share, pick your document camera, and the page fills the main view while your video stays on.
Click the arrow next to Share to pick a second camera.
One camera was never enough.
On a typical video call you get one camera. Point it at the page and your students lose your face. Hold the worksheet up to the webcam instead and it comes out blurry and backwards.
Most webinar tools give you one camera, so showing a sketch means holding your notepad up to the lens. It comes out blurry and backwards, and you disappear behind it.
In most rooms the document camera has its own projector input. Switch to the page and your board disappears. Switch back and the page is gone.
In most meeting rooms, showing paper means passing it around or switching the screen to a separate camera and losing your slides.
At home, help usually means leaning over the worksheet together, or taking a photo of it and zooming in on a phone.
La méthode habituelle
- Hold the worksheet up to your webcam.
- Watch it flip backwards and blur.
- Or switch to the document camera and disappear.
- Switch back to explain.
- Hold your notepad up to the lens.
- Watch it flip backwards.
- Lose the group while you fix it.
- Go back to your slides.
- Switch the projector to the document camera.
- Lose the board you were working on.
- Switch back to write on it.
- Repeat for every example.
- Pass the sketch around the room.
- Or switch the screen to a separate camera.
- Lose your slides.
- Switch back.
- Lean over the worksheet together.
- Take a photo of it.
- Zoom in on a small phone screen.
- Lose your place.
With Pencil Spaces
- Click the arrow next to Share.
- Pick your document camera, or your iPhone or iPad.
- Press Share. The page is on screen, and so are you.Press Share. The page fills the screen at the front of the room.Press Share. The page is big on the laptop screen.
How the second camera works.
It sits next to Share in every Space, and it takes a few clicks.
1
Pick a second camera.
Click the arrow next to Share, then choose your document camera, a second webcam, or iPhone/iPad via AirPlay.
2
Line it up first.
A preview opens before anyone sees the page. Flip it, rotate it 90° or zoom in, then press Share.
3
Show it big.
The page fills the main view and your video stays in the row beside it.
The page fills the classroom display, big enough to read from the back row.
The page fills the shared screen at the front of the room.
The page fills the laptop screen, big enough for both of you.
4
Write on it.
The drawing tools open as soon as you share. Circle a mistake, underline a step or add a note while you talk.
5
Put it on the board.
Choose Insert video to board from the tile menu. The live page sits on the board, where you and your students can write on it together.
Choose Insert video to board from the tile menu. The live page sits on the board, where you and the group can write on it together.
Choose Insert video to board from the tile menu. The live page sits on the board, where you and your child can write on it together.
6
Pin it, or stop it.
The same menu lets you unpin it, go full screen or take a screenshot. Stop second camera ends it.
Works with USB document cameras, a second webcam, and iPhone or iPad over AirPlay. If your computer can see the camera, you can share it.
No document camera?
Your iPhone can be the document camera.
Mirror your iPhone or iPad into your Space over AirPlay. Point the camera at the page, or write on your iPad, and it’s on screen in seconds.
Prop your iPhone over the worksheet and mirror it into the lesson over AirPlay. Your student sees the page in seconds.
Walk the room with your iPad and put a student’s work on the board without going back to your desk.
Walk the room with your iPad and put a group’s sketch on the shared screen.
Hold your iPhone over the homework and mirror it to the laptop over AirPlay. The page is big enough for both of you to read.
- Join the same Wi-Fi network as your computer.
- On your iPhone or iPad, open Control Center and tap Screen Mirroring.
- Tap Pencil Spaces and your computer’s name.
Don’t see it? Restart your iPhone or iPad.
What to put under the camera.
Mathématiques
Work it by hand.
Long division, proofs and graphs on real paper, at the speed you write.
Sciences
Show the real thing.
A leaf, a circuit, or iron filings around a magnet, live and up close.
Reading and writing
Read from the page.
Annotate a printed passage, or model letter formation stroke by stroke.
Art and music
Show the technique.
Shading, brush strokes or a fingering pattern, close enough to copy.
Process
Sketch the process.
Draw the workflow live instead of building another slide.
Produit
Show the real product.
Hardware, packaging or a printed form, up close for everyone.
Paperwork
Walk through the paperwork.
Go through a contract, form or checklist line by line.
Their work
Bring up their work.
Put a participant’s sketch on screen and improve it together.
Pencil Cam · Free
A free document camera viewer, in your browser.
Pencil Cam shows your document camera or webcam full screen in a browser tab. Teaching on Zoom? Open Pencil Cam and share that tab.
Plug your document camera into the laptop, open Pencil Cam in your browser and put it on the projector. There’s nothing to install.
Point a webcam at the homework and see the page big on your laptop. Pencil Cam runs in your browser, so there’s nothing to install.
Pick your camera, zoom in on the detail and flip the image the right way round.
Free with a Pencil Spaces account.
Pour les établissements scolaires et les équipes
Every teacher can show their work.
The second camera comes with every Pencil Spaces classroom. It works with the document cameras already in your rooms and the phones teachers already carry, so there’s nothing to roll out.
Pour les entreprises de soutien scolaire
Every tutor can show their work.
The second camera comes with every Space, and tutors can use the iPhone or iPad they already have. There’s no hardware to buy and nothing to roll out.
Pour les équipes de formation
Every trainer can show their work.
The second camera comes with every Space, for virtual and in-person workshops alike. A webcam or a phone is enough.
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Questions about the document camera
How do I use a document camera in Pencil Spaces?
Click the arrow next to Share in any Space and pick your document camera under Share second camera. The page fills the main view, and you can flip it, rotate it, zoom in and write on it as you teach.
Can students see my face and the document camera at the same time?
Yes. The document camera comes in as a second camera, so it takes the main view while your webcam stays on in the row of video tiles beside it.
Can I use my iPhone or iPad as a document camera?
You can, over AirPlay. Choose iPhone/iPad via AirPlay from the Share menu and join the same Wi-Fi network as your computer. Then open Screen Mirroring on your iPhone or iPad and tap Pencil Spaces. Point the camera at the page, or write on your iPad, and it shows up in your Space.
Can I write on top of the document camera image?
The drawing tools open as soon as you share, so you can circle and write on the page straight away. To keep working on it, choose Insert video to board from the tile menu. The live page then sits on the board, where everyone can write on it together.
Does it work for in-person teaching?
It does. Run Pencil Spaces on your classroom display or projector and share your document camera into the Space. The page appears on the board at the front of the room, so you don’t have to switch projector inputs.
Is there a free document camera viewer?
Pencil Cam is free with a Pencil Spaces account. It shows any document camera or webcam full screen in your browser at my.pencilapp.com/pencilcam. Put it on a projector, or share the tab in the app you teach in.
Pencil Cam is free with a Pencil Spaces account. It shows any document camera or webcam full screen in your browser at my.pencilapp.com/pencilcam. Open it in a tab and share that tab in the app you teach in.
Pencil Cam is free with a Pencil Spaces account. It shows any document camera or webcam full screen in your browser at my.pencilapp.com/pencilcam. Put it on the projector or a big screen.
Pencil Cam is free with a Pencil Spaces account. It shows any webcam or document camera full screen in your browser at my.pencilapp.com/pencilcam, so you can see the homework page big on your laptop.
Show your work, live.
It’s coming to the Share menu of every Space on November 30.
Nouveau sur Pencil Spaces
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Découvrez-le dans votre propre atelier.
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Sign up now. The second camera shows up in your Share menu on November 30.
Gratuit pendant 2 semaines avec n'importe quelle formule payante. Aucune carte bancaire requise.
J'enseigne déjà chez Pencil Spaces
Look for it in your Share menu on November 30.
Until then, open Pencil Cam to show your document camera full screen for free.
