Using a Document Camera to Teach Math Virtually

Being on the technology committee has its advantages. The head of Academic Technology gave me a new document camera to play with. It’s from a brand called IPEVO.⁠ You can see it in the photo above.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

Overall Review

It is not as powerful as the old Elmo document camera that I have, but it’s much more affordable. High-quality Elmo document cameras can cost over $500. This IPEVO camera is less than $200. It’s very lightweight and easy to connect to a computer through the USB port. The software is free from the app store.⁠

⁠

How do the Students at Home See

I connected the doc cam to my personal tablet/PC (yep the PC that I paid for with my own money – that’s a story for another post) and opened the IPEVO software.

The PC is connected to the projector so that the students in the room can see what's on my computer screen.

I joined the Google Meet from my PC and shared the screen so that the students at home could see.

I also joined the Google Meet from my school-issued Macbook (not shown in the photo above) so that I could see the students at home. Using two devices is the best way I have found to be able to see what I am sharing with the students and see the students themselves.

I have also used a computer with an iPad. You can read about connecting an iPad to a MacBook here.

⁠⁠Advantages and Disadvantages

I used more paper with the document camera than I do when I teach by writing on my PC (read about my experience writing on my Lenovo tablet/PC here). 

Because I have more than one section of each course I teach, I had to print multiple copies of my notes so that I could annotate them fresh for each class. I build my lessons in PowerPoint (I am using my lessons from last year (aka pre-pandemic)). I printed a skeleton version of the lesson; it had the definitions, theorems, examples, etc, but it did not have the worked solutions to the examples. During class, I would fill in the blank or work through the problem as needed. The students had a similar skeleton version of the notes. 

I didn't love having to keep up with the extra paper, but I had fewer issues with technology. My tablet/PC gets a lot of use when I write on it with the stylus and it feels like at least once a day my PC will freeze inexplicably; rebooting the PC wastes time and frustrates me.

What I mostly loved about using the document camera is that it's easy to bring the calculator onscreen so that I could go through some calculator steps.⁠ Also, if a student asked a question about the homework or a question for which I was not prepared, I could grab a piece of scratch paper and do a bit of work.

IPEVO vs. Elmo

Two main features that I miss from the IPEVO document camera that the Elmo has is the light and the zoom knob. Obviously to zoom the image with the IPEVO I have to adjust the distance from the camera to the paper. You will notice in the photo above that I keep the computer in front of me so I can ensure that the students see what I want them to see.

There is no way to adjust the light on the IPEVO, but there is a button on the top for exposure. I can increase the exposure and it lightens the image.

The Elmo that I have in my classroom is over 10 years old and the only software that it works with is very outdated (if I were to buy a new one, I would go for this model). Eventually, once the operating system on the computers gets updated, then the software will no longer work and I will have no way to share the image from the Elmo document camera with my computer.

My 2007 Elmo document camera connected to my Macbook

Conclusion

I will continue to use the document camera as long as they let me. If we have to go full virtual in the future, I will take the document camera home with me so that I can use it while teaching remotely.

Do you have a document camera that you like?⁠ Let's continue the conversation. Join me in my Facebook group.

Have you had the chance to join my email list? You can be one of the first people to find out about new blog posts, free stuff, new resources, and giveaways!