[jackson1442]

The pandemic definitely pushed me to get an iPad. Since my primary source of income is in tutoring in math/CS, being able to draw diagrams with accuracy and share those drawings live with my students has been extremely valuable. Before all this, most of my income was from in-person clients where I could simply grab a piece of paper and pen and draw, now I'm 100% online.

[nawwal]

What iPad app are you using for this? And do you also have an Apple Pencil? I also do some math online tutoring, and what I’ve been doing is connecting my iPhone to my Mac, mirroring the iPhone screen on the Mac, and sharing that screen during a Skype call. Then I can use the camera app on the iPhone (mounted on a little tripod) to look down on a piece of paper that I write/draw on. I considered getting an iPad, but even with an Apple Pencil I imagine I wouldn’t feel as free as when drawing on a real piece of paper with a real pen, I’m curious as to what your thoughts on this are

[jackson1442]

I use Flow on the iPad by Moleskine Studios, it's priced on a subscription (reasonably priced, albeit a little annoying) but a wonderful drawing app. I use an Apple Pencil with it.

I like the ability to easily export documents and send them to my students, as well as the freedom you get with a digital whiteboard––you can drag and manipulate individual pieces of your sketch as if they were magnets on the board in a traditional setting.

The Pencil definitely does not feel like using a regular pen, but it's rather similar to writing on a whiteboard and is rather comfortable to use (you get palm-blocking and everything). If you use the first-party Notes app, you also get automatic handwriting recognition and indexing in iPadOS 14.

Assuming they're currently accepting returns given the pandemic, Apple has a relatively reasonable return policy – 14 days for a full refund provided you repackage everything, so if you find you don't like it you can just return it.

[hboon]

Is that Computer Science at tertiary/undergraduate level? Or something else? If it is, is that common?

[jackson1442]

Most of my students are in high school (9-12 grade, age 14-18) during the school year. In the summer, I see more 1st and 2nd year college students since a lot of summer classes are at 2x speed and right now they're predominantly online.

Many high school students have access to CollegeBoard's AP Computer Science Principles and AP Computer Science A programs, which expose students to fundamentals of computing and Java respectively (Principles is more focused on the _concepts_ of programming–sequential instructions, working in teams, etc., while CS A is focused on writing working Java). I've worked with students who do not have access to these classes at their school as well, working with them through a self-study curriculum.

Occasionally, I'll also see middle school students (6-8 grade, age 11-14) who have (or whose parents have) expressed interest in learning to code. I usually work with these students in Scratch then Python, depending on their skill levels, as some schools are even teaching programming classes.

I also get some requests from elementary students, but generally decline those.

[hboon]

Thanks!