Interactive digital online whiteboards offer a shared virtual space for instructors and students to collaborate, brainstorm, and engage with course content simultaneously or asynchronously. Like their physical counterparts, they help explain concepts, illustrate examples, and present information in ways that allow students to visualize key points. At UW-Green Bay, instructors have access to three main digital whiteboard options for their courses:
- Lucid Education Suite (integrated in Canvas, best for asynchronous and embedded activities)
- Microsoft Whiteboard (integrated with Teams, best for synchronous or hybrid collaboration)
- Zoom Whiteboard (within Zoom meetings, best for synchronous class sessions)
This post provides an overview of these tools and shares resources, teaching strategies, and considerations for incorporating digital whiteboards effectively into your course.
Whiteboards with Lucid Education Suite in Canvas
The Lucid Education Suite, integrated into UW-Green Bay’s Canvas environment, is available to all UW-Green Bay instructors. The Lucid Education Suite includes Lucidspark for freeform virtual whiteboarding and Lucidchart for diagramming and visual modeling.
There are multiple ways to use Lucid whiteboards in your Canvas courses. For example, you can:
- Embed Lucid whiteboards into Canvas Pages to clarify concepts and provide a collaborative space in Canvas for brainstorming
- Create Lucid Canvas Assignments where students receive their own copy of a template, work on it individually, and submit it for grading
The Lucid Education Suite offers a flexible and interactive approach to whiteboards. While it supports real-time collaborative editing, its integration with Canvas also makes it well-suited for asynchronous online activities.
Lucid Education Suite Resources and Support
Lucid has resources on their website for instructors to learn how to use and adopt Lucid in their Canvas courses. Below are specific resources from Lucid designed to support instructors.
- Explore Lucid use cases by teaching discipline and strategy
- Watch short training videos on using Lucid in Canvas
- Take the “Introduction to Lucid” training course
- Find how-to guides with the Lucid Resource Library for Canvas instructors
Instructors can get technical support from the Lucid Help Center.
Canvas Guides for Lucid Whiteboards
To get started with Lucid, select the Lucid (Whiteboard) link in the course navigation menu of any of your Canvas courses. Below are specific guides on how to include Lucid in your Canvas course.
- Embed a Lucid document in the Canvas Rich Content Editor (RCE)
- To find Lucid in the Rich Content Editor, select the Apps icon > View All
- Create a Lucid assignment in Canvas
Whiteboards in Zoom and Microsoft Teams
Zoom and Microsoft Teams both include built-in digital whiteboards that allow instructors and students to collaborate during live virtual class sessions. Note that in Microsoft’s documentation, they refer to the whiteboard feature as simply “Whiteboard,” while Zoom calls theirs “Zoom Whiteboard.”
- Microsoft whiteboards work in Teams meetings, breakout rooms, chat, and channels. They can also be accessed in a browser or the Teams mobile app for continued work outside of a class meeting.
- Zoom whiteboards can be created and edited before, during, or after meetings and shared with students. They are also editable on desktops and tablets, although smaller mobile devices may be limited to “view-only.”
There are multiple ways to use Zoom and Teams whiteboards for your class meetings. For example, you can:
- Share a whiteboard during a meeting to illustrate concepts, brainstorm, or invite student annotation.
- Facilitate group activities by assigning whiteboards to breakout rooms or channels for small group collaboration.
While Microsoft and Zoom whiteboards can be shared outside of a meeting and used asynchronously, they are designed to support interaction in synchronous and hybrid learning environments.
Microsoft Whiteboard Resources and Support
Microsoft provides support materials to help instructors get started with digital whiteboards in Teams. Below are specific resources on using and creating digital whiteboards with Microsoft:
- Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams
- Use Whiteboard in a Teams Meeting
- Run a group project with Microsoft Whiteboard
- Ways to use Microsoft Whiteboard for education
- Tips to make whiteboards more accessible
Instructors can get technical support for Microsoft products through GBIT.
Zoom Whiteboard Resources and Support
Zoom offers a variety of guides and tutorials to help instructors integrate whiteboards into their synchronous teaching. Below are specific resources on using and creating digital whiteboards in Zoom:
- Getting Started with Zoom Whiteboard
- Zoom Whiteboard video tutorials
- Zoom Whiteboard Tips for Teaching and Collaborating in the Classroom
Instructors can get technical support for Zoom by visiting the Zoom Help Center or submitting a ticket.
Questions?
CATL is here to help! If you would like to discuss any of these whiteboard tools and how best to incorporate them to meet your teaching goals for your class, reach out to CATL! You can email us at catl@uwgb.edu or fill out our consultation request form to schedule a meeting with a member of the CATL team.