Jeana Rogers, Instructional Media Specialist — There are many software programs that have features and tools that are designed to be used with a pen or a brush. Programs like Photoshop and Illustrator have amazing tools and capabilities that allow you to draw, paint and edit graphics. It can be rather difficult for the creative person to master these tools using a mouse. It’s just not intuitive.
Enter the The Wacom Intuos3 pen tablet. This device works with Macs and PC’s and and over a hundred software programs. For the artist it’s senses over a thousand levels of pressure sensitivity. You can control software tools by changing how hard you press the pen on the tablet. Using sensitivity you can control exposure, brush size, opacity and more. The wireless pen and mouse can be customized through it’s own control panel for various programs.
Physics professor Dr. Martin Madsen is currently using the Wacom tablet to work through problems for his Physics 112 class. The Wacom tablet is currently set up in the Media Center’s I/O room where Dr. Madsen uses Photoshop and a screen capture program that records his actions on the screen and his voice as he works out physics problems for his students to review. We then post this recording as a short movie file on the Virtual Media Reserves.
Dr. Madsen says “I’ve gotten some positive feedback from the students. I think it is pretty straight forward to do the recording and I really like not having to worry about not getting to the problem at the end of class. It frees me up to spend more time on the concepts and leave the problem demonstration to the web.”
The tablet has many potential uses for students and instructors to do more creative work in the programs they already use. If you would like to check out the Wacom tablet or have any questions please contact me at X6251 or rogersj@wabash.edu.
