I recently started using Goodnotes in my classroom as a replacement for worksheets under a document camera. While Goodnotes works very well overall, I noticed a critical limitation for classroom use:
When using a document camera, students can see my hand and the pen. This provides natural orientation: they immediately recognize when I start writing, where I am on the page, and when they should follow along.
In Goodnotes, this orientation is missing. Students often do not immediately realize that writing has started.
Students cannot clearly see where on the page I am currently writing or drawing. This is especially problematic when plotting points in a coordinate system. I often have to explain where I just placed a point or switch to a laser pointer to show it. This takes time and interrupts the lesson flow.
It would be much more intuitive if students could simply see the pen itself—just like with a document camera—so they immediately know where the teacher is writing or pointing.
Many of my colleagues experience the same issue and consider it a clear disadvantage compared to a document camera.
As a result:
students lose orientation on the page
attention decreases
reactions are slower
the writing and drawing process is less intuitive to follow
I would highly appreciate a feature that improves visual orientation for students, for example:
a visible pen movement (cursor or trail), or
a virtual pen tip displayed while writing
Ideally, the virtual pen could also match the currently selected ink color, so students can already see which color will be used before writing begins.
This would make Goodnotes much more effective for teaching and classroom use, bringing it closer to the advantages of a document camera, where students can clearly follow the writing process.