Familiar classroom workspace — v0.33
Drawing tools start on the left; File, project, Class and Present are at the top. Zoom is lower left and Pages lower right. Insert, Format, Teach, Image, Arrange and Share are direct commands. Workspace offers Standard/Simple/Presenter, tool names and the existing docking/orientation choices. Students have Standard/Simple and a readable Request/Finish turn action beside Ask for help. Find a tool searches existing commands; press / on the board, then use keyboard arrows and Enter. Math Steps, fixed step navigation, inline text, own-work Undo/Redo, private boards and device recovery remain available. This update establishes a common interface for future grades/subjects; it does not expand the arithmetic solver.
Student Undo / Redo — v0.32
Undo mine and Redo mine are adjacent controls for own pen/highlighter marks, text additions/edits and erasures. The private-board disabled Undo bug is fixed. Histories follow the active Class/Private board, page and attempt. Ctrl/Command+Z undoes a board change; Ctrl/Command+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y redoes it. Finish inline typing first to use board-level Undo. Teacher pauses, submissions, revisions and clears remain authoritative. Teacher and peer marks are protected; changed records are not overwritten.
Autosave, recovery and clean reset — v0.31
Teacher work autosaves on this device, including unfinished text drafts. Resume work after a refresh, or use File → Recover recent work. File → Reconnect previous class restores the same authorized, unexpired classroom code and latest received student responses. New / reset board confirms all-page clearing, keeps a safety draft by default, and records a clean start. Drive projects and rosters are kept. A visible warning reports device storage failures. Save to Drive or download backups for protection outside this browser/device; clearing site data can remove local drafts. An offline reload may need the connection restored to load the app.
Classroom views and live preview — v0.30
Share problems privately creates independent copies of the current teaching-board page. Show class board gathers everyone while keeping their work; Return to private boards restores that same work. The Board selector assigns Class or Private per student. Preview is a teacher-only live view; Reveal or Show on class board deliberately shares one response snapshot. Use Present’s audience window for the TV: mirroring the entire teacher screen also shows private previews. Student rows retain Admit, Write, status and More actions. Four-digit codes still require school Google sign-in and teacher approval.
Format: text, drawing and image editing
Format replaces Style in the dockable toolbar. Tabs: Edit, Text, Draw, Image, Arrange. Text boxes offer 14 font choices, style presets, B/I/U/strikethrough, custom colors/highlights, justification, line spacing, lists, indentation, symbols, numeric superscript/subscript characters, case conversion and find/replace. Formatting applies per box; math columns remain fixed-width. Save/Cancel stay visible. Device fonts can fall back.
Select an imported image for brightness, contrast, saturation, opacity, grayscale, sepia and inversion. Preview, reset, cancel or apply; Undo restores the source. Flips are protected when annotations/attachments/shared writing could lose alignment. Existing crop/rotate/resize/layers tools remain. Draw offers brush-width presets and a one-tap board color picker. Edit offers internal teacher object/group copy/cut/paste, excluding student records. No DOCX/PSD editor, mixed-run styling, masks, blend modes or flood-fill tools are included.
Dockable toolbar and nested options
Click the dotted toolbar handle, or View → Toolbar layout and docking. Choose Top, Left, Right or Floating. Drag the handle to float/move it; use the chevron to collapse/expand. Compact icons hides names. Layout stays on this browser separately for teacher/student; Reset restores the top layout. Insert and Teach use expandable groups. Format → Draw / Options offers quick color swatches and stroke widths. Focus and fixed Math Steps controls remain available.
Notes, clipart, webpage snippets and video links
Insert → Notes, clipart and media adds sticky notes, 12 built-in clipart drawings, webpage/video link cards and clipboard images. Double-click a card to edit, or select it and use Object options. Open webpage/video launches a separate tab; it does not embed, download or record the media. Paste screenshots for webpage snippets, using the paste action, Ctrl+V/Cmd+V or image upload. Normal move, resize, rotate, undo and project saving apply. Full font formatting remains in the Text tool. Teaching aids also includes Triangle, Diamond, Hexagon and Speech bubble.
Handwriting row recognition and touch corrections
Math handwriting conversion and Math Steps now protect nearby number rows from being merged and retry uncertain digits with normalized stroke widths. The supplied 3278 − 2199 example reads correctly. In handwriting conversion, expand Correct a digit or symbol, tap a character and choose its replacement. The keypad preserves line breaks and supports arithmetic symbols. Keep the vertical-column and arithmetic-line options for stacked problems. This uses the existing local model; it does not learn from corrections or grade answers. Teacher review remains necessary for ambiguous or touching digits.
Shared instructions and lesson timer
Class → Instructions and shared timer, after starting a live lesson. Show a task (600 characters maximum) and start a shared 1–60 minute countdown. Pause, resume, add one minute, clear the timer or clear instructions separately. Approved students and the audience display see the current task/time; late joiners receive the current state. Students can collapse the instructions. Time ending does not lock writing or submit work. Connection loss freezes and labels the last display until reconnect. Live instructions/timers are not saved into board projects or replay clips; End lesson removes them.
My classes, rosters and admission
File or Class → My classes and rosters. Load your classes, create/edit a roster with Name,Email CSV rows, preview, then Save. Only the owning approved teacher can read saved rosters. Other teacher accounts and students cannot read them. Classes are separate from board projects; export CSV for a backup or explicit transfer. Limits: 20 classes per teacher, 100 students each; concurrent stale saves are rejected.
Class → Class and admission. Choose a saved class before starting. Optional roster-only entry is enforced by database rules; every account still waits for teacher approval. Decline/remove blocks that account in the session until you allow requesting again. Refresh active roster updates new requests but keeps existing approvals. End/restart to change the class or roster-only policy.
Shared-board writing queue
Students choose Request turn, cancel while waiting, or Finish turn when writing. Requests are separate from help. Teacher uses Class → Shared-board writing queue to invite the next or a specific writer, pause, clear waiting requests or continue a finished writer. Only one shared-board writer at a time; no automatic queue advancement. Finishing locks further shared marks until teacher re-grant.
Private boards remain independent. Shared-turn controls are hidden during an open private activity; close it before granting a shared writer. A disconnected student's stale request can be removed by the teacher. Rosters/queues do not automatically mark attendance or grade work.
Lesson replay and checkpoints
Teach → Lesson replay and checkpoints. Name and start a board-only recording. Stop with the visible board button. Preview with Play/Pause, Previous/Next, speed, slider or Space/Left/Right on the canvas. Playback leaves the working board untouched. Added pen strokes draw progressively when possible; other changes occur between frames and idle gaps are shortened.
Checkpoints save the current page and restore as new page copies. Clips/checkpoints save with the project and support export/import/removal. Optional audience replay uses the local second-display window, not student live boards. Student-attributed ink/private boards are excluded; review names in pictures/teacher text. No audio/video capture. Limits: 10 clips, 120 frames each, 30 checkpoints, 20 MB total replay data.
Exit tickets and teacher skill reviews
Teach or Class → Exit ticket. Enter a question and 1–6 comma-separated skill tags. Preview a frozen teacher page or blank board and send privately. Students see collapsible instructions, write/type and Submit work.
In private response Review, choose a teacher judgment per skill and save. Live review pauses the response; choose Try again or Mark complete. Teacher notes/judgments stay private; student feedback is separate. A new revision needs a new judgment. Existing private activities can also receive tags. This is teacher review, not automatic grading.
Teach → Teacher skill reviews searches/filters current revision summaries and exports CSV. Manage saved records exports/imports/removes selected private archives after ending the live lesson. Exports include student names/work/private notes. Save to Drive after removal; older Drive versions, backups and device drafts may still contain copies.
Reusable lessons and school sharing
File or Insert → Lesson library. Save the current page or a selected activity/group to My Drive lessons. Search by title, subject or grade; preview and insert an independent copy. Download/import reusable copies works without Drive. Save a new reusable copy for revisions.
Share with school is a separate preview-and-confirm action on a personal saved lesson. Only approved teachers can read school copies; only the owner can remove one. Student records/attributed ink/private archives are excluded. Check images and teacher text for names and answers. School copies have 20 slots per teacher, up to 1.5 million JSON characters each; personal files up to 20 MB. Existing quotas apply.
PDF import and worksheet printing
Insert → PDF pages. Choose a local PDF up to 20 MB and select up to 20 pages, such as 1-3, 5. Pages become worksheet images on separate board pages. Processing is local. Cancel or rendering failure leaves the board unchanged. End a live lesson before structural page changes.
File → Print / Save PDF. Build and inspect the preview. Choose current/all pages, portrait/landscape, all content/saved view. Worksheet mode hides generated math solutions/hints, but cannot remove answers inside images or ordinary writing. Optional teacher answer keys cover prepared Math Steps only. Print or Save as PDF uses the browser/system dialog; printing does not reveal steps or change the board.
Interactive Math Steps and scan review
Teaching mode: Demonstrate reveals steps; Guide alternates hints and steps; Practice resets the selected solution until the teacher unlocks it. Cover answers already in worksheets. Expanded form supports addition/subtraction in a separate diagram. More math tools includes base-ten exchanges (operands up to 999), board hints, private practice and class attempt notes.
Scan review offers character buttons, a correction keypad and alternate readings. Yellow marks disagreement/review need, not measured digit confidence. Teach → Recognition review history records corrected readings; it does not measure accuracy or add a new trained recognition model.
Layers, grouping and arrangement
View → Layers and arrange offers selection checkboxes, Group/Ungroup, alignment, names, locks and front/back order. Desktop Shift-click selects multiple objects. General groups preserve worksheet and solution attachments. Ungroup existing groups before combining. Optional grid snapping applies to dragging. Loose ink is selectable through a prepared Math Steps source group.
Private student boards and teacher gallery
Class → Private boards → Send current page privately. Start a live lesson and approve students first. Remove or cover answers before sending the frozen page copy. Students can work at the same time on their own boards; they cannot read classmates’ responses or erase teacher corrections.
Students choose Submit work when ready. Teachers filter the gallery, open Review, add pen corrections and feedback, choose Try again or Mark complete, and review saved attempts. Clear student marks keeps a copy of the attempt and preserves teacher corrections.
Present anonymously shows a Class example on the teacher board, audience window and student screens without account-name metadata. Check for names written in the work first. Stop presenting returns students to their previous view.
End the lesson, then Save to Drive. Saved private activities remain in the project independently of board undo/page deletion. Review them after the lesson and download an image or response backup. Student writes have device-queue retry and download/discard controls. Keep the teacher tab open during a live lesson; refresh does not reconnect that live room automatically.
Familiar controls and automatic recovery
File opens projects, recovery and settings. Insert adds worksheets, photos, text and shapes. Teach holds teaching activities. Class manages students. View controls zoom, contrast and touch settings; it is also available through File.
Pen writes; Hand moves the view; Select moves objects; Style changes ink color/width. Pages opens previews and page management. Icons with names are the default. V selects, H pans, P/B writes, E erases, T opens text, Space-drag pans temporarily, Ctrl/Cmd+Z undoes and Ctrl/Cmd+S saves to Drive.
Completed changes save automatically to a draft in this browser after a pause. File → Recover recent work resumes, downloads or deletes a draft. Saved on this device is separate from Drive status. Keep using Save to Drive for permanent copies and other devices; browser storage can be cleared. Full offline launch is not included.
Fonts and converted text
Text box includes font, size, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, color, highlight, alignment, line spacing and list buttons, with a collapsible preview. Formatting applies to the entire box. Double-click ordinary converted text to edit it directly, or choose Edit converted text / font inside Text box. Double-click a prepared math problem still opens Math Steps. Aligned math keeps its fixed-width columns and arithmetic lines.
Compact menus and Hide tools
The main workspace uses a small top bar, one drawing row and a page strip. File holds projects and settings; Insert adds media and teaching aids; Teach holds teaching activities; Class manages students; Style holds color/width. Selecting an object makes its options button available. Drawing tools scroll sideways on narrow screens and keep touch-friendly targets.
Hide tools maximizes the board; Show tools restores the rows. Live help/pause controls remain accessible. Previous/Next Math Steps stay in a floating strip, even when the full Math Steps panel is minimized. Double-click or double-tap the problem to resume its settings. Students also have compact tools, focus/restore and a persistent help button.
Student bookmark and teacher profiles
Students open the permanent student.html link from TLC Bookmarks, enter the code, and select Join lesson or press Enter. School Google sign-in may be needed on first use; an authorized sign-in is remembered in the Chromebook browser profile. Students see a waiting screen and class name until the teacher approves admission. Existing writing permissions stay in place.
Teacher sign-in identifies Mrs. D (Rebecca Durichek), Grades 3–4 Math; Shawn remains the administrator. Use the same account for Teacher sign-in and Drive. Teacher/class details save with projects and sessions; a project never grants teacher access. Mrs. Steimer (Ann Steimer) signs in with ann.steimer@tlcprep.org for Grades 1–2. Mr. Billy (Billy Wright) signs in with principal@tlcprep.org and chooses Grades 5–6 or 7–8. Shawn can select any of the four grade groups. Teacher assignments and school account eligibility are checked separately; student-only accounts cannot start live lessons. New grade-specific solvers are not added by these profiles.
Large board and movable problems
Each page is 12,000 × 7,000, with the starting view centered. Choose Select / Move and drag blank board space to pan. Drag an image or prepared problem to move that item. Board 100% returns to center; Fit board shows the full surface. Left Shift + scroll zooms from 10% to 400% with nothing selected, or resizes the selection.
Math Steps groups complete handwritten/converted source entries and symbols, with the fitted solution attached. Drag the problem or fitted steps to move them together; double-click or double-tap reopens saved steps and editing. Sources remain editable ink/text. Duplicate/Delete problem & steps acts on the complete group. Older native solutions upgrade when their original source remains available.
The audience and live student devices follow the teacher’s view. Live grouped marks retain student ownership and their record IDs for own-only undo/erase. Pause student writing before moving or resizing a problem or image. Save the project to retain groups and page views.
Left Shift + scroll zoom
Over the board, hold Left Shift and scroll up to enlarge or down to shrink. A selected image or aid resizes with its attached solutions; with nothing selected, the board view zooms around the pointer (10–400%). Use Select / Move and click empty space to deselect. Board 100% resets the view. Each page saves its camera with the project, and the audience window follows board zoom. Frozen images stay frozen; pause student writing before resizing a worksheet. Math Steps now has a staircase icon, distinct from Math Symbols.
Unified Math Steps and answer placement
Use Box problem / next problem on any visible content: images, handwriting, typed numbers and symbols combine. Solutions default to Over selected problem. Fit to selected problem works without a background image. Reliable vertical addition/subtraction uses aligned annotations with place-value highlights; other layouts use fitted diagrams. Choose Separate diagram if desired.
Regrouping labels are larger and stagger when needed. Answer box when detected centers and sizes the result in a bordered/dotted answer area; Under the problem keeps it below the operands. Set answer box lets you drag an area manually. Review recognition and placement, then save the project.
Handwriting with dragged symbols
Math conversion includes selected arithmetic symbols in its preview and keeps their exact operation in the matching number row. Replace the selected ink and symbols together, or choose Keep original. Recognition separates sloped arithmetic rules and checks complete digit readings before accepting an OCR alternative that omits digits. Review the result before applying.
Present and column alignment
Present offers a synchronized board-only audience window or fullscreen/mirror mode. With an extended desktop, move the audience window to the second monitor and click Full screen there; keep teacher controls on the original screen. Connect or select HDMI/AirPlay/screensharing through your device first. Keep the teacher board open in the same browser/profile.
Digit boxes are checked across both operands to repair misplaced columns. Resume an existing scanned solution after this update to regenerate its visual.
Mixed content and arithmetic symbols
Box native typed/converted numbers, handwriting and arithmetic symbol objects together in Math Steps. Exact typed numbers are read from their saved text rather than guessed by OCR. Math symbols adds draggable +, −, ×, ÷, = and arithmetic lines. Resize/rotate with handles and save with your project. Check the recognized expression before preparing steps.
Handwritten Math Steps and continuous writing
Write on the board, then choose Math steps > Box handwritten problem. Confirm the recognized expression and review steps before adding a retained movable diagram beside your handwriting. Original ink stays. Box & scan problem offers handwriting or a printed worksheet.
Allow writing stays enabled while the teacher draws, gives feedback, clears work or converts handwriting. Use Pause student writing explicitly. Switching writers, removal, expiry and ending the lesson also stop access. One student writer is supported.
Vertical math conversion
Math mode now right-aligns numeric rows, separates operation symbols and preserves long arithmetic rules. Check the formatted preview. Use one numeric row per line; choose Align vertical number columns and Keep/add arithmetic line. Horizontal expressions remain plain text. Reconvert existing entries to use this layout.
- Handwriting modes: Text mode reads letters and words without a math-only character filter. Math mode focuses OCR on digits and arithmetic symbols and adds a small local handwritten-digit neural network. Both compare original and tightly cropped ink, offer alternate readings, and require the teacher to review/edit the result. These tools transcribe; they do not correct the student's answer. Recognition of children's handwriting remains experimental; decimals, fractions, and complex layouts need careful review. - Visible help requests: The teacher's live status bar shows a persistent count even with the Live class dialog closed. New requests produce a notification, with an optional sound. Open the badge to acknowledge a request or invite that student to write. Students see “Help requested” until it is cleared and cannot send repeated requests while waiting. - Toolbar preference: Teacher and student devices can independently choose text buttons or compact icons. Mouse hover, keyboard focus, touch-and-hold, and the toolbar help list explain the tools. The preference is saved on that browser/device. Touch-and-hold shows help without activating the tool. - Updated feature guide: Help now links to a searchable guide rather than outdated descriptions of planned features.
Board and media: Multiple pages, imported images/photos, crop-to-problem, move, proportional resize and rotation handles, touch gestures, freeze/unfreeze, teacher pen/highlighter, whole-stroke eraser, undo/redo, image export and presentation view.
Math teaching: Box and scan one printed whole-number arithmetic problem, background cleanup, teacher confirmation, addition/subtraction/multiplication/long division, reviewed step explanations, fixed Next/Previous controls, transparent visual overlays, separate retained solutions, and double-click/double-tap resume. Vertical addition/subtraction can align marks to printed digits.
Worksheet attachments: Scanned solutions and attached aids follow the worksheet's movement, scale, and rotation; detach for independent movement. Teacher picture ink follows its picture.
Teaching aids: Arrows, lines, boxes, circles, stars, labels, numbered markers, number lines, base-ten blocks, place-value aids, fraction bars, answer covers, laser pointer, Math/Grammar/Science templates, teacher practice timer.
Project organization: Each teacher's Google Drive folders/subfolders/projects, rename/move, delete to Trash, saved versions, resume pages/images/steps, and portable project backups with recent undo/redo history. Optional Drive image picker requires its own restricted browser key.
Live classroom: Google school sign-in, invitation link/class code, teacher admission approval, shared board viewing, one student writer at a time, pause writing, lock entry, remove students, presence, persistent help queue, acknowledgement, teacher feedback, retries and attempt history.
Student input: Pen/highlighter, own typed text boxes, edit own text, undo own actions, erase only own entries during an authorized writing turn. Server rules enforce ownership and the current page/attempt.
Teacher review: Mark corrections, erase any current entry, remove one student's or all students' work on the current/all pages, preserve teacher material and attempt history, and convert selected ink to reviewed typed text.
Classroom limits to understand
- Automatic worked solutions currently cover two nonnegative whole-number operands up to 999,999, with +, −, ×, ÷. Subtraction needs a nonnegative result; division uses remainders. Decimals, fractions, equations with variables, and word problems are not automatic solver features. - Printed problem scanning and handwriting transcription are separate tools. Handwriting conversion reads only completely enclosed ink strokes, not handwriting inside an imported photo. It never grades an answer. - Only one student writes on the shared board at a time. Private student boards allow concurrent independent work; controlled shared group work remains planned. Student ink uses shared document coordinates; pause the writer before moving a worksheet or problem. - The original practice timer is teacher-side; Class now also offers a shared student countdown. Project saves are explicit. Live sessions expire after six hours; expired orphan sessions currently require cleanup. Ending a lesson removes its live room and keeps the work in the teacher project, which should then be saved. - Existing Firebase/Drive configuration is retained. This update adds no paid AI service or Cloud Function. Existing service quotas still apply; this is not a promise of unlimited free usage. - Interface, model, and regression checks were run locally. Google authorization and actual desktop, iPad, and Chromebook operation need a short school-device pilot after deployment.
Suggested enterprise roadmap
1. Reliability first: autosave drafts with clear saved/sync indicators, reconnect recovery, conflict handling, automated stale-session cleanup, and recovery drills. 2. School administration: administrator/teacher roles, approved rosters and class groups, managed enrollment, retention/deletion policy, audit history, and a documented backup/export process. 3. Classroom workflow: extend the implemented private boards/gallery/submit-revise workflow with controlled group collaboration and queued shared-board writing turns. Keep invitations, approval and moderation explicit. 4. Accessibility and usability: keyboard audit, high contrast, adjustable text, dyslexia-friendly display choices, classroom-tested Chromebook/iPad layouts, and simplified student controls by grade. 5. Assessment and integrations: extend the implemented exit tickets/teacher skill reviews with advanced rubrics, cross-project progress summaries and Google Classroom roster/assignment integration. Measure handwriting quality on anonymized, school-approved examples before choosing a stronger recognition service; offer reviewable results and a manual fallback.
Recovery, private boards, reusable lessons, PDF workflows, replay and teacher-reviewed exit tickets are implemented. Remaining recommendations include school-wide administration, group collaboration, advanced analytics, optional narration, integrations and classroom-device refinements. Pilot the current features before expanding further.