How to teach physics online on a whiteboard: a series-circuit lesson, step by step

What a physics tutor does on a whiteboard

Physics tutors who write about their setups on r/TutorsHelpingTutors describe a short list. A UK physics tutor in January 2024 asked how to run online lessons; one reply says Zoom's whiteboard plus screen-share annotation works very well, another uses a laptop with a digital pen, and a full-time maths and physics tutor lists two screens, a USB mic, a webcam and a drawing pad, with Zoom for the lesson and Miro for the whiteboard, which they call a poor fit and say they are open to alternatives. Those habits turn into four jobs for the board:

• Draw the diagram. A circuit, a force diagram or a ray sketch, drawn live so the student sees the order.
• Write the working. Formula, substitution, answer with units, one line at a time.
• Let the student take the next problem and write it in their own colour.
• Mark up the real worksheet. Import the student's PDF and write on it instead of retyping the problem.

A tablet or pen tablet makes diagrams much faster to draw than a mouse. A physics and engineering tutor in a February 2025 thread has used a screenless Huion tablet for five years. See which pen tablet to buy, which has a forces-on-a-ramp board, and online tutoring setup.

A series-circuit lesson in five steps

OpenStax College Physics 2e, section 21.1, teaches resistors in series this way: the total resistance is the sum of the individual resistances, the current comes from Ohm's law, and the voltage drops across the resistors add up to the battery voltage. The board above follows that order with our own numbers:

1. 1Draw the circuit: a 12 V battery with 2 ohm, 4 ohm and 6 ohm resistors in one loop.
2. 2Add the resistances: 2 + 4 + 6 = 12 ohm. In series the total is the sum.
3. 3Find the current with Ohm's law: I = V / R = 12 / 12 = 1.0 A. The same current flows through every resistor.
4. 4Find each voltage drop with V = I × R: 1.0 × 2 = 2 V, 1.0 × 4 = 4 V, 1.0 × 6 = 6 V.
5. 5Check: 2 + 4 + 6 = 12 V, the battery voltage. If the drops do not add up, something is wrong.

Then it is the student's turn: a 10 V battery with 2 ohm and 3 ohm in series. The total is 5 ohm, the current is 10 / 5 = 2 A, and the drops are 4 V and 6 V, which add to 10 V. The common trap is dividing the battery voltage by one resistor (10 / 2 = 5 A). The red note on the board names it: use the total resistance of the loop.

Drawing physics on Instaboard

On Instaboard you draw diagrams and write equations with the pen, like a whiteboard in a room. Here is what that means, so you can decide before the lesson:

• Hand-drawn diagrams. Circuits, force diagrams, ray diagrams and graphs are pen drawings. The circuit on the board above is drawn stroke by stroke.
• Hand-written equations. Formulas, substitutions and units are written, not typed. Equation cards typeset a formula if you want one to stay tidy.
• Graphs. Draw them by hand, or use the Desmos widget, which shows a snapshot on the board and opens the full calculator when you edit it. It needs an internet connection.
• The worksheet. Import the PDF and write on it. Each imported PDF uses one of the 5 free boards.

When screen share or a simulation is the better choice

• You just need to annotate a screen. A tutor in an August 2025 thread teaches maths, physics, chemistry and test prep by drawing on a shared screen with a USB drawing pad. They say students can draw too but it doesn't add much; students usually text a picture of their work and they go through it together. If that is how you teach, a shared board adds little.
• You want students to experiment with a circuit. PhET's Circuit Construction Kit: DC simulation lets learners build circuits and use an ammeter and voltmeter, and its page says HTML5 simulations run on iPads, Chromebooks, PC, Mac and Linux. Share your screen and use the board for the working.
• You need to draw to scale or plot a function. A graphing tool is better; the Desmos widget on the board is the nearest option.
• You want a recording of the lesson. Instaboard does not record.

Instaboard fits when you teach by drawing and working problems, you want the student to write the next step, and you want the call, the diagram and the working on one link.

Use the lesson board in five steps

1. 1Open the physics board above and make it yours.
2. 2Send your student the link, or press Call on the board so the lesson runs in one place. They sign in free once to write.
3. 3Swap in your topic. Replace the circuit with the diagram you are teaching and write the formulas you need where you both see them.
4. 4Let the student take the next problem and write it in their own colour.
5. 5Leave the board open as the revision sheet and start the next lesson from it.

The same pattern works for other subjects: how to teach math online and an online whiteboard for math show it with a graph and a worked example.

What Instaboard doesn't do for physics

• No simulations, no circuit editor, no physics engine. Diagrams are hand-drawn ink.
• No typed LaTeX editor. Equation cards typeset formulas; the working on the board above is written by hand.
• No built-in graph plotter. The Desmos widget is the graphing option and needs a connection.
• Whole-stroke eraser only. You cannot rub out part of a line; erase the stroke and redraw it.
• No recording of the lesson, no class mode, no scheduling.
• Students sign in to write. Anyone with the link can view; writing needs a free sign-in. Free calls run 60 minutes.
• Free covers 5 boards. Each imported PDF uses one of them. Pen strokes do not count toward the 150-item limit; cards and lists do.

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