On school exams, it is possible to use a drawing tablet, if your lecturer has chosen it.

This page gives you a description of the drawing tablet used in school exams, and guidance on how to use the tablet.

Contact NTNU Hjelp if you have any questions that are not covered on this page and that your lecturer cannot answer.

The drawing tablet

The tablet used in school exams is Wacom One. It is easy to use and has no buttons (except On/Off). You use the pen that comes with it to draw and write. The tablet is not a touch screen, so your hand cannot interfere while resting it on the tablet during drawing.

It acts as an additional screen, and the pen as a mouse. The normal mouse will also work on the tablet. The two screens – the PC screen and the tablet – are connected, and you can drag program windows from the PC screen down/over to the tablet.

The tablets are connected to NTNU's examination PCs and cannot be used with the private PCs. You cannot use your own tablet in school exams.

The software

The standard program used for drawing is Microsoft Power Point, unless your lecturer has chosen another one. It is easy to add new slides when you want to continue your drawing on a new page. Blank, lined and grid slides are available.

In the Draw menu you will find various drawing tools, pen, eraser, and ruler, for example. You can also experiment with the "Ink to Text" function if you have written text by hand.

Submission

The file is uploaded in the test in Inspera, as you know from home exams, for example. Generally, there will be a file upload for each task that involves drawing tablet. In some cases, the lecturer chooses to merge several drawing tasks into one upload, and you then have these in the same file.

It is up to you whether you want to upload continuously during the exam, or to do it at the end of the exam.

Drawing tablet manual 

Click here to download the manual for using the drawing tablet. It guides you on how to use the tablet together with PowerPoint, save your file and upload it in Inspera.

The manual will be available on the exam too, but we recommend you familiarize yourself with it in advance.

Presentation of the tablet

Each semester, students have the opportunity to visit the exam rooms to familiarize themselves with the use of drawing tablets in school exams.

Note: If no date has been set for the current semester yet, please check this page regularly for updates

Autumn semester

Date will be announced in autumn 2025.

The presentation is part of Open Day (where new students are introduced to the school exam at NTNU). If you are not a new student, you can come and try out the drawing tablets.

Spring semester 2025 

April 8th, from 9:00 to 11:00 and 12:30 to 14:00 (Trondheim and Ålesund)

April 10th, from 9:00 to 11:00 and 12:30 to 14:00 (Trondheim and Gjøvik)

Students can use drawing tablets on school exams, if you register this as an IT need. These can largely replace paper hand drawings and have clear advantages.

This page gives you a description of drawing tablets for school exams and guidance on how you as a lecturer should approach the usage of them on exam.

Please also read the page for students to get more information and an understanding of the student perspective on the use of drawing tablets.

Contact NTNU Help if you have any questions that this page does not cover.

How to register drawing tablets for your course

You order drawing tablets as an IT requirement for school exams via an examination-responsible study consultant at your department. Please note the following points.

Deadlines for registering for IT requirements

Drawing tablets for school exams must – like other IT requirements – be ordered the semester before the semester in which they are to be used. The IT requirements in a course are automatically provided on future semesters, and you therefore do not need to re-order each time.

Drawing tablets for fall semesters: April 30

Drawing tablets for spring semesters: September 30

The stock of drawing tablets

NTNU Gjøvik: 124

NTNU Trondheim: 602

NTNU Ålesund: 126

Courses with more students than there are drawing tablets must unfortunately be rejected.

The advantages of drawing tablets over paper hand drawings

When students use drawing tablets instead of making paper hand drawings, they get advantages such as:

• Correcting their work, and thus not starting over (paper hand drawing must be made with pen)
   
• Possibility to multiply and reuse drawings etc.
   
• Drawing on an element that the lecturer has made available in the test, for example a coordinate system, a map, a drawing, etc. (see description further down on this page)
   
• Training in using a modern tool, which they will certainly use in their working life afterwards
   
• For graders: immediate possibility for grading the assignment in its whole

The drawing tablet

The drawing tablet used in school exams is Wacom One. It is easy to use and has no buttons (except for On/Off). You use the pen that comes with it to draw and write. The tablet is not a touch screen, so your hand cannot interfere with your work when you rest it on the tablet.

The tablet functions as an extra screen, and the pen as a mouse pointer. A regular mouse can also be used on the tablet. The two screens – the PC screen and the drawing tablet – are an extension of each other, and students drag program windows from the PC screen down/up onto the tablet.

The tablets are only connected to NTNU's desktop PCs and cannot be used with private computers. Students cannot use their own drawing tablet or tablet on school exams.

Software

The program used for drawing is Microsoft PowerPoint, unless you order something else. It is easy to add new slides when students want to continue their tablet answer on a new page. It is a standard PowerPoint template, where blank, ruled and grid slides are available. If you want to see the template, you can download it here.

In the menu option Draw, there are various drawing tools such as a pen, eraser and ruler. The students can also use the "Ink to Text"-function if they have written text by hand.

Design of the question set

Use the File Upload question type when creating the question set in Inspera Assessment. This is how students can import their work in PowerPoint into their assignment.

If there is more than one drawing task, choose one of the following formats:

1. For every assignment where tablet is used, a file upload is made. That is, one assignment per file.
   
   Advantages: A logical connection, where a drawing tablet assignment is placed where it belongs in relation to the overall assignment. During the grading, you will also see the tablet assignments where they belong chronologically.
   Disadvantages: With many tablet assignments (from about six and up), students can in few cases make mistakes when uploading.
    
2. All drawing tablet assignments are made in one file that is uploaded at the last drawing task, or at the end of the question set.
   
   Advantage: The student only must handle one file.
   Disadvantages: You, as grader, will not see the tablet assignments where they belong. This is particularly problematic if an assignment topic runs over several tasks/questions in a row.
   Example: If students are to write a text and then use the tablet, then you must click forward to the drawings and then click back again. This is in opposition to tablet assignments being paired with the writing assignment.
    
3. A few drawing tablet assignments are merged in a smaller number of files (this is something in between Design 1 and 2).
   
   Advantage: Students handle slightly fewer files
   Disadvantage: More or less the same as Design 2

For up to about five drawing assignments, it is recommended to create a file upload for each assignment (Design 1). For more than five, one of the other two designs can be considered. Often, however, Design 1 will still be a good choice.

Students are guided in the manual to save the tablet assignments as PDF files, this means that these assignments as can be viewed by you in Inspera; PowerPoint files on the other hand must be downloaded first. You can ensure that only PDF files are delivered by selecting them as the only allowed:

Click on the bar (1), remove the marking (2) and choose .pdf (3)

If students are to write text – or something else – and also draw, then add a File Upload right after the writing task, where they should write. Please explain in the writing task that they upload the drawing assignment when they continue. Note, it is possible for students to write smaller texts in PowerPoint as well.

Drawing on an image/element you have added to the question set

It is possible to upload a PowerPoint file in an assignment that students download and draw on. This could be an image, a coordinate system or a map. Students will then upload the same file, now with their answer included in it.

If you want to use this feature, click on the paperclip-button in the toolbar inside the task you want the file to be available on.

You may wish to use the PowerPoint file that is available further up this page. NB! Make sure the file is not a read-only.

Drawing tablets and paper hand drawings

Principally, when you register for drawing tablet in your course, then hand drawing on paper is not an option. It is easiest to deal with for all parties.

There may still be circumstances where you want the students to have the opportunity to work on paper as well. In that case, you must inform the study administration responsible for exams at your department. Although paper hand drawing is opted out, students can still require paper for drafting, if they want to.

Cover page info about drawing tablets

Insert this on the front page(s) under the point “Hand drawings” or “No hand drawings”:

Tegnebrett: I oppgave [X, Y, Z] er det lagt opp til å besvare på tegnebrett. Andre oppgaver skal besvares direkte i Inspera.

Teiknebrett: I oppgåve [X, Y, Z] er det lagt opp til å svare på teiknebrett. Andre oppgåver skal svarast på direkte i Inspera.

Drawing tablet: For question [X, Y, Z] you are meant to answer on drawing tablet. Other questions must be answered directly in Inspera.

Make sure to download the front page template again every semester: Cover page template for examinations 

Drawing tablet user manual

On the exam day, the manual must be available, and therefore you are asked to attach it as a resource in the question set. You do this in the bottom right corner, when you are in overview mode in the question set: 

It recommended to put the user manual on Blackboard, so that the students can glance at it before the exam.

Here is the user manual.

Testing the tablet - for you and for the students

If a group of teachers—or an entire department—is interested, the Unit for Learning and Technology (Department of Education) can visit you at your campus.

Each semester, students have the opportunity to visit the exam rooms to familiarize themselves with the use of drawing tablets in school exams.

Note: If no date has been set for the current semester yet, please check this page regularly for updates

Autumn semester

Dates for testing will be announced in Autumn 2025.

The presentation is part of Open Day (where new students are introduced to the school exam at NTNU). Students who are not new at NTNU can also come to try out the drawing tablets.

Spring semester 2025

April 8th, from 9:00 to 11:00 and 12:30 to 14:00 (Trondheim and Ålesund)

April 10th, from 9:00 to 11:00 and 12:30 to 14:00 (Trondheim and Gjøvik)