Sketchpad enhances medical and biological science education
Draw It to Know It (DITKI) is a premiere resource for medical and biological science education used by thousands of institutions worldwide. The website offers content ranging from high school AP courses to board preparation for medical professionals and beyond. DITKI was founded by Dr. Adam Fisch and has produced one of the most extensive collections of high-quality video tutorials and graphical resources in the medical education space. The platform is driven by the philosophy that concepts are best retained when students draw out ideas alongside a guided video lesson.
The Challenge
Sketch.IO was hired to replace DITKI’s existing drawing application with Sketchpad. DITKI’s vast collection of premium assets deserve to be supported by a drawing application capable of providing users with feature rich tools so students can get the most out of each lesson.
Drawing Atop of a Responsive Video Player
The ability for students to smoothly draw atop of the video player is one of the primary features of the platform. Sketch.IO developed a responsive video player designed to work on desktop and tablet devices with features such as speed and volume control, closed captions, and a smart pause which stops the video at critical points in the lesson giving students time to draw.
The video player is added as a special layer within Sketchpad which allows students the ability to paint atop of the player with any tool.
The Label Drawer
While larger structures can be traced using a mouse, finger, or stylus, it can be tricky for users to handwrite text. Students need a way to accurately label structures without getting bogged down by typing or trying to handwrite. As a solution, Sketch.IO developed the label drawer which gets prepopulated with terms from each lesson and enables users to drag and position a label on the canvas.
Label colors and fonts can be changed so students can categorize segments of their diagram.
Importing SVGs into Sketchpad Layers
Dr. Adam Fisch and his team have spent years developing quality videos and graphics for each lesson plan and have methodically organized each of their graphics into vector layers. Sketch.IO developed a new importing system for SVGs which converts the file into Sketchpad compatible layers.
Such a feature immediately increases the utility of DITKI’s resources by allowing students and professors to modify assets to their preference.
Recording Your Own Lesson Plans
Video lessons are a core feature of the DITKI product so it’s natural that professors would want to be able to record their own lessons. Sketch.IO developed a screen recording feature which enables professors to capture their screen and external microphone to create their very own lesson.