Work has been underway at the University of Sheffield during the past academic year to develop two novel approaches for recording hand drawn demonstration. This session will share findings from both approaches - the ‘talk and chalk’ lecture capture system for use in face to face lectures, and the ‘lightboard’ - a glass chalkboard pumped with light that can be used to create instructional video content.
Many disciplines, such as Engineering and Science typically rely on drawings, equations and diagrams to help explain difficult concepts to students. Traditional demonstrational methods, such as blackboards have been used for hundreds of years - the first entry for blackboard appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1739, and it is still a very popular teaching method. Indeed, for many such subjects, content which is “written on the board” by the instructor contains the bulk of the pedagogical narrative of the lecture. However, capturing and recording content created on blackboards and whiteboards is not a trivial matter, and the perennial problem with these methods of demonstration is that the instructor has their back to the learners.
This session will explore the current and future possibilities afforded by the lightboard, a reimagined chalkboard to create flipped learning resources. The teacher faces the audience, the hand drawn demonstration on a large canvas is captured live, and there is very minimal post production involved. It will also look at the results from the chalk and talk lecture capture pilot - an experimental approach using HD cameras to capture blackboards in lecture theatres.