Building a Lightboard

Learning Technologies at Emporia State University, recently has built a Lightboard, which can be used to record lectures and import into an online course. You can also use a Lightboard in a face-to-face course, though there are some other steps and equipment that are needed to accomplish this. Some departments at ESU have mentioned building their own lightboard and complete instructions with a parts list has been created to help those departments build one of their own. The directions are for a 6x4 lightboard therefore, if you are needing a smaller board or a board that could be used on top of a table, contact Learning Technologies for help in designing one that is specific to your needs.

First, why choose a Lightboard? This technology functions like a whiteboard, but video editing is minimal. This technology also allows your online students to see your face AND your instruction at the same time. Let's face it, staring at the back of someone's head during a lecture can be painful and obstructive to the content being presented. Having the lecturer's face visible through the glass while he/she writes on the glass is a step forward in engaging students in the online environment. PowerPoint or other media can also be displayed in the recording either through a piece of frosted transparency film OR through digital editing in post-production.

The Lightboard is really a tool to allow content to be displayed all the while the faculty members face is also seen. It allows instructors the ability to illustrate lessons with a diagram or explain a formula without blocking the written content with their bodies and without turning their backs to their students (Educause, 2014).

Contact Anna Catterson to receive a shared calendar to begin scheduling your recorded lectures OR if you wan to build your own Lightboard, follow these helpful guides:

1. 6x4 Lightboard Supply List
2. Preparing the Glass
3. 3D Printed Pieces
4. Construct the Frame
5. Connect the Electrical

Learning Technologies will be glad to assist you in developing your customized Lightboard, training on the Lightboard or just simply discuss ways in which the Lightboard can be adapted to fit your curriculum needs. 

Don't forget to Tweet your recordings or ideas at #ESULightitup! Let's see you Light it up!

Raspberry Pi

Anyone interested in a Raspberry Pi? Not the pie that you eat, bu the "Pi" that can be programmed to do a variety of things. The Raspberry Pi is a very low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV. It uses a standard keyboard and mouse and capable of running many programs using the languages Scratch and Python. You can do everything on it as you would a desktop computer from browsing the internet to playing video games to word-processing.

You can also use it to create an array of digital maker projects. You can make a weather station, CNC machine, soil and water testing and tweeting birdhouses through infra-red cameras and MUCH, MUCH MORE. The device costs around $35.00 and you can have the option of purchasing additional sensors for specific projects.

I'm looking for faculty who would be interested in piloting a Raspberry Pi for their discipline. If you  have a project that you think the Raspberry Pi would work well with, please contact me at acatters@emporia.edu. I'd love to help you with your project!

In the meantime, check out some of these great projects others have completed:

• Instructables
•  40 Cool Ideas for Raspberry Pi Project
•  7 Favorite Raspberry Pi Projects

CanvaBadges

Have you heard of Digital Badges? It's a graphical representation of a milestone or accomplishment that you can award to students in your class. Students can then show their badges on their Canvas page or they can add them to other social media sites. There are many third-party resources for this and Learning Technologies is currently researching a good platform for the college. Until then, our LMS, CanvaBadges, offers an easy interface to quickly upload a badge to your course.

This 9:00 video reviews how to add the LTI app to your course and how to get started created badges: