Touchcasting digital lecture notes

  • Authors:
  • James Dean Palmer

  • Affiliations:
  • Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
  • Year:
  • 2011

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Educators face a shifting landscape as students are beginning to expect that even traditional classes have an online component that allows learning to happen both in the classroom and on-line. But for many classes, simple text or slide presentations don't capture the thought processes and analytical steps instructors would like to convey to students. For quick and dynamic exercises it's difficult to best chalk or markers for developing adhoc diagrams, formulas, or definitions. In this paper we give an overview of several systems that can be used to capture synchronized writing and audio. We consider digital whiteboard solutions, pencasting solutions, and then describe our own iPad based stroke capture tool, Touchcaster. We have used Touchcaster in a computer science algorithms class and based on this experience we present an early study on the perceived usefulness of the system as supplemental online instruction material from both a student and instructor viewpoint.