SUCCESS STORIES
Lecture Delivery and Live Broadcasting
The University of Alabama
Introduction
Live Tutoring
The University of Alabama is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831. The university offers programs of study in 13 academic divisions leading to bachelor’s, master’s, education specialist, and doctoral degrees.
My name is Diana Leung. I graduated with a PhD in Chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin, where I worked on supramolecular sensors with Prof. Eric Anslyn. I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of The University of Alabama. I mostly teach general chemistry, nursing and allied health chemistry, and organic chemistry courses to undergraduate students from a variety of majors in their first and second year.
Challenge
Not Effective Traditional Whiteboards
Chemistry is a very visual discipline. Students not only need to learn the topics discussed (reactions, mechanisms), but also the language in which we discuss them (chemical structure drawings, arrow-pushing mechanisms). These are traditionally presented through handwritten drawings of chemical structures and mechanisms. However, a growth in enrollment at our institution has caused us to move these classes to larger lecture halls where traditional whiteboards are not effective due to the sheer size of the room (400 seats). I have replaced traditional whiteboards with electronic solutions projected through the room’s video projection system. This allows me to use handwriting and drawing instead of pre-prepared slides, and yet reach all students in attendance.
Solution
Multiple Whiteboarding Setup
I use it mostly for live delivery of lecture content. I draw on my iPad using a stylus (typically an Apple Pencil) and share the Explain Everything screen (in “external monitor” mode) through either an Apple TV that is connected to the room’s multiple independent projectors (for in-person lecture) or, through a dedicated application on my laptop, to an online audience through e.g. Zoom or other content delivery methods. This setup allows me to show students both pre-prepared material (e.g. importing slides, clipart, figures) and live drawing and handwriting. I also record my live lectures with audio for possible future reuse and sometimes to post online for students.
Electronic Whiteboard Options for Online Lectures: iPad & Zoom. Read more
Why Explain Everything?
My existing experience using Explain Everything in large classrooms for in-person instruction in the past has allowed me a much easier transition to online instruction when the COVID pandemic forced us to transition our classes online, starting in Spring 2020. I was able to continue to provide live, handwritten content, simply by sharing the Explain Everything output through our live web conferencing / lecturing tool. This allowed me to still offer live classes to students on the same schedule we would normally have used for the in person class. This provided students with helpful structuring of their learning efforts and significantly higher attendance and participation when compared to other courses at our institution that offered pre-recorded lectures.
Explain Everything for Education
Increase engagement among students with the interactive whiteboard.
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