Author
Carrie Levin and Emily Boles. Editor: Scott Moomaw
Publish Date

A lightboard is a specialized teaching and presentation tool used primarily in educational and instructional settings. It is designed to help educators and presenters create engaging and visually appealing content while facing their audience and writing on a board.

How a lightboard works and what it does:

  • Transparent Surface: A lightboard consists of a large sheet of transparent glass or acrylic that is typically illuminated from the edge. The presenter stands behind the glass while writing or drawing on its surface.
  • Fluorescent Markers: To create content on the lightboard, the presenter uses fluorescent markers. These markers emit bright, visible colors that stand out against the illuminated background.
  • Writing and Drawing: The presenter writes or draws directly onto the glass surface. As they do this, the text or drawings appear as if they are floating in mid-air due to the transparency of the glass.
  • Reversed Image: The camera capturing the presenter's actions flips the image horizontally so that it appears correctly oriented to the audience. This reversal compensates for the natural left-right inversion that occurs when writing on a transparent surface.
  • Video Recording: The entire presentation on the lightboard can be recorded by cameras positioned in front of the presenter. This recording can be live-streamed or saved for later use, making it useful for creating educational videos, lectures, tutorials, and presentations.

Why lightboard videos can increase learning

Lightboard videos can be leveraged to employ Richard Mayer’s research on the 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning in multimedia learning.

  • The Temporal Contiguity Principle tells us that visuals and audio should occur at the same time. Be sure to narrate and explain while you draw!
  • The Signaling Principle tells us that people learn the most when they are told what to pay attention to on a screen. In a lightboard video, this means that you should consider underlining your words, changing marker colors, or gesturing with your hands.  
  • The Spatial Contiguity Principle tells us that related words and images should be near one another. Put this to use in your drawing and text on the light board.
  • The Redundancy Principle tells us that people learn best from graphics and narration. Having the text that you are speaking written verbatim on the screen decreases learning. Lightboard videos help us to avoid the PowerPoint trap of writing all that you say on the slide.
  • The Modality Principle tells us thatpeople learn best from visuals and spoken language. Use the lightboard to illustrate processes or draw diagrams. Limit the text you write on the lightboard.
  • The Pre-Training Principle tells us that people learn more efficiently when they get the basics first. Provide definitions for key terms before you dive into illustrating a complex diagram.
  • The Segmenting Principle tells us that people learn best in small chunks. Create narrow focused videos that do not exceed 5-7 minutes.
  • The Coherence Principle tells us that people learn well when we cut out extraneous material. Before you record, plan your video. Create an outline of what you will say and draw on the screen.

Ideas for using lightboards

  • Lectures and Course Content Creation: Professors can use lightboards to create engaging lectures and course content. They can write and draw diagrams in real-time while facing the camera, making complex concepts more understandable to students.
  • Demonstrations: Lightboards are great for demonstrating experiments, problem-solving processes, or step-by-step procedures. Professors can draw diagrams or write equations while explaining each step, enhancing comprehension.
  • Collaborative Projects: Students can use lightboards to create their own presentations or tutorials as part of group projects. This encourages collaboration, research, and creative content creation.
  • Review Sessions: Professors can use lightboards for review sessions before exams, summarizing key points, and clarifying difficult topics.
  • Research and Visual Data Presentation: Researchers can use lightboards to explain their findings visually and engage with their peers and students during presentations.

If you are interested in creating instructional videos using a lightboard, please contact Scott Moomaw, Multimedia Communications Specialist, at COLRS.

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