Touchcasting digital lecture notes

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.

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Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Enterprise computing

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

    • Interaction paradigms

      • Web-based interaction

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing education

      • Computing education programs

        • Computer science education