Using a Lightboard to Flip the Classroom.

The flipped classroom is a teaching approach where students learn fundamental knowledge at home at their own pace. Class time is used to practice and to perform group work.

I used a lightboard to create appealing videos that teach students fundamental knowledge at home. A lightboard is a piece of architectural glass that was framed and lid on the perimeter. The instructor writes with a fluorescent marker on the glass while he is being filmed through the glass. From the students' perspective the instructor directly writes on their screen while he can maintain eye contact with his audience.

I created videos that are five to seven minutes long to keep the students engaged. After each video the students take a quiz to test if they understood the concepts of the video. Students need full points in their quizzes to continue with the next video. However, they can re-watch videos to improve their score. This is similar to the learning goals in Khan Academy and undacity.com.

In class, I help students to solve real world applications of the content that they have learned at home watching videos (Team and Project Based Learning). For example, we discuss stormwater management and dimension rain gardens as an application of infiltration.

These videos can also be used without modification for online teaching. The videos allow to address undergraduate and graduate students separately in split-level classes if a content learning system like Canvas is being used.