Re: [Phys-l] presentation graphics (was whiteboarding ...)

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 04/29/2012 02:54 PM, Derek Chirnside wrote:
> Thinking about whiteboarding in physics classes - has anyone ever tried to
> use an in class document camera connected to a datashow for small group
> presentations back to a class.
> Hypothetically setting up camera to capture and display an A3 area,
> providing A3 paper and felt markers to a class. . . .

1) Note that there was recently a long-running discussion of whiteboarding
 over on the PHYSLRNR-LIST.
    http://listserv.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=PHYSLRNR-LIST


2) As for the document-camera idea:  That wouldn't be my first choice.

 *) The low-tech time-honored way of preparing graphics is to draw on 8.5x11 
  acetate sheets ("foils").  To present to the group, use an overhead projector.
  This is how things are done in the real world ... and it works just fine for
  students.
    -- I recommend the so-called "permanent" pens.  That's because if you
     use the water-based pens, you wind up with ink on your fingers and
     fingerprints on your foils.  You can make corrections to the so-called
     permanent drawings using alcohol as a solvent, which is known to be not
     particularly toxic in the quantities we are talking about ... in stark
     contrast to the xylene and toluene they use for the whiteboard markers,
     which I prefer to avoid.

 *) The high-tech approach is to make the original graphics on the computer,
   using inkscape (free) or Adobe Illustrator ($$$).  Again, this is how
   people do things in the real world.

   Drawing stuff on the computer is slower than drawing freehand, but produces 
   niftier results.

   When I get invited to give a talk somewhere, I take colored pens and blank 
   foils with me, in case somebody asks me a question that requires me to
   extemporize.  I put the blank foil on the projector and draw as I'm talking.
   It's like drawing on a chalkboard, except that I have the option of taking
   the foils home with me and transcribing them (if they're worth it).


3) Just to be clear:  I'm not totally opposed to the idea of whiteboards.
  The last whiteboard I bought was 4 feet high by 30 feet long, installed
  in a hallway, so people could congregate and collaborate.

  I just don't see the point of passing out small whiteboards to students,
  because AFAICT that doesn't solve any problem that couldn't be solved 
  easier and better by other means.