Christopher Harper, CPA, clinical affiliate at the School of Accounting, Seidman College of Business, at GVSU, has recently written an article for Strategic Finance Magazine. In the article he focuses on his move from one profession to another, while highlighting the use of lightboard videos with the goal to better personalize teaching and supporting a flipped classroom.
Chris provides excellent advice in the article and focuses on quality teaching principles.
We have included the following excerpt to share how eLearning and Emerging Technologies is coming along side faculty at GVSU to help transform teaching and learning:
Progressive instructors embrace technology in the spirit of continuous improvement. I utilize light board videos so students can absorb concepts outside the classroom on their own schedules. You can obtain a sense of the light board experience by viewing my cost-volume-profit (bit.ly/HarperCVP) and financial statement analysis (bit.ly/HarperFSAnalysis) videos.
I am currently expanding my video library with the plan to “flip” my Principles of Accounting class in the fall 2019 semester. A flipped classroom will require students to view lectures outside the classroom, thereby allowing more hands-on, practical experiences when we meet in person. Recall the suggestion that effective instructors seek student feedback; flipping the classroom was inspired directly by insights gleaned from my student evaluations.
An example of Professor Harper’s light board demonstration video
It’s important to know each student individually. Learning student names is just the beginning. An instructor can enrich the educational experience by understanding each person’s learning style, hurdles, and natural approaches to problem solving. Personal knowledge helps an instructor craft relatable, meaningful examples that circumvent roadblocks (see “A Student’s Perspective: Tessa Keena, CPA”, below).
Interested in learning more about lightboard videos, flipped learning, or the Blackboard Class Photo roster to help learn your students’ names to personalize your teaching? Check out the following resources from eLearning and Emerging Technologies:
On Thursday, January 17, Justin Melick, digital media developer, presented and shared GVSU’s experiences with building and using lightboards to enhance teaching and learning.
Digital Media Developer, Justin Melick, presenting live for the ETOM Meet Up in the Seidman College of Business eLearning Studio
Justin brought the idea for a lightboard to GVSU and built the first one back in 2015. Since then over 30 instructors have taken advantage of the lightboard in in their online, hybrid, and in person courses. To date, there have been over 500 videos created by faculty at GVSU!
Here is professor Becky Bergakker talking about the benefits of using lightboards in her courses.
Lightboards are available on the Allendale Campus in the Kindschi Hall of Science (KHS), downtown in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) and coming soon to the Seidman College of Business (SCB).
Video is becoming an important tool in teaching. The value of video to support traditional classes, online/hybrid courses, and “flipped classrooms” has rapidly increased at GVSU.
With over 100 videos being created in the past year, the Digital Studio, along with digital media developers, Justin Melick and Hunter Bridwell have been busy!
Lightboard videos are engaging and an innovative approach to a standard “screen recording”
In a nutshell, Lightboard videos are created when an instructor writes on a glass panel with flourescent markers that are lit by LEDs. This creates a unique display as compared to the typical whiteboard recording that is common in many instructional videos such as those from Khan Academy.
The benefit of the Lightboard is that students can also view the instructor which increases teaching presence and the inclusion of the non-verbal instructor cues that are so important.
Here are a few example videos of professors at GVSU who have used the Lightboard:
Ready to start creating you own Lightboard videos? Here is how to get started:
Meet with one of our Digital Media Developers, Justin Melick (melicjus@gvsu.edu) or Hunter Bridwell (bridwehu@gvsu.edu) to get a tour of a ligthboard studio and set a date to record your first video!
Use our planning document to lay out what you want to present during your lightboard video. This document helps you plan what you will write on the board and how to space that content in a way that is more meaningful and easy to understand.
Come and record your first video! Usually faculty will take a half hour to forty five minutes to record their first five to seven minute lightboard video. After a few presentations most people get used to the format and can create five to six videos in an hour.
eLearning Technologies @GVSU 