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USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

news.usc.edu

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Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#61

Post by jedimastert »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #59

Several of the comments here are of the "that's not so special" variety. Let us remember, she's an Economic major, not an engineer. Let us also remember, she actually built AND shipped.

> Let us also remember, she actually built AND shipped.

It's funny how much further this is than the side projects of so many here (myself included)

For me this is one of those 10,000 things. We can either dismiss it, or share in the joy of learning something new and sharing our own lessons. Teachers learning OBS will be as much of a game changer as teachers moving from overheads to powerpoint, I think.

Also, I feel like this is super indicative of the gate-keeping mentality a lot of IT and tech people have around "not-cutting-edge" technology. Even if it is nothing new, let's be the resource

Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#62

Post by jedimastert »

ianbooker wrote: post #12

OBS is really the big enabler in (my) online teaching at the moment. I use an IPad with a drawing app, I draw on a predefined colored canvas and overlay it in OBS with a chromakey filter. If that is available to you, it is even cheaper. But then again, I am looking slightly down while writing..

OBS is going to be such a game changer for anyone in education, I feel like it's going to be as big of a leap from over heads to power point

Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#63

Post by [deleted] »

ianbooker wrote: post #12

OBS is really the big enabler in (my) online teaching at the moment. I use an IPad with a drawing app, I draw on a predefined colored canvas and overlay it in OBS with a chromakey filter. If that is available to you, it is even cheaper. But then again, I am looking slightly down while writing..

[deleted]

Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#64

Post by mlok »

chasingthewind wrote: post #50
ComodoHacker wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the past century, glass chalkboards and reverse writing were actually used in the military, mainly in air defense. Specially trained writers were putting objects scanned by radars on the board with coordinates and related info, while officers were reading them from the other side.

My late grandfather was a Radarman in WWII and learned to do this.

Leonardo Da Vinci used to write backwards in his notebooks, in order for his ideas and secrets not to be stolen.

Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#66

Post by ryantgtg »

mlok wrote: post #64
chasingthewind wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My late grandfather was a Radarman in WWII and learned to do this.

Leonardo Da Vinci used to write backwards in his notebooks, in order for his ideas and secrets not to be stolen.

As a left handed person, it’s pretty easy for me to write backwards. It feels like something in my brain wants the letters and words to go that way, even though I never practice.

Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#67

Post by nomilk »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #59

Several of the comments here are of the "that's not so special" variety. Let us remember, she's an Economic major, not an engineer. Let us also remember, she actually built AND shipped.

And it's made all the more important by the lack of software allowing economists to graphically demonstrate economic concepts on the fly. The best digital substitute is probably a graphic design program (like skitch or gimp), and most economists would not be competent graphic designers, at least not without practice.

Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#68

Post by indigochill »

jedimastert wrote: post #61
HumblyTossed wrote: post #59

Several of the comments here are of the "that's not so special" variety. Let us remember, she's an Economic major, not an engineer. Let us also remember, she actually built AND shipped.

> Let us also remember, she actually built AND shipped. It's funny how much further this is than the side projects of so many here (myself included) For me this is one of those 10,000 things. We can either dismiss it, or share in the joy of learning something new and sharing our own lessons. Teachers learning OBS will be as much of a game changer as teachers moving from overheads to powerpoint, I think. Also, I feel…

>Even if it is nothing new, let's be the resource

Talking with non-engineers (particularly friends of mine who work in non-profits), I see incomprehensible amounts of potential value in just increasing the uptake of "not-so-special" tech among people who consider themselves "non-technical". That's the point of technology, after all: not being fancy unto itself, but actually doing stuff that people need, whether that's wheels enabling long-distance transportation or lightboards enabling better long-distance education.

I'm reminded of this brief but profound interaction in the pilot episode of "Halt and Catch Fire": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQLbi4VXYcA

Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#69

Post by FoldMorePaper »

indigochill wrote: post #68
jedimastert wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let us also remember, she actually built AND shipped. It's funny how much further this is than the side projects of so many here (myself included) For me this is one of those 10,000 things. We can either dismiss it, or share in the joy of learning something new and sharing our own lessons. Teachers learning OBS will be as much of a game changer as teachers moving from overheads to powerpoint, I think. Also, I feel…

>Even if it is nothing new, let's be the resource Talking with non-engineers (particularly friends of mine who work in non-profits), I see incomprehensible amounts of potential value in just increasing the uptake of "not-so-special" tech among people who consider themselves "non-technical". That's the point of technology, after all: not being fancy unto itself, but actually doing stuff that people need, whether that'…

I know it's a bit corny but this scene gives me chills and this reference is perfect!

Re: USC professor’s DIY online teaching hack to engage students goes viral (2020)

#70

Post by mncharity »

nyc wrote: post #53

The principle behind why the writing glows (i.e., totally internally reflected light from the LEDs in the plexiglass getting scattered by the ink) is also how some of the earlier multi-touch systems worked (like the one in Jeff Han's 2006 TED talk). So, with the right software, it might be possible to convert one of these DIY lightboards to support input (maybe to change slides or something).

Perhaps use hand tracking[1] to get candidate finger-tip positions, to simplify using the FTIR touch blobs for contact detection and precision position?

[1] https://viz.mediapipe.dev/demo/hand_tracking Web demo - run button is top right.

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