Behavior: Body/Physical

• III) How to Use Lightboard > b) Effective Lightboard Instruction > Behavior: Body/Physical

Breaking It Down: Examples Through Video Clips

The short video clips in this section - taken from one 11-minute video example - demonstrate several instructional best practices related to the instructor's physical movements and behaviors while giving a Lightboard lecture.

 

a) Narrating While Writing

Notice in the video clip below how the instructor comments and explains while writing content on the board vs. writing in silence and then stopping to explain. 

The instructor is also using 2 different marker colors here - and the marker switches are seamless because he was already holding the other marker in his non-writing hand. The visual difference in color combined with his verbal explanations helps the learner understand and differentiate the labels on the diagram he is drawing.

 

b) Eye Contact

Notice in the video clip below how the instructor makes eye contact with the virtual audience (i.e., looking directly at the camera) when he is not actively writing or looking at the content on the Lightboard. Making eye contact with the audience is one way lecturing with Lightboard feels like live teaching.

 

c) Staying on Mark & Framing

Notice in the video clip below how the instructor is mindful of the bounded area of the Lightboard. The instructor physically moves to another side of the board to start writing about a new topic, yet ensures his face is still being captured clearly by the camera. 

In this particular example, the instructor thought of the board as the right side and left side, planning out what he was going to write as two distinct chunks and leaving room for him to remain on mark with his face and body framed between and below the writing.

 

d) Contextual Gaze & Gesture

Notice in the video clip below where the instructor's gaze is on the board, and how gesture is used to highlight essential material. While gazing at and gesturing (pointing) to parts of another equation written elsewhere on the board, he signals that he's referencing the equation in order to write the new equation.

Related recommendations:

• Shift your gaze between the virtual audience and the board while lecturing, rather than solely looking at one or the other.
• When pointing, try to point from the side, not from the back, so that your fingers stand out against the black background.