Stephen Dellaporta and Maria Kaliambou
Apr 19 at CSSSI

With the aid of special touch screens, stylus pens, and a variety of software applications, the uses of digital ink in the classroom for annotating documents, PowerPoint presentations, or free-hand (on an electronic whiteboard) has increasingly become more of a pedagogical tool for instructors. Join Professors Stephen Dellaporta and Maria Kaliambou as they demonstrate how digital ink has helped to improve their teaching and learning.

Summary:
Digital annotation tools have come to replace transparencies for annotation on class notes. Integral to teaching for a long time, annotating pre-made notes have allowed educators to teach more efficiently. Annotation allows the use of fine-tuned material instead of having to recall notes on the spot. Furthermore, relying on annotations allows users to go through more material quickly.

Digital annotation amplifies these benefits because annotated material can be easily disseminated via the Internet. Available software and hardware continue to improve, making digital annotation more natural and capable. For example, technology that allows handwriting software to discern intended markings versus accidental ones has dramatically improved users’ ability to write digitally. The output of digital handwriting has improved in appearance due to smoothing of paths and precision.

In this talk, Matt Regan, Stephen Dellaporta, and Maria Kaliambou talked about a variety of available software and hardware, such as Ink2Go, Skitch, and Wacom tablets, most of which can be obtained for free through Yale’s Instructional Technology Group.