Does it Make Sense Uploading Student Work as Whiteboard Images for a Dictionary?

[derrallg 0]

I teach in a Mandarin immersion program in which the students are learning both English and Mandarin with myself teaching English while my partner handles the Mandarin. I was thinking of having the students create a dictionary using whiteboards to capture the translation of characters to English or vise a versa and capturing the work with a camera. I would create a shared notebook and at least initially I would load the images myself. I've had students create something along these lines before using index cards and keeping them on a binder ring, and I was thinking that by doing it this way we could have a searchable database of current words that they are studying as well as a reference for later in the year when we were finished.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hi. I think this sounds like an interesting idea.

If you really wanted the handwriting, my own preference would be to write the characters on paper or an index card, photograph it with the iPhone, use JotNot or Scanner Pro to clean it up (and shrink it), and then upload to Evernote. Personally, though, I think separating the handwriting from your vocab list is the way to go. Writing the characters once won't help much anyhow. You really need to write them over, and over again.

Anyhow, if the goal is to learn vocabulary, Evernote Peek sounds far more useful in this context!

http://www.evernote.com/peek/

[derrallg 0]

Thanks for the response. It pushed me to think a bit further about the purpose and whys of using a whiteboard.

Really for me it is student ownership of content, not so much learning vocabulary, we have enough tools such as Peek for that as you mentioned.

From what I've seen in terms of using various media, the students love using whiteboard pens and the write/erase/re-write immediacy of their usage over something involving pens, pencils, which is one reason I was thinking it would be appealing. Also something I left out is that I will ask them to illustrate the concept or word as well, doing this with larger canvasses for a group project is easier, and I think students take less offense at content getting deleted whether accidentally or purposefully by group partners on a white board then a large sheet of paper.