Revolution Lightboard

Lightboard photo

Located in the Materials Metrology, Characterization, and Learning Lab at 532 Benedum Hall lives the newest pieces of teaching technology to the MEMS Department. It is called the Revolution Lightboard and is primarily a large piece of glass, with additional components facilitating the functionality of what is essentially a see-through whiteboard. The additional components include; a video camera, microphone, speaker, lighting strips, control pad, and fluorescent markers.

Situated within black curtains to reduce reflections, two monitors are set on top of one another behind the large glass screen. The top monitor looks like a normal desktop, where the user can pull up PowerPoint slides or other files. The bottom monitor is used to view the presenter and board exactly as a recording would show them. Using the overlay feature, users can drag their documents from the top monitor down to a virtual monitor, showing both themselves and their presentation simultaneously. Additionally, users can write on the glass with markers just like a normal whiteboard. Though these hand-written notes seen through the glass would normally appear backwards in the frame, the computer automatically flips the whole frame to make the text readable to viewers. This combination of technology allows a presenter to create highly engaging reusable videos and takes problem-solving instruction to a new level.

Mechanical Engineering Professor, Hessam Babaee, is the pioneer lightboard user for the MEMS Department. In fact, it was he who suggested MEMS make the purchase. He recently started a YouTube channel where he will upload short, instructional videos on various topics relevant to the MEMS population and the classes they take.