It’s a simple setup: a sheet of plexiglass surrounded by a wood frame and LED lighting. Think of it as a glass chalkboard infused with light. When Nix draws on the board, her words and diagrams glow in front of her. She quickly assembled a small prototype and was thrilled with the result. When she posted a short video to her Twitter feed showing off her homemade creation, she expected a muted response. Thousands of people proved her wrong.
“It blew up,” she said. “If I had known 50,000 people were going to watch this, I might have not just rolled out of bed. One of my friends did tell me that kind of adds to the appeal, that I just thought this was cool and threw it on the web.”
Her lightboard hack is just one strategy Nix will employ to bring energy and innovation to her course this fall. She also taught herself how to create short and colorful animated introduction videos. She switches seamlessly among her PowerPoint slides, video clips and a live lecture feed. Next, she plans to dive into the world of breakout rooms, polls, online tests and other virtual learning tools — including those highlighted by the USC Center for Excellence in Teaching.