Virtual Flipchart Technology

What is a virtual flipchart?

A virtual flipchart allows the display of many pieces of information simultaneously, using the concept of “flipchart pages”.  The pages are displayed by multiple projectors and controlled by a central easel.  The Thunder™ virtual flipchart system used in this research also replicates the easel interface on tablet PCs. This allows free-form interaction such as the writing of notes, drawing of diagrams and contribution of pictures to occur from the learners' seats.

The Question

Can student involvement in seminars be improved by the use of planned, technology-supported scenarios, and can the quality of these scenarios be assessed?

The Research

Dr. Brett Bligh has been working with staff in the School of History and the School of the Built Environment to develop this research report .  You can also listen to him talking about multi-screen display systems in the video on this page.

Brett recently collaborated with Dr Katharina Lorenz from the Department of Classics on a paper entitled From comparative viewing to non-linear learning with pictures: using multi-display environments in Higher Education for the Society of Research in Higher Education (SRHE) Conference 2009.

Read a paper entitled On the use of multiple display, in-room collaboration systems to promote free response formative discussion between learners and tutors in small group seminars co-authored by Brett and VLL intern LiShan Shan.