VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY

Abstract

Chalkboards in classrooms have been the primary instructional technology for at least two hundred years. The embrace of computers in classrooms for both teaching and learning has slowly but surely relegated this time-tested technology to a tool of the past. The technology that has replaced it, projected powerpoints that is, is having dire pedagogical consequences, evident from incoherent content dissemination by teachers to poor attention retention of students. YDraw is a tool that is founded on the belief that a drawing surface is as effective a tool today as it has ever been, time-tested as it were. The governing principle for the teacher is simple, “write what you say and say what you write”. A consequent assurance to the student is, “process at the pace at which content is written”. YDraw has been used both in the classroom and in producing recorded online content (YouTube and Podcasts) for over for a decade now. The cumulative hours of content presented is over 5K. The author will demonstrate the tool, its core features that embrace the essence of a chalkboard and engaging productivity features like, replay, content presets, transparency, transcription etc. The primary use of the tool has been in teaching science, math and engineering concepts thus far, but as an pedagogical tool its reach is unlimited.