Azu Ike

Sometimes you just scratch your head and say, "how come I didn't think of that?" That's what I said to myself when I received the Betabook to review. The Betabook is a portable whiteboard bound between two covers to resemble a book. I received the small A4 Betabook with a black marker and fleece eraser to try out. For the past year I have really delved into sketchnoting and thought that I would give the Betabook a try. The Betabook is extremely portable and you would hardly know it was in your bag to carry it. Owing to the fact that it is an analog device-it is extremely easy to use, just open the Betabook take the cap off of the supplied dry erase marker and you are ready to go. The whiteboard surface is smooth, bright and easy to write on, with the fine point dry erase marker. I did go out to Staples and purchase a set of multi-colored dry erase markers to supplement the black marker that was included. The colors looked great on the Betabook and when it was time to ...

I think that we have all come to realize that using visuals is a great way to communicate ideas and processes. This is especially true when we need to communicate a series of steps to complete a process. While words and step by step directions can help us understand the process,I have found that for most students as well as adults having that visual support is a great way to ensure that everyone is on the same page and understands the steps needed to accomplish the task. I just recently was working with a school that will be utilizing the Boogie Board RIP to take digital notes and while using the Boogie Board RIP is a fairly easy, there are some important steps involved to do use it correctly so that the notes are recorded properly. Rather than write a long list of step by step directions, I decided to use Inspiration 9.1 to create  a visual that would explain the process. Having access to tools like Inspiration makes it easy for teachers to create great looking visuals that ca...