Pencasting can be used by students to produce a multimedia representation demonstrating what they learned. Math teacher Julie McLeod took a practice test from the Texas TAKS standardized test and assigned each problem to a student to solve in a pencast.  Julie posted the pencasts to her Livescribe Online account and then used the embed feature to make the pencast appear on her web page accessible as a study resource for all students.   …

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Annotating your notes is a great way to clarify key points or add in additional content after class.  A great pencasting strategy for creating annotated notes is to only write out key points during instruction with a significant amount of space between each note (see the green text in the image below).

After class, review your notes and fill in additional information. If you pause your pencast to fill in the additional notes, …

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One effective note-taking method is The Cornell System, which was designed by Walter Pauk from Cornell University. This concept breaks dot paper into three sections: the cue column, the notetaking area and the summary area. The image below outlines where each zone is located on the dot paper.  The only zone used during class time is the note-taking area intended for taking notes during instruction.

After class students review their notes and identify key questions that the notes answer. …

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Mapping is a way to condense material visually to show relationships between concepts. A map is a diagram of the major points and significant sub-points that support a topic. In the example below, we highlight different uses for pencasts.

The purpose of mapping as an organizational strategy is to improve memory by encoding information in a highly visual way. By mapping with pencasts, you also preserve the out-loud narrative of your thoughts with the map for later access. …

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Use the video above or step by step directions below to learn how to add a watermark image to a Pencast PDF so that your worksheets, study guides, or other content is visible in your pencasts.

Download a PDF of the following directions or keep reading this post to learn how. …

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