Chalkboard Art: How To Make Copy-Pasting Lecture Notes More Fun

This is a small collection of my chalkboard notes for university lectures by Professor J.P. at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japan). It could have been a mundane and brainless task to write the lecture notes on the board for students to copy as part of a teaching assistant’s job but I decided to turn it into an artistic and creative activity where I can use my understanding of the class contents (concepts, theories, narratives, etc.) and my drawing and calligraphic skills to render the notes. It usually takes a lot of discussion to finalize a version that works for both the professor and me but it’s totally worth it. Not to mention it is a great opportunity to practice writing and drawing, which I love dearly, in addition to studying humanities and social sciences.

Besides the immediate pleasures I get for myself in working on my chalkboard art, the board notes can actually help students brainstorm more in class while copying the notes to their notebooks. It requires them to seriously think to be able to engage what they hear from the lecturer and the key points written on the board so the level of understanding is boosted. And students by doing so can also come up with personalized ways to take notes on their own, instead of brainlessly copying from the board or the PPT slides. This novelty in delivering lectures is hoped to rejuvenate the classroom experience for students as well as the lecturers.

It’s rather new so there is still much room for improvements but the feedback we’ve got from students seem positive and promising enough to work harder on bettering the method. Who says being a scholar or an academic has to be rigid and boring? We all can be artists, too! Take a look!