Page 13 - ADU Campus Chronicles

13

Technology in Education

NodeBook in the classroom

Dr. Hatem Deif
Senior Instructor of Mathematics

Recently, AI has been used extensively in education as a powerful tool that
I have always believed that the order of pages and slides in our PPT or
PDF lectures is not the best way to present teaching and learning materials.
They do not show the hierarchy of interlinked topics and do not provide
easy navigation to the knowledge tree of our courses.
In 2018, I used Prezi to present my lectures (https://prezi.com/p/
w2uovzu1dfmu/probability-theory/). I liked the way I structured my chapter
as a tree and I liked the zooming interface to switch between topics.
However, I didn’t like the fact that each topic is limited to one slide where I
can’t add much content. I also tried mind mapping software (XMind) once
to visualize a chapter in discrete maths. However, as the chapter was very extensive, the lack of clarity of
the screen bothered me.
I wanted to go back to Prezi, but with the ability to have so much space that I could add as much information
as I wanted to each topic. So I used my background in software development and eventually created my
app, which I called NodeBook. Today, NodeBook is a patented technology in the US and a US trademark.

Use in the classroom

In 2020, I successfully used the first version
of NodeBook in the classroom. Shortly after, it
became the standard in my courses (https://
view.nodebook.online/?v/D/b20b674c). Today,
after 4 years, it has proven to be an effective
method of presenting teaching and learning
materials and is perceived by hundreds of
students as more attractive and organized
(https://www.nodebook.ae/testimonials).

Recently, other teachers in the math department
have also started to use the online version of
NodeBook (https://NodeBook.online). One prominent example is Dr Jaya Abraham, who uses it to organize
her statistics course (https://view.nodebook.online?v/M/1f2a2365). I have also gained some fans from
other universities, e.g. Dr Waleed Mohammed from Bangkok University who used NodeBook to present
his course on scientific programming (https://view.nodebook.online/?v/V/65c08b1eaf9c5).

Use as an academic repository

NodeBook has also been successfully used as an academic repository for support materials at Abu Dhabi
University’s Academic Success Centre (https://view.nodebook.online/?v/19/65e9bd59a6e76). It has also
been used to organize courses at the 7meem Academy for Open Education
(https://classes.7ameem.com/openCourses.html

Abu Dhabi University | ADU Campus Chronicles Issue 1