computer science

Whiteboarding

Whiteboarding is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Whiteboarding rather than just read about it. In short: Whiteboarding is the placement of shared files on an on-screen shared notebook or whiteboard. Videoconferencing and data conferencing software often lets documents as on a physical whiteboard.

Key takeaways

Whiteboarding belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Whiteboarding to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Whiteboarding from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Whiteboarding is the placement of shared files on an on-screen shared notebook or whiteboard. Videoconferencing and data conferencing software often lets documents as on a physical whiteboard. In hybrid whiteboarding, special handwriting detection software allows for physical whiteboards to be shared with remote and distant users, often allowing for the simultaneous addition of digital content. Whiteboarding sessions — both in-office and virtual — provide teams with a collaborative, creative environment for brainstorming new ideas and solving problems. Without a defined structure in place, however, these sessions can quickly unravel and get off track. With this type of software, several people can work on the image at the same time, each seeing changes the others make in near-real time. Electronic whiteboarding was included at least as early as 1996 in the CoolTalk tool in Netscape Navigator 3.0.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Whiteboarding

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Whiteboarding claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Whiteboarding before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Whiteboarding ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Whiteboarding

In research: Whiteboarding appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Whiteboarding in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Whiteboarding is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Collaborative software, Computing stubs, Drawing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Whiteboarding outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Whiteboarding in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Whiteboarding means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Whiteboarding out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Whiteboarding in simple terms?

Whiteboarding is the placement of shared files on an on-screen shared notebook or whiteboard. Videoconferencing and data conferencing software often lets documents as on a physical whiteboard.

Why does Whiteboarding matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Whiteboarding?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Whiteboarding.