Integration and Support of Tablet PCs into
Collaborative Teaching Environments
Presentation for NERCOMP 2007, Mar. 19-21, Worcester, MA
PRESENTERS:
•Gamin Bartle, Manager of Faculty Development, Drew
University, 36 Madison Avenue, Madison NJ
•Thomas Chittenden, Lecturer, University of Vermont, 55
Colchester Ave., Burlington, VT
© James Kraushaar et al., 2007. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this
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2/26/2007 11:51 AM
Agenda
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What is a Tablet PC
Drew University’s Background & Experiences
Faculty Experience with the Tablet PC
UVM Background & Experiences
Student Experience with the Tablet PC
– Curriculum development
– Surveys results
• Lessons learned
What is a Tablet PC?
• A PC with a Sensitive screen that interacts with a specialized pen
• Fully-functional notebook PC with additional features.
• A more natural computing solution in more situations
Drawbacks:
Benefits:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Natural, electronically-captured, handwritten notes
Facilitates more thought in class and less
speed-transcribing
Minimal learning curve
Break down the Conversation Walls – ‘Lids
Down’ in the class room
More Mobile/Versatile/Natural Computing
Solution
Have you ever seen someone try to
balance his or her laptop on one arm
while typing with the other?
Provides one more way to use your
machine without sacrificing ANY
functionality
Chalkboard replacement
Richer post lecture record
1.
2.
3.
4.
Price can be a deterrent
‘Dead Spots’ & Digitizer failures have been
common (<10%)
Screen Cleanliness
Graphics Cards have not been as
competitive in feature strength to nonTablets
Drew – Background & Experiences
• Major dates in Drew’s Computer History
– 1983: College Faculty voted 64 – 2 to implement the
Computer Initiative, which would provide a computer for
each incoming student as well as each faculty member.
– 1988: Campus Wide Information Service was set up,
adding connectivity between faculty, staff and students.
– 1993: First Faculty Development Workshops, University
Technology began working with faculty members to
maximize their computer use.
– 2006: Faculty Lab moves into new facility with, among
other things, wireless networking, paving the way for the
formation of the Tablet PC User Group.
Drew University’s experience with
integrating tablets in the CLA
• A few early adopters who tried out Tablet PC's
for different reasons
• Three of them spoke at annual For Faculty,
From Faculty event (March 2006)
• This panel discussion generated interest
across campus - there are now 21 tablet PC's
in use on campus
Drew University Experience,
continued
• A User Group seemed to make sense for:
– user support
– as a forum for sharing knowledge
– as a vehicle to promote the use - and best
practices - of tablet PC's at Drew.
Drew University Experience,
continued
• Difficulty scheduling, met once in Fall 2006,
once so far in Spring 2007
• Will try to reach out more with web pages for
User Group members, virtual meetings, etc.
• Met with several new users one-on-one, this
still seems to be the preferred method of
support.
Drew University – What’s next?
• The Tablet PC User Group is not
as successful as we had hoped,
but I think as an option for
support it is viable.
• Key to good faculty support –
flexibility.
UVM – Background
• UVM School of Business Administration
– 26 FT Faculty (4 MIS)
– 4 FT Lecturers
– 12 staff (2 IT Administrators)
– 1000 UG, 60 MBA
• 2004 = Changed to a Tablet PC as the
Recommended model to meet our
Requirement
– Estimated # of tablets: 700
– 60-80% of Business Student
Technology in the Curriculum at the School of
Business Administration at UVM
• Perceived: Satisfaction with Technology training and teaching
• 6 for 6 green arrows in 2005 & 2006
– Educational Benchmarking Institute (EBI) graduating senior
satisfaction survey
• Measured: Educational Testing Services (ETS) Major field test in business
– Competencies in Quant/MIS = top 95% over the last 2 academic years
• Conclusion: Our Information Systems component of our curriculum has
been a consistently perceived and measurable strength (compared to our
peer institutions) while we have had a mobile computing requirement
Is a ‘requirement’ necessary?
“Results from the ETS indicate generally poor performance on the
organization’s new test, the ICT Literacy Assessment Core Level” 13% of
the 3,000 college and 800 high school students were deemed computer
literate.”
http://educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0664.pdf Educause, 11/12/2006 Tech Watch, p. 4, “
ETS announces results of Information Literacy Test” quoted from Chronicle of Higher Education October 2006
• Commitment to Technology in the Curriculum
• Fostering a digital friendly learning environment
• On-site replacement parts, on-site service technicians, on-site
loaner machines and collective bargaining power with
vendors
• 80-85% of students having the same machine reduces support
costs.
• Financial Aid
Curriculum Redesign – Junior/Senior Course:
Management Information Systems
• Leveraged Tablet Functionality for All Diagrammatic Concepts
in Class
– Entity Relationship Diagrams
– Data Flow Diagrams
– Systems Development Life Cycles
• Homework was required to have been done in MS Journal and
submitted electronically
• Implemented a PC Skills Assessment at the beginning and end
of the course
• Used activity monitoring software to track actual in class
usage of the PC
• Re-Vamped Lectures to Leverage the Tablet PC as a
chalkboard replacement
Curriculum Redesign - 1st Year Course:
Management & Information Technology
•
Lecture Demonstrations on Tablet PC Functionality including:
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•
•
Keyboard & Writing Pad (TIP –Tablet Input Panel)
Microsoft Journal
Virtual Printers (Journal Note Writer, Send-to-OneNote…)
Microsoft OneNote
Tablet PC Experience/Education Pack
Expanded Uses of Microsoft One-Note for In-Class Shared
Sessions accompanied with One-Note homework
assignments.
Integrated a Tablet PC - Classroom oriented application
• Classroom Presenter (http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/dl/presenter/)
• Designed for enhanced classroom sharing of digital hand written notes
•
Conducted Mobile Computing usage survey every Semester
for the last 3 years (since the Tablet PC requirement was
implemented)
Mobile Computing Usage Survey
FIRST YEAR COURSE:
• Surveyed our 2004, 2005, 2006 Introductory Business Course
Students – across 5 sections of the course each year
– Anonymous Survey with no incentives
• Included Tablet Owners & Non Tablet Owners
• Pool of 250 – 300 students per year with about 70%
Completion rate
JUNIOR/SENIOR YEAR COURSE
• Surveyed 100 Juniors/Seniors Fall 2006
• Monitored their in class activity on their personal machines
over the semester
• 35% were Tablet Owners
Activity Monitoring of Juniors & Seniors:
Correlation to Final Academic Grade (n=61)
Digital Literacy Assessment Beginning of the Semester
0.05
Digital Literacy Assessment End of the Semester
0.69*
Homework Performance
0.89***
Quiz Performance
0.95***
Project Performance
0.93***
Exam1
0.90***
Exam2
0.95***
Exam3
0.97***
Time Spent in Class Using PC for Entertainment
0.35
Time Spent in Class Using PC for Instant Messaging
0.05
Time Spent in Class Using PC for Misc
0.60
Time Spent in Class Using PC for PC Operations
0.23
Time Spent in Class Using PC with Productivity Applications
0.37*
Time Spent in Class Using PC for Web Browsing
0.16
Final Academic Grade correlation to use of Productivity
Applications* in Class
Tablet PC Users
0.77
Non-Tablet PC Users
0.33
*Productivity Applications include: MS Word, Access, Visio, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint,
Journal, Adobe Reader, OneNote…
Should the School of Business Administration continue to require incoming
students to purchase a laptop/tablet/convertible like the Gateway currently
required?
First Year Course (n=456)
Overall
Tablet PC Owner (n=333)
Non-Tablet PC Owner (n=123)
Yes
53%
59%
37%
No
28%
26%
36%
No Opinion
18%
15%
27%
Junior/Senior Course (n=87)
Overall
Tablet PC Owner (n=34)
Yes
62%
53%
64%
No
29%
33%
26%
9%
13%
9%
No Opinion
Non-Tablet PC Owner
(n=53)
70%
Should the School of Business Adm inistration continue to require
incom ing students to purchase a laptop/tablet/convertible like the
Gatew ay currently required?
62%
60%
53%
64%
59%
53%
50%
37%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Overall
Tablet PC Owner
Yes - 1st Year
Yes - Junior-Senior
Non Tablet PC Owner
Reasons Given to NOT
require the Tablet:



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Finances
Typing Preferred
Lack of Choice
Hardware Shortcomings
‘Self-Inflicted’ woes
Reasons Given to
continue to require the
Tablet:
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
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They’re Cool
Used for All Classes
Great for Capturing Notes
Excellent Warranty
On Campus Hardware
Support
Survey Results: Reliability & Value
Three years of data collected at the end of each semester for the required first year class
(2 year of M275’s and 1 years of M285’s):
First Year Course
Tablet PC Owner
(n=333)
Non-Tablet PC Owner (n=123)
Unreliable
Unsatisfied
Poor Value
6.3%
7.5%
10.0%
3.3%
5.7%
9.0%
One semester of data collected at the end of the Fall 2006 from the required junior/senior
level course (1/3 of these students had purchased the Gateway M275):
Junior/Senior Course
Tablet PC Owner
(n=34)
Non-Tablet PC Owner (n=53)
Unreliable
Unsatisfied
Poor Value
20.5%
26.4%
33.3%
13.2%
18.8%
15.1%
Gateway M275:
• Good
–
–
–
–
Very light, slim model
Onboard CDRW/DVD drive
4-Year Warranty
Screen size & Aspect Ratio
• (14” & 4:3)
– Relatively few hardware failures
• Bad
– Hard Drive Failures
– Initial On-Site Service Issues
• Lid Clasp – resolved
• Touch Screen - resolved
– No Physical Switch to Disable WiFi
– Durability and Case Scratch Resistance
– Graphics Card
Gateway M285:
• Good:
– More durable casing
– Modular DVD RW bay
– 4-Year Warranty
• Accidental
– Double Clasp
– Wide Screen
• Bad:
– Bigger & Heavier
– Awkward standard battery
– Wide Screen – Digital Projection not as graceful
• Projection Calibration (16:9)
Lessons Learned
• Tablet PC Owners are 10-20% more likely to use their Tablet to
take notes in class than non-tablet owners.
• There is a level of excitement from students and faculty
regarding the Tablet technology.
• Mobile Computing Requirement  Pen-Enabled Computing
Requirement.
• Starting 2007-2008 entwine the Computing Usage survey with
the ETS Major Field Study Graduation assessment to get a more
comprehensive opinion of the Tablet Requirement
• Next Fall, Two Tablet form factors will be offered
– M285e & e155c Gateway Touch screen Tablet
Thanks to:
• The University of Vermont portion of this
presentation is based on research partially
funded by a 2-year Microsoft Tablet PC grant.
• http://www.bsad.uvm.edu
• http://www.drew.edu
Microsoft Research Grant Investigators:
James Kraushaar, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Business Administration, UVM
Jeff Frolik, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Engineering, UVM
David Novak, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Business Administration, UVM
Thomas Chittenden, MBA, Lecturer, School of Business Administration, UVM
ccx
Contacts:
gbartle@drew.edu
thomas.chittenden@uvm.edu
james.kraushaar@uvm.edu
david.novak@uvm.edu
jeff.frolik@uvm.edu