IMPLEMENTATION OF A
LAPTOP PROGRAM
http://laptop.clemson.edu
Dr. Bill Moss – bmoss@clemson.edu
Mrs. Laurie Sherrod – laurie@clemson.edu
Preparation for a pilot
 A ‘champion’ at a dean/provost level
 A laptop committee for planning
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Laptop courses
Laptop instructors/training
Classroom prep
Technical support
Program management
Classroom Preparation
 Instructor Podiums
 Laptop plugin to projector/ethernet
 Student tables
 Ethernet port
 Electricity
 Wireless
 Turns any location
into a ‘laptop classroom’
http://wireless.clemson.edu
http://dcit.clemson.edu/train/studenttrain/smrtcls/classrm.htm
A common laptop!
The key to top notch support is to require or
strongly recommend a common laptop. Here
are the things a common laptop facilitates:
Spare parts
A software image --- software issues are 90% of support
issues.
We partition drives into C: (windows/
programs) and D: (data) and offer
refresh of C: without affecting D:
Loaner laptops with student hard drive
Sharing of parts among users
Vendor selection
 Decide on approximate specifications
 Invite several vendors to bid
 Compare all aspects of each bid:
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Hardware
Prices
Support options
Delivery issues
‘Extras’
 Free spare laptops?
 Paid warranty repairs?
Student notification
 Send letters to accepted students in the
early spring
 Presentation at summer orientation
 Web page/
phone ordering
Student preparation
 August workshop
 Put software ‘image’ on laptops
 Put in student’s settings
 Instruct on use
of email, CU
network, and
laptop
Advantages for the university
 Less need for labs
 Save $$ on new computers
 Save $$ on lab support
 Frees space for other use
 Save on printing costs!
 Common hardware =
simplified/better
support for students
 Equal access for all
 Any class can be turned
into an instant lab when
all have laptops
What is support is needed?
 A laptop helpdesk
 Hardware support (10%)
 Software support (90%)
 Someone to
coordinate laptop
selection,
communications,
training,
support
 A web page
Do your homework!
 Research what other schools have learned
 We visited Wake Forest and UNC many times
 We attended conferences and spoke with
representatives from 25-50 other schools
 Prepare your
infrastructure
 Classrooms
 Wireless
 Prepare your faculty
Cost to students?
 Most students were already spending at
least $1000 on a computer – so $1500 for
a laptop is a $500 ($125/year) additional
cost
 60% of those not required to have laptops
are buying them anyway
 They generally say the
portability is well worth
the additional cost
Software Licensing at Clemson
One of our biggest hurdles was software
licensing! Here are a few things we learned:
 We believe that universities need to work
together for good group options
 Some vendors were convinced to allow the use
of their software on student owned laptops
 MS licensing is key to
keeping laptop costs
down
Links
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Clemson – http://laptop.clemson.edu
UNC - http://www.unc.edu/cci/relatedlinks.html
Wake Forest - http://www.wfu.edu/technology/thinkpad/
NC State - http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/soc/
Clemson:
•Wireless – http://wireless.clemson.edu
•Faculty laptop - http://laptopfaculty.clemson.edu/
•Bill Moss – http://www.clemson.edu/~bmoss
•Laurie Sherrod – http://www.clemson.edu/~laurie
Clemson Laptop Program
Faculty Perspective
William F. Moss
College of Engineering and Science
Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina USA
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~bmoss/laptop_pedagogy/
Why Laptops?
To build a better product
 Laptop students have better …
Communication skills
Technology skills
Team building skills
Life-long learning skills
Why Laptops?
To enhance the classroom …
 Laptop course characteristics
Studio courses
Integrated lab and lecture
On-line quizzes and exams
Hybrid exams
Why Laptops?
To slow the growth of IT costs
 Where are the IT dollars going?
 Keeping labs up-to-date
 Printing costs
 Storage costs
 Support of multiple platforms
Why Laptops?
Convenience, professional practice
 Students see advantages to the laptop
even when they have no laptop courses.
 Mobility
 Small foot-print
 Laptops are becoming standard in
business, law, medicine, and engineering
practice.
Laptop Program Best Practices
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Student mandate, faculty opportunity.
Provide for faculty development.
Early adopter faculty should offer “best fit” courses first.
Not all courses have to be laptop enhanced.
Build smart classrooms with wired and wireless network
access as needed.
Engineering Laptop Programs
 Clemson - http://laptop.clemson.edu
 Oklahoma http://coe.ou.edu/advising/laptop/index.htm
 Vanderbilt http://frontweb.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/vuse_web/t
ransit/dean.asp
 Tennessee http://www.engr.utk.edu/coe/compreq.htm
 Mississippi State http://www.msoe.edu/notebook/
 RPI - http://www.rpi.edu/laptops/
Faculty Development
 Inventory the training needs of the participants.
 Laptop nuts and bolts, care and feeding.
 Software application training including a course
management system like WebCT.
 Smart classroom training.
Faculty Development
 Good teaching practices lead to good technology
practices.
 Provide a good teaching effectiveness workshop. See
Richard Felder’s SUCCEED Workshops
http://www.ncsu.edu/effective_teaching/
 Modeling by laptop faculty.
 http://laptopfaculty.clemson.edu/
Laptops in Humanities,
Engineering …
 History, Chemistry, English Composition
 MBA Program
 General Freshman Engineering
 Introduction to Computing
 Mathematical Sciences
Laptop Learning Activities
 Individual Quizzes – online and paper
 Team Quizzes
 Polling
 Survey / Minute Paper
 Think-Pair-Share
 Courseware Sessions
…
Faculty: FAQ
 Is the laptop a distraction? When does the technology
detract from the teaching of content?
 What are the potential classroom logistical problems?
 Can technology encourage students to be more
independent, exploratory learners?
Research Base
 How People Learn, Brain, Mind, Experience,
School, National Research Council, National
Academy Press, 2000.
Studio Calculus III
The Calculus of the 3D World
 Visualization is a strand that runs through the
entire course.
 Students build 3D solids by constructing their
bounding surfaces, one surface at a time.
 This course is more technically advanced than
the traditional pencil and
paper course.
Characteristics
 Reduced lecture: 10-15 mini-lectures
 Course journal and Maple tutorials (TA graded)
 Tutorials submitted via the WebCT dropbox
 Low-stakes quizzes, paper and online
 Team projects and team quizzes
 Coaching by instructor
 Practice exams
Maple Tutorials Include
 Instructional Objectives with
suggested problems for each
objective
 Main mathematical points
with examples worked by
hand and with Maple
 Course journal homework
assignments
 Maple homework
assignments to be worked at
the end of the tutorial
Pedagogy
 Students take responsibility for
learning.
 Coaching enhances formative
assessment.
 Taking attendance and learning
names is easy, e-mail absentees
during studio time.
 Frequent quizzes increase
engagement.
 Peer instruction is a goal of team
projects.
 Studio time mixes individual and
cooperative learning.