HP Tablet PC Project: 2007-08

Due to several issues related to teaching assignments and logistics, it was not possible to repeat the same project setup as in the previous year. Thus, making these systems available to other faculty seemed to be the best solution. Even though the Tablet PCs were used by faculty, students benefited from the improved dynamics in the classroom. Tablet PCs were used in 12 different courses taught by 5 faculty and 1 graduate teaching assistant. Overall, 478 students experienced these improved modes of instruction.

The PI instructed all participating faculty in the use of Classroom Presenter for classroom instruction as used in the previous year (see Academic Year 2006-07). Examples of Tablet PC uses in different fields are shown below.

List of Impacted Courses

ENGIN112 - Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering

Instructor: Prof. Tilman Wolf
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/engin112/
Number of students: 95 (Fall 2007)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE122 - Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering II

Instructors: Prof. Russ Tessier
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/ece122/
Number of students: 95 (Spring 2008)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE232 - Hardware Organization and Design

Instructors: Prof. Sandip Kundu and Alodeep Sanyal
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/ece232/
Number of students: 78 (Spring 2008)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture and every discussion section

ECE242 - Data Structures and Algorithms in Java

Instructor: Alodeep Sanyal
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/~mettu/ece242/
Number of students: 65 (Fall 2007)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE324 - Electronics II

Instructor: Prof. Douglas Looze
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/ece324/
Number of students: 50 (Spring 2007), 51 (Spring 2008)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE354 - Computer Systems Lab II

Instructor: Prof. Israel Koren
Course web site: http://python.ecs.umass.edu/~ece354/
Number of students: 18 (Fall 2007)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

BIOL514 - Populations Genetics

Instructor: Prof. Ana Caicedo
Course web site: https://spark.oit.umass.edu/
Number of students: 22 (Fall 2007)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: occasional use in lecture

ECE580 - Feedback Systems I

Instructor: Prof. Douglas Looze
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece580/
Number of students: 20 (Fall 2007)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE581 - Feedback Systems II

Instructor: Prof. Douglas Looze
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece581/
Number of students: 10 (Spring 2007)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE604 - Linear Systems

Instructor: Prof. Douglas Looze
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece604/
Number of students: 7 (Fall 2007)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE655 - Fault Tolerant Computing

Instructor: Prof. Israel Koren
Course web site: http://euler.ecs.umass.edu/ece655/
Number of students: 7 (Fall 2007)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE666 - Computer Arithmetic

Instructor: Prof. Israel Koren
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/koren/ece666/
Number of students: 5 (Spring 2008)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

ECE697AA - Computer Networks

Instructor: Prof. Tilman Wolf
Course web site: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/wolf/courses/ECE697AA/
Number of students: 29 (Spring 2007), 21 (Spring 2008)
Frequency of Tablet PC use: every lecture

Feedback from Instructors

Tablet PC Use

"Students had lecture materials ahead of class. I had the flexibility to write on it. This made dynamic modification possible while the students could pay more attention to class and less to taking notes."
"I could easily do interactive use of pen on the slides when opened using classroom presenter. Since the slides and my interactive pen work to locate important features were all projected on a big screen, students could easily visualize the demonstration and thereby learn quickly."
"I liked the ability to have the basic material available as a set of slides, but to be able to readily modify that to students' questions and uncertainties. In many ways, it was like my old teaching style at the chalkboard were I would write the basic material from my notes, and then modify it as needed. Now, however, I could readily incorporate many different sources of information (such as movies, Mathematica demos, and Matlab programs) and interactively present them."
"I partcularly liked the Classroom Presenter software and its interactive feature. I could do all my board work on the slides and could display them to students in a much easier way."

Improved Student Learning

"I have no hard evidence. I used the Tablet PC to interactively solve problems posed to the students in class. The problem was presented in PowerPoint. I asked students how they would approach the solution, and to follow through with that approach. As the solution developed, I would add the students details to the slide. If the students seemed to get stuck, I would add the next step."
"Students seem to like a diverse set of presentation styles in class. Just PowerPoint alone isn’t enough. The ability to write notes in real time is important and helps the learning experience."
"Many students found this interactive use of computer pretty cool and it aided them to learn the course material in an easier way."