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Two Techniques for Effectively Presenting Information in the Classroom with Multiple Tablet PCs

Abstract

There are many studies that show interactive learning is a better way to engage students. Different courses lend themselves to being taught with technology easier than others. Have you ever heard a faculty member say “I would use a tablet PC to teach my course, but I need more room” or “I need to refer back to a diagram (chart, table, etc) and don’t like flipping back and forth. Some course topics are easy to cover necessary material on a slide by slide basis, while others do not fit into a nice 11x8.5” slide. The University of Louisville’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering is in its second year of a tablet PC requirement of their students and as faculty have adopted the use of tablet PCs in their courses some of these issues have been confronted. This paper will discuss two techniques for handling classroom presentations using two tablet PCs, for when the data will not fit on a single slide. There are numerous courses that these techniques could be used and have, but the examples used will be from a course titled Numerical Analysis for Engineers.

There are different ways to deliver course content using tablet PCs, this paper will discuss two different techniques. While modifying the Numerical course to be taught using a tablet, there are numerous problems when going through the steps to calculate the answer that take a lot of space. When this happens and the instructor is only using one tablet pc the instructor will be required to scroll backward and forward during the lecture. The backward scrolling can be to fill in a table or chart, or may be to refer to previous calculations as the problem builds. This backward scrolling sometimes causes confusion with the students. The students feel as though the material is jumping around. These cases are where using two tablet PCs and two projectors allow for a more seamless presentation.

By using two tablet PCs and two projectors, it is possible to continuously project the table or previous calculations. This allows the instructor and students to refer to the intermediate steps on the other screen that is being controlled by the second tablet. The two course delivery techniques discussed here will use software that is available for tablet PCs. The first method uses Microsoft OneNote exclusively, and the second method uses DyKnow. This paper looks at course delivery methods and then describes in detail the process that is being used by a small number of faculty currently at the engineering school.

1. Introduction

The University of Louisville’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering introduced a Tablet PC requirement for the incoming students in 2007. This was the first year for a computer requirement of any sort for the engineering students. Tablets can be beneficial to students learning, as long as the technology doesn’t become distracting. There are many papers detailing student use of tablet PCs in the classroom and some on using a tablet PC to present a class.1,2,3,4,5 Some faculty adopted the use of tablets as a presentation medium sooner than others. As tablet PCs were adopted by faculty there have been some obstacles. One obstacle, that has been

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Lewis, J. (2010, June), Two Techniques For Effectively Presenting Information In The Classroom With Multiple Tablet Pcs Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16746