Inside-Out tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33 2008-05-31T02:34:06Z Use of Mobile Technology to Support Field and Laboratory Activities in an Introductory Environmental Science Course Movable Type 3.32 NITLE Grant tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1395 2008-05-27T02:26:45Z 2008-05-31T02:34:06Z More good news! We (Sue Swanson of Beloit College and I) have managed to attract additional funding to help our cause. The NITLE grant will be used to expand the ACM workshop and will include funding to explore platform-independent field... Jeff Clark More good news! We (Sue Swanson of Beloit College and I) have managed to attract additional funding to help our cause. The NITLE grant will be used to expand the ACM workshop and will include funding to explore platform-independent field exercises. The rationale is need to articulate common field based-skills and concepts that can be learned through integration of field technology. FaCE Workshop tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1386 2008-05-01T21:22:51Z 2008-05-22T21:26:57Z A while ago Sue Swanson (Beloit College) and I submitted a grant proposal to the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) under their Faculty Career Enhancements (FaCE) program to explore the use of technology in field coures. I found out... Jeff Clark A while ago Sue Swanson (Beloit College) and I submitted a grant proposal to the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) under their Faculty Career Enhancements (FaCE) program to explore the use of technology in field coures. I found out today that our workshop was funded in full. Stay tuned for details, but the workshop should run in the summer or fall of 2009. Mini-workshop tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1321 2008-04-23T21:48:12Z 2008-05-22T21:29:52Z I hosted an informational session and a "getting to know the tablet PC" workshop today for Lawrence faculty. Representatives from the humanities, social science, and natural sciences as well as IT folks attended. We enjoyed some productive discussions about how... Jeff Clark ]]> Pen Tracking Solved tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1285 2008-04-07T22:53:00Z 2008-04-09T22:55:12Z I noted earlier that the pen tracking was off when using CP. The problem seems to be tied to when the students start CP in standard laptop mode, and then change it to tablet mode. A simple restart of CP... Jeff Clark I noted earlier that the pen tracking was off when using CP. The problem seems to be tied to when the students start CP in standard laptop mode, and then change it to tablet mode. A simple restart of CP in the new mode solves the problem! CP with Students tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1273 2008-04-02T21:02:06Z 2008-04-05T21:07:16Z Ok, today was the live run with CP in the hands of students. With CP on the HP tablets students can directly ink over the slides I'm transmitting and save those as their notes, which they seem to like. An... Jeff Clark Ok, today was the live run with CP in the hands of students. With CP on the HP tablets students can directly ink over the slides I'm transmitting and save those as their notes, which they seem to like. An added benefit is that this saves me having to print the slides out in advance, and they don't have to scramble to write down everything on the slide. The real beauty - pedagogically speaking - is the ability of student to send you their work. Sure you can do this same sort of thing with clickers, but with CP and the tablets the range of questions you can ask is so much greater. You can have them sketch diagrams, or graphs, annotate pictures, do quantitative problems, or even written work. Although this is my first experiment with this as a teaching tool the results were encouraging. My only complaint is that some pen tracking was off by about 2" on some of the machines. I'll have to keep tabs on that. Live Run of CP tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1272 2008-03-31T20:58:31Z 2008-04-05T21:07:31Z I used CP in class today just to give a regular slide show and use the pen capabilities. Once I got the projector figured out it worked pretty well. My only complaint is that I cannot see the instructor notes... Jeff Clark I used CP in class today just to give a regular slide show and use the pen capabilities. Once I got the projector figured out it worked pretty well. My only complaint is that I cannot see the instructor notes in powerpoint (even with the display toggled). I can see them in CP, but this makes editing them problematic because you basically have to redo the instructor notes for the entire slide. Maybe this issue is addressed in the 2007 add in. For a free program I am satisfied with its quality, ease of use, and documentation. Classrooom Presenter tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1271 2008-03-26T20:53:55Z 2008-04-05T20:57:36Z Sean Schipper and I worked on using Classroom Presenter (CP) to facilitate student-instructor interaction in the class and in the field. In-class, we use Lawrence's wireless network. Outdoors I will need to use a wireless router. This is pretty straightforward,... Jeff Clark Sean Schipper and I worked on using Classroom Presenter (CP) to facilitate student-instructor interaction in the class and in the field. In-class, we use Lawrence's wireless network. Outdoors I will need to use a wireless router. This is pretty straightforward, now I just have to figure out how to power the router without having to resort to a 30lb battery! HP TFT Conference - Day 2 tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1200 2008-02-19T21:10:29Z 2008-02-23T03:09:01Z Day 2 of the conference was even better. In addition to a few plenary talks there were several smaller workshops dedicated to new and innovative software written to take advantage of the versatility of the tablets. It looks like Classroom... Jeff Clark After another session of working on our assessment plans I presented my poster at the poster session. Alas I didn't win any prizes, but I'm happy to say that two of the winners were from the environmental sciences. In the birds of a feather lunch we talk about field use of the computers. Some folks have used the "pouch" to house the machines other just use an over-sized zip lock. All expressed interest in outdoor viewable screens.]]> HP TFT Conference - Day 1 tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1181 2008-02-18T19:41:08Z 2008-02-22T21:37:41Z After an exciting plenary session on the future of technology - sorry that's all I can say, due to a confidentiality agreement (lets just say the future will be exciting!) I heard a series of exceptional talks discussing how Tablets... Jeff Clark Gloria Rogers from ABET gave a very informative talk on assessment. This was followed by small groups that reviewed the assessment matrix we prepared in January. The first thing I noticed was that we are probably being too ambitions in our assessment strategy. It might be best to scale things back and spend more time on a few things rather than try to do so many things. The second major thing I learned is that assessment takes upfront planning, but that it is also iterative. I'm glad we are offering the live version of the course next year so that we will have some baseline data. ]]> HP Technology for Teaching Conference Arrival tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1180 2008-02-17T18:12:12Z 2008-02-22T21:31:56Z After dodging a major snowstorm and traveling for 18 hours I finally made it to San Diego late Sunday night. What a beautiful place the Estancia Hotel is - I mean gorgeous.... Jeff Clark ]]> IT Meeting tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1052 2008-01-14T16:20:33Z 2008-02-22T21:32:28Z I met with members of our IT team (headed up by David Berk) to discuss the creation of wireless field networks. They will be conducting some trials this term and will test SoftLink 8.5 which should allow us to conduct... Jeff Clark I met with members of our IT team (headed up by David Berk) to discuss the creation of wireless field networks. They will be conducting some trials this term and will test SoftLink 8.5 which should allow us to conduct field lectures and some data sharing. Planning for the HP Tech conference tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2008:/tablets//33.1050 2008-01-10T15:40:54Z 2008-02-22T21:33:01Z The project team gathered to work on our poster for the upcoming conference. We also discussed the assessment template. It was a difficult but useful exercise.... Jeff Clark The project team gathered to work on our poster for the upcoming conference. We also discussed the assessment template. It was a difficult but useful exercise. Meeting with Peter Knoop tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2007:/tablets//33.1051 2007-12-11T16:17:27Z 2008-02-22T21:33:46Z Andrew Knudsen and Jeff Clark met with Peter Knoop (Univ. Mich), who has utilized tablets to teach field geology. Our discussion was focused on how wireless networks were set up and utilized in the field. Peter also hosts a very... Jeff Clark web page that details how they've used tablets in the field.]]> Changes Approved tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2007:/tablets//33.1049 2007-12-07T15:37:29Z 2008-02-22T21:34:03Z The changes to the curriculum passed both committees and were approved by the faculty today. They will take effect next year. The introductory course it will have a laboratory next academic year (2008-09).... Jeff Clark The changes to the curriculum passed both committees and were approved by the faculty today. They will take effect next year. The introductory course it will have a laboratory next academic year (2008-09). Progress on the curricular front tag:blogs.lawrence.edu,2007:/tablets//33.1048 2007-11-09T15:35:06Z 2008-02-22T21:34:25Z The proposed changes to the introductory course and the major were submitted to the Committee on Curriculum and the Committee on Instruction.... Jeff Clark The proposed changes to the introductory course and the major were submitted to the Committee on Curriculum and the Committee on Instruction.