http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/ Use of Mobile Technology to Support Field and Laboratory Activities in an Introductory Environmental Science Course en Copyright 2008 Mon, 26 May 2008 20:26:45 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 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. http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/05/nitle_grant.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/05/nitle_grant.html Mon, 26 May 2008 20:26:45 -0600 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. http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/05/face_workshop.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/05/face_workshop.html Thu, 01 May 2008 15:22:51 -0600 ]]> http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/04/miniworkshop.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/04/miniworkshop.html workshop Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:48:12 -0600 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! http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/04/pen_tracking_solved.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/04/pen_tracking_solved.html software Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:53:00 -0600 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. http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/04/cp_with_students.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/04/cp_with_students.html class_usage software Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:02:06 -0600 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. http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/03/live_run_of_cp.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/03/live_run_of_cp.html class_usage software Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:58:31 -0600 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! http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/03/classrooom_presenter.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/03/classrooom_presenter.html Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:53:55 -0600 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.]]> http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/02/hp_tft_conference_day_2.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/02/hp_tft_conference_day_2.html assessment conference protective_cases software Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:10:29 -0600 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. ]]> http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/02/hp_tft_conference_day_1.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/02/hp_tft_conference_day_1.html assessment conference equipment Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:41:08 -0600 ]]> http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/02/hp_technology_for_teaching_con_1.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/02/hp_technology_for_teaching_con_1.html conference Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:12:12 -0600 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. http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/01/it_meeting.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/01/it_meeting.html software Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:20:33 -0600 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. http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/01/planning_for_the_hp_tech_confe.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2008/01/planning_for_the_hp_tech_confe.html assessment conference Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:40:54 -0600 web page that details how they've used tablets in the field.]]> http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2007/12/meeting_with_peter_knoop.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2007/12/meeting_with_peter_knoop.html contacts equipment Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:17:27 -0600 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). http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2007/12/changes_approved.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2007/12/changes_approved.html curriculum Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:37:29 -0600 The proposed changes to the introductory course and the major were submitted to the Committee on Curriculum and the Committee on Instruction. http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2007/11/progress_on_the_curricular_fro.html http://blogs.lawrence.edu/tablets/2007/11/progress_on_the_curricular_fro.html curriculum Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:35:06 -0600