With the exception of a few minor technical glitches, the Duke Digital Initiative's Tablet PC Pilot Program has successfully integrated the lecture and lab components of a number of science and engineering classes, students and faculty said.
The program-which has worked with grants from Hewlett-Packard to provide Tablet PCs to two chemistry and three engineering classes this semester-is the next step to integrating new technology into the classroom at Duke, officials said.
Lisa Huettel, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, pioneered the Tablet PC Pilot Program using a Summer 2005 Technology for Teaching Grant from HP to purchase 20 Tablet PCs. She has used the tablets in the curriculum for ECE 27, the new introduction to electrical and computer engineering.
"I wanted to find some way to bridge the gap between lecture and lab," Huettel said.
This year, the program has expanded thanks to support from the Duke Digital Initiative and another grant from HP. Although students cannot take the computers home, they will be allowed to have their own for lecture and lab. Because of their expense, the tablets cannot be loaned out with the frequency of other technology loans in the past, like iPods.
The tablets, which allow students to use a stylus to write on the computer screen like a notepad, are especially applicable to classes like ECE 27, where students frequently draw circuits and diagrams.
Students can also use software on the tablet to take notes directly on presentations given by the professor, and professors can save copies of their lecture notes for students to look up during labs or when studying for tests.
"It's as if you never erased the board," said Linda Franzoni, associate dean for student programs and professor of mechanical engineering. Franzoni, who teaches ME 141, uses Tablet PCs in her course.
Huettel and Franzoni both said Tablet PCs are best used for interactive problem solving. Tablet PCs allow students to write out their work and solve a problem on the computer screen, and then send their work anonymously to their professor during class.
"You learn a lot more doing than just listening, and this is the heart of the tablets: they allow students to participate," Huettel said. The Tablet PCs, however, are not without flaws. In fact, due to security concerns, students will not have access to individual tablets during lecture until after fall break.
As a former student and teaching assistant in ECE 27, sophomore Philip Ethier has had a lot of experience with the computers. "It's a piece of technology that often doesn't work, but when it does work it is a great addition to class," Ethier said.
Duke is not the first university to experiment with Tablet PCs in the classroom. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bentley College, the University of Chicago and Seton Hall University are also running pilot programs.
"It would be really nice to see Duke use tablets as much as Seton Hall does because I have found that they really enhance the learning experience," said sophomore Kevin Thompson, who took a summer class at Seton Hall.
Although plans for expansion are conservative, professors said the technology is a valuable academic asset. "The classroom just has so much more energy," Huettel said.
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