The Benefits of Tablet PC

1
The Benefits of Tablet PCs for Educators

• February 13, 2004
• Kenrick Mock
• Computer Science
• University of Alaska Anchorage
• kenrick_at_uaa.alaska.edu

2
One Motivating Factor

• Hoarding Erasers, Fall 2003
• From Alicia Howe Sent Wednesday, September
  24, 2003 857 AMSubject Erasers in
  classrooms!We have just been informed by
  facilities that instructors are responsible for
  bringing erasers with them to their classrooms.
  If you bring an eraser with you to class, please
  remember to take it with you when you leave. The
  department just bought some small erasers
  yesterday and we are ordering some of the big
  ones today. We have 1 big one and 5 small ones in
  the supply cabinet. Thanks!

3
Overview

• Describe what a Tablet PC is, current technology
• Tablet PC features in Office
• How Tablet PCs are being used in education
• Lecturing
• Collaboration
• Discipline-specific applications
• Other academic and general-purpose uses
• Note-taking
• Grading and reading documents
• Creating figures and diagrams
• Brainstorming

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What is a Tablet PC?

• Notebook running Windows XP Tablet Edition
• Revival of pen-based computing idea finally got
  it right?
• Built-in support for Ink
• Draw with stylus, active digitizer
• Handwriting recognition
• Also support for speech recognition
• Unlike a PDA, the Tablet PC runs everything on a
  normal Windows XP machine
• Form Factors
• Slate
• Convertible
• Currently entering second generation of devices
• All with built-in wireless capabilities
• Lonestar in Q2 of 2004

5
Sample of Current Tablet PC Technology

• 10 to 14 screen, mostly 1024x768
• Mostly 1.0-1.6 Ghz Pentium M
• 300 more than non-tablet notebook

Electrovaya SC2010 P-M, 1.2Ghz, 512 MB, 60 Gb,
12 XGA 3-4 lbs, detachable keyboard 9 hour
battery life
HP TC1100 P-M, 1Ghz, 512 MB, 40 Gb, 10.4 XGA 3-4
lbs, detachable keyboard
Fujitsu T3010 P-M, 1.4Ghz, 512 MB, 60 Gb, 12
XGA 4 lbs
Gateway M275 1.6Ghz, 60 Gb, 512 MB, 14 XGA 6
lbs, DVD
Toshiba Portege M200 P-M, 1.5Ghz, 512 MB, 40 Gb,
12 SXGA (1400x1050) 4.6 lbs
6
Entering Data

• Stylus serves as a mouse
• Ink - when application supports it
• Text Input Panel (TIP) when application does not
  support ink
• Handwriting recognition
• Speech recognition

7
Office Apps

• Microsoft Office XP (with extensions) and 2003
  enabled for ink
• Outlook
• Handwrite email messages
• Word Adobe Acrobat
• Annotate documents with ink

• PowerPoint
• Annotate presentation, content creation
• OneNote Journal
• Note-taking application tailored for the Tablet
  PC

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Educational Use?

• How are instructors using Tablet PCs today?
• Many are using tablets with a projector Journal
  or OneNote to replace the traditional
  whiteboard/blackboard
• Benefits
• Supports real-time writing everything does not
  need to be done in advance, as in PowerPoint
• Some material difficult to do in PowerPoint (e.g.
  equations, Chinese)
• Material can still be prepared in advance
• Can archive lecture content, dont need tablet PC
  to view
• Face toward class instead of toward the board
• No messy chalk, markers, or erasers needed
• Can return to material that would be erased on a
  board
• But do need a projector

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Tablet-Enabled Lectures

• Example
• Dr. Rafael Lopez-Mobilias lecture notes in
  Physics from UTSA

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Tablet-Based Lecture

• Nice, but sometimes the final static lecture file
  is not enough
• Can be unintelligible without real-time
  information, audio
• My CS A201 lecture

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Screen Capture

• One solution is to capture the screen and audio
  into a movie file
• I used Camtasia Studio to capture the screen,
  audio, and convert the resulting movie into Flash
  format
• Viewable on all modern browsers
• Disadvantages
• Large file size about 20Mb for one hour at
  1024x768
• Can trade-off with lossy encoding schemes, e.g.
  Windows Media Encoder
• Built-in microphones generally of poor quality
• Must remember to provide all gestures,
  interactions, on screen
• As an example, this presentation will be captured
  and made available at http//www.math.uaa.alaska.e
  du/afkjm/tablet

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Classroom Presenter

• System developed at the University of Washington
• Components
• Instructor uses Tablet PC wirelessly to
  communicate with server
• Server hooked up to projector
• Students also have Tablet PCs to view and
  annotate instructors slide

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Collaboration Possibilities

• If all students in the class have Tablet PCs
  then interesting collaboration opportunities are
  possible with the wireless networking
• Classroom Presenter
• Students submit answers to questions, instructor
  can select submissions to display to the class
• Collaboration via Synchronous Course Management
  System
• E.g. Shared Whiteboard in Blackboard
• Possible over distance with systems such as
  Centra or Elluminate that share audio as well as
  whiteboard/slide content
• Groove Workspace
• Shared files, instant messaging, project
  management, Office integration

14
Other Classroom Uses

• Real-Time Grading?
• Could feasibly complete exams on the computer
  (both multiple choice and essay) and upload to
  instructor
• Brainstorming and Design
• Note Sharing
• Various applications developed
• Instructor feedback?
• Could provide instant feedback to gauge
  audiences comprehension
• Distance Education?
• Possibilities for distance education, can share
  data across a network with tools such as Media
  Encoder or NetMeeting

15
Discipline-Specific Applications

• Tablet PC applications for specific disciplines
  are just emerging
• Mathematics
• xThink calculator
• Upcoming Math Journal product
• Physics
• MagicPaper

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Art

• Pen is pressure-sensitive on most models
• Alias Sketchbook Pro

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Music

• Composition Tool, Brown University

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Software Development

• Tablet UML Unified Modeling Language
• Graphical language used to specify the
  requirements and design of software systems

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GIS Mapping

• GIS and Mapping
• Ruggedized Tablet PC for Military uses

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Health Care

• Tablet PCs increasingly popular among physicians
• Access to EMR (Electronic Medical Records) over
  the Tablet and wireless LAN
• View, update chart, digital images, write Rx,
  send to billing all while with the patient
• Replacement of handwritten charts and scattered
  medical files with a unified system of computer
  records.
• www.MedicalTabletPC.com

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Applications for Children

• Lots of child-oriented applications
• Math
• Art, painting
• Learning to write in cursive

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Uses Outside the Classroom

• Preparing figures and diagrams
• Often easier to draw with the pen than a mouse
• Grading papers
• If submitted electronically, can mark-up with the
  Tablet and avoid a big stack of papers
• eBooks
• Easier reading of electronic books, magazines
• Web
• New applications such as TabletBlogger,
  incorporate ink with blog
• Instant Messaging
• Communicate with students or colleagues in ink
  with MSN Messenger

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General Applications

• Planning, Contacts, Calendaring
• Franklin Covey TabletPlanner
• Organize handwritten or electronic notes, tasks,
  calendar, contacts, Word, Powerpoint, etc.
• Microsoft OneNote
• Tool to organize handwritten notes
• Less intrusive than typing
• in meetings or conferences
• Store meeting notes in one place
• instead of on paper in file folders
• everywhere
• Notes are searchable

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Sounds Great, But

• Some disadvantages of Tablet Technology
• Keyboards mostly small
• Screen resolution limited on most models to
  1024x768
• Software applications limited, but growing
• Handwriting recognition average
• Clicking a little tricky
• More expensive
• Requires projector in classroom, may have
  difficulty using, setting up, smaller writing
  area than large black/whiteboard
• Learning curve, around four days
• Most require external CD-ROM
• Display viewing angles often poor

25
Summary of Benefits

• Many benefits of Tablet PC technology for
  educators and administrators
• Digital Ink more powerful than a blackboard
• Dont need erasers, pens, or chalk
• Collaboration possible
• Some content more easily created
• Content can be archived and broadcast
• Discipline-specific tools emerging (e.g. Math
  Journal)
• General tools already available (e.g. Outlook)
• Tablet PC just as capable as any notebook, plus
  more

26
Questions

• Grant possibilities?
• Feel free to contact me if you have any
  questions
• Kenrick Mock
• kenrick_at_uaa.alaska.edu
• 786-1956
• This presentation will be available at
• http//www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/afkjm/tablet/