Old school prof sees benefits of technology

This story from Campus Technology bucks the widely held belief that experienced teachers are against technology in the classroom. Virginia Tech professor Dr. Charles Bostian shares why in his own words.

Tablet PC Conference CFP Mar 14!

The Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education (WIPTE) will start accepting propoals March 14 for its fall 2008 event. I have attended the Purdue University-hosted event the past two years, and it has been the best single event to talk about Tablet PCs with educators. WIPTE has seen attendees representing 100 institutions from 5 countries covering 15 academic disciplines. Check out this info sheet for more reasons why you should send a proposal and attend.

Rethinking projection in the classroom

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of basic classroom technology? A projector, of course. Any why? So all students can see digital content, of course. However, projection technology has evolved and I think schools should revisit their position on this topic.

From the hardware side, many projectors are now wireless-ready. Others allow the teacher to display any PC in the room. Others are integrated into interactive whiteboards (IWBs). And then there is the Tablet PC, because it, with a projector, is an alternative to an IWB.

What about software? In lab, cart, and 1:1 settings, there is software that can display the teacher screen on student PCs. This not only solves the problem of seeing content - it can also be more engaging. For example, DyKnow software delivers teacher content to student PCs for native annotation and the ability to return work. Many DyKnow customers have saved money by not purchasing projectors or IWBs.

Is there something affirming for a student to see his answer up on the "big screen?" Sure, if it is a good one. However, most students are mortified about having their work pulled up for fear that it will be wrong or simply that they will be singled out. Again, this could be another point for screen-casting software for labs, carts, or 1:1s.

Another thing to remember when considering projection is the type of pedagogy it reinforces. A projector or an IWB tends to promote a teacher-centric model that yields less interaction with students than recommended by modern learning research. I understand that a student-centric model sounds scary to many teachers, but it often produces more active learning. I will concede that having younger kids come up to an IWB to manipulate digital content (i.e. frog dissection) can be quite active and engaging, but I believe that this is not the typical usage of projection. However, I'm a bit skeptical that touching material in front of the class produces the best educational outcomes. Research does show that student PCs facilitate student-centric learning, but laptops aren't the only way. Active learning can also be accomplished through things like group work, Harkness Tables, debate, experiential learning, field research, etc.

A bare bones cost comparison:

• desktop PC + projector = $3,500
• IWB + desktop PC + projector = $6,000
• Tablet PC + projector = $4,500

At the end of the day, there certainly are applications for projectors in the modern classroom, but not every classroom. The debate will continue. For now, here are some good resources:

• http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/Projectors
• http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/Interactive_White_Boards

The best thing you can do for your 1:1 program

There are a lot of tips out there about how to implement a teacher and/or laptop program. Educating stakeholders, establishing time lines, setting up a WLAN...the list goes on. These things are good things, but there is one step a co-worker suggested that many schools brush over or even purposefully neglect. He believes--and I now agree--that a laptop program can rise or fall depending on this: a staff member dedicated to 1:1.

From a personnel perspective, many schools mistakenly believe that the "executive sponsor" who works to lobby for and approve a laptop mandate should be the same person to manage the day-to-day activity of the resulting project. In my experience, this is not a good recipe for success. Usually an [asst] principal, [asst] dean, or even director of technology gets the project approved but a person in any of these roles already has a full plate of other responsibilities. Focus is so important when implementing a 1:1 project. Administering a successful 1:1 encompasses many responsibilities, most of which are new to the school or department sponsoring the initiative:

• arranging visits to other 1:1 schools
• cultivating teacher buy-in
• negotiating the hardware package with vendors
• building the software image
• communicating to parents
• organizing and conducting initial PD/workshops
• meeting with individual teachers to start related tech projects
• setting up a help desk to fix laptops
• troubleshooting issues and corresponding with vendors
• interfacing with the network manager and/or database manager
• promoting the project to the media
• building and implementing an assessment/feedback rubric
• offering ongoing PD

Clearly there is enough here to warrant someone who is focused on carrying out the 1:1. I expect that the first thing most HR departments will want to do is put someone on the project part time. While not ideal, this is certainly a good step, especially if the role is designed intentionally. For example, you could take an experienced teacher, decrease his teaching load to one course, and put him on as "1:1 specialist" for the majority of his time.

From a financial perspective, schools can't afford NOT to budget for headcount to manage a laptop program. Most laptop or Tablet mandates I work with have 700-1,000 users, so a $1,000,000 price tag is not uncommon for starting a laptop program - and that's just the start-up cost. Spending big money to buy the laptops and hoping that the "tech folks" figure it out will likely result in big money down the drain. Hoping is not a good plan. Let me put it another way: if you had $1M in the stock market and you could ensure yourself a successful return by spending another 5% on an advisor, wouldn't you do it? The stakes are even higher in education because projects are usually deemed a success or a failure. A successful 1:1 reflects well on the school, administration, board, and community while a failed project makes all the stakeholders look silly.

Two of our 1:1 customers that are doing a good job are Duchesne Academy and Auburn City Schools. Duchesne is a private Catholic girls school in Houston, TX that has had a 1:1 for several years. Auburn is a public K12 system in Alabama that just started a 1:1 Tablet PC project in one high school. Both schools rolled out the laptops to teachers before students and both schools have former teachers managing the day-to-day of their 1:1. Each of these people works closely with his or her respective tech director and both have been intimately involved with their DyKnow software installations. Having a 1:1 specialist doesn't mean things won't go wrong, but if and when they do, schools like Duchesne and Auburn City are ready. We are proud to be associated with both schools and their successful 1:1s!

How to digitize your textbooks

The folks over at Student Tablet PC have a very detailed "how-to" for using Adobe Acrobat to scan and digitize texts in masse. This is a good read for schools with a 1:1 or hoping to go paperless.

VT update

Our customer care manager just shared an update on Virginia Tech's DyKnow/Tablet usage:

Tom Walker called and thought you all should know that they have 13 classes over 125 students each (one of which has 309 students). The professor of the co-taught 309 student class loves DyKnow so much that during a short trip to Portugal, he decided to use DyKnow + Skype to assist with the class from afar and had great success.

VT continues to lead with computing in the lecture hall. Let me know if you'd like to know more about the innovative pedagogies faculty are using to engage so many students.

VT continues to lead with WiFi

I was encouraged to hear that fall admissions for Virginia Tech look strong in light of this semester's tragedy. Having visited campus and worked with faculty, staff, and students, I can attest that VT continues to be an extremely engaging and exciting campus.

One area of VT expertise that interests me is wireless networking. In my role at DyKnow, I worked with our team this spring to roll out a software pilot to selected engineering courses using Tablet PCs. Our software has always worked well in a wireless environment due to our client-server architecture, but I had no idea how high the Hokies would raise the bar. After a couple weeks of use, I was elated to see 250+ active PCs using our software on an 802.11g network in a single lecture hall. This was the result of a perfect marriage of scalable lecture software with a special mix of access points, load balancing, and other incredible Internet infrastructure efficiencies, compliments of VT engineers.

But then I thought about the pedagogy of teaching and managing over 250 people taking notes and collaborating in one interactive lecturing space...and my mind started spinning. So this is what we are now tackling together. We are all reviewing how we are doing things because faculty and students should get the full benefit of interaction and feedback in large lecture as well as smaller courses. Look for updates this fall.

Tablet PCs still making waves after 5 years

Education and tech guru Ken Collura went with his gut in 2002 by choosing Tablet PCs and has been leading the way since then for his diocese, his state, and schools around the world. As a friend of Ken's, I can attest that he gets probably 15 calls per week from peers about his program. Now Microsoft has released a case study on Bishop Hartley High School's experience that clearly explains how the program has played out.

Using a Mac and a Tablet PC?

Check out this post by a Microsoft MVP about his use of both a MacBook Pro and a Fujitsu Tablet PC. This is not the first time I've heard about someone using both Apple and Microsoft-based computing devices and being happy with both. Huh? Are these folks splitting their allegiances?! Perhaps not. It seems to me that this ultimately comes down to the Tablet PC.

It's no secret that the iPod (and possibly iPhone) craze is leading the PC-domintated business and ed tech communities to take a closer look at Mac computers. This, combined with the Intel chip set, lower exposure to viruses, and improved virtualization software (Parallels Desktop) seems to be good for Apple.

Due in part to these factors, I'm seeing a lot of fresh Mac vs. PC discussion on K12 school listservs. Mac skeptics point to the higher cost and inferior accidental protection / service plans, especially for 1:1 programs. Mac fans counter with better OS stability and the "cool" factor among students. At the same time, [Microsoft] Tablet PC models are being compared and many teacher pilots started.

For Microsoft, the Office Suite and other productivity apps continue to be dominant. Because of this, PCs are still the overwhelming choice for business and many schools. Vista holds promise with a more intuitive UI, integrated Tablet ink, and a Google-like desktop search utility but I think the jury is still out on overall stability compared to OSX. My main point is that in light of the recent charge from Apple, I think Microsoft should be putting more of their eggs in the Tablet PC basket.

The Tablet PC answers several of the shortcomings of users who are mobile and understand the power of digital ink. And yeah, yeah, I've heard the rumors of a Mac tablet for 18 months. Still, I think Microsoft should continue to take this seriously by investing more in marketing the Tablet to schools and consumers, exerting more pressure internally and on partners to push the Tablet price down to that of a comparable laptop, and continuing to support ISVs in developing compelling apps for the Tablet (for the record, they have been very supportive of DyKnow). Sure, Apple would probably release their own killer inking apps with a Mac tablet, but Microsoft currently has the advantage in terms of experience as well as support from the software community. I think Microsoft can keep leading in this form factor.

As for now, I am content with my ultra-fast HP Compaq tc4400 Tablet PC as my primary machine.