Tablet computers and the traditional lecture

Abstract

A nationwide call has requested educators to emphasize methods that will encourage student participation and engagement during class. Concurrently, technology and ubiquitous computing have been making advancements onto campuses of higher education. This paper will discuss the research that is merging these two events and creating a platform using Tablet PCs that can be used in the traditional classroom setting. The platform enables the use of "digital ink" within slideshow-based note taking, collaborative activities, and formative and summative assessment activities. In addition, course specific software will be made available on the Tablet PCs and used to enhance the learning in individual courses instead of relegating these activities to out-of-classroom experiences. The paper discusses the differences and similarities between Tablet PCs and laptop computers, in general, and also presents information about low cost options to allow the use of "digital ink" in traditional computer labs. The paper also presents results the author has collected while making use of Tablet PCs to: (1) present course material during the lecture period; (2) administer summative assessment during the lecture period; (3) grade assessments with "digital ink"; and (4) provide timely feedback of student projects. Lastly, the paper presents some of the author's long term research plans of making use of Tablet PCs, "digital ink," and other currently available technology in the traditional lecture to (1) provide more communication between instructors and students; (2) elicit more frequent and higher quality feedback on student progress; (3) introduce more frequent and varied classroom teaching styles and activities and (4) expose students, in a variety of disciplines, to the technology that is currently available

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Session T2G
0-7803-9077-6/05/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE October 19 – 22, 2005, Indianapolis, IN
35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
T2G-7
Tablet Computers and the Traditional Lecture
Mitchell D. Theys*, Kimberly Lawless^, and Stephen George*
*Department of Computer Science and ^College of Education
University of Illinois at Chicago,
Chicago, IL 60607-7053
{mtheys, klawless, sgeorg2}@uic.edu
Abstract - A nationwide call has requested educators to
emphasize methods that will encourage student
participation and engagement during class. Concurrently,
technology and ubiquitous computing have been making
advancements onto campuses of higher education. This
paper will discuss research that is merging these two
events and creating a platform using Tablet PCs that can
be used in the traditional classroom setting. The platform
enables the use of “digital ink” within slideshow-based
note taking, collaborative activities, and formative and
summative assessment activities. In addition, course
specific software will be made available on the Tablet PCs
and used to enhance the learning in individual courses
instead of relegating these activities to out-of-classroom
experiences. The paper discusses the differences and
similarities between Tablet PCs and laptop computers, in
general, and also presents information about low cost
options to allow the use of “digital ink” in traditional
computer labs. The paper also presents results the author
has collected while making use of Tablet PCs to (1) present
course material during the lecture period; (2) administer
summative assessment during the lecture period; (3) grade
assessments with “digital ink;” and (4) provide timely
feedback of student projects. Lastly the paper presents
some of the author’s long term research plans of making
use of Tablet PCs, “digital ink,” and other currently
available technology in the traditional lecture to (1)
provide more communication between instructors and
students; (2) elicit more frequent and higher quality
feedback on student progress; (3) introduce more frequent
and varied classroom teaching styles and activities and (4)
expose students, in a variety of disciplines, to the
technology that is currently available.
Index Terms – lecture improvements, learning tools, new
technologies, technology in the classroom, ubiquitous
computing,
INTRODUCTION
As suggested by Berque et. al. in [6], there is a nationwide call
for educators to emphasize instructional methods that
encourage student engagement during class. As one notable
example, we cite the National Research Council's suggestion
that educators should provide “active learning environments
for all students, even in large section, lecture-dominated
courses” [11]. The authors of How People Learn: Brain,
Mind, Experiences, and School confirm that active learning
approaches are sound when considered from the point of view
of contemporary learning theory; they further point out that
interactive technologies can be used to create environments
where students “learn by doing, receive feedback, and
continually refine their understanding and build new
knowledge” [8].
In parallel, many campuses of higher education have
begun exploring and developing ubiquitous computing options
for teaching and learning. Millions of dollars have been
expended updating labs and increasing their size and scope
[9]. Further, several universities have undertaken more
specific technology initiatives, providing (or requiring) laptops
or PDAs to (of) students and some universities are even
beginning to explore the potential uses of high volume storage
devices, e.g., an Apple iPod, in the student community [18].
Yet, although these initiatives are enabling a larger exposure
to technology by students in the higher education
environment, the most compelling uses of the technologies are
still not being enacted within the confines of the traditional
classroom setting. The most pervasive use of technology in
the classroom remains digital presentation using tools such as
PowerPoint® to display lecture slides that supplement and
illustrate lecture content [4]. While digital slide shows do help
organize class material and combine both visual and text-
based information, they are largely constrained to a linear
progression through lecture material, affording little flexibility
or adaptability to in-time student needs.
Computer science educators have recently begun
investigating the use of Tablet PCs and digital ink for
instructional purposes, and the 2004 ACM SIGCSE conference
devoted an entire session to this topic [3][6]. Digital ink
affords participants ability to take handwritten notes directly
on the tablet and store a digital version of these notes for later
retrieval. Inking systems can also record time, pressure,
context, and other information for every stroke drawn, and
reconstruct this information on demand. This process occurs
for both the instructor and the student. For example, an
instructor works through solving a mathematical problem in a
lecture and digitally writes the process on their Tablet PC for
display to the entire class. Meanwhile students receive the
instructor’s notes as they are created and can further annotate
their versions of the lecture notes using a different ink color or
pen size. This not only increases the richness of the notes and
presentations made in classes, but also affords the opportunity
to adjust static digital presentations in ways that are more
responsive to student needs. In addition, the entire collection

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35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
T2G-8
of notes (both the students’ and the instructor’s versions) are
archived for later access.
Tablet PCs also expand classroom interaction by
affording a greater range of tools for enhancing a static
curricular structure by providing real time opportunities for
formative assessment [19] and digital forms of summative
assessment. Using a polling system, students can anonymously
and immediately respond to an instructor's question during a
class lecture. This information is then instantly consolidated
and provided to the instructor as a check of student
comprehension. When questioning and feedback is frequent
and involves students actively reflecting on what they know
and how they learn, and when assessment data are used to
inform and adjust the course of instruction, formative
assessment can produce large gains [7]. From a summative
viewpoint, quizzes and tests can also be administered,
collected, and graded electronically using the digital ink
features of the Tablet PCs, thereby facilitating the process of
assessing student learning without sacrificing the nature of
feedback
Finally, Tablet PCs can also increase collaboration and
communication in small group exercises. Students can work
together on an involved work-out problem, communicating
visually. The provided system captures each student's unique
contribution to such an activity as well as the overall group
product. By using the Tablet PCs and wireless networking,
the students participating in the group will not need time to
move about the room, instead switching to another application
window on the Tablet PC is all that is required. Additionally,
the groups can rotate each time an activity occurred without
students having to “locate” their group during the class period.
These experiences can be configured to allow students to be
anonymous while participating in the group. Students will not
have to feel intimidated or annoyed by being matched with
someone who they feel is more or less capable than they think
they are.
While there have been a number of studies that have
attempted to look at the classroom learning potential of Tablet
PC based systems, these projects have all limited their scope
to examining a particular characteristic of the instructional
interactions or environments. For example, [19] examines the
use of class polling as a means to improve instruction, where
as [4] focused on the contributions of digital ink. Where these
multiple tools have been investigated, the Tablet PC were used
in a computer lab setting, tying teaching to particular context
and hindering the use of the system broadly across instructors,
departments and colleges [6]. This paper presents research
that seeks to innovate on these prior research studies by
examining the use of Tablet PCs and the associated software
systems in a natural classroom setting with mobile teaching
units.
This paper will present a collection of information about
Tablet PCs, the tools that are available for use with these
devices, the author’s successes using Tablet PCs along with a
portion of the tools presented and the author’s long term
research goals of having a 1:1 computer student ratio in a large
traditional lecture setting.
TABLET PCS
Tablet PCs come in two varieties, slate models and
convertibles. Examples of slate models include the Motion
Computing M1400 [20] and the Electrovaya Scribbler SC
2200 [14] and are shown in Figure 1. Both weigh less than 4
pounds, have a stylus as the primary input device, and include
a hard drive, wireless networking, and a variety of peripheral
connection options (USB, firewire, etc.). Keyboards can be
added to the device and optional accessories typically include
a keyboard cover. But again the slate model is intended to use
the stylus as the primary input device Convertible Tablet
PCs, on the other hand, typically weigh more than 5 pounds,
include a hard drive and an optical device, e.g., DVD-
ROM/CDRW, an integrated keyboard, along with wireless
networking and a variety of peripheral connection options
(USB, firewire, etc.). The display typically swivels and
rotates so the device can operate in either “tablet” or “laptop”
modes. The Tablet PCs range in price from sub $1000, for
some of the older models or in bulk purchases, to $3000 for
the slate models with all of the possible accessories. A typical
convertible can be configured and priced to a comparative
laptop in many situations, e.g., Acer C300 [1], Averatec 3500
[5], or Element Computers Helium [15]. Examples of Tablet
PCs (both slate models and convertible models) are shown in
Figure 1.
FIGURE 1
EXAMPLES OF TABLET PCS, MANUFACTURERS ARE, FROM TOP
AND GOING CLOCKWISE, AVERATEC, ACER, MOTION
COMPUTING, AND ELECTROVAYA.

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35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
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A low-cost alternative to Tablet PCs that allows “digital-
ink” to be placed into your existing computer laboratories is
the Wacom Digitizers [25] that attach to a USB interface and
provide a mouse and stylus as input devices. Both allow for
digital ink and can be used like a normal pen. A disadvantage
of these types of devices is that one’s hand-eye coordination
has to improve before one is comfortable “writing” on a
device and having to look elsewhere to see what you have
written. These devices come in a variety of sizes and start with
a 4”x6” digitizing area that can be found for under $100. One
can easily adapt an existing computer lab with these devices
for the cost of a single Tablet PC.
A more expensive alternative to adapt to existing
computer labs is the Wacom Cintiq [26] that replaces your
existing display. This device uses a stylus as input and allows
for writing on what you are seeing. This device replaces the
monitor and can be phased in gradually in existing computer
labs. This device tends to be a little more expensive, about
$2000 per device.
CLASSROOM COMMUNICATION SYSTEM (CCS)
Classroom Communication Systems (CCSs) have evolved
from calculators that facilitate multiple-choice polling [12], to
PDAs with access to web based polling systems [2] and now
Tablet PCs with wireless connectivity that facilitate shared
note taking and electronic assessment. The CCS provides a
mechanism for formative handwritten feedback and
collaboration in the natural classroom setting. The CCS
enables in-class polls, and provides the ability to show which
percentage answered a particular way and also showcase
student examples, both good and bad, in real-time. Group
exercises are easier to implement because students are not
required to move around the room - they can collaborate
through shared spaces in the CCS. Examples of CCSs include
DyKnow Vision Suite [13] and Classroom Presenter [3]. Both
of these tools provide, at a minimum, slide-show based note
taking. Some of the features listed are also included, e.g.,
polling in DyKnow Vision, while others are part of the
author’s long term vision, e.g., shared group spaces.
EXPERIENCES USING A TABLET PC
The Tablet PC has been piloted in classes at the University of
Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for a number of semesters now.
Because of funding limitations these pilots have been
somewhat limited. Long-term goals involving a 1:1 student
computer ratio will be discussed in a later section. In this
section we discuss the benefits an instructor can obtain from a
single Tablet PC that they use to complement many of the
day-to-day activities that are already being performed, but are
improved by using a Tablet PC.
The first improvement is in the presentation of class
notes. Whether you are accustomed to writing on a
chalkboard, an overhead, or lecturing with pre-prepared slides,
a Tablet PC with digital ink will improve your experience.
First is the digital record of what you have completed in class.
This includes annotations that you make to your pre-prepared
slides, or your entire session if you write them out each period.
In addition this “actual transcript” can be made available for
your students so they can supplement their notes and see what
“actually” happened in class if they happened to miss a class
or a portion of a class. If a CCS is utilized, the archiving and
access can be done automatically. If for complexity or cost
considerations a CCS is not utilized, there are other
alternatives for this process, one example is discussed below.
The UIC pilot utilized Microsoft Journal® to write all
course notes during class. Examples and figures in a variety of
formats can be imported or printed to a journal file and then
annotated with digital ink. The file at the end of the class
period was uploaded to a course web site where the students
could retrieve the file. Students were required to have access
to a machine that had the viewer, or a full version of Microsoft
Journal installed. Most students downloaded the Journal
Viewer and installed it with few problems. Overall students
were very pleased to have an “actual” transcript of the class,
including complex annotations on figures and diagrams. This
process is not as elegant as the CCSs discussed and has some
negatives. For example, students cannot “playback” the notes
to follow the process of solving a problem, instead they only
receive a completed problem and have to recall the process or
attempt to recreate the process on their own. Again the point
to notice is that students are able to pay attention to the
solving of the problem during the class, make a few notes to
remind themselves of the process, and the instructors’ notes
will be available for them to download and make use of during
homework completion and exam studying. Examples of the
types of materials that can be prepared and utilized in the
classroom can be found at the authors’ research lab website
[22].
The second improvement is in the process of grading
students work. Over the course of the pilot, at UIC, students
prepared group project reports that detailed the work
completed and showcased the functionality of the design. The
instructor was able to annotate, again in digital ink, a variety
of submitted document types and return them to the students
with the feedback. The amount of time required to prepare the
feedback was lessened, since comments were made directly on
the report. As such, the time to return the work was shortened
because the documents and the comments were digital and
were easily transported and graded.
The next improvement dealt with assessment and was an
extension to the annotating of submitted reports. The UIC
pilot utilized enough Tablet PCs to allow the graduate course
to take their exams using Tablet PCs (again the long term goal
is a 1:1 ratio and this borrowing was a small step towards this
goal that will be discussed in a later section). Each student
received a Tablet PC for the course period and the exam was
preloaded on each Tablet as a Journal file. The students spent
the period completing the exam inside Journal as if it were a
traditional paper exam. The exams were then manually
collected off of each Tablet and given to the instructor for
grading. During the first exam this process meant emailing
them since the instructor was at FIE 2004. It was nice to have
the exams and begin grading them before returning to campus.
If the exams were paper based more time would have been

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0-7803-9077-6/05/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE October 19 – 22, 2005, Indianapolis, IN
35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
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required to return the graded exams to the students. Students
already had exposure with Microsoft Journal Viewer from the
course notes, so returning the exam in this format was not a
problem. Electronic testing is not a new occurrence, but most
testing systems restrict students in how they can prove their
comprehension of material [10], whereas the Tablet PC
approach is closer to the traditional paper and pencil methods
that we all use.
There were a few technical difficulties and some
complaints about the process. The most common and easily
resolved issue dealt with the screen size, in terms of actual
writing area. The Tablets procured for the examination had
only 10” screens, long term plans include using 12” screens
and many convertible Tablet PCs have 14” screens. These
larger screens were used, along with some smaller 10”
screens, during the final and students preferred the larger
writing areas these Tablet PCs provided. A few students had
issues with battery life and intermittent rebooting. In the small
case study we easily found enough outlets for charging and the
reboots were not problematic. In a larger course, with 50 or
more students we would expect more of an issue finding
outlets and so making sure all of the Tablet PCs are fully
charged during usage is a concern we are investigating. There
was no problem with distractions during the exam, as students
were more concerned about completing the exam. Students
were provided the Tablet PCs during a single course period
before the first exam so they had a chance to “play” with them
a little and get comfortable writing on them.
TABLAB
The authors have been working to establish a laboratory that
will examine the benefits of using Tablet PCs and digital ink
in the traditional classroom [22]. One of the goals of the
research is to develop the Tabmobile system. A Tabmobile
consists of a mobile cart, wireless connectivity, approximately
thirty Tablet PCs, and a small server that can be reconfigured
to allow the type of network connectivity desired during the
classroom activities. The wireless network allows the students
flexibility in the seating and also in the use of small group
activities during class. Developing a means of controlling the
wireless networking dynamically to restrict students from
accessing certain software running on the Tablets or sites on
the Internet is an active area of research.
Another area of research is how the Tablet PCs can
improve student/instructor interaction in traditionally large
lecture classes. It is thought that the Tabmobile system would
enable students to pay more attention to the instructor, and
allow students to create a richer set of course notes than is
currently possible. In addition, using the polling of the CCS,
enables the instructor to obtain more feedback about whether
the students comprehend the topic being discussed. The
Tabmobile system will also supplement the CCS by providing
a mechanism for students to “instant message” other students
and/or the instructor questions and comments. This will
empower students to ask questions without disturbing the
entire class and without the stress of peer pressure or a feeling
of inadequacy. During the lecture the instructor can then
customize the presentation to address the feedback received
via polling and the instant messages.
The Tabmobile system is not limited to formative
assessments via polling. Summative assessment will be
possible and encouraged. The system can be configured for
test taking mode and the students will have limited
applications that can be accessed and no wireless connectivity
(if none is desired). In this way students will be able to
complete their exams and have the system collect their results
for grading. As one of the author’s has experienced, having
the exams in an electronic form allows for richer and quicker
feedback to be made available to the students.
Because students would have notes and exercises in an
electronic format, it becomes practical to provide an online
repository where students can retrieve class notes from home
for review. Again, with the storage of ink strokes in as a
timeline and not as a whole, it would be possible for a student
to play back his or her own work-out problems in the same
order that they were produced. Such access provides students
a quick and easy means to review previous semester’s material
when appropriate for current courses.
The creation of a mobile system allows the Tabmobile to
be moved to different lecture halls to meet the needs of a
variety of instructors. In addition, multiple Tabmobiles can be
brought to a single room to handle larger classes. This does
involve a scheduling process of reserving the systems that will
probably become quite complex if/when the system becomes
popular. It is envisioned that as the demand for the Tabmobile
systems increases, additional units can be procured by the
university or departments to handle rising needs. In the long
term it is expected that a majority of students will have their
own computer that they regularly bring to lecture and can be
used for in-class activities. The Tabmobile system is thus a
bridge to expose students to the benefits of Tablet PCs and
“digital ink” so that they are exposed to technology and how it
can benefit their academic careers. Some students have
already purchased their own Tablet PCs based on experiences
and discussions that have been had with the authors. As more
students are exposed to the benefits it is expected that more
will purchase a Tablet PCs (most likely a convertible model)
instead of just a laptop.
Another research area that will exploit the mobile nature
of the Tabmobile system is using the system in K-12
education. One of the needs of the K-12 system is to educate
instructors on how to effectively use technology during their
day-to-day activities. By teaming with the departments on
campus that are training the next generation of K-12 teachers,
we can expose the college students to the technology before
they become K-12 teachers. In addition, a process will be
developed where student teachers can make use of the
Tabmobile system during their student teaching visits at K-12
institutions. This will allow the student teachers to expose the
existing K-12 teachers and students to the technology and
some of its possible uses in the classroom. In addition, it will
begin the creation of a digital library of K-12 teaching artifacts
that can be used at the college level for training purposes. For
example, a student teacher can create a worksheet on writing

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sentences that they intend to have the grammar students
complete. Currently the student teacher has to create paper
copies of the worksheet, disperse them to the grammar
students, collect the results, grade them, scan some into the
computer for use in their teaching portfolio, and leave results
for the grammar school teacher. By making use of the
Tabmobile system and its collection of tools, the student
teacher can make a digital handout that is administered to the
students via the Tablet PC. The results are then already
electronic, and after stripping any identifying features from the
document, can be used in their teaching portfolio. The
materials can also be placed into a digital repository that
allows college instructors to pull examples that can be used for
teaching the next generation of K-12 instructors.
It is anticipated that there would be classes and activities
that would benefit from having a laptop in the lecture and not
the digital ink capabilities. An example is in a programming
course. In this case the Tablet PCs could be configured with a
keyboard so that programming could occur during class. The
instructor can make available code examples and ask the
students to determine the problems with the code, or have
them compile the code and interact with the result. A variety
of activities would be made possible in-class that are typically
relegated to out-of-class experiences because large enough
computer labs don’t exist. Another example would be in
making use of existing simulators in a course [16], [21], [23],
[24]. Since existing simulators are prevalent, the Tablet PCs
would enable the class to move these typically “out-of-class”
experiences into the lecture for a more hands-on approach to
learning.
A final research area the author’s are pursuing is in the
development of course specific software that can make use of
the digital ink capabilities of the Tablet PC. One example of
such a package is InkWire [17]. This package would be used
in a digital logic course to allow students to “draw” their own
circuits on the Tablet PC. Currently, software packages exist
that allow students to draw circuits by using the mouse and a
menuing system to choose the device that should be placed in
the circuit, then changing tools to connect the devices with
wires. The InkWire application enables a more intuitive
approach to circuit creation by having students draw the gates
and the wires and having the application recognize the wires
and the gates. The InkWire application would interface with a
traditional circuit simulation tool for testing of the circuits.
This paper has presented research activities that are
similar to research proposed. Some major differences between
the existing research and the long term plans of the authors
include making use of the technology in non-technical courses
on campus and in the K-12 arena. In addition, the existing
research has not emphasized the use of the technology at a 1:1
ratio in large lecture courses (more than 60 students).
THE TABMOBILE SYSTEM
The Tabmobile System is not a pure off the shelf entity, and
requires some research to occur before a working system is
possible. The authors are currently working to solve the
connectivity configuration problem and determining the
appropriate suite of software to include on the Tablet PCs.
Many (most) campuses are deploying wireless networking
on campus for their faculty and students to access. The
solution for use in classrooms has typically been an on/off
relationship. The instructor can leave the wireless on and
allow students to connect to any sites they desire, or the
instructor can disable the connection entirely. The current
research is to be able to reconfigure the connectivity in real-
time. Students should be restricted to certain sites (if any)
during a short quiz, and then have unlimited access during the
group exercise that follows.
A survey of software that can be utilized by the
Tabmobile system is currently being completed. The choice of
software to include on the Tabmobile has been influenced by
cost, scalability, and ease of use issues. Current forerunners
for inclusion includes Microsoft Journal, a modified
Conference Presenter, and software created at UIC for
assessment dispersement and collection.
DRAWBACKS OF TABLET PCS
The paper has put a very positive spin on Tablet PCs and the
opportunities they provide. The authors believe that the
benefits Tablet PCs provide far outweigh any negatives that
might exist. The authors are aware of some negatives and
drawbacks associated with Tablet PCs, and any technology
and its use in the classroom, and these are now presented.
First is the obvious cost associated with the Tablet PCs.
Many schools are implementing “laptop initiatives” (the states
of Maine and Michigan and also several schools), and the
authors expect to see results from these initiatives in the
forthcoming years. Convertible Tablet PCs can easily be
chosen instead of a pure laptop solution with a minor increase
in cost. (The exact differential in cost is dependent on the
exact model chose, deals with individual manufacturers and
distributors, and the number of devices needed).
Second is the distraction that the Tablet introduces into
the classroom. Some preliminary research [6] has discussed
that these distractions are no worse the than the student that
reads the paper in class or the student that plays games on
their cell phone. Once the benefits of using the device is
experienced, the novelty and distraction will wane and
productivity is expected to increase..
A complicated issue is the lack of battery life provided by
some devices. If a student's battery dies during an assessment
we can easily move the student closer to an outlet for
charging. But if this occurs for multiple students (or all 150
students) during a final, we can only imagine the issues this
will introduce. Of course this issue is equally likely when
using a Tablet, a PDA, or any other electronic device. It is
anticipated that battery technology will continue to improve,
and some tablet manufacturers are advertising 8-hours of
battery life from their devices [20].
SUMMARY
This paper has introduced Tablet PCs to the reader and
compared them to the traditional laptop computer. Details

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about the tools that are available to make use of “digital ink”
and can be used in the traditional classroom have also been
presented. The experiences of one of the authors in using
Tablet PCs in the natural classroom have been summarized
and the long-term research goals of the authors have also been
presented. In summary, the research goals aim to address the
needs of students and instructors by introducing ubiquitous
computing, Tablet PCs, and “digital ink” to (1) provide more
communication between instructors and students; (2) elicit
more frequent and higher quality feedback on student
progress; (3) introduce more frequent and varied classroom
teaching styles and activities and (4) expose students in a
variety of disciplines to the technology is that currently
available.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the University of Illinois at
Chicago, Center for Excellence in Teaching, for providing
seed money for some of the research discussed here.
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[2] Active Class: http://activecampus.ucsd.edu/
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=98022
19
[3] R. Anderson, R. Anderson, B. Simon, S. Wolfman, T. VanDeGrift, and
K. Yasuhara, “Experiences with a Tablet PC Based Lecture Presentation
System in Computer Science Courses,” Technical Symposium on
Computer Science Education, SIGCSE 2004, Norfolk Virginia, March
2004.
[4] R. J. Anderson, C. Hoyer, S. Wolfman, and R. A. Anderson, Study of
Digital Ink in Lecture Presentation, Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems, Vienna, Austria, 2004
[5] Averatec, http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/C3500.htm
[6] D. Berque, T. Bonebright, and M. Whitesell, “Using Pen-Based
Computers across the Computer Science Curriculum,” Technical
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[7] P. Black, and D. Wiliam, Inside the black box: Raising standards
through classroom assessment, London: King's College London, 1998.
[8] J. Bransford, A. Brown, and R. Cocking (eds), How People Learn:
Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Committee on Developments in
the Science of Learning, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences
and Education, National Research Council, National Academy Press,
Washington, 1999.
[9] D. Brown, and K. Petitto, “The status of ubiquitous computing,”
EDUCAUSE, 2003,
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0331.pdf.
[10] K. Bushweller, “Throw away the No. 2 pencils, here comes
computerized testing,” Electronic School, June 2000.
http://www.electronic-school.com/2000/06/0600f1.html
[11] Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education,
Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics,
Engineering, and Technology, Committee on Undergraduate Science
Education, National Research Council, National Academy Press,
Washington, 1999.
[12] Classtalk - The Classroom Communication System,
http://www.bedu.com/classtalk.html
[13] DyKnow, http://www.dyknow.com
[14] Electrovaya – Scribbler 2200,
http://www.electrovaya.com/product/sc2200.html
[15] Element Computer :: Linux + Hardware = Solution
http://elementcomputer.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_
id=33
[16] Roland Ibbett and Frederic Mallet, “Computer Architecture Simulation
Applets for Use in Teaching,” Frontiers in Education 2003, November
2003.
[17] InkWire Home Page, http://tablab.cs.uic.edu/~tablab/inkwire.html
[18] D. Keefe, and A. Zucker, “Ubiquitous computing projects: A Brief
history,” Ubiquitous Computing Evaluation Consortium, SRI, 2003,
http://ubiqcomputing.org/overview.pdf.
[19] J. Roschelle, W. Penuel, and L. Abrahamson, “Classroom Response and
Communication Systems: Research Review and Theory,” American
Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA,
2004.
[20] Motion Computing – Tablet PC Products and Services,
http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_pc.asp
[21] Mythsim project info at sourceforge.net,
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mythsim/
[22] TabLab, http://tablab.cs.uic.edu
[23] M. D. Theys and P. A. Troy, “Lessons Learned from Teaching
Computer Architecture to Computer Science Students,” Frontiers in
Education 2003, November 2003.
[24] J. Vroustouris and M. D. Theys, “MythSim: The Mythical Processor
Simulator for Real Students,” Frontiers in Education 2004, October
2004.
[25] Wacom Graphire3 http://www.wacom.com/graphire/index.cfm
[26] Wacom Cintiq – Interactive Pen Display
http://www.wacom.com/lcdtablets/index.cfm