Edward Price, Chuck De Leone, and Robin Marion from California State University in San Marcos, have been using Tablet PCs from their HP Technology for Teaching grant to explore how they might compare to traditional whiteboards in support of students working in groups. With the help of Ubiquitous Presenter software, some interesting results are beginning to emerge...

The CSU San Marcos project entitled "Assessing the impact of digital whiteboards in an active learning physics course", is described on their project webpage as follows:

Whiteboards and Tablet PCs are compared as tools for conducting group work in a introductory physics class where students work on activities in groups and share their answers with the whole class. In the study, groups record their work on either a 3'x4' whiteboard or a Tablet PC using Ubiquitous Presenter. Students can share their whiteboard with the whole class, or the instructor can project Tablet-based work. Watch the Tablets in action. Assessment focuses on how the choice of tool affects classroom practice and student interactions during small group work.

You can find a video of their project at http://emmy.csusm.edu/physics/eprice/UP_Tablets.wmv (May require Active-X to be enabled in order to view it).

Not surprisingly, a big advantage of the Tablets + Ubiquitous Presenter approach is that the notes and sketches are archived. But there were other important advantages (and some challenges), which they describe in their "Findings" page. From there, you can also download a pre-pub version of a paper that will appear in the proceedings of the 2008 Physics Education Research Conference:

"Archiving Student Solutions with Tablet PCs in a Discussion-based Introductory Physics Class"

Abstract Many active learning based physics courses use whiteboards as a space for groups to respond to prompts based on short lab activities, problem solving, or inquiry-oriented activities. Whiteboards are volatile; once erased, the material is lost. Tablet PCs and software such as Ubiquitous Presenter can be used as digital whiteboards in active learning classes. This enables automatic capture and archiving of student work for online review by students, instructors, and researchers. We studied the use of digital whiteboards in an active-learning introductory physics course at California State University, San Marcos. In this paper we examine the archival features of digital whiteboards', and characterize the use of these features by students and instructors, and explore possible uses for researchers and curriculum developers.

In our project, we used tablets and Ubiquitous Presenter for as ‘digital whiteboards' in a course that includes extensive small group work followed by whole class discussions. When using whiteboards, as had been done previously, students would carry their board to the front of the class to present their work. With the tablets, we had the ability to project student work in class and archive student work on the web.

Based on interviews and surveys of students, as well as classroom observations by our evaluator, this led to increased visibility of student work during whole class discussions. This is clearly evident in the photos below. Students said projected work made note taking easier and more likely during these presentations.

To the CSU San Marcos team, thank you for sharing!

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Worldwide Education Grant Strategy
HP Global Social Investment
Hewlett-Packard

For information about the HP Global Social Investments, visit www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants/