For those of you wondering about the significance of "digital ink", Dr. Ron Uhlig at National University (San Diego, California, USA) has collected some rather compelling evidence - and a great example of the use of tablet pcs...

Dr. Uhlig is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science & Information Systems at National University, an HP Technology for Teaching grant recipient campus. To date, Dr. Uhlig, his colleagues, and approximately 90 students from 4 graduate courses and 3 undergraduate courses have been using tablet pcs as they tackle complex math, computer science, and engineering topics. The results are exciting and intriguing.

In his poster presented at the ASEE Global Colloquium in Capetown, South Africa, Dr. Uhlig has a table that describes some of the impact they've seen. They compare exam responses by students who took identical courses in 2007 (without tablet pcs) and in 2008 (with tablet pcs), and found LARGE increases in the percentage of students answering specific questions correctly. The number of students in the data set is small, but the improvements are amazing (from 11% correct in 2007 to 81% correct, for example).

Of course we all know that it isn't digital ink alone, but rather the introduction of new approaches to teaching that include rapid input from students and feedback from instructors. As is the case with many HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients, the faculty at NU are using DyKnow software to accomplish this.

Congratulations to the NU team - and thanks for sharing your poster with us!

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/