Tweet this!

I recently had the privilege of introducing 50 middle school teachers to their new tablet pcs. It was great fun, and everyone left with something simple they could try the first time they fired up their tablet in class. If you've just acquired a tablet pc to enhance your teaching, or if you're still thinking about it, below are my favorite, simple, "5 First Steps" that I shared during my workshops...

First, I have to say "thank you" to the educators I've met in Twitter who were kind enough to answer my question, "What would YOU show teachers who are new to tablet pcs?" I received some great suggestions, one of which was from @web20classroom. He STRONGLY encouraged me to give them time to play and NOT overwhelm them with too much information. So I purposely focused my 90 minute workshop on teaching-relevant tablet pc uses that are EASY first steps.

Try This #1: Use Windows Journal as a replacement for your chalkboard, whiteboard, and/or overhead projector

Windows Journal is marvelous in its simplicity. It's basically an infinite pad of digital paper - with some features that have many educators tossing out PowerPoint and using Journal instead. Here's why:

• Unlike PowerPoint, with Journal your annotations, drawings, scribbles, text and pasted images can all be REPOSITIONED afterward. Just use the lasso tool to grab and move an object.
  
  Instructional Use: Journal is great for facilitating a brainstorm discussion. Write a list of ideas as step 1 of a brainstorm, and then (step 2 of a brainstorm) discuss ways to organize all the ideas - and move the list items being discussed. You can't do this on a white board unless you erase and rewrite everything. Yes, you can brainstorm with stickies - but those tend to be hard to read from far away. With a digital projector located toward the back of the classroom, the projected image can be ENORMOUS.
• Unlike PowerPoint, if you want to spontaneously add a blank page because you've run out of space for more annotations, you can easily add a new page and keep going. With PowerPoint, you'd have to stop your presentation, save your annotations, insert a slide, and then restart the presentation. Ugh.
  
  Instructional Use: You can prepare your lesson plan ahead of time, pre-populating your Journal file with curricular materials you want to share. Invariably you'll be asked a question which requires more space for drawing as you discuss the question. Journal helps you shift from "presenter" to "discussion facilitator".
• Unlike PowerPoint, you can STRETCH (or unStretch) the digital canvas as needed. Want to insert some space between diagrams? No problem - just activate the "stretch" icon and tap/drag the pen DOWN to add more room (or tap/drag UP to unstretch).
  
  Instructional Use: Have two drawings or photos, one on top of another, but now you need some room to label key features? Just STRETCH the paper and make some room for your annotations.

Try This #2: Customize Windows Journal backgrounds

Teach mathematics? Easily create grid paper for plotting data

Teach music? Easily create staff paper that you can notate on top of

Teach language arts? Create a graphic organizer background to facilitate discussions and scaffold student thinking

Try This #3: Use the Snipping Tool to grab and discuss images

Many instructors find themselves using their tablet pcs in "laptop mode", which is to say the display is open but not swiveled down on top of the keyboard. This makes it easy to draw AND "alt-tab" to any other open application being discussed. So let's say you have a webpage open and you want to point, draw, or otherwise annotate on top of a portion of it (e.g., "Look at this suspension bridge - what kind of mathematical expression might be used to characterize the shape of the suspension cable?"). With the snipping tool, you can "grab" an area (rectangular or free form), copy it, and paste it into Journal - in real-time, while you're discussing things in class.

The snipping tool was originally a free utility included in the Microsoft Tablet PC Experience Pack (a free download for MS Windows XP Tablet PC edition users). I suspect it was so popular that it now is included in MS Vista operating system. I can see why - it's so handy, I've copied a shortcut to the snipping tool and placed it on my toolbar (lower left hand corner, down by the Windows "start" blob).

Here's how to use it during a class discussion:

1)      With Windows Journal open, make some space to add a "snip"

2)      Open the other program you want to talk about (a browser window, a spreadsheet, anything that runs on your computer!)

3)      Launch the snipping tool; use your pen to draw a box or freehand "snip"; in Vista, this action will automatically copy the snip to your clipboard

4)      ALT-TAB back to Journal

5)      EDIT > Paste your snip into Journal, and annotate away!

Try This #4: Markup Word Docs with Digital Ink

Looking for ways to be more efficient? Try paperless homework! If you're already having students use MS Word to write assignments, you can mark them up and send them back without ever having to print (and carry around) the originals. Here's how:

Try This #5: Annotate your PowerPoint - and throw away your laser pointer

Finally, because PowerPoint is so prevalent, you've GOT to see how easy it is to draw on top of your slides during your presentation. This short video will show you how:

Instructors who are doing this have basically thrown out their laser pointers - after all, laser pointers are now pointless. Digital annotations are easier to see and can be saved for later distribution to students.

Instructors who are doing this are also finding it valuable to leave more whitespace on their slides so there's room to write. The secondary benefit of doing this is that you're less likely to commit the crime of "too much stuff on your powerpoints"; with more whitespace, your presentation can slow down to match the speed of thought - and your students' fingers won't cramp up so often.

TIP: Use "save as" to make a copy of your master file before you start each class

If you never annotate on your master file, then you will always have a fresh copy that is free of all annotations. If you teach the more than one section of the same class, then you can avoid having to erase all your annotations from the previous session. Likewise, you retain a clean master for next year! So, whether you're using PowerPoints or Journal files, open the master file, then immediately "Save As" and give it a new name. This retains the master intact, and gives you a copy that you can mark up and share with your students.

**************

If anyone else has a "favorite first step" recommendation for new Tablet PC users, please post a comment and share it with me!

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Worldwide Education Programs
HP Global Social Investment
Hewlett-Packard
Twitter @jgvanides

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