Project Description:

Alyssa Perz-Edwards uses her class time in Cell Biology to work with students on critical thinking and problem solving skills, while the students learn terms and facts outside of class. She motivates students from a wide variety of backgrounds to quickly learn a large amount of complex information, and to apply this information, by using Team Based Learning and a tablet PC. Students come to class prepared for tests taken individually and then repeated as a team. The tests are graded immediately, so that Alyssa can use her tablet PC for just-in-time teaching to address student misconceptions revealed by the tests. The tablet PC allows her to sketch and label during class, so that she can immediately address student requests for more explanation and context during class. The students work in teams for rest of class time to apply their new knowledge to solve problems in Cell Biology using skills they will need if they are to be successful in medical school.

Alyssa teaches cell biology in a six-week summer academic enrichment program that offers freshman and sophomore college students intensive and personalized medical school preparation in the Summer Medical and Dental Summer Program at Duke University School of Medicine.

Project Description

The Hart Leadership Program, directed by Alma Blount, is exploring different methods of assessment for their program.  The goals of this exploration include the following:

•    overall student work (yielded by improved and standardized assessment methods using rubrics and assessment technologies)
•    student engagement (measured by assessment technologies and past student ratings)
•    student and program exposure via eportfolio publishing and public press

Currently, program faculty and staff have chosen to use eportfolios as a means towards creating a standardized programmatic assessment by generating standard rubrics to assess writing samples (reflective pieces and full papers), along with a completed eportfolio presentation (public webpages generated by the students’ work).  The program has decided to use Chalk&Wire’s ePortfolio2 product to meet the aforementioned goals.

Project Started: Dec 2007
Funding: $4300

Project Description

Cary Moskovitz has been using the concept of “think aloud” responses in his writing courses, getting professionals in various fields at Duke to record comments and feedback on student papers. Students gain valuable insight from a reader familiar with the subject area of the paper and gain a better sense of ownership of their writing in a “real world” situation.

To build on the success of this approach in his own courses, Moskovitz is cooperated with the Duke Alumni Association to introduce this method into Writing in the Disciplines courses, by locating Duke alumni residing around the United States to serve as readers in three classes in Economics, History and Chemistry in Spring 2008.

During Fall 2007, Moskovitz used CIT funding to explore the technologies which will be used to implement the full project in Spring 2008. From fifty alumni applicants, twenty were paired with Duke students.  Readers used a webcam-assisted teleconference to virtually “meet” with their student partners, and web-based audio recording software to record a “think aloud” response on a student paper in the course. Students used the readers’ feedback to edit and improve their writing based on this professional input. The CIT consulted on technology approaches, documentation for the volunteer readers and students, and evaluation of the project.

The main challenges encountered during the project were recruitment of alumni readers with expertise that matched the student papers and with technology problems encountered by some users.  Using Wimba for recording of responses was successful, but some users had difficulty configuring and setting up the webcams or Skype account for the project.  Reactions to use of video for the project were mixed, with some users finding it more efficient to talk with students by phone and others reporting that it added a meaningful dimension to their interactions with the students.

• Moskovitz’s full report on the project (PDF)
• Duke Today feature article about the project

Project Started: 8/15/2007
Funding: $5,000 total (Fall 2007, Spring 2008)

Project Description

For Brenda Neece’s course on Musicology, a requirement of all incoming PhD candidates in the Music Department, Neece and her students experimented with the use of small form factor Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) for field research. Neece, during her own research, used a handheld Psion in her work to take notes, dictation, keep track of sources and even make sketches as she travelled in many locations researching musical instruments. With this project, Neece introduced the students to new methods of integrating technology with field research.

The UMPC is a new form factor computer – essentially a small tablet PC – giving the students access to a full Windows Vista computer in a small package. The project allowed the CIT to gain an understanding of ways that students and faculty might use this novel new portable computer.

The CIT loaned Neece and her two students Sony UMPCs during the Fall semester. The UMPCs have a stylus and could be used much like a tablet to create quick sketches and music notation. The computer includes a built-in webcam and digital still/video camera, as well as wireless capabilities, built-in microphone and other features. The computers were pre-loaded with productivity software, such as MS Office, and Endnote for creating and using citations. The Music Department provided licenses for the music notation software Sibelius for use on the computers during the project.

Neece and her students used the UMPC’s for common tasks, such as web browsing and editing of Word documents, but focused primarily on using the devices for research.  They used library electronic resources using WiFi access, made notes using the writing input-based Windows Journal, created and edited short musical examples with the stylus in Sibelius, and used the built-in camera to take quick images of sheet music or instruments for reference.

Despite some technical problems due to the emerging nature of the UMPC platform, the reaction was positive.  “It is fantastic to have the power of a full computer in one’s pocket,” Neece said at the end of the project.  “This is exactly what I would have loved to have had when I did all of my fieldwork and library research for my doctorate instead of my little Psion.”

Project Started: 8/30/2007
Funding: $5,400

Project Description

Julie Reynolds and her colleagues Paula Lemons and Ahrash Bissell are developing a methodology for designing valid and reliable, discipline-specific, critical-thinking questions and grading rubrics that simultaneously measure student’s content knowledge and specific critical-thinking skills (e.g., application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation). Using this methodology, they are generating questions and grading rubrics, and beginning to use these questions to gather data on student learning of both content and critical-thinking skills.

To share their work and allow others to contribute, they are looking for a web-based tool that can manage this type of collaborative assessment design and modification. This grant funded an assistant to assess web sites that might be suitable for a critical thinking assignment repository. The ultimate goal is to find an appropriate on-line tool to build a scholarly community around critical thinking assignments and rubrics for grading. Criteria used to assess websites:

1. free
2. user friendly
3. contains a downloadable database of critical-thinking assignments related to the teaching of biology
4. allows for collaborative writing of critical thinking assignments
5. claims to measure critical thinking in student responses
6. actually can measure critical thinking in student responses

Of the 13 software or websites assessed, none met the criteria. Investigated software/websites included: CPR, FLAG CDT, LE3, InsightAssessment, CornellCT, 2Mpower, SmartPrim, Theseus, Trackstar, DevelopingCTSkills, Critical Thinking Co, Writeboard, and CLAQWA.

The assistant suggested designing a new system to meet the needs of the project.

Project Started: August 20, 2007
Funding: $2000

Dr. Nightingale participated in a year-long faculty fellowship organized by Dr. Lisa Huettel to experiment with using tablet PCs in teaching.   In the spring of 2007, she taught Biomedical Device Design (BME 8 ) and used tablet PCs with the students.  The students worked in groups using the tablet PCs to perform literature searches and run design simulations using MATLAB.  The interactive nature of the group work on the tablets generated enthusiasm and interest greatly exceeding that typically experienced in a more didactic lecture setting. In a survey administered after the class, students appreciated using the simulation tools while the instructors were there to help them.

Photo shows Dr. Nightingale describing her teaching at the 2007 Center for Instructional Technology Showcase.

Dr. Nadeau participated in a year-long faculty fellowship organized by Dr. Lisa Huettel to experiment with using tablet PCs in teaching. He taught CE133L, Concrete and Composite Structures using a tablet PC.  To prepare, he converted his handwritten materials provided to his class to PowerPoint. These materials are annotated with a tablet PC in class as he lectured. Recreating his materials for the students afforded him the opportunity to rethink the organization of these materials resulting in more efficient, effective presentations. After the course, the majority of students preferred lectures when he used the tablet PC rather than the chalkboard. Dr. Nadeau believes this is due to the use of color, a larger image for increased visibility, and better contrast between his writing and the background.  Although he misses the feeling of writing with chalk, there were too many benefits in using a Tablet PC to not make the switch in all his courses.

He says:

Using the Tablet PC in place of an overhead projector and blackboard permitted me to:

• get ride of awkward transitions between overhead projector and the blackboard (primarily raising and lowering the screen—but, perhaps, this was also a welcome distraction/break for the class)
• always face the class (previously, I had used the blackboard when I wanted to slow down the delivery of concepts but at this crucial time I frequently had my back to the class and thus I was not able to judge whether or not students were understanding)
• use color on the “blackboard.” The more difficult concepts required that I use the blackboard so that I could slow down the presentation, but with the use of a Tablet PC I could use of color, which was particularly beneficial, and I could still use a blank background as a “blackboard.”

Several semesters following his fellowship, Dr. Nadeau noted that having PowerPoint slides for his class materials has made it significantly easier to modify materials for subsequent offerings of his courses and he now has electronic backups for his course materials, which he had not had previously.

The photo is of Dr. Nadeau discussing his experience at the 2007 Center for Instructional Technology showcase.

Dr. Lisa Huettel organized a Center for Instructional Technology faculty fellowship to facilitate and share faculty experimentation with using tablet PCs in teaching.  She had been awarded a Technology in Teaching Grant from HP, which provided several carts of tablet PCs to be used for faculty teaching.

Participants in the Tablet PC faculty fellowship are listed below; their names link to descriptions of their work in the fellowship and how it impacted their teaching.

• Linda Franzoni, Professor of the Practice, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
• Jeff Forbes, Assistant Professor of Practice, Computer Science
• Bob Malkin, Professor of the Practice, Biomedical Engineering
• Joe Nadeau, Associate Professor of the Practice, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Gary Ybarra, Professor of the Practice, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Kathy Nightingale, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Huettel used the tablet PCs in two courses: Fundamentals of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE 27), and  Introduction to Signals and Systems (ECE 54). In both courses, she prepared conceptual and/or computational problems for students to solve (sometimes individually, sometimes in groups).  Students used tablet PCs to submit their work using either Classroom Presenter or Ubiquitous Presenter.  Dr. Huettel then selected one or more student submissions as the basis of class discussion.  She also used polls occasionally to survey student understanding/intuition.

She says “I am most excited about the way students were more engaged when I used the Tablet for interactive activities. More students asked more questions when they had to try a problem in class and realized they didn’t exactly understand what they were doing.”

Students benefited, as she explained “Students report (on the survey, for example) that the interactive activities cause them to pay more attention and understand the material better (presumably because they are applying a new concept immediately, rather than waiting for a few days to attempt the homework).”

Using tablet PCs for interactive activities in the classroom impacted her teaching:

Since I feel the interactive activities are one of the most beneficial (and novel) uses of the Tablets, I spent a lot of time developing suitable questions to ask the students during class. This forced me to think carefully about all my examples so that common mistakes would be evident and so that I could make the conceptual points I felt were important. It was challenging and useful to try to anticipate the mistakes students would make. Using interactive activities has also forced me to be more flexible in my teaching style (since I did not always predict the actual outcome of an activity).

Participating in the fellowship had benefits: “one of the greatest benefits of this project has been the development of a community of faculty/CIT/OIT interested not just in Tablets, but in innovative teaching methods.”

This project produced several conference presentations:

• Lisa G. Huettel, Jeff Forbes, Linda Franzoni, Robert Malkin, Joseph Nadeau, and Gary Ybarra (2007) “Using Tablet PCs To Enhance Engineering and Computer Science Education” Workshop on the Impact of Pen-Based Technology on Education (WIPTE) abstract
• Lisa G. Huettel, Jeff Forbes, Linda Franzoni, Robert Malkin, Joseph Nadeau, Kathy Nightingale, and Gary A. Ybarra (2007)  “Transcending the Traditional: Using Tablet PCs to Enhance Engineering and Computer Science Instruction” Frontiers in Education  pdf
• Lisa G. Huettel (2008) “Introducing Tablet PCs to the Classroom: Course-Specific Impact in Engineering and Computer Science” HP Technology for Teaching Worldwide Higher Education Conference  abstract and video

Dr. Forbes participated in a year-long faculty fellowship organized by Dr. Lisa Huettel to experiment with using tablet PCs in teaching.  He taught CompSci 1, Principles of Computer Science, using a tablet PC and the program Ubiquitous Presenter to lecture, using ink to highlight points, answer posed questions, and as a large whiteboard. Students used Ubiquitous Presenter (UP) once a week to answer some question posed in class.  Overall, he felt that using UP or Classroom Presenter instead of Powerpoint is a positive change. Using UP instead of the chalkboard improved readability and accessibility for the student and provides more functionality for the instructor.

Dr. Forbes enjoyed participating in the faculty fellowship.  He says

The best outcome was working with a number of faculty who I normally do not interact with much. I learned a lot about teaching styles that normally does not happen. Just having people with similar interests come together to talk about pedagogy and instructional technology is extremely valuable.

Dr. Forbes is also involved with robotics projects with local schools.

Photo shows Dr. Forbes describing his teaching at the 2007 Center for Instructional Technology Showcase.

Dr. Malkin participated in a year-long faculty fellowship organized by Dr. Lisa Huettel to experiment with using tablet PCs in teaching. He taught his BME 154 (Biomedical Electronic Measurements) course using PowerPoint with blank slides that he wrote on using a tablet PC during his lectures. He then provided complete copies of the notes to download after the lecture. He found that most of the students continued to take notes as they always have done, and the use of the tablet PC improved both student learning and his teaching. In surveys, students preferred that he use the tablet PC to present his materials.

Dr. Malkin also experimented with using slates that plugged into the student laptops so that he could see student responses to problems during class. The students sketched their responses on the slate and then submitted them using an online photo program such as Snapfish or Shutterfly (image of student submissions is below). Dr. Malkin then discussed their submissions in class. He valued the ability to see how the students were doing during the class so he could adjust his materials, but the students did not find it useful. Additionally, there were logistic problems with providing power to each of the laptop/ slate combinations.

He concluded:

I am convinced that the advantages of using the tablet laptop to deliver lectures outweighs the disadvantages. I will only be delivering lecture-based classes using the tablets.

I am also convinced that giving students the ability to submit work from their tablets is also valuable. However, for the moment, this will not impact my teaching because the mechanics of doing so are too cumbersome.

Dr. Malkin is director of Duke-Engineering World Health, and has served on the executive board of the World Health Organization