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Contributed by Thomas S. Dickinson, FITS Faculty Coordinator

When I first began teaching in the public schools I was introduced to a time-honored ritual that every public school teachers knows: taking the papers for a ride. I would collect papers from students—quizzes, essays, homework—clip or band them together, drop them into the briefcase or backpack, and them take them to the car when school was dismissed. I’d take the papers for a ride home, where they often sat undisturbed in the briefcase or backpack. Sometimes they made it to the coffee table or the desk in the study; most times they just went back and forth, accumulating more and more miles like a frequent flyer does.

I have gone paperless, thanks to Moodle. I no longer take papers for a ride.

My move to paperless courses has its origins in my work as a distance education professor at another university. There, I taught masters and doctoral students in courses in curriculum, curriculum planning and instructional design. These students communicated with me via Blackboard through chats, discussion boards, electronic journals, uploaded papers and assignments and email. Since my students were physically scattered all over the world (I had Department of Defense teachers in Osaka, Japan, Peace Corps members in west Africa, and public school teachers in Atlanta, Georgia as well as students at the university who were taking both face-to-face and distance classes.) the medium of connection was electronic, not face-to-face interchanges or even paper presentations of their work.

During this time I came to depend on direct responses to student work, often using a variety of editing functions on various word processing programs to make comments on papers and projects in their draft stages as well as final submissions. Students used email and email attachments regularly but as time progressed I found that Blackboard, with its file submission function, provided a much easier avenue for responding to student work as well as storing completed items.

I also came to appreciate my students’ perspectives about distance education and finding materials on the course Blackboard site. I was constantly reminded to “put it up there” in relation to a link, a JSTOR article url, or detailed instructions.

When I came to DePauw I brought these distance education insights to my work with face-to-face classrooms using Blackboard. In the literature these classes are known as “hybrids”. As the campus made the transition to Moodle and discovered its amazing flexibility I began to consider how to make the leap to a totally paperless class. My efforts to move in this direction were significantly enhanced by the use of a Tablet PC that allowed me to use digital ink to mark student papers electronically in the same fashion that I would if I had paper copies.

My efforts then began to focus on the use of the Moodle feature “advance uploading of files”. This provided my students with the ability to upload multiple drafts of a course assignment. I could comment on multiple drafts as well as a final submission using the Tablet PC and digital ink and send the assignment back to the student, all the while maintaining a copy of the draft and the comments I had made. If I conference with a student, in a W competency for example, I could open both the students original work from Moodle and the draft containing my comments for review. New comments or additions can be added directly to a new draft that can be placed on Moodle at the conclusion of the conference.

I had always used discussion boards on Blackboard so I continued to use forums on Moodle and my students profited from this form of communication and the feedback I could provide to them. The same has proved true with the use of the journal function in Moodle.

If you examine my course Moodle site you will find a wide range of information and assignments on each course site. I continue to remind myself of my distance education insight of “put it up there” and I continue to be additive with my postings. This semester, in a W competency class with weekly journal submissions, I have been using paintings and photographs as visual prompts for their journal. Each week I post a range of visuals that student can use as fodder for their journal.

I also post a range of optional information for students in each course. Some of these posts are of readings that parallel our current assignment. Others are suggestions for books or articles by authors that students have read in other courses but which touch on our work. As well, I post student presentations for the class to view and respond to.

My classroom instruction incorporates Moodle as a supportive element along with required texts and activities. This semester I am using a standard instructional classroom with desktop computer and projector. If I am working with a word processing program then I have the additional option of plugging in my tablet pc and using digital ink to illustrate particular points. I am also working in a seminar room that does not have a projection system but students, with their individual laptops, have access to the Moodle site individually.

So in the final analysis I use Moodle and the range of opportunities that it provides but I don’t print items and bring to class and I don’t ask students to do so. My students tell me that two things emerge from this stance: they always have access to everything; they don’t worry about losing anything. My students who travel as representatives of the university are particularly appreciative of the paper-less focus and the extensive Moodle site.

If you want to move to a paperless class, regardless of whether it is a “green issue” for you or you are just tired of “taking the papers for a ride”, I suggest that you proceed with a plan such as outlined below:

• Explore the “advanced uploading of files” and go “paperless” for one assignment that has multiple drafts or submissions; assess how this works both for you and your students.
• Try the journal element of Moodle as a continuing activity over the course of a semester. You might even want to split the class into paper journals and paperless journals and compare the two (including how much paper students used with traditional paper journals).
• Try a Tablet PC to see how you might use the digital ink feature in both your teaching and your grading. Try the use of the tablet and digital ink with a face-to-face conference to see what impact this has upon students.
• Keep a record or file of the paper you distribute to your classes for a semester. Are there items that would be difficult to provide on Moodle or are they traditional offerings such as journal articles and word processed documents.
• Talk with individuals who have gone paperless in your department or among your teaching colleagues. Further, talk with the FITS staff about how you might approach this goal.

I don’t take my papers for a ride anymore but I have access to them wherever I am.

Contributed by Linda Elman, Associate Professor of Modern Languages

Tablet PC technology has proven very effective in all of my Spanish classes. For the literature seminar, I am able to annotate pdfs of critical articles and post the annotated version to Moodle for my students to peruse. In the intermediate grammar course, I can project a document saved in pdf format and annotate it (called “inking”) in various colors, including highlighted text. Compare this Tablet technology to using a transparency with four different color markers (that often stain your fingers), a wet paper towel for erasing your marks, and no ability to highlight important points. Instead, with the Tablet PC, one stylus “inks” and erases with just a click on the tool bar required to change colors, line width or highlighter tools. A final feature, perhaps the best, is that when class ends, you can save the annotated document to a file to use again and, more importantly, to upload to Moodle or email to the students for their review and file.

In this article, I will share a sample of a document for Spanish 330, a conversation and phonetics course. To teach phonetic transcription, I previously relied upon sheets of transparencies (which I had to bold and enlarge in order to make them visible to the class) plus the aforementioned arsenal of transparency markers. As we all know, the overhead projector has its limitations: glare, heat and, inevitably, the times when your hand or body blocks the projected image from view. Alternately, I could write the sentences on the white board at the start of class (time-consuming), then use wet erase markers to write the phonetic symbols. The big disadvantage to this instructional strategy, is that at the end of the class period, all the valuable transcriptions are erased. Again, with the Tablet you can save all your work, then, recycle it for the following class session or exam review.

Here is the sample for your reference. I might add that it is appreciably simpler to write these phrases out by hand, rather than typing with symbols (some not available) and changing colors of text. You can focus on one sound-symbol across all sentences or follow a sequence of steps within one sentence. Prior to my final exam, I plan to prepare a sequence of these pdfs to upload into a power point presentation for our review.

Contributed by Michael Gough, Instructional Technologist and Coordinator of START

Microsoft Office 2007, which is now available for faculty and staff, comes with a new program called OneNote. OneNote is a versatile note taking program that integrates with other office programs. While it is most often associated with Tablet PCs, it can also be used on a regular pc. However, you will not be able to use the inking features without a tablet.

OneNote’s versatility and four tiered organizational structure can make the initial experience a little intimidating. With its notebooks and tabbed sections with pages and subpages, it can take a little while to get used to the navigation and structure. For these reasons, new users may have a tendency to use a more familiar program such as Microsoft Journal or Word for note taking. However, OneNote has a handful of features and practical applications that can make the learning curve worth the initial learning investment.

One of the greatest advantages to using OneNote is that anything you type on a page is saved automatically. If your computer restarts before you close down OneNote, your data will not be lost. Second, OneNote can instantly search all your notebook pages for any text that might be contained on a page, including your handwriting if you are using a Tablet PC. This is a huge time saver over having to dig through a file cabinet and is an improvement over most desktop search programs that may not search handwriting or images. OneNote accepts many different sorts of data on its pages. You can create hyperlinks, add pictures, drop documents, add ink, multimedia clips and even take screen shots. Once an image is placed in OneNote, you can augment it by writing or typing over the picture.

OneNote offers some pedagogical advantages over traditional office programs as well. For instance, OneNote’s audio recording function could be used in an S-Course to record student’s presentations. You as the instructor can take notes on the presentation as it unfolds and OneNote automatically places an audio bookmark on the page next to the note. Now if you click on the play button next to the note, the presentation will play back just before you began to write. If students also have OneNote, these pages could be shared with the presenters as feedback on their presentation. OneNote sections can also be shared with others in real time over the network allowing for a collaborative work environment.

If you are interested in trying OneNote, be sure to install Office 2007 if you haven’t already. Then look for it with the other Microsoft Office 2007 programs. A good demonstration of OneNote can be found at the following URL.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/HA101686341033.aspx

Contact Michael Gough michaelgough@depauw.edu or x1093 if you have any questions.

Contributed by Dave Berque

Background on DePauw’s Tablet PC Grants from Hewlett-Packard

In May, 2006, DePauw received an HP Technology for Teaching grant to encourage the transformation of teaching and learning using HP Tablet PCs (essentially laptops that are augmented with digital pens) and DyKnow software in Computer Science courses taught by Dave Berque. In July, 2007, DePauw University received a follow-up HP Technology for Teaching Leadership grant. This grant recognized the success of the earlier award and provided support to transform Terri Bonebright’s offering of “Cognitive Psychology” and Tom Dickinson’s offering of “Foundations of Education” (see related article in this issue about Tom’s work).

Combined, the two grants are valued at more than $189,000 and have provided more than 60 Tablet PCs and supporting equipment. While the Computer Science, Psychology, and Education Studies courses listed above were the focus of the HP Grant activities, a total of 23 courses enrolling 395 students in 9 disciplines (Biology, Computer Science, Chemistry, Education Studies, Economics, Geosciences, Japanese language, Physics and Psychology) have used the granted equipment to date. We expect students in an additional 11 courses to use the equipment during the spring of 2008.

Convertible Tablets: The Best of Both Worlds

DePauw has been using a Tablet PC form factor known as a “Convertible”. When a convertible Tablet PC is first opened it looks just like a standard laptop, complete with a keyboard. However, the screen can be swiveled and closed over the keyboard so that its display faces up as show below. When converted to this mode the Tablet is easy to draw on with a special stylus. When many standard Windows applications (Word, PowerPoint, etc.) are run on a Tablet PC they expose extra functionality that takes advantage of the pen interface.

Using Tablet PCs to Support Teaching and Learning

Imagine being asked how a traditional laptop or desktop computer can be used to support teaching and learning. The question is hard to answer because the list of potential uses is so long. Students can write papers with Microsoft-Word, classes can share information with Moodle and E-mail, presentations can be given with PowerPoint. Of course many discipline specific applications are also available in specific domains.

The potential uses of Tablet PCs are just as varied. For example, students can submit typed papers in Word and faculty members can use a stylus to make electronic annotations directly on the document (see related article in this issue). Similarly, the electronic pen can be used to annotate PowerPoint slides during a presentation (watch a video that demonstrates this on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeUp38UcbD4 ).

Additionally, using software such as LectureScribe or Camtasia a teacher can record a handwritten answer key to a problem while orally explaining the problems’ solution. The resulting ink and sound video can be posted to a web site for student review. This allows the students to see and hear the process that was used to solve the problem. If students have Tablets (or even laptops) during class DyKnow Vision software will let students and teachers share typed and pen-based notes (each student leave class with a personalized and replayable electronic notebook consisting of the teacher’s content augmented with the student’s personal annotations). This software also supports a variety of classroom interactions ranging from multiple choice polls to sharing of pen-based sketches and problems solutions produced by students in and outside of class. Finally, as is the case for traditional laptops, a variety of discipline specific applications are available.

If you are interested in learning more about how Tablet PCs can support teaching and learning consider attending the Tablet PC track of the FITS workshop on November 17^th(See next article for more information).  Also, a Tablet PC is available in the FITS lab for you to explore.

Contributed by Thomas S. Dickinson, Professor of Education Studies

The questions rise to the surface each semester—

• How do I communicate effectively to my students about their writing, both drafts and final papers?
• How do I handle the paper load effectively and efficiently?
• Will a checklist or scoring rubric assist my students in their writing and how can I incorporate that with my comments.

Like most instructors dealing with a range of student writing, whether in a W-competency class or not, I have struggled with these questions across my university teaching career. As well, as an instructor who is trying to incorporate new technologies into his teaching, I have been moving toward “paperless” classes by employing Blackboard and now Moodle, discussion boards, blogs, and email. How to deal with writing comments and the “storage” of student papers has become a major concern within my courses.

This semester I have had the opportunity to participate in The HP Technology for Teaching Leadership Grant under the direction of David Berque and Carol Smith. The grant has provided me with an HP tablet pc that I have been using in two sections of a W-competency course, EDUC 170 Foundations of Education. While I have been learning the use of this new tool (even after half a semester I am still trying to turn the screen around the wrong way!) I have also been learning how I might answer my questions about writing and commentary. To date, this is what I have found:

• By using the hand-writing feature on the tablet pc I have been able to provide detailed commentary on drafts and finished papers just as I would if I were commenting on paper copy with my own handwriting. Additionally, since I have a range of color options and a range of pen styles (both pen and highlighter), I have been able to use color to add to or emphasize points I want students to learn from.
• The tablet pc has a responsive “eraser” feature that will allow me to quickly and easily change my mind and either erase an entire section of commentary or one individual letter (I admit to mis-spelling words on my rough comments but this feature lets me correct them easily).
• If students chose to print the draft paper with comments, the reproductions have been very good, even in black-and-white. Color reproductions have been excellent as well.
• The initial response from students has been positive, especially to the personalization through the electronic means. This was particularly evident during writing conferences with drafts that I had commented on and had sent to the student prior to the conference. On these occasions we were able to sit side-by-side to read and discuss the comments and at that time I could make additional written comments and remarks on that edited draft in a different color to indicate when the commentary had occurred.
• I have been able to incorporate my writing rubrics by pasting a blank copy at the end of the student’s draft or final paper and then annotating that document just as I did with the draft. Again, I have used both the pen and the highlighter feature to respond with my assessment of student work.
• The “archive” question has been answered as well. I have used the Digital Drop Box on Blackboard and the Moodle assignment feature to receive electronic copies of both drafts and final papers. While I have to save/send the electronic copies that I have commented upon, both my students and I have permanent archive copies of the documents that we can get to regardless of where we are.

Going into this exercise with the tablet pc, I began a journal noting the time I was spending on the electronic editing compared to the time I was spending on editing via paper copies. To date the difference is negligible. While I have to save/send papers I don’t have to print them, stand in line at the copier, or even worry if it is down. I don’t carry a bulging briefcase home at night as I normally have although I do have a laptop case for the tablet pc (I haven’t totally integrated all of my affairs with technology—I plead to preferring a paper daily planner and handwritten to-do notes). At this point I am still learning but the tablet pc does bring a new tool to both old and new questions.