1

The New TechnologyIn

tern

et

Tablet PC (wireless)

Projector (wireless)

Router (wireless)

Students/student groups (with laptops,

handhelds, etc.)

2

The New Technology (2)In

tern

et

Tablet PC (wireless)

Projector (wireless)

Router (wireless)

Students/student groups (with laptops,

handhelds, etc.)

3

For Professors, Benefits Clearly Outweigh the Costs

• Direct benefits for professor– Archiving– Posting class discussions to students– Easy transition from any previous technology (evolution, not

revolution)

• Direct costs for professor– Tablet PC plus peripherals (if a class can do PowerPoint,

can implement this)– Retooling cost (small)– Limited blackboard real estate--requires greater planning

NO EVALUATION NEEDED--NEW TECH DOMINATES

4

But Does it Benefit Students?

• Given the benefits to faculty, an important question is whether and how the technology benefits students – Provided that the tech does not hurt the student

experience, the net gain will still be significant

• Benefits to students will depend on pedagogy, class activities, etc.

• Need measures of the benefits to students

5

Our Project

• Debugging of technology, ferreting out the hidden problems

• By putting the technology into play in a classroom, we can begin the evaluation process

• Designing class activities and teaching modules to best utilize technology

• Develop and test evaluation measures of student response to technology

6

New Technology’s Potential Can Apply to Many Teaching Modules

• Allows for small group interaction with the professor in a large group setting and/or distributed learning environment

• Greater instructor mobility• Archives the creative process• Facilitates multiple, on-the-fly written conversations in

the classroom– These can be spontaneous, collaborative, and creative– Student’s speaking and writing skills will be improved

• Students questions incorporated into lecture notes• Will require new skills by professor

7

PPI: Evaluating the Impact of the Technology

• The Participant Perception Indicator (PPI) evaluates students on 3 measures– Knowledge: How much does student know about

topic or subject– Experience: How much student has interacted with

topic or subject– Confidence: How confident student feels about

understanding of topic or subject

• This evaluation tool appears well-suited to measuring changes in student experiences facilitated by new technology

8

Themes for Our Evaluation

• Conceptual knowledge of subject• Empirical knowledge of subject• Critical thinking• Scientific thinking and hypothesis testing• Communication skills• Archiving• Others?

9

Activities in Our Class (Econ 476/ CAAS 457)

• Econ 476/CAAS 457--Political Economy of Black America is a 40 student class emphasizing the economic life of African Americans in the United States

• We are predominantly using 3 activities in the teaching of this course– Lectures– Discussions– Debates

10

New vs. Old Technologies

• New technology = “Wireless Classroom” with tablet PC, router, projector, and microphone

• Must evaluate against numerous “wired” technologies currently used in lectures, discussions, and debates:– Blackboard– Overhead projector– Laptop and projector running PowerPoint

11

Lectures: Blackboard vs. Wireless Classroom

• Blackboard – Pros: excellent “one way” transfer of knowledge and

flexibility of presentation, lots of “real estate”– Cons: hard to see in large classes, poor archiving of student

feedback, questions, and interactions

12

Lectures: Blackboard vs. Wireless Classroom

• Wireless Classroom– Pros: consistency from section to section, allows for more dynamic

presentation style and greater interaction with class through increased mobility, great flexibility as tablet enables incorporation and archiving of questions, comments, etc. allow for “building up” of models and graphs, writing while presenting makes setting proper pace easier

– Cons: limited “real estate”; can’t leave important points on the board

13

Lectures: Overhead vs. Wireless Classroom

• Overhead projector– Pros: everything blackboard has, plus: allows for

consistency from section to section, easier to see, allows for some archiving of student feedback, questions, and interactions

– Cons: not a dynamic presentation method, less mobility/class interaction than with other methods

14

Lectures: Overhead vs. Wireless Classroom

• Wireless Classroom– Pros: consistency from section to section, allows for more

dynamic presentation style and greater interaction with class through increased mobility, great flexibility as tablet enables incorporation and archiving of questions, comments, etc. allow for “building up” of models and graphs, writing while presenting makes setting proper pace easier

– Cons: limited “real estate”; can’t leave important points on the board

15

Lectures: PowerPoint vs. Wireless Classroom

• PowerPoint– Pros: very effective one way transfer of knowledge, esp. in

large lecture halls, allows for consistency from class to class, multimedia capabilities

– Cons: not flexible, difficult to maintain proper pace, can be over-programmed poor archiving of student feedback, questions, and interactions

16

Lectures: PowerPoint vs. Wireless Classroom

• Wireless Classroom– Pros: consistency from section to section, allows for more

dynamic presentation style and greater interaction with class through increased mobility, great flexibility as tablet enables incorporation and archiving of questions, comments, etc. allow for “building up” of models and graphs, writing while presenting makes setting proper pace easier

– Cons: limited “real estate”; can’t leave important points on the board

17

Discussions: Current Tech vs. Wireless Classroom

• Current technology rarely anything but blackboard and wireless microphone– Pros: ?– Cons: excludes larger group from most visual

information/sources, group is physically isolated from blackboard

18

Discussions: Current Tech vs. Wireless Classroom

• New technology allows for numerous potential improvements– Pros: small group discussion can be broadcasted to large

lecture hall and beyond, faculty and blackboard mobility from student to student, group to group, multimedia content and “on the fly” incorporation of information, allows larger audience to participate in their own discussions increasing critical thinking opportunities

– Cons: “feels like a large lecture hall” even in medium sized class

19

Debates: Current Tech vs. Wireless Classroom

• As with discussion, current technology rarely is anything but blackboard, overhead, and wireless microphone– Pros: ?– Cons: limited presentation possibilities (multimedia), no give

and take with the projector

20

Debates: Current Tech vs. Wireless Classroom

• New technology allows for numerous potential improvements– Pros: allows larger audience to participate in their own

discussions, and to support the debate with comments, questions, and voting, multiple access points to projector, allows for multimedia content and “on the fly” incorporation of information

– Cons: controlling access to projector, policing audience participation, information overload

21

Next Steps--For Discussion

• Formalize student evaluation framework– Develop set of questions to assess the

effectiveness technology and activities against our themes

– Set up protocol for PPI evaluations (i.e. after every class vs. monthly, online vs. paper, etc.)

– Identify baseline levels of student responses in old tech environments to compare wireless classroom results against

• Continue to move toward a “plug and play” implementation of technology by debugging and developing best practices for tech setup