Emphases and Avoidances Recommended by an Experienced
Laptop Campus
By David G. Brown, Wake Forest University
with the Engineering Faculty
at the University of Moncton
on September 25, 2000 3:00 PM
How the Laptop Program Has Changed Wake Forest
THE WAKE FOREST PLANF96: IBM
365XD, 16RAM, 100Mhz, 810MB, CD-ROM, 14.4 modemF97: IBM 380D, 32 RAM, 130Mhz, 1.35GB, CD-ROM, 33.6 modemF98: IBM 380XD, 64 RAM, 233 Mhz, 4.1GB, CD-ROM, 56 modemF99: IBM 390, 128 RAM, 333 Mhz, 6GB, CD-ROM, 56 modem F00: IBM A20m, 500 Mhz, 11GB, 15”ActMatrix, CD-ROM, 90 modem
• Thinkpads for all
• New Every 2 Years
• Own @ Graduation
• Printers for all
• Wire Everything
• Standard Software
• Full Admin Systems
• IGN for Faculty
• Keep Old Computers
• 40+30 New People
• 75% Faculty Trained
• 85% CEI Users
• 99% E-Mail
• +15% Tuition
• ~$1500/Yr/Student
• 4 Year Phase In
• Pilot Year
• Plan for 2000
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
Order at---http://iccel.wfu.edu
Brown’s First Year Seminar• Before Class
– Students Find URLs & Identify Criteria
– Interactive exercises– Lecture Notes– E-mail dialogue– Cybershows
• During Class– One Minute Quiz– Computer Tip Talk– Class Polls– Team Projects
• After Class– Edit Drafts by Team
– Guest Editors
– Hyperlinks & Pictures
– Access Previous Papers
• Other– Daily Announcements
– Team Web Page
– Personal Web Pages
– Exams include Computer
– Materials Forever
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 1999ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 1999
Computers Enhance My Teaching and/or Learning Via--
PresentationsBetter--20%More Opportunities toPractice & Analyze--35%
More Access to SourceMaterials via Internet--43%
More Communication with Faculty Colleagues, Classmates,and Between Faculty and Students--87%
Computers allow people----
• to belong to more communities• to be more actively engaged in each
community• with more people• over more miles• for more months and years• TO BE MORE COLLABORATIVE
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
With Ubiquity---The Culture Changes
• Mentality shifts-- like from public phone to personal phone.
• Teaching Assumptions shift-- like from books in the public library to everyone owns a copy of his/her own.
• Timelines shift-- like from “our class meets MWF” to “we
see each other all the time and MWF we meet together”• Students’ sense of access shifts-- like from “maybe I
can get that book in the library” to “I have that book in my library.”
• Relationships shift-- like from a family living in many different states to all family members living in the same town
Wake Forest UniversityWake Forest University
Chemistry-- Dartmouth, Millsaps, Reed, Wake Forest, Worchester TechPhysics-- Vassar, Arizona, Washington and Lee, Michigan State, , WhitmanBusiness and Economics--- Vanderbilt, Kansas State, Wake Forest, MiddleburyFine Arts-- Tufts, Reed, Connecticut, Williams, East CarolinaWriting and Literature--Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Missouri-Rolla, Language--- MIT, Smith, California-Davis, Texas-Austin, Northwestern
Biology and Medicine---Oberlin, Virginia, Johns Hopkins, Texas-Austin, HendrixInternational and Politics---Tufts, OregonComputer Science and Math---Harvard, NYU, American, Washington State
93 Essays36 Universities26 Disciplines
WHY COMPUTERS?…the faculty answer
• Interactive Learning
• Learn by Doing
• Collaborative Learning
• Integration of Theory and Practice
• Visualization
• Communication
• Different Strokes for Different Folks
The Big Five#1. Repetition
#2. Continuous Communication
#3. Controversy and Debate
#4. Different Strokes, Different Folks
#5. Outsider Involvement
The Low Hanging Six
Email & Listservs URL addresses (in syllabus) Annotations within word processed documents Powerpoint “lecture outlines” Mini-movies that show successive computer screens Practice quizzing prior-to-class (via WebCT)
LESSONS LEARNED
• Early investment in extensive multimedia may be more fun than useful
• Chat sessions are rarely productive
• Threaded discussions work only when the topic is narrowly defined, controversial, and the response is time limited and graded
• Powerpoint is often abused and overused
Lessons Learned
• First Focus Upon Communication• Undertake achievable goals• Contact becomes Continuous.• Students expect messages between classes• Team assignments increase• Papers & Talks often include visuals• Departmental clubs thrive• Student Portfolios Emerge• Students teach faculty
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
Lessons Learned
• Computer challenged students learn basic skills quickly, without special classes
• Disciplines use computers differently
• The Internet is the place to put electronic class materials (WebCT)
• Start with Learning Objectives, Not Technology
• If Email is always up, everyone will be happy
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
Lessons Learned
• Greatest benefits are what happens between classes, not during classes.
• Greatest gains from computing come from some of the simplest applications
• Standardization speeds faculty adoption and eases the pressure upon support staff.
• Standardization saves class time.
• Student groups are larger and more active.
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000