The journey from periphery to mainstream: Tablet PCs at USQ Birgit Loch Department of Mathematics and Computing University of Southern Queensland Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Overview The USQ story - a journey from periphery to mainstream Examples of tablet use at USQ – the visible side Issues encountered at USQ, and how they were overcome – the invisible side Unresolved issues Some lessons learnt

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong The USQ story - a journey from periphery to mainstream

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong The start Christine McDonald Linda Galligan Janet Taylor

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong USQ L&T Grant

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Widespread support CTO Vice-chancellor

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Standard Operating Environment Tablets may be ordered under refresh program, if funding can be acquired to cover the difference in cost between a laptop computer and the tablet PC

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong USQ Senior L&T Fellowship S1 (and S2 2009) 20+ existing tablet PCs 25+ new tablet PCs 50+ new tablet users Tablets for students Excitement among academics, asking to be involved Additional projects coming on board The journey has only started …

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong

Keep record of writing in class. Can produce screen cast of the whole lecture. –Students can revise. External students can see handwritten development of solution Electronic communication of mathematical content with distance students Why are tablets so useful for e-learning in maths?

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong a squared minus 1 divided by a plus 1 Why are tablets so useful for e-learning in maths?

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong a squared minus 1 divided by a plus 1 Why are tablets so useful for e-learning in maths?

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong a squared minus 1 divided by a plus 1 Why are tablets so useful for e-learning in maths?

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong a squared minus 1 divided by a plus 1 Why are tablets so useful for e-learning in maths?

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Examples of tablet use at USQ – the visible side Mathematics and Statistics MSN Messenger (with Christine, Janet and Linda) –Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis, Innovate paper –Foundation Mathematics Writing in lectures – Delta 05 paper –Comparative study with three UQ courses (with Diane Donovan), eJist paper –Foundation Mathematics (Linda and Janet) and Calculus

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong More examples – Maths and Stats Writing and recording lectures, assignment marking, student support, iPod video files –Operations Research Web conferencing –Linear Algebra and Calculus –Turkish Online Journal for Distance Education paper (with Shirley Reushle) –Statistics (Christine) Multimodal course material (with Linda) –Building Professional Attributes for Nursing B

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong More examples Statistical software walk-throughs –Data analysis (Christine) Recording of assignment feedback (Linda) Biology, Chemistry, Engineering Lecture writing and screen movement recording German language teaching Lecture writing and assignment marking Hier klicken

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Issues encountered at USQ, and how they were overcome – the invisible side Lecturers not confident and not using stylus Readiness for change? Convincing management that tablets are worthwhile Funding to purchase ICT support for tablet PCs – inclusion in SOE Suitable models of tablet PCs Audio input for lecture recording These tablet PCs of yours … weve had a lot of problems with them.

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Unresolved issues Server storage space RSS feeds and outside access Student download quota Backup of recordings

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Lessons learnt It is incredibly difficult to change the way things work at a university. But not impossible. Persistence pays! One step at a time. Pressure through numbers. Work with ICT! And get them excited too. Mentor new users! Show what is possible, relate to their context. Have backup, and dont get upset when something doesn't work. Pedagogy needs to drive technology not the other way around.

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong A few papers… Loch B. and Reushle S. (2008). The practice of web conferencing: Where are we now? In Hello! Where are we now in the landscape of educational technology? Proceedings of ascilite Melbourne 2008, Nov 30-Dec 3, Reushle S. and Loch B. (2008). Conducting a Trial of Web Conferencing Software: Why, How and Perceptions from the Coalface. Turkish Online J. for Distance Education 9(3). Loch B. and McDonald C. (2007). Synchronous chat and electronic ink for distance support in mathematics. Innovate 3 (3). Loch B. and Donovan D. (2006). Progressive Teaching of Mathematics with Tablet Technology. e-JIST, e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, Vol. 9 No Loch B. (2005). Tablet Technology in First Year Calculus and Linear Algebra Teaching. Proceedings of Kingfisher DELTA'05, Fraser Island, November,

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Some student comments… Live lecture screen casts: –makes me feel more like Im 'at' uni as an external student [EXT] –I wasnt able to attend all of the lectures so this allowed me to go at my own pace. [ONC] –To be honest, without these online screencasts, I would not have understood concepts or passed this course. [EXT] –I watched the first screencast, but I dont really find this artificial environment useful to my learning. I require a more personal one on one exchange when learning allowing for feedback and gestures to assist in the message. [ONC] –A short recording would be better as it could be of a focused topic or problem only [EXT]

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong More student comments… Student support screen casts –The screencasts I accessed in response to my questions were very helpful as I could see at what point I had begun to get off track. Web conferencing –I have really enjoyed my experience with the Elluminate tutorials and highly recommend it. Writing in lectures –Perfect lecture setup, perfect course for that matter. Ive really enjoyed this subject, each maths subject should have this setup. General –I am very impressed with the external learning facilities at USQ so far.

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Lecturer comments It saved precious time in class It is cumbersome to switch between the whiteboard and the data projector. Using the Tablet PC I didnt need to use the whiteboard at all Students themselves were able to suggest corrections on their texts as an added and very useful learning/teaching experience

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong

Example – Calculus Linear Algebra and Calculus B.Loch

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Windows Journal Back Operations Research B.Loch

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Electronic assignment marking with hand written annotations Word DOC files PPT files XLS files PDF files Operations Research B.Loch

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Electronic assignment marking with hand written annotations Word DOC files PPT files XLS files PDF files Operations Research B.Loch Master thesis edits B.Loch

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Electronic assignment marking with hand written annotations Word DOC files PPT files XLS files PDF files Back Gazette editing B.Loch

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Student support Back

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Web conferencing

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Web conferencing Back Linear Algebra and Calculus. 2006/7. B.Loch

From a Data Analysis recording Back Data Analysis C.McDonald

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Recording of assignment feedback Back The Learning Centre L.Galligan

Symposium Building leadership capacity for the development and sharing of mathematics learning resources across disciplines and universities February 2009, Wollongong Language teaching zurück German language course G.Pohl

Chemistry lecture Chemistry course B.McCabe Back