1. Clemson’s LAPTOP PROGRAM
Bill Moss

2. Why Laptops? To build a better product
Laptop students have better …
Communication skills
Technology skills
Team building skills
Life-long learning skills

3. Why Laptops? To enhance the classroom …
Laptop course characteristics
Studio courses
Integrated lab and lecture
On-line quizzes and exams
Hybrid exams

4. Why Laptops? To slow the growth of IT costs
Where are the IT dollars going?
Keeping labs up-to-date
Printing costs
Storage costs
Support of multiple platforms

5. Why Laptops? Convenience, professional practice
Students see advantages to the laptop even when they have no laptop courses.
Mobility
Small foot-print
Laptops are becoming standard in business, law, medicine, and engineering practice.

6. Laptop Program Best Practices
Student mandate, faculty opportunity.
Provide for faculty development.
Early adopter faculty should offer “best fit” courses first.
Not all courses have to be laptop enhanced.

7. Faculty: FAQ
Is the laptop a distraction? When does the technology detract from the teaching of content?
What are the potential classroom logistical problems?
Can technology encourage students to be more independent, exploratory learners?

8. Research Base
How People Learn, Brain, Mind, Experience, School, National Research Council, National Academy Press, 2000.

9. Studio Calculus III The Calculus of the 3D World
Visualization is a strand that runs through the entire course.
Students build 3D solids by constructing their bounding surfaces, one surface at a time.
This course is more technically advanced than the traditional pencil and
paper course.

10. Characteristics Reduced lecture: 10-15 mini-lectures
Course journal and Maple tutorials (TA graded)
Tutorials submitted via the WebCT dropbox
Low-stakes quizzes, individual and team
Team projects (peer instruction)
Coaching by instructor
Practice exams

11. Maple Tutorials Include
Instructional Objectives with suggested problems for each objective
Main mathematical points with examples worked by hand and with Maple
Course journal homework assignments
Maple problems to be worked at the end of the tutorial

12. Pedagogy Students take responsibility for learning.
Coaching enhances formative assessment.
Taking attendance and learning names is easy, absentees during studio time.
Frequent quizzes increase engagement.
Peer instruction is a goal of team projects.
Studio time mixes individual and cooperative learning.