1. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Handheld Computers in Higher Education Jeffrey Nichols Carnegie Mellon University September 25, 2001

2. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Background I work on the Pebbles Project at Carnegie Mellon University. Key Question How can handheld and desktop computers work together to help users? This research has led us in a number of directions.

3. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 PEBBLESPEBBLES PEBBLESPEBBLES DAs for ntry of oth ytes and ocations from xternalources. DAs for ntry of oth ytes and ocations from xternalources. Pebbles is:

4. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Handhelds in Homes Interact with embedded computation Smart homes Not just speech and vision as interfaces Interact with appliances, lights, etc. Universal Personal Controller

5. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Augment desktop applications Use multiple devices at the same time Handhelds in an Office

6. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Handhelds in Meetings Attendees use handhelds to interact and annotate presentation Augment collaboration Take notes

7. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Handhelds in Classrooms Data projectors for instructors slides Students could have computers for: Notetaking linked to instructors slides In-class testing Running simulations

8. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Overview Pebbles Project Software Use in Meetings Use in Classrooms Other Software Other Projects Commercial Software Demonstrations

9. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Use in Meetings Enhance groups collaboration and control

10. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Remote Commander Allow PDAs to control a PC Can be used with any application Uses the standard (single) cursor Dont have to jump up and grab mouse Perform all mouse and keyboard functions Use PDA like touchpad Graffiti or our own pop-up keyboard

11. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Current Work: Handhelds for People with Muscular Disabilities Using handhelds as interface to PCs People with Muscular Dystrophy have fine-motor control but lose gross motor control Difficulties with mouse and keyboard, but stylus OK Handhelds as interface to other devices Control room lights, telephone, wheelchair, etc. Really include this?? ** FIXME **

12. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Remote Commander Adaptations Faster Acceleration Multiple Keyboards

13. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 New PocketPC version Get PCs screen onto PocketPC Full view, or one-to-one zooming Scroll with iPaqs buttons

14. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Scribble Multiple people draw on top of whatever on PC screen, not just PowerPoint Each user has own cursor and color Save by PrintScreen Erase by refresh

15. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 MultiCursor For special applications that are aware of multiple inputs E.g.: Shared Whiteboard Single Display Groupware Multiple people, one display

16. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 SlideShow Commander For PowerPoint PC Only: Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, ME, XP Use PC to give the presentation Full features of PowerPoint Use hand-held as remote control for PC Can wander away from the keyboard Two-way communication View, Navigate, Highlight, Time

17. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 View on Handheld: slide

18. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 View on Handheld: notes

19. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 View on Handheld: titles

20. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 View on Handheld: time Multi-function timer View large And in corner

21. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Control Demonstrations Control PC applications and external devices Easy demo and resume show

22. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Commercialized SlideShow Commander commercialized by: Available at Office Depot, CompUSA, etc. Synergy Solutions, Inc. http://www.synsolutions.com/ Synergy Solutions, Inc. http://www.synsolutions.com/ http://www.slideshowcommander.com/

23. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Overview Pebbles Project Software Use in Meetings Use in Classrooms Other Software Other Projects Commercial Software Demonstrations

24. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Classroom Use Using handheld computers in classrooms Testing Improving large lectures Providing immediate feedback to instructor

25. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Hardware HP donated 110 Jornada 680 and 100 720 computers Windows CE Lucent donated Wavelan wireless cards

26. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Context Collaborator: Prof. David Yaron of Chemistry Chemistry 09-106: Modern Chemistry II Spring 2000 and Spring 2001 About 90 students Mostly freshmen Loaned one Jornada and one Wavelan card to each student for the whole semester So would get used to using it Offset technical difficulties with benefits to student

27. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Wireless Andrew CMU has nearly complete coverage of 802.11b (Wavelan) Donations from Lucent Funding from state of Pennsylvania Can use computers wirelessly in all classrooms and offices Most lawns, dorm rooms, etc. Windows, Mac, Linux, Windows CE, Palm support

28. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Concept Tests Create with html Arbitrary html tags allowed in questions and answers Pictures, formatting, links Use FrontPage, etc. to author Use extra tags to indicate questions and answers

29. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Concept Test Students allowed to answer multiple times Server stores all answers Prof. Yaron displayed questions and answers on the board Evidence that significantly contributes to learning Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User's Manual, Prentice Hall.

30. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Instructors View In class, instructor sees a chart of answers May be projected for entire class to see Instructions displayed for students at top of screen

31. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Alternative Presentations Show 2 questions

32. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Alternative Presentations, cont. Click on pictures to select region

33. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Results Unfortunately, no data (yet) about effects on learning Students thought concept tests were a valuable part of the class Students significantly preferred using handhelds for concept tests. Raise HandsHold up cardsHandhelds 25%4%63%

34. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Overview Pebbles Project Software Use in Meetings Use in Classrooms Other Software Other Projects Commercial Software Demonstrations

35. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Disclaimer Most educational work on Palm handhelds is not for teachers of higher-education Typically for elementary schools Typically for students

36. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Other Projects Project Numina Very similar to our work eClass (Classroom 2000) Networked computers in the college classroom Hi-CE Palm Project Palms in elementary education

37. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Very similar to our work Concept Tests within Chemistry classrooms More experimentation with types of questions Sliders Maps http://aa.uncwil.edu/numina

38. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Building the classroom of the future Capturing lectures Allowing students to share notes Handhelds are a part of this vision Notetaking devices http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fce/eclass/

39. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Hi-CE Palm Project Computers are great learning tools for elementary education, but handhelds are more affordable. Hi-CEs mission is to make Palms more accessible for teachers and students. Concept mapping Virus transfer simulator http://www.handheld.hice-dev.org/

40. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Overview Pebbles Project Software Use in Meetings Use in Classrooms Other Software Other Projects Commercial Software Demonstrations

41. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 What is available? Most software targeted for students and for lower levels of education. Typically elementary and middle school students Some software for teachers does exist…

42. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Where to find it? Several web sites exist for distributing Palm software www.palmgear.com www.handango.com Typical retail stores CompUSA BestBuy

43. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 www.palmgear.com One of the best sites for Palm software Organized categorically Educational->College Educational->General

44. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 www.handango.com Not just for Palm software

45. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Overview Pebbles Project Software Use in Meetings Use in Classrooms Other Software Other Projects Commercial Software Demonstrations

46. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 Demonstrations Slideshow Commander Remote Commander Scribble Others…

47. Jeffrey Nichols September 25, 2001 The End… For more information see… http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pebbles/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jeffreyn/ Or e-mail me at… jeffreyn@cs.cmu.edu