ccsce 2007 bert wachsmuth, seton hall mobile instructional laboratory experiments and their use in...

CCSCE 2007Bert Wachsmuth, Seton Hall

Mobile Instructional Laboratory Experiments and Their Use in

Computing Sciences

St. Joseph's College

Mobile Instructional Laboratory Experiments and Their Use in

Computing Sciences

St. Joseph's College

Bert G. WachsmuthSeton Hall University


Seton Hall and Computing

Catholic University in South Orange

Approximately 10,000 students

Mandatory laptop program for undergraduates (6,000 laptops)

Fully wireless campus, high-speed network backbone, LCD Projector in every classroom

Instructional support for technology via Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center (TLTC)

400+ Tablets for all Science majors and faculty


Math & Computer Science

Joint Mathematics and Computer Science Department

BS in Math and in Computer Science

Active Faculty ResearchGraphTheory Day 43, 2002

MASPLAS, 2004

TFP, 2007

NSF Grants

Active Undergraduate ResearchDerek Pope: Chaos Theory: Metaphysical and Mathematical Exploration.

Kristine Joy S. Apon, et al: The MT-Scheme Compiler.

Victor Encarnacion, Barbara Mucha: Paging Performance in the MT Evaluator Virtual Machine


The Tablet PC No need for traditional blackboard (use

Tablet PC + LCD projector)

Teach and write while facing the class

Create notes and lectures to distributed to students without extra work

Other programs (Compilers, Web resources) immediately available

Collaborative software enables “joint creative experience”

Side Note:

IBM launched the ThinkPad line in 1992 with the ThinkPad 700, a tablet computer, no keyboard, monochrome LCD screen, 40 MB flash memory (instead of hard disk), PenPoint OS from Go, and handwriting recognizer from IBM


Collaboration Software

DyKnow Vision Presentation tool

Collaboration tool

Assessment tool

Easy to use

… optimized for Tablets, but works with any Windows computer …


DyKnow as Presentation Tool


DyKnow as Presentation Tool (2)


DyKnow as Presentation Tool (3)


DyKnow as Collaboration Tool• Users can submit panels

• Instructor can retrieve panels from any student

• Anonymous or with ID

Instructor can give “ink control” to one or more students – their writing will then appear on everyone’s panel


DyKnow as Collaboration Tool (2)

Instructor posed question, then turned control to student

Student answered question, visible to everyone



In “demonstration mode” can share a life image of any program running on any participant’s screen.

Can also embed screenshot(s) into current session



Can divide participants into work groups (even randomly) that can collaborate on shared panels


DyKnow as Assessment Tool

Can prepare a quiz on one or more panels Quiz will appear on all student laptops Students can fill out quiz on their laptop/tablet Students can hit “panel submission” to submit their work Instructor can save all quizzes and grade them on his/her

Tablet Instructor can (asynchronously) return quizzes

electronically by clicking “return panels” Instructor maintains a record of all graded quizzes


DyKnow as Assessment Tool (2)

Support for anonymous “instant feedback” questions


Survey – Faculty with Tablets


Survey – Students with Tablets

In your opinion, the DyKnow software _________ in understanding the course material [in Calc 2].


Is it Worth It?


Student Quotes

“All I needed was my Tablet + I had everything”

“I enjoy the fact that the notes are electronic and I can concentrate more on the material”

“You are able to pay attention in class instead of being distracted by taking notes”

“I guess, though, that sometimes writing something down yourself can help you learn it […]”


Contact Info

Bert G. WachsmuthMath/CS DepartmentSeton Hall University

Email: [email protected]: http://pirate.shu.edu/~wachsmut/


Handwriting Recognition?

ccsce 2007 bert wachsmuth, seton hall mobile instructional laboratory experiments and their use in...

Documents