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Key
Teaching and Learning Issues
Introduction
to Computer Science: A primary objective of
this course redesign centered around integrating
group problem solving activities into introductory computer science
courses. This is important for two reasons. First, many educators believe
student understanding can be improved through group work, especially in
disciplines where multiple answers to the same problem are possible.
Second, many students incorrectly perceive computer science as a
discipline devoid of human interaction. Group problem solving helps
students learn that a computer science career provides considerable
opportunities for team work and collaboration.
Cognitive
Psychology: A primary objective of this course redesign involves
providing Cognitive Psychology students with active learning experiences
during class. For example, students in the redesigned course analyze
data, generate hypotheses, and draw graphs that would be expected if
their hypotheses were supported or refuted. The graphs are shared and
discussed, making the class experience more student-driven.
Foundations
of Education: This course redesign involves using
Tablet PCs to provide students in a writing intensive Foundations of
Education course with rich, timely, feedback on writing assignments. This
feedback includes a mixture of ink annotations and audio commentary and
helps students learn to argue more cogently. Tablet PCs are also used
during teacher-student conferences as student writing is constructively
critiqued.
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Pedagogy
Implementation
In-class
team-based problem solving activities have been incorporated into the introductory
computer science course sequence. Each activity requires students to work
in groups of two to three students to solve a problem mediated by the
Tablet PCs and DyKnow software. At the end of
each problem solving session all answers are collected electronically for
later evaluation. In addition, selected answers are shared with the class
to promote discussion.
In
addition to supporting group problem solving, the Tablet PCs and DyKnow software are being used to support
collaborative note-taking, in class software development exercises, and
note review and replay in Computer Science classes. Similar a pedagogies are being used in the Cognitive
Psychology course where the content focuses more on helping the students
improve their abilities to draw and interpret graphs.
Our
project also includes the redesign of a writing intensive course in
Education Studies. Students in this course are receiving rich ink-based
feedback on their writing and portfolios are being used to watch how
student writing develops over time. Using Tablet PCs to improve feedback
on student writing has also been part of the Psychology course redesign
that is described above.
In
addition to Computer Science, Education Studies, and Psychology, faculty
members have also used the granted HP Tablet PCs to teach additional
courses in Arabic, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Geosciences,
Kinesiology, Japanese Language, and Physics.
This
project is supported by DePauw's Faculty Instructional Technology Support
(FITS) department. FITS members have assisted with the course redesigns
as well as with the evaluation process.
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Quick
Facts
Departments:
Computer Science, Psychology, and Education Studies with additional uses in
Modern Languages (Arabic and Japanese), Biology, Chemistry, Economics,
Geosciences, Kinesiology and Physics.
Students
Enrollments in Impacted Courses During 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009,
2009-2010 and 2010-2011: 1387
Number
of Faculty Involved: 19
Number
of courses Impacted: 83
Courses
Impacted: Biology
· Organismal Biology
· Human Anatomy
· Animal Physiology
· Senior Seminar
· Cells and Genes
· Molecular Neuro Biology
· Biology Topics
Courses
Impacted: Computer Science
· Computer Science One
· Compilers
· Computer Science Two
· Data Structures
· Human Computer Interaction
· Can Computers Think?
· First
Year Seminar:
Science of Design
Courses Impacted:
Chemistry and Biochemistry
· Chemical Kinetics
· Chemical Thermodynamics
· Structure and Properties of Inorganic Compounds
· Quantum Mechanics
· Theory and Experiment
Courses
Impacted: Economics and Management
· International Economics
· Urban Economics
· Comparative Economic Systems
· Contemporary Economic Problems
· Senior Seminar
Courses
Impacted: Education Studies
· Foundations of Education Section
Courses Impacted: Geosciences
· Geosciences First Year Seminar
· Geosciences First Year Seminar
Courses
Impacted: Kinesiology
· Therapeutic Modalities
Courses
Impacted: Modern Languages
· Arabic I
· Arabic II
· Elementary Japanese I
· Intermediate Japanese I
· Elementary Japanese II
Courses Impacted: Physics
· Physics for Poets
· Principles of Physics II
· Thermal Physics
Courses
Impacted: Psychology
· Cognitive Psychology
· Computational Neuroscience
· Research Methods
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Impact
on Student Learning
While
the Tablet PCs have been used in dozens of courses, we focus our
evaluation on those courses that were formally redesigned as part of our project
proposals. This section presents our progress in measuring the impact of
the course redesigns on student learning, success, and attitudes. The
evidence ranges from formal to informal and includes information about
traditional measures of student success, anecdotal information about
changes in student engagement levels, and information related to student
attitudes.
Evaluations
of the Cognitive Psychology and Education Studies courses are in
progress. Key aspects of our evaluation to date include:
· Interpretation of Graphs: We are studying the impact that the redesigned Cognitive
Psychology course had on student's retained ability to interpret
graphical information. Central to this study is a comparison between
students enrolled in the traditional course (taught in spring 2007) and
those enrolled in the redesigned course (taught in fall 2008).
Participants from each course were invited to complete a graphical
analysis task 4 to 6 months after they finished the course. The task
required each student to read summaries of two published empirical
research articles from a top-tier psychology journal. The summaries
included background information about a research study, a description of
the experimental method, information about the results, and a graphical
presentation of the study results. After reading these materials,
students answered two essay questions for each summary that required them
to determine whether the original hypotheses had been supported and to
extrapolate from the results to a real-world applied situation. Each of
these tasks requires students to demonstrate skills that psychology
majors are expected to learn through their course work. Data has been
collected from 13 students in the original course and from 18 students in
the redesigned course. Correctness of student solutions is being compared
between the two groups.
· Impact of Providing Feedback on Student Writing using Tablet PCs: The Cognitive Psychology class and the
Education Studies class were offered as W (writing intensive) classes.
Attitude surveys were administered to students at the beginning and end
of each course. The surveys explored the student's attitudes toward
receiving critiques on their writing as well their attitude's toward revising their writing based
on these critiques. In total, data was collected from 55 students at the
start of these courses and from 45 students at the end of the courses. We
will be evaluating this data to better understand the impact that using
Tablet PCs had on student attitudes toward revising their writing.
Emerging
evidence gathered from the evaluation of the Computer Science course
redesign includes:
· Observed Changes in Student Engagement: Each class meeting of the redesigned
section of Computer Science Two lasted 110 minutes. Because of the
extended meeting time we typically took a ten-minute break after the
first fifty minutes of class. Almost every student in the class would
regularly leave the classroom during the break in order to visit the
restroom, vending machines, and so on. On one occasion the break happened
to fall while the students were working on an interactive exercise using
the Tablet PCs. The instructor was surprised to see that 22 of the 24
students remained in the classroom and worked through the break. Several
weeks later the instructor intentionally scheduled another break during
an interactive hands-on Tablet PC activity. Once again a large percentage
of the students (18 of the 22 who were present) stayed and worked through
the break. While these observations are more due to a fortunate accident
than to a controlled study, they suggest some additional mechanisms we
may be able to employ to more formally measure student engagement in
subsequent semesters.
· Success Rates in Introductory Computer Science Classes: Teachers sometimes compute W-F statistics
for a course (the number of students withdrawing from the course plus the
number of students failing the course) as a way of measuring the number
of students who fail to succeed in a course to the degree where they earn
credit. The redesigned Computer Science One and Computer Science Two
courses offered during the 2006-2007 academic year had a combined
enrollment of 44. Of these students, 98completed the course successfully.
By comparison, the previous time the same instructor taught these courses
there was a combined enrollment of 50 and a success rate of 86 While many
factors (including chance) could have contributed to the numbers we
report, it encouraging to note that out of the 44 initial enrollments in
the redesigned offering of Computer Science One and Computer Science Two,
only one student failed to complete the course with credit.
· Correctness of Solutions to Group Problems: We are focusing part of our evaluation
efforts specifically on the impact of using Tablet PCs and DyKnow software to support group problem solving.
Toward this end, we are using a mixed- method evaluation strategy that
combines measurement of the impact of our approach on learning in the
classroom with measurements that are taken in a formal study in a
controlled laboratory environment. Combining the two evaluation
strategies, we have collected data from more than 500 problem solutions
completed by 52 students. Approximately half of the problems were solved
with the support of Tablet PCs (experimental condition); the rest were
solved without sophisticated technology (control). The impact of the
Tablet PCs on the correctness of problem solutions has not been fully
demonstrated yet. In the largest data set we have collected so far,
students who did group practice work supported by Tablet PCs later scored
16.38/25 on a follow-up test, while students who did their group practice
work without technology had a mean score of 14.44/25. While these trends
are interesting, the results are not statistically significant. We are in
the process of gathering additional data.
· Attitudinal Data Related to Technology Mediated Group Problem Solving: Students also used rating scales to
indicate their level of satisfaction with the high-tech and low-tech
approaches to group problem solving described in the previous paragraph.
Results have consistently demonstrated higher student satisfaction when
using Tablet PCs to solve group problems as compared to using a non-technology
approach. These differences have been statistically significant.
· General Attitudinal Data: Attitudinal surveys clearly demonstrate that students
believe that mobile technology aided their learning of course content.
For example, an exit survey that was administered to the students
enrolled in the redesigned version of Computer Science Two asked students
to indicate their level of agreement with the following statement:
"Overall the use of DyKnow has aided my
learning in this course." Twenty-one students agreed or strongly
agreed with this statement, one student was neutral, and one student
disagreed (one student was absent and did not take the survey).
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Collaborating on a Computer Science Problem
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I
have been amazed by how the classroom comes alive when students engage
with the material and with each other to solve problems.--
Dave Berque
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Impact
on Teaching
A written survey of the
four instructors who used the Tablet PCs in the first phase of the project
indicated some common themes. On a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) through
5 (strongly agree) all four instructors responded with 5 when asked to
indicate their agreement with the statement "[The use of DyKnow/Tablet PCs] enhances my ability to use pedagogies
that I already value." When asked to provide specific examples of
how the approach has influenced their teaching practices comments
included:
· "By collecting student work and looking at the process by
which they have solved a problem, using the playback feature [of DyKnow], I have been able to provide a different kind
of feedback to [the students] about how to logically approach
problems."
· "I have used more visual materials than I ever have before,
even when I could load them into PowerPoint as an option in the past.
This is because students get the visuals in color [on their screens] and
can annotate them in color."
· "I have had students spontaneously volunteer to share the way
they annotated something to understand it, so my 100-level class has more
camaraderie than usually develops."
· "I have incorporated more group problem solving into my
courses and can easily share solutions to group problems with the entire
class to promote discussion."
· "I can monitor the shapes and stroke order of Kanji
characters that each student writes."
· "[I have been able to] illustrate Environmental Science
ideas... the pictures I draw can be saved in [the student's] notes with
their direct annotations."
Several
of these instructors have served on panel presentations sponsored by
DePauw's Faculty Instructional Technology Support department. The faculty
panelists spoke of the increased engagement in their classrooms and of
their belief that students were leaving class with a more accurate set of
notes. The panel has generated interest from additional faculty members.
In fact, during the panel presentation one audience member asked
"why don't we have Tablet PCs as an option campus-wide?"
At the conclusion of
the Spring, 2008 and Spring, 2009 semesters we surveyed thirty faculty
members who had been using Tablet PCs to support their teaching and
learning in the most recent phase of our project. Highlights from the
first of these surveys include:
When asked to indicate
their level of agreement with the statement "Using a Tablet PC
has been valuable to my teaching."
· 23 faculty members strongly agreed
· 5 faculty members agreed
· 2 were neutral
· 0 disagreed somewhat
· 0 strongly disagreed.
When
asked to indicate their level of agreement with the statement "It
is important to me to continue to use a Tablet PC next year."
· 25 strongly agreed
· 5 agreed somewhat
· 0 were neutral
· 0 disagreed somewhat
· 0 strongly disagreed
Most
faculty members explained their answers through positive open ended
comments. For example, one faculty member wrote: "As I have
indicated before, the quality and focus of my writing conferences with
the tablet pc and the digital ink have allowed me to go far beyond
anything I have been able to do before. As well, the ability to annotate
photographs that we are using in class has been a major leap forward for
me and for students in our understanding of issues illustrated by
photographs (and for the same reason, period paintings). I am a far
better teacher for this technology."
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Project
Visibility
We have disseminated
this project and its results broadly as follows: (a) authored several refereed
publication, (b) made numerous conference oral presentations and/or
poster presentations, (c) given presentations and poster sessions at
several annual Hewlett-Packard Teaching for Teaching Worldwide Higher
Education Conferences and on behalf of Hewlett Packard at Educause 2007, (d) visited other schools to give
hands-on demonstrations using Tablet PCs, and hosted representatives from
schools who have visited DePauw for such demonstrations and class
visitations, (e) arranged for multiple on-campus dissemination activities
including press releases, newsletter articles, and on campus
presentations and workshops, (f) produced a
video to share information about our project. Details of these
dissemination activities follow.
a. Refereed
Publications
· Berque D., Bonebright T., Dart J., Koch
Z., O'banion S. "Using DyKnow
Software to Support Groupwork: A Mixed-method
Evaluation", in The Impact of Tablet PCs and Pen-based Computing on
Education: Beyond the Tipping Point, Purdue University Press, July 2007.
· Berque D., Byers C., Myers A. Turning the Classroom Upside
Down using Tablet PCs and DyKnow Ink and Audio
Tools, in "The Impact of Tablet PCs and Pen-based Computing on
Education: Evidence and Outcomes", Purdue University Press, October,
2008.
· Berque
D., Bonebright T., Gough M., and
Smith C. Leveraging the Interplay Between a Grassroots Pen-Based
Computing Pilot and an Institutional Laptop Initiative, in EDUCAUSE
Quarterly Magazine, Volume 32, Number 4, 2009.
b. Conference Presentations, Workshops and Poster Sessions
· Dart J., Koch Z., O'Banion S., (with
faculty advisors Berque D., and Bonebright T.)
"Promoting Collaborative Learning Using a Shared Drawing Surface on
Tablet PCs", poster presentation at the Consortium for Computer
Science in Colleges: Midwest Conference, DePauw University, September
29th - 30th, 2006.
· Berque D., Bonebright T., Dart J.,
Koch Z., O'banion S. "A Mixed-method
Evaluation of the Impact of Tablet PCs and DyKnow
Software on Student Learning", poster presentation at the 2007 ACM
SIGCSE Technical Symposium, March 7th through 11th, 2007, Covington, KY.
· Gourley B. "Enhancing Communication in
Chemistry Courses using DyKnow", 233rd
American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, Chicago, IL, March
25-29, 2007.
· Gourley B. "DyKnow
as a Mechanism for Sharing Student Work among Peers and More Effective
Note Taking", 233rd American Chemical Society (ACS) National
Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007.
· Berque D. Hands-on workshop entitled "Fostering Student
Engagement in Technical Courses Using Tablet PCs and DyKnow
Software", ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education)
Southeastern Section Conference, April 1, 2007, University of Louisville.
· Berque D., Bonebright T., Dart J., Koch
Z., O'banion S. "A Mixed-Method Evaluation
of Pen-based Computing Pedagogy and DyKnow
Interaction Software", Educause Annual
Conference, Seattle, WA, October 23 - 26, 2007.
· Berque D. Gave a workshop entitled "Fostering Student
Engagement in Technical Courses Using Tablet PCs and DyKnow
Software" at American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) 2008
IN/IL Sectional Conference, Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology, April, 2008.
· Berque D. Gave a hands-on workshop entitled "Using DyKnow Audio Capture to Support Upside-down
Teaching", DyKnow User Group Meeting,
DePauw University, June 26 - 27, 2008.
· Berque D., Hamstra D., Marsh C. Panel
presentation entitled "Effective Uses of Group Work with DyKnow", DyKnow User
Group Meeting, DePauw University, June 26 - 27, 2008.
· Berque D. Gave three hands-on workshops entitled "What
Impact Can Pen-Based Technology Have in Your Classroom", National
Educational Computing Conference (NECC 2008), San Antonio, TX, June 30th,
2008.
· Berque D. Gave a presentation entitled "Fostering Student
Engagement Using Tablet PCs and DyKnow
Software", Independent Colleges of Indiana Instructional
Technologies Summit, DePauw University, August 7th, 2008.
· Berque D., Smith C. Gave a presentation entitled "Beyond the
Prototype: Scaling a Grassroots Tablet PC Pilot for Large Scale Campus
Integration", Independent Colleges of Indiana Instructional
Technologies Summit, DePauw University, August 7th, 2008.
· Berque D., Byers C., Myers A. "Turning the Classroom
Upside Down using Tablet PCs and DyKnow Ink and
Audio Tools", Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on
Education (WIPTE), Purdue University, October 15th-16th, 2008.
· Berque D., Faulk E., Fellegy D., Morrisettee C., Smith C., gave a video presentation
entitled "Teaching with Tablets at DePauw University: Using
Pen-based Pedagogy to Enhance Teaching and Learning", Workshop on
the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education (WIPTE), Purdue
University, October 15th-16th, 2008.
· Berque D., Bonebright T., Smith C.
"Beyond the Prototype: Scaling a Grassroots Tablet PC Pilot for
Large Scale Campus Integration", concurrent presentation at Educause 2008, Orlando, October 28th through 31st,
2008.
· Berque D., Invited keynote speaker "Fostering Student
Engagement in Technical Courses using DyKnow
Software and Tablet PCs" at the 2009 IEEE 13th Digital Signal
Processing Workshop and 5th Signal Processing Education Workshop, Marco
Island, FL, January 5th, 2009.
· Berque D., Gave two hands-on workshops entitled "Innovation
in Instruction Using Tablet PCs: A Hands-On Session Integrating Tablet
PCs in Education", Educause ELI
conference, January 20th, 2009, Orlando, FL.
· Berque D. A Tutorial on Stroke-based Interfaces: Unistroke Recognition Algorithms Appropriate for
Compelling Projects in Introductory Courses, Proceedings of the 40th ACM
Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, March 4th - 7th, 2009
Chattanooga, TN.
c.
Hewlett-Packard Dissemination:
· Berque D., Bonebright T., Dart J.,
Koch Z., O'banion S. "Promoting
Collaborative Learning Using a Shared Drawing Surface on Tablet PC",
poster presentation at the 2007 Hewlett-Packard Technology for Teaching
Worldwide Higher Education Conference, February 7th - 8th, 2007, Monterey
California.
· Berque D., Bonebright T., Dart J.,
Koch Z., O'banion S. Supporting
"Collaborative Problem Solving with Tablet PCs and DyKnow Software Tools: An Implementation and
Mixed-Method Evaluation", Presentation at the 2007 Hewlett-Packard
Technology for Teaching Worldwide Higher Education Conference, February
7th - 8th, 2007, Monterey California.
· Berque D. and Smith C., "DePauw University: Transforming
Teaching and Learning with HP Tablet PCs and DyKnow
Software", Educause Annual Conference,
Seattle, WA, October 23 - 26, 2007.
· Berque D., Bonebright T., Smith
C., "Beyond the Prototype: Generating Campus-Wide Buy-in for a
Tablet Option", Presentation at the 2008 Hewlett-Packard Technology
for Teaching Worldwide Higher Education Conference, February 17th - 19th,
2008, La Jolla, California.
· Berque D. and Konkle L., Gave two
hands-on workshops entitled “Overcome Common Teaching and Learning
Challenges using DyKnow Software”ť at the
Hewlett-Packard Technology for Teaching Worldwide Higher Education
Conference, La Jolla, CA, February, 2009.
· Berque D. and Livingston P., Co-organized a panel entitled "
Tablet PC Hindsight: Tablet PC Leaders Share Their Experiences" at
NECC 2009, Washington DC, June, 2009 (with panelists Kim Henninger, Shabbi Luthra, and Rob Mancabelli).
d.
Dissemination to Other Schools:
· Dave Berque was invited to give hands-on Tablet PC
demonstrations at Park Tudor Upper School (January, 2007), the University
of Richmond (March, 2007), Valparaiso University (May, 2007), Virginia
Tech (January, 2007 and again May, 2007 and again in October 2007) and
Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (August
2007).
· DePauw was visited by representatives from several local schools
who attended classes and/or hands-on sessions using our Tablet PCs. These
schools include: Eminence School District (February, 2007), Cloverdale
Schools (March, 2007), Indiana University School of Informatics (April,
2007).
· DePauw hosted a workshop entitled "Teaching with Tablet PCs
in Varied Disciplines" in March 2009. This workshop was funded by a
grant from NITLE (National Institute on Technology in Liberal Education)
and involved faculty members and instructional technologists from roughly
one dozen schools.
e.
Other Dissemination at DePauw:
· DePauw issued a press release when the Hewlett-Packard award was
announced in May, 2006 with a second press release when the Leadership
grant was announced in summer 2007.
· Faculty Instructional Technology Support (FITS) and Faculty
Development co-sponsored an event for faculty to learn about teaching
with technology. More than 25 faculty members participated. The Tablet
PCs were used to support some group work. September, 2006.
· With support from FITS we organized an event entitled
"Laptops with Pens: Teaching and Learning with Tablet PCs and
Related Devices". Approximately 14 faculty members participated.
October, 2006.
· Used Tablet PCs at a Hands-on Event for the 50th Reunion Class,
May 2007.
· An Enrichment Presentation about the project was given at a
Computer Science Department faculty meeting, fall 2007.
· We wrote an article entitled: "A Hewlett-Packard Grant to
Evaluate the Impact of Pen-enabled Laptops at DePauw" that appeared
in the October, 2006 Faculty Instructional Technology Support Newsletter
which is distributed to all DePauw faculty members.
· Gave a seminar entitled: "High-Tech versus Low-Tech
Approaches to Group Problem Solving During Class: An Interdisciplinary
Mixed-method Experimental Study", DePauw University Faculty Research
Presentation Series, March, 2007.
· Hosted a series of Tablet PC Exposure Sessions (20 faculty members
attended), October, 2007.
· Contributed an article to the DePauw Faculty Instructional Technology
Newsletter entitled "Trying Out Tablets", October, 2007.
· Organized a Day Long Tablet PC Faculty Develop Workshop, November
2007.
DyKnow Website
Web site describes DyKnow software and
supported pedagogy.
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Contact
Us
Project Team Members:
· Dave Berque, Professor and Chair, Computer Science
Department, DePauw University, dberque@depauw.edu
· Terri Bonebright, Professor and
Chair, Psychology Department, DePauw University, tbone@depauw.edu
· Tom Dickinson, Professor, Education Studies Department and
FITS Faculty Coordinator, DePauw University, tdickinson@depauw.edu
· Michael Gough, Instructional Technologist and Coordinator of
Student Technology Assessment, Resources and Training, DePauw University,
michaelgough@depauw.edu
· Carol L. Smith, Associate CIO for Instructional and Learning
Services, clsmith@depauw.edu
· Scott Thede, Associate Professor,
Computer Science Department, DePauw University, sthede@depauw.edu
Faculty
Members with Grant-funded Course Reforms and/or use of Tablet Carts:
· Charles Andrews, Japanese Language
· Dave Berque, Computer Science
· Terri Bonebright, Psychology
· Hiroko Chiba, Japanese Language
· Sharon Crary, Chemistry
· Tom Dickinson, Education Studies
· Bridget Gourley, Chemistry and
Biochemistry
· David Harvey, Chemistry and Biochemistry
· Pascal Lafontant, Biology
· Ghassan Nasr, Arabic
· Kerry Pannell, Economics and Management
· Marie Pickerill, Kinesiology
· Jeanette Pope, Geosciences
· Michael Roberts, Psychology
· Henning Schneider, Biology
· Scott Thede, Computer Science
· Bojan Tunguz, Physics and Astronomy
· Michele Villinski, Economics and
Management
· Miwa Yoshinaga, Japanese Language
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