Too often freshmen fail and fall behind early in our large-enrollment math courses, Calculus for Engineers or Liberal Arts Math, because they do not engage in the classroom and their questions remain unanswered. Bringing Tablet PCs and a projector, obtained through a 2006 Hewlett-Packard Teaching-for-Technology Grant, into multiple sections of these courses, allows each student or small group of students to use the pen/digital-ink feature to submit problem solutions anonymously to the instructor via web-based classroom-interaction software, such as MessageGrid or Ubiquitous Presenter. The instructor projects, discusses, annotates, and saves individual submissions.Communication now occurs with a subset of students who would rarely participate in class, and active learning is achieved across the classroom because all students are primed for instructor feedback. We compare performance on common exams in the sections using Tablet PCs, web-based software, and projectors with our traditional sections. We query students (and instructors) on their impressions of this technology.
Too many students in Freshman Calculus are unprepared for the pace at which new concepts are introduced, are unable to implement prerequisite Algebra skills, and are unwilling to seek answers to their questions in front of their classmates. We report on how the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Clemson University, through a partnership with the Computer Science Department, has used Tablet PCs and the web-based interactive software, MessageGrid, to address these issues over the past four semesters. Pen-technology in large-enrollment contentheavy Calculus courses provides new ways to communicate with struggling students: projection of anonymous student-inked submissions; "personalized" feedback on group activities; studentgenerated audio-video podcasts; in Fall 2008, quick identification and remediation of weak algebra skills via inking on Mathpad, and in Spring 2009 through an NSF grant, tagging of student errors in inked responses. We report a higher percentage of students able to enroll in second-semester Calculus. Despite this emerging evidence of greater student success and despite very positive faculty and student perceptions, it is not easy to expand the set of math faculty willing to try the technology. Yet, interest in Tablet PCs (and MessageGrid) is flourishing at Clemson, due to a 2007 Hewlett Packard Leadership Grant which placed Tablet PCs into a multidisciplinary technology classroom and attracted faculty from Engineering and other departments willing to invest time to learn new pedagogical techniques.
John DesJardins received his Ph.D. in bioengineering from Clemson University in Dec. 2006 and has worked for more than 15 years as a biomechanical research engineer. He has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications in the areas of biomechanics, biomaterials tribology and mechanical testing, and is the director of the Laboratory of Orthopaedic Design and Engineering at Clemson University. He currently leads or participates in many multidisciplinary research teams on projects funded through NASA, DoD, DoT, NSF, biomedical industry, and other region non-profit foundations. As an Assistant Professor, he is the primary instructor for the senior capstone design courses, where he has lead small teams to develop innovative biomedical devices. He regularly interacts with local biomedical industry representatives that are interested in undergraduate education and outreach. He is the Founder and Current Director of the undergraduate bioengineering study abroad programs.
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