The Tablet Tutor

An Invitation to test TabletMathWhiz

2011-06-23T17:26:00.008-04:00

This is an invitation to shape the future of TabletMathWhiz and the math education of kids everywhere.

If you are a math teacher or have kids in grades 2 – 5 this is something you might want to try. You need access to a tablet pc to participate in the review process of TabletMathWhiz, the pen-based, self-scoring program to help kids learn their math facts.

We will be selecting a limited number of testers who may be invited to join as project advisers in the future. This is a fun program, even if you are not a math teacher. In fact, if you are a tablet enthusiast, you may find yourself inspired to use a similar idea in your own discipline.

You will be working directly with CMU personnel on this project. It is expected that you will spend a few hours exploring the software on your own, and a few hours of web meetings during the month of July.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please email tablettutor@sbcglobal.net

TabletMathWhiz is extremely novel because it is based on pen input:

1) Handwriting reduces the cognitive overload,

2) Handwriting enables the tracking of the problem solving process,

3) Handwriting enables the analysis of handwritten work and detection

Although the program has improved a great deal since 2009, to read the original description of it, click the link below:

http://tablettutor.blogspot.com/2009/03/tablet-pc-math-makes-math-facts-fun.html

I’ve been blogging about Tablet PC Math for several years now, and I am thrilled to report this news. I would not be surprised if TabletMathWhiz quickly becomes ubiquitous.

I became interested in effective ways of teaching kids the math facts when, as a mother of young twins, I tried to drill them at home. Not getting much cooperation with traditional flash cards, I attempted to write a button-based program in Flash, but I soon realized that the act of actually writing the digits was more effective than clicking buttons or hitting keys. I had been using a tablet PC for work so I was able to try the CMU program. My kids loved it. They got immediate feedback and sloppy work was not accepted. With the current popularity of ipads, androids and other tablet devices, Tablet PC Math, now renamed TabletMathWhiz, is going to make teachers’ and parent’s jobs so much easier.

And here’s something I learned along the way. A popular philosophy in teaching math involves focusing on teaching math sense and understanding. Advanced concepts may be introduced in early grades – algebra, logarithms, geometry, quadratic equations, Cartesian coordinate systems, etc. This can be a great experience. But, in spite of modern calculators, if the kids do not have their basic math facts down cold, they won’t be able to use the advanced concepts at all later on. The math facts are the foundation for everything in math.

Collective Intelligence with Classroom Salon

2011-02-26T16:06:00.013-05:00

With the success of the ipad, tablets are so hot right now and more and more applications that are designed for web and mobile computers are coming out these days. One such application is a new CMU concept that is ideal for mobile web based tablet devices although it can also be used in a non-tablet web based environment.

If you don't want to read this blog, just check out the video on Classroom Salon, Carnegie Mellon's latest innovation for learning. http://www.classroomsalon.org/ The site describes Salon as "a new way to facilitate a community of readers around text. "

"Salon is a digital environment that translates individual work like annotations and comments into dynamic communities. It helps teachers, authors and group leaders to gauge perspectives and camps of opinion through aggregation and rich visualizations"

From the Documentation:
"One of the key problems educators face is that students often don’t do the assigned reading before class or forget much of what they have read even if they do read. Either situation means that the teacher must work hard during class time to get students to participate in discussion. One teacher described the process of getting students to talk in class as 'pulling teeth.' Classroom Salon addresses this problem because by annotating the readings before class, students are also building a class discussion. Once class begins, the teacher can use Salon to display the discussion. It's much more comfortable, we have found, for students to talk when elaborating on contributions to the discussion they have already made. "

"Salon enables publishers and content providers to create discussion communities around digital documents. The Salon system encourages communities of interest – from fan fiction enthusiast to mechanical engineers – not only to coalesce around, discuss and analyze web content, but to use the data generated by their contributions in dynamic ways. Salon enables digital commentary and annotations on every aspect of the publication. Salon collects and analyzes these annotations, and allows users to view the data through several analytical lenses, from simple statistical information (e.g. which passages attracted the most comments, which passages were liked or disliked) to a sensitive understanding of the range and nuance of opinion"
From: http://www.olympus.cs.cmu.edu/probes/salon.php

Anyone wishing to know more about CMU's Classroom Salon can contact tablettutor(at)sbcglobal(dot)net.

WIPTE Overview -- Pen Based Technology

2010-11-07T13:45:00.002-05:00

WIPTE Overview – Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education
Hosted by Virginia Tech College of Engineering

On Oct. 25 – 26, I attended WIPTE 2010. WIPTE stands for Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education. A visit to http://www.wipte.org/docs/2010/collateral2010.pdf gives you the entire flyer explaining the Workshop/Conference. I have taken some excerpts from it to help explain what exactly it is. First of all, let me explain that since the introduction of the ipad, earlier this year, there has been a lot of interest in “tablet” computers or “slate” computers.

The major difference between the ipad and the computers on which WIPTE focuses on is the pen, or stylus. Ipads are comfortable with finger input. Styluses are available but there are not many apps that takes advantage of a stylus, and the idea of handwriting recognition is equally scarce.

There two forms of tablet PC’s – the “slate” which, similar to an ipad, has no keyboard other than a screen based virtual keyboard, and the “convertible” which is basically a notebook computer with an inkable screen. In most, the screen can pivot and nest on top of the keyboard, creating a slate effect. You can add a keyboard and mouse to a Slate if you want.
The pen, or stylus, is the tool that allows one to use the screen of a tablet (or slate) PC as a piece of paper. You can write notes, lists, draw, diagram, and basically use a fully powered PC with all the software you want without ever touching the keyboard! (Or without a keyboard at all, for that matter).

A virtual keyboard is provided, making a tablet PC into a very useful multitasking device. Of course, a tablet PC typically has full WI-FI capabilities and a handy “snipping tool” allows the user to easily grab text and graphics from anywhere to place somewhere else.

Tablet PC’s make great use of a Microsoft program known as OneNote. A simpler program, called Journal, consists of, well, a virtual piece of paper of the user’s choice. Music score, legal pad in yellow, graph paper, stationary are just a few examples of the virtual paper you can select.

One-Note is a virtual notebook with lots of paper in it. You can make as many notebooks as you need, and you can add tabs and dividers and pretty much use One Note to be very organized. A powerful feature of One Note is that ink as well as text is searchable, so even if you take a ton of notes in ink (should I say electronic ink?), EVERYTHING IS SEARCHABLE. Even tags on graphics you snip from websites are SEARCHABLE. Disclaimer: It probably doesn’t work so well if you have the world’s sloppiest penmanship, but I did recently hear that practicing penmanship is good for your brain.

So, the ability to write on the screen using digital ink and the ability to organize work in One Note (which also works just fine for traditional keyboard input devices too), make for better classroom experiences. WIPTE is education focused.

Here are some of the questions WIPTE seeks to answer as well as some key findings, from the WIPTE site.

• Why are Tablet PCs better than notebook PCs?
• Can you add a digital pen to a laptop?
• What software really makes a difference?
• Do Tablet PCs really work for education?

Key Findings
Over the years of the WIPTE conference, participants have
been given insight into the following findings:

Having appropriate software to leverage the pen-based hardware
is a critical component for success.

Teacher buy-in and training are critical components
for success.

Tablet PCs are used differently to support the pedagogies associated
with various grade levels and disciplines.

Convertible Tablets are more commonly used in schools than
the slate form factor.

Planning for both formative and summative assessment
before the deployment helps to promote program evaluation.

Learning from peers is invaluable.

Tablet Math Makes Learning Fun in Qatar

2010-11-01T08:25:00.009-04:00

Here's an article about Tablet Math in Qatar. It mentions Amer Obeidah, who is a user experience designer and interaction design developer. Amer holds a Masters degree of Computer Interaction Design and Development from Carnegie Mellon University. He is passionate about creating experiences that are holistic, empathic in nature and ultimately effectual. Amer's goal is to create a smart educational environments where students can have fun while learning. To learn more see http://www.obeidahtech.com/ . We mentioned Amer's site in a previous post as well.

Fun way to learn: Carnegie Mellon develops Tablet PC
Sunday, 06 April 2008 01:57

DOHA • Carnegie Mellon University has developed an innovative Tablet PC based system for learning mathematics through games.

The Tablet PCs provide a unique mode of computer interaction using a digital pen. The pen provides a natural input medium and allows previous workflows centered on paper to continue uninterrupted. The computer becomes "intelligent paper", capturing the benefits of the digital environment and traditional paper.

“The System will enhance children’s learning of mathematics, while decreasing teachers’ grading workload and enhancing access to handwritten work so teachers can develop effective course pedagogies,” said Amer Hassan Ali Obeidah of Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar (CMU-Q).

The system will integrate gaming as part of the process to encourage and motivate students to work on math problems. The mathematical concepts are mapped into gaming actions so that game can be controlled only by solving mathematical problems.

“The system has shown remarkable results. Flexible Tablet PC based interface encourages students to show work in Arabic or English and express their ideas through sketching that can be analysed by the teachers,” Al Obeidah said.

The Tablet Math System is made up of two main components. The first is a thin client installed on tablet PCs. The thin-client is used by students to practise various math problems. The second main component is the web application. The web application is used exclusively by teachers to perform administrative and analytical operations. Teachers can create customised worksheets for individual students or entire class, monitor student’s work online and can understand why a student or group of students have incorrectly answered a problem. The grading of students handwritten work is done by the computer so teachers can focus more on helping students who are having troubles in solving problems.

“We will discuss how this system can be used by schools throughout Qatar to enhance the mathematics instructions at all levels. The system will be available from Carnegie Mellon University for any school that will need to use the system in their classes immediately. We will create teacher accounts and show how to download the software and use them in the classrooms,” Ali Obeidah said.

Originally posted at: http://archive.thepeninsulaqatar.com/component/content/article/349-qatar-newsarchive/24818.html

Classmate PC as seen at WIPTE

2010-10-28T18:42:00.003-04:00

I attended WIPTE earlier this week and I can honestly say I was overwhelmed by all of the great information. I wish I could have attended all the sessions, but alas, I often had to choose between four equally exciting topics offered simultaneously. Over the next few weeks I will try to share what I can of my WIPTE impressions.

CLASSMATE PC by INTEL
Some time ago I bought a great little tablet netbook (convertible) called 2GOPC. Imagine my surprise when Intel did a presentation at WIPTE on the Classmate PC Project, which included that PC. Little did I know how much software was available for it. Here's a YouTube that impressed me, even though it is also a bit old. Newer versions of Atom powered convertibles are available and I can't wait to get one. In the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkXLlXdCcsM we see some really cool Lego robotics control software that is a bit simpler than MindStorms because it is aimed at the K-6 crowd. At the end of the video they show the PC being used with a probe to do science investigations, again aimed at K-6. In between, several interesting programs are shown and I would guess that even more are available now. To research further, google "intel classmate pc"

Sneak Preview

2010-10-22T14:18:00.004-04:00

A new website called "Inkable Education" has been set up to help introduce some of the things I have been blogging about. Though still somewhat in "beta", the site is informative and educational. Check it out at http://www.obeidahtech.com/

IPad VS TABLET PC at WIPTE 2010

2010-09-20T17:32:00.005-04:00

WIPTE addresses the iPad in October

WIPTE 2010 at Virginia Tech, Oct 25 - 26, 2010
http://www.wipte.org/default.aspx

Just last week a school administrator asked me what I thought about getting iPads for all the teachers at his school. I had to tell him that my personal experience is that a Tablet PC offers a richer experience than the iPad because the iPad doesn't have any good apps for writing, taking notes. or annotating documents with a stylus. In October, experts will argue the pros and cons of the iPad vs.Tablet PC's in education and I, for one, can't wait to hear what they have to say.

WIPTE, the Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education, is having an exciting debate style session in which proponents of Tablet PCs and IPads describe the potential educational impact of these devices.

"Tablet PC versus IPad Education Smackdown" is just one of the high level presentations on the latest research and information to be shared by the experts in pen and touch computing.

The four Smackdown "Stars" are listed below. For a more detailed bio of each person's very impressive background, see http://www.wipte.org/smackdown.aspx

Dr. Vince DiStasi (Tablet PC) serves as the Vice President - Chief Information Officer and Associate Professor of Chemistry at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Vince has led the focus and implementation of Tablet PC technology to enhance teaching and learning across the curriculum.

Dr. Dani Herro (iPad) is an Instructional Technology Leader in the Oconomowoc Area School District (OASD), Her current projects at OASD include investigating the potential for literacy and learning with iPad and iPod Touch technology, writing a game-design curriculum to be offered to high school students during the 2011-12 school year, positioning the school district to offer virtual schooling for high school students, and working with teachers to augment coursework to include Web 2.0 technologies, video narration, social networking opportunities, and other age-appropriate new media literacies.

Fraser Speirs (iPad) is the Head of Computing and IT at Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock, Scotland. In August 2010 at Cedars, Fraser successfully led the world's first 1:1 deployment of iPads in a whole-school setting. His website has some valuable information on iPads in education.

Robert Baker (Tablet PC) is the Director of Technology at Cincinnati Country Day School in Ohio. He has been instrumental in developing technology programs both locally and internationally with a focus on the use of tablet PCs. At Cincinnati Country Day School, Rob is dedicated to creating the most powerful teaching and learning environment anywhere. Rob is an educator first, and this allows him to look at everything through the eyes of pedagogy, not technology. Four times a year, he hosts very popular Tablet Conferences, where educators flock to Country Day from places as far away as Thailand and Australia, California and Texas, all in the pursuit of capturing the educational power of CCDS' benchmark one-to-one tablet PC program.

Keynote speakers for the conference are Ann McMullan (Executive Director of Educational Technology, Klein Independent School District, Klein, TX) and Dr. Tony Salvador (Senior Principal Engineer at Intel).

The conference also includes poster presentations, hands-on sessions and vendor booths

Early registration fee is $100. After September 30, it is $150.

This infomation was taken from the WIPTE website: www.wipte.org

My Dream Tablet Computer

2010-05-20T18:47:00.009-04:00

I wasn’t going to buy an ipad. I had read about it and was of the opinion that it was a big iphone.

Then I started poking around in the Apple App Store and I discovered more than one “drawing” app and a few “handwriting” apps. I also discovered a third party stylus that had been designed for the iphone.

With this new information I purchased an ipad and eagerly downloaded the programs I hoped would make it perform like an old HP 1100 Tablet PC. I had been using my Tablet PC for years as an extension of my brain – taking it everywhere and using it as a pad of paper. The ability to organize meeting notes as well as being able to draw on documents was important to me. Unlike later versions, the first HP Tablet didn’t need it’s removable keyboard so it actually looked like a slate “slate”.

The ipad apps for writing and drawing don’t measure up to the Tablet PC using the MS Journal software. The ipad touch screen is a gift and a curse at the same time. When I rest my hand on the ipad to write with the stylus, the ipad becomes confused at times. I have yet to find a note taking app that isn’t slow and cumbersome.

I do love surfing the web with my ipad. The touch screen is a beautiful interface that allows me to maneuver all over the page, enlarging and shrinking text and images quickly. No more cumbersome scroll bars! All you need is a thumb and forefinger. Unfortunately, the inability of the ipad to handle Flash is annoying. Many sites just won’t perform on the ipad.

There are some nice apps. The ebook reader is a joy to use because of its great user interface. There are many free games. Youtubes look and run great. But it is not the Tablet of my dreams.

I was very excited when there were rumors of a dual screen tablet from HP. How great would it be to have a “book” format with one screen for reading and one screen that acts as a tablet? I imagined math practice on the tablet side with hints, explanations and instructional videos on the other. Then I heard about the HP Slate. Could this be a combination of the ipad touch capabilities combined with the full computing power of the old HP TC 1100?

I still haven’t found my dream tablet/pen computer/slate. How about you? I’d love to hear your comments!

CMU in Qatar Helps Schools with Tablet PC Programs

2010-02-17T16:27:00.007-05:00

Here are two interesting articles about CMU's work in Qatar with Tablet Computers in Education, illustrated above. Sorry the jpegs are so small.

The first article is at http://www.qatar-tribune.com/data/20100209/content.asp?section=nation2_3

++++

I couldn't find the CMUQ helps schools use Tablet PC's. The article tells about how CMU is providing applications such as those we have discussed on this blog to 7th and 8th grade students at Qatar Academy. Networking the Tablet PC's allows assignments to be easily exchanged between students and teachers. Students and teachers can also collaborate on math problems instead of teachers just grading the final results, through a program called WebMath.

++++

Carnegie Mellon is trying to get funding for Webmath from the Qatar National Research fund. This grant would enable CMU and Qatar Academy to research and evaluate Webmath over a three year period.

Tablet Flash Card Videos Now Available Online

2009-11-05T17:42:00.003-05:00

There are two tablet flash card videos now available for viewing so you can get a better idea of how the program works. The program has both authoring mode where you make the cards, and play mode where your cards are presented back and you practice. In addition to drawing and writing to make each card, you can also import jpegs. A slick trick is to make the cards using MS PAINT, (using text, too, if you like) and save them as JPEGS to bring into Flash Cards.

Here's the url: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ab/TabletFlashCards/

Getting Involved In Making Tablet Apps Possible

2009-10-21T17:47:00.004-04:00

Dr. Gunawardena's WIPTE Keynote has generated a great deal of additional interest in the potential of Tablet PC's. In addition, we are hearing rumors about new and improved tablet/touch combinations. Here are further thoughts from Dr. Gunawardena inviting our blog readers to share ideas on the FACEBOOK group: pen-computing application group. (This link can take you to a Facebook login.)

"Pen computing is a promising paradigm. However, we need to imagine what applications makes sense when provided with pen and touch interfaces. I can think of Tablet Flash Cards, where cards can be moved using a touch interface and cards can be created using a pen interface. This dual interaction modality is very natural in interacting with such an application. What other applications are possible in k-12? How about a smart paper that can understand the equations you write, interpret, graph and solve them. if you have any ideas of cool pen applications, join the facebook group, "pen-computing application group". Share your ideas and may be someone will help develop it. Good for all of us."

WIPTE 2009 and the future of Tablet PC's

2009-10-17T13:48:00.006-04:00

"Ananda Gunawardena is a self-described tablet junkie. When he is not thinking about cool pen applications, he likes to spend time taking mud baths in the dead sea in Jordan. He predicts that by 2012 there will be a mass adoption of tablet PC's and in case he is wrong, he plans a career on farming or solar energy or some sort of sustainability project."

Following this introduction, Dr. Gunawardena presented his Keynote Address to the WIPTE conference attendees last week. He talked about applications you have already seen on this blog and what the future might hold. Stay tuned.

WIPTE KEYNOTE OCTOBER12

2009-09-25T19:22:00.003-04:00

Ananda Gunawardena has been selected as Keynote for WIPTE 2009 Oct. 12 - 13 Instructional Technology using Pen Computing Conference

Ananda Gunawardena Ph.D.Carnegie Mellon University is an Associate Teaching Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). A long time advocate of Tablet PC’s in education, Ananda was part of the Microsoft Research focus group on the use of Tablet’s in 2004 and 2005. He directs several research projects that study and develop smart and usable pen based applications. In 2007, he developed a pen-based computing course and has taught the course since.

A very popular upper level computer science course at CMU, his pen-based computing course had been responsible for developing number of pen applications that were deployed as research software to schools in several states. He is the co-author of two textbooks in computational linear algebra published by Springer-Verlag and Brooks-Cole. His textbooks have been translated into several languages.

He has won grants from NSF, Microsoft research, HP, Qatar Foundation and several other organizations. He has published over 35 referred research articles in Journals. He is involved with number of startup companies and is the founder of Textcentric, Inc, a company providing customized textbook publishing software to major software publishing groups and he holds several patents. He serves on several boards and has won many awards including teaching awards, Jesse Jones service award, and Sri Lanka foundations exceptional achievement award, the highest honor given to a Sri Lankan expatriate. He received a B.Sc Mathematics special honors degree from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, M.S. in computer science and Ph.D. in computational mathematics from The Ohio University and studied software Engineering at University of Texas at Austin.

Keynote Presentation Abstract » Potential of Pen Technologies in K-12 Education and Opportunities for Higher Education Involvement

K-12 perhaps holds the most promise in yet-fully-untapped potential of Tablet PC’s in education. Students who have not yet-fully-mastered typing skills are more likely to embrace the natural unrestricted expression modality provided by pen and touch computers. The concept of communicating with a computer as if there is some smart paper that is able to understand student sketches and provide feedback is highly appealing. The ability of pen computers to act as smart paper and collaborative platforms opens a new dimension of technology in education. In this presentation, we will share our experiences working with k-12 teachers to develop pilot projects around pen technologies and will demonstrate some innovative pen-based applications developed at Carnegie Mellon University.

We will emphasize the need to develop frameworks and networks that allow k-12 teachers to partner with universities to jointly collaborate on research projects. We will emphasize the need for new smart pen applications that are developed using solid human computer interaction principles. We also need innovative ways of looking at the utility of pen-based computers in education. We invite the community to join our efforts to share this wonderful technology through blogs and social networking sites. We can, and we should mobilize and show the world the potential of this new technology.

WIPTE 2009 will be held on October 12-13, 2009 WIPTE is open to anyone with an interest in instructional technology. A wide variety of disciplines are embracing Tablet PC's and similar pen-based devices as tools for the radical enhancement of teaching and learning. This conference is intended to leverage this shared passion and to identify best practices in the educational use of pen-based computing so that all educators may benefit from this next generation of technology. Each WIPTE paper presentation includes an assessment component as an important part of the presentation. The WIPTE program also includes keynote talks, poster presentations, vendor booths, panels, and special sessions.

Smart Paper and Cursive Writing

2009-08-18T15:46:00.003-04:00

I heard that Carnegie Mellon has developed a prototype for a new Cursive Handwriting Training Program that takes advantage of the Smart Paper feature of Tablet PC's. Although I have not seen it yet, I understand that it is an elegant program that invites K - 12 students to improve their cursive handwriting. In spite of the preeminence of keyboard input in upper grades, I, for one, think that there is still a very important place for cursive writing in our educational system. As soon as I know more about this, I'll post more.

Try Tablet PC Flash Card Software from CMU

2009-06-23T15:32:00.004-04:00

The Tablet PC Flashcard Software is in the process of being updated as of Dec. 2010. A prior version mentioned here is no longer available for trial, so I have changed this post. If you are interested in trying it, check back in 2011 for a new post on the subject.

To address the comment below, yes, you can easily create your own flash cards by simply drawing them right on the screen of your tablet or by importing any jpgs you would like to use. I have actually used MS Paint to create cards to import into the earlier version with great success.

The advantage of tablet PC's is the fact that you use a stylus, not a finger, so it is easy to draw, print or write your cards. My fingers just aren't as accurate as a pen or stylus. In addition, the flash cards have a quick response time so I can write them as quickly as I could on a piece of paper. My experience with trying to write with my finger has been frustratingly slow and not as fluid.

Tablet PC Flash Card Program Now Available for Pilot

2009-05-11T15:52:00.006-04:00

An exciting opportunity is available to schools or groups that have tablet PC's with Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (not Vista).

Dr. Ananda Gunawardena of Carnegie Mellon University is looking for groups that would like to use CMU's Tablet PC Flash Cards as a collaborative learning tool in an educational setting. The program has been featured in our posts of April 10, 2009 and March 8, 2009.

If you have ideas about how you would like to use Tablet PC Flash Cards and share them using Google Groups, please email Dr. Gunawardena: guna@cs.cmu.edu with your brief proposal so you can obtain the program software and more information. You do not have to be a teacher, but you do have to have an idea that allows the sharing of flash card decks. Perhaps you are one of a group of home schooling parents, or you have an idea for an after school program. All you need is access to Tablet PC's with the XP operating system and access to the internet.

A research project at CMU concluded, among other things, that by merging the cards and sharing them, the users can benefit from both individual and collaborative learning. The program features an algorithm that tracks scores and intelligently asks the users the cards that they need to review. The cards can also be reviewed sequentially, if desired, since learning materials are frequently built upon previously learned materials.

As we have mentioned in the previous blog entries, the Tablet PC Flash card program offers advantages over other online flash card applications in that it allows users to save and edit their "deck" collection on their own computer which facilitates moving it, sharing it and emailing it to other users. Multiple decks can be created without losing the original deck. Cards can be created by drawing or writing them using the tablet's pen, or they can be imported as JPEG files made in other applications. Decks are easily shared by setting up a members only Google Groups site.

Effective Learning Through Sharing the Tablet PC Flash Card Program

2009-04-10T09:32:00.005-04:00

Tablet PC Flash Cards were discussed earlier in this blog. Now we have a better way to use them for quick and easy memorization of facts -- Sharing and collaboration.

In a research project conducted by one of the CMU students who invented them, the benefits of using the Tablet PC Flash Cards as a collaborative learning tool are being explored. By themselves, Tablet PC Flash Cards enhance learning by providing an easy way to create and use the cards. CMU is testing the theory that when the cards are shared by multiple students and teachers through collaboration the application is an even better learning tool.

Unlike other online flash cards application, this application saves the deck on the users’ computers as a simple file, so it is easy for them to move the deck to anywhere else (like a website) and email it to others if desired. It is also easy to edit the cards and save multiple revisions of the decks without losing the original deck.

The research project is being conducted in an eighth grade geometry course in an independent school. Every student enrolled in this course has a tablet PC laptop. Functionalities that the students and teacher need include the ability to add and save images, save the entire set of cards as a single "deck" file, and being able to iterate through the cards sequentially or randomly. . The teacher first created a deck and then asked the students to create their own, which are shared using Google Groups.

The screen shot shows how they are used with Google Groups.

Imagine how powerful this could be when shared across groups of students world wide. If there was website where I could go and grab a deck of flash cards for, say, geometry, and customize it for my particular course, it would save so much time, whether I was a teacher, or a student. Working with the other students in the class, we could come up with a fast and effective way to study the exact information we are required to learn!

Tablet PC Math makes Math Facts Fun

2009-03-18T20:58:00.030-04:00

Problem:

Math Facts -- Teachers and parents have so little time to make sure kids know these. Kids don't like drill.

Solution:
Tablet PC Math System -- A training system based on Tablet PC's and a web interface. The system allows students to write directly on a tablet pc to solve various types of simple mathematics problems. It also allows students to create scratch work for harder problems such as long division. The students can have exercises assigned to them by a teacher or parent, or they can practice on their own. The teachers interact with the system through a web-based interface. Through this interface, teachers can monitor student and class performance, assign exercises and manage the class.

Teachers can also view class results in real time, and view individual scratch work of students filtered by various criteria.The tablet PC math system was developed at Carnegie Mellon University to provide a pen based smart environment for doing simple mathematics problems. CMU is looking for schools to pilot test the system. Contact: guna@andrew.cmu.edu for more information.

Benefit:
Provides parents and teachers with an effective way of getting children to learn math facts without giving up valuable class time

Features:
-Write directly on Table PC, including scratch work that teachers can view in real time or later.
-Teachers or parents can create assignments
-Automatic grading
-Kids can select from a menu of problem types

-Web interface allows teachers to interact in real time to monitor student progress.
-System assigns points for problems competed correctly

-Very EASY to use

-Selections include:Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division up to 3 digits

-Timed or not timed

-Users can specify # of problems or unlimited and select fact families

Note: Screens shown are from v.1 of the program and may not represent the exact look of the current version.

Using Tablet PC Flash Cards

2009-03-08T18:30:00.013-04:00

The entire collection of CMU Tablet PC software is discussed in our Feb. 12, 2009 post (below). Here we showcase the Tablet PC Flash Card application. (I made a great Camtasia video of this, but blogger gives me error messages when I try to upload it...)

Using CMU's Tablet Flash Card program is fun and easy.

The program has an area for you to put the "question" on the left side of the screen, with the answer on the "back" or right side of the screen. As you make each card, you put it in the deck, and a thumbnail of it appears at the top of the screen with other cards (front only in this view)

We decided to make some Spanish Flash Cards based on drawings. We could also have imported JPEGS.

We drew a simple picture of an eye on the left side to be the "question" and we wrote the answer, "ojo" in the panel on the right for the "answer". It was easy to draw the eye using the stylus. Although we could have used any combination of black, blue, green or red, we kept it simple and used only black.

The program automatically put thumbnails of the fronts of our finished flash cards along the top of the screen. Above is our second card, for "nose."

Our third card finished, (see callout I added "3 made" showing the thumbnails), we can now PLAY GAME by clicking the green box in the lower left. We could have made more cards, but we can also go back later and make more if we want.

The program shows the picture. The student is supposed to write the answer in the answer box on the right.

Here's what a completed answer looks like (a different card from the last). The student wrote, "ojo" and then clicked on "SHOW ANSWER" to see in the small box that he was correct. He then clicks a button verifying that he was indeed correct (alternately, he can click "I was wrong") and the app keeps score in an area in the middle by advancing green bars (or red, for wrong).

This program is even more effective if the student makes his or her own cards. My 4th grader and I made flash cards for the 50 states and their capitals together by tracing the states outlines onto the flash cards. In case you have never tried this, it is easy to place a paper drawing on top of your tablet and trace right through the paper with your stylus.

I wish I could provide the source code for download here, but the bugs are still being worked out. I'd appreciate any comments. A real exciting possibility is for kids, parents, and teachers to share their decks of flash cards by use of some kind of education social network.

Tablet PC Workshop was a SUCCESS

2009-02-12T14:36:00.001-05:00

On Feb. 8, Dr. Ananda Gunawardena, of Carnegie Mellon University presented a workshop entitled: "Creating an Interactive Tablet PC Classroom" at PETE&C, the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference in Hershey, PA. For more information contact guna@andrew.cmu.edu

The attendees were mostly K-12 school administration, tech coordinators and some teachers. They were given hands on activities on how best to use a tablet pc in the classroom. Most already had tablets in their schools but were using them as laptops. We were able to show the amazing capabilities of a tablet PC classroom.Several methods were discussed to show low start up cost. Here are the possible ways to start:

I) Instructor using Tablet PC as an interactive device, converting any document into a journal document and annotating in class. Leave room for class activities. At the end of the session, convert the document to PDF (use CutePDF free converter) and place it online for students to see.

2) If they are in Tablet PC classroom/lab use one of two products to make the class more interactive.
a) Classroom presenter (CP) -- instructor can convert PPT to CP deck and annotate in class. Students receive annotations real time. Students can respond to questions and send answers back to instructor. Instructors can discuss good and bad responses. CP also has a clicker system where students can respond to questions raised during class. Instructor can see immediately class responses. Good for classes size 20 or less to reduce the demand on network bandwidth.
b) Lemon Sketch -- designed as a shared canvas intended for small group collaboration. Ideal for groups of size 4 or less. Ideal for 1 -1 remote tutoring session. Both parties share the same canvas and solve the problem together like they are sitting next to each other. Successfully used in a pilot program in autism.
c) Tablet Flash Cards -- Each member of the audience created a sample deck and shared with others. These decks were expanded by others in the group.
d) Several other programs, such as Tablet Math Whiz and Classroom Salon were demonstrated.

The audience suggested many applications where Tablets can be used effectively with this software.

Software Presented:

Adaptive Book -- an electronic textbook system with a very robust markup manager. Students are able to annotate, highlight, and share their markups with other students or with the teacher. Using the Markup Analysis Tool, students can also compare their markups against markups done by expert users. Adaptive book is a great tool to use for reading interactive digital books. Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University/TextCentric, Inc

Classroom presenter (CP) -- a program developed at University of Washington to enable classroom interaction during the lecture. Instead of using a static Powerpoint slides, teachers can import a Powerpoint deck into CP and use it to conduct an interactive classroom using pen annotations. Furthermore, if students also have tablets, teacher can post a question and receive students written responses in real time. These results can be discussed further during lectures. The CP also has real time polling so teachers can get a sense of how things are going in class.
Copyright: University of Washington

Doodle -- a movie annotation system in its alpha version. Doodle uses windows Media video (WMV) files. Doodle is intended as a classroom tool where teachers can annotate a video while it is playing or when it is in pause mode. All annotations can be saved, shared and played back later.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Tablet Flash Cards -- application was developed to provide students with a pen-based environment for creating flash cards on the computer. Flash card user interface is designed , developed and tested using many real user studies to optimize the usability of the product. Teachers can create card decks and share them with students. Students can also create decks and share them with other students. Learning with Flash cards is a proven learning technique and Tablet Flash cards make the process of making, using and sharing flash cards so much easier.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Graph Animator -- a fun program developed for Tablet PC’s to show how to draw a graph, one with nodes and edges that connect them. Nodes can be say cities and edges can be roads. The cool part of this program is you can assign edge weight (or distance between two cities) to each edge, select an origin and destination and watch to see how it finds the shortest path between the two points.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Infinite Canvas -- a novel application developed using latest windows technologies such as WPF. The infinite canvas allows users to write anything on a canvas assuming there is infinite space to write. There are no page boundaries or menu items. The interface is simple. The interface can also be customized to include frequently used images to be included in the canvas. The navigation to previously written content is done by using the left navigation strip that provides a thumbnail view of the written content
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Ink Book -- an effort to integrate a flexible platform for reading electronic textbooks on Tablet PC environments. The book is designed with a simple user interface with text on left and an ink pad on right. Ink pad allows users to take notes and tie specific parts of the text to the annotations. Specific focus is on the usability aspect of the application.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Lemon Sketch -- an innovative collaborative peer-to-peer software platform for encouraging small group collaboration. One user launch the application and the user’s computer serve as the host server for the group. Other users join the group using host server IP address. All users share the same canvas, where each user can write on and erase on other persons canvas.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Mapper -- a design environment for drawing multi-dimensional worlds using pen sketches and gestures.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Classroom Salon -- a novel online program designed to support classroom reading assignments. Users receive questions from the instructor and respond to them using annotations. All annotations are then compared and presented in a grid so students and professors can understand what students are annotating as a group. The program also displays hot annotated areas in the document making it easier to identify and understand the annotations of a group.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Sudoku -- the famous game designed for tablet PC’s. Although there are some similar applications in the market for Sudoku, this particular application is designed and developed at CMU using multiple user testing done with solid human computer interaction (HCI) studies to increase the usability of the platform.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Tablet Math Whiz 1.0 -- a comprehensive system designed and developed for testing and practicing basic math skills. Tablet Math Whiz is a system that contains a Tablet PC based client application as well as a web based application for managing classroom assignments. Teachers can assign Math activities, students can log in and complete them, and all handwritten annotations are automatically graded by the system. The system captures handwritten work and save them in an online repository for teachers to compare. Students can complete assigned homework or do self practice of Math problems. Grade sheets can be exported as excel. No grading. Students love using this intuitive system. Doing Math is fun, finally.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Tablet Math Whiz 2.0 -- is an enhanced version of its popular predecessor Tablet Math Whiz 1.0. The program is designed for practicing basic math skills. This version contains a basic game interface done in flash (some games under construction) that allows students to practice Math in a gaming environment. The game serves as a motivational tool for students. The web interface was also improved so that teachers can author their own problems. Now teachers can assign problems selected by the system (teachers specify the criteria) or problems authored by them. Both Tablet PC application interface and web interface are improved for this version.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Cursive handwriting Recognizer -- a fun program intended to teach how to write cursive handwriting [20]. The program comes with a practice mode, test mode and gaming mode.
Copyright: Carnegie Mellon University

Physics Illustrator --Bring your drawings to life with the Physics Illustrator, a motion simulator for the Tablet PC. Simply draw two-dimensional bodies, connect them in various ways and apply forces, then watch as animation makes the bodies’ move, collide, and interact.
Copyright: MIT/Microsoft

News Flash! Interactive Tablet Classroom Workshop

2009-01-30T14:17:00.000-05:00

On Feb. 8, Dr. Ananda Gunawardena, of Carnegie Mellon University will be presenting a workshop entitled: "Creating an Interactive Tablet PC Classroom" at PETE&C, the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference in Hershey, PA.

Target Audience: Pre-K, K-8, Technology Director or Coordinator/Instructional Technologist

Presentation Strands: Emerging Technologies/Trends, Instructional Strategies/Successful Practices, Professional Development/Teacher Preparation, Technology Directions: Issues, Innovations, Research, Technology Leadership

"Tablet PC is an emerging platform promising to support interactive classrooms. In this workshop we will be demonstrating some truly innovative educational software (available for free) developed at Carnegie Mellon University. Among them are Lemon Sketch (a real time collaborative software), Tablet Flash Cards and Tablet Math Whiz"

It is expected that participants will receive a DVD containing the workshop software.

PETE&C is a statewide event that provides quality programs focused on technology in the educational field. Each year, hundreds of exhibitors showcase their latest technology products and services to the vast audience of teachers, administrators, technology directors, school board members and more. Visit their website at http://www.peteandc.org/

Tablet PC Software from CMU Available soon

2008-12-23T08:04:00.000-05:00

Carnegie Mellon is planning to set up a website where you can get free downloads of some of the groundbreaking educational software they are developing. To learn more, email us at tablettutor@sbcglobal.net

See previous posts below to learn more.

Apps include:
1) Tablet PC Math -- Practice math facts and problems up to three digits, with or without teacher supervision. Pen input facilitates rapid answering. No searching for the right numeric key! Numbers must be written neatly enough for the program to recognize, but the program is pretty forgiving, and it's self-grading. Kids love accumulating "points".

2) Flash Cards -- Make your own flash cards and then practice with them. Pen input allows you to quickly make a set of cards incorporating sketches. We traced the outlines of the states to learn the state names and capitals quickly with fourth graders. You can also import graphics to make prettier cards. We also used them for Spanish. The program presents a picture of something, the student writes the Spanish word.

3) Sketch Pad -- This app is a penabled whiteboard shared by two or more tablet PCs. One person draws or writes on his screen, and the strokes appear on the other person's screen. This one is great for tutoring, fun for games like Hangman, and terrific for visual collaboration.

Stay tuned. And for even more information about Tablet PC's in education, visit Robert W. Heiny's blog: The Tablet PC Education Blog to see the great post he wrote about this blog and other really good information.

http://www.robertheiny.com/2008/12/tablet-pc-tutor-arrives.html

The Perfect Tablet PC for kids

2008-12-17T13:41:00.000-05:00

This small combo laptop tablet PC has just been announced by Intel. It has touch screen, stylus input and a keyboard, and it is affordable. If you are thinking about trying a tablet for schoolwork, tutoring, math drill or some of the other applications we've been talking about,
this might be the one

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/16/intel-gets-the-touchscreen-netbook-thing-right-with-convertible-classmate-pc/

2008-12-01T19:58:00.001-05:00

Tablet PC Math from Carnegie Mellon University

Problem: Learning Math Facts

Teachers and parents have so little time. Kids don't like drill

Solution: Tablet PC Math System is a training system based on a tablet PC and a web interface. The system allows students to write directly on a PC to solve various types of math problems. It also allows students to write scratch work for more difficult problems such as long division right on the screen.

The students can have exercises assigned directly to them by a teacher or parent, or they can practice on their own. The teachers interact with the system through a web based interface on which they can give assignments, monitor student and class performance, assign exercises and and manage their classes.

The exercises are self-scoring. Teachers can review work in real time, filtered through a variety of criteria, as well as provide feedback on what they see in the scratch work.

The Tablet PC Math System was developed at Carnegie Mellon University to provide a pen-based smart environment for doing simple mathematics problems. CMU is looking for schools interested in doing pilot testing. For more information, contact Dr. Ananda Gunawardena via email at guna at cs dot cmu dot edu

On Line Tutoring

2008-11-28T13:32:00.001-05:00

This blog is dedicated to sharing information about Tablet PC's and education. Imagine having your own personal tutor attached to your PC. Even better, imagine that you have a whiteboard in your PC, and so does your tutor. Your tutor draws on his whiteboard and you can watch as he draws. Perhaps he shows you how to solve an algebra problem. Then he watches each step as you solve a different algebra problem on your whiteboard. You talk to each other during the session using VOIP. Your session is saved so that later you can replay it, step by step. The tutor also has a repository of lessons for you.
Sample Screen Shot of on-line lesson

Science fiction? No, it's real. And you can have it today if you have a tablet PC or a convertible.

Online Tutoring with Tablet PC
Ink Tutor, LLC

Ink Tutor is a well structured online tutoring service that uses Tablet PCs. On-line Tablet PC tutoring is comparable to a tutor seated side-by-side with the student, giving instruction, corrections, and suggestions.With the Tablet PC, a student is able to show all workings to his Math Reading and Writing problems. The tutor can correct, guide, and instruct him through tutor’s own Tablet PC.

“Tablet PC is “THE” device that will revolutionize the way we learn. At Carnegie Mellon University, we research and develop technologies that will increase online collaboration and learning effectiveness. InkTutor is the next generation of technologies that will help students communicate with a computer just as they would with paper and pencil”
Prof. Ananda Gunawardena,Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University

Product/Service Information
The service comprises the following:-
1. Tablet PC technology: A computer which you can write on with a digital pen, as with regular paper and pencil
2. The writing is immediately transferable on-line
3. The option of a second computer which displays the lesson at both ends (keeps the writing process separate from text)
4. An audio computer network service
5. Optional: A scanner to scan pages of text which can be viewed at both ends

One-on-One Tutoring
• Individualized At-Home Tutoring
• “Virtual” Tutor less distracting for Students than Regular Tutor
• Student motivated by Unique Computerized Learning-System
• Tutoring at the Student’s own pace
Minimum Requirements:
• Tablet PC Computer with Windows operating system (Window XP SP2 or VISTA)
• Recommended memory 512MB or above
• Internet browser with Internet Explorer 7 (or above) or Mozilla Firefox.
• Multimedia peripherals with Scanner, Head Phone and Microphone for PVI computer
• Internet connection with Broadband access

For more information, visit
http://www.clickontutor.com/

Information about InkTutor is based on their brochure. We would appreciate any feedback users or potential users might have. Email us at tablettutor@sbcglobal.net

To Read about how Ink Tutor helped an autistic student, see http://autismtechblog.blogspot.com