Thoughts on the Tablet PC and Workshop

The Tablet PC Workshop was an excellent opportunity to consider how I present things for my students and to think about ways that their learning could be improved.

At a busy place like a boarding school, time is at a premium for both teachers and students. The Tablet PC can streamline the learning process and make it more efficient. For instance, I can work problems in a presentation live during class time and then save those presentations for students to view later. This will be particularly helpful for students who miss class or students who may have difficulty keeping up with the pace of class. Using Camtasia, I will also be able to prepare presentations ahead of time when I must miss class, creating a video for students to view. I may miss a class, but the students won't miss my lesson!

Microsoft OneNote will enable me to be more organized, keeping all of my materials for each class ordered in folders and by chapter. I can also keep a folder full of dormitory, athletic, or other school-related business. And with the sylus, I can take handwritten notes during meetings that can be saved in that format or converted to typed text. No more typing during meetings or keeping records on scraps of paper.

Overall, I believe my instruction will be better as I can prepare presentations before class and more easily keep a record of the use of that presentation in class. Presentations will be more dynamic with the use of the stylus. But now I face the dilemma of how to encourage students to take notes and keep a record of what has transpired during class if the notes will be available to them in electronic copies! Any suggestions?