Opening Faculty Meeting

My notes from the opening meeting. I printed to SnagIt and then saved as a jpg .

Preparing for school

It has been interesting this week as I shop for school supplies and try to get ready for the year. I keep looking at different kinds of notebooks to decide what kind I would like to use this year, and then realize that I have no need for a notebook this year. Anything I would have put into a notebook previously is going to go into my tablet. For me, at least, the Tablet will help me to live a more environmentally-friendly life. When students come to see me for extra help on dorm, we always work out problems on paper, which I then give to the student to keep. Now we will do the exact same thing just as easily, but instead of wasting paper, I will e-mail the work to the student. Hopefully they won't then print it out!

As a math teacher, I really hope we will eventually get to the point where the students have tablets as well. If we ever switch the students to tablets, I will be able to go completely paperless. By then most math textbooks will have electronic versions, and students would be able to do all their work on their computers and simply e-mail me their solutions.

While I hope to find ways during the year that the Tablet will energize my teaching, I am already confident that it will help me do what I already do better, more efficiently, and in a way that benefits the environment much better than now.

PLUS - it's fun to write on the screen, so I'll do a better job of taking and keeping notes, using OneNote!

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?

Tablet PC workshop

This hands-on workshop taught me how to use the Tablet PC, and gave me a chance to work with some very cool software, like Camtasia and SnagIt. I can see many ways that I will be able to use these tools in my classroom to facilitate and enhance my teaching.

OneNote is a very handy piece of software. It will allow me to get my materials organized before my classes start, so that I don't need to rush during the break closing and opening files, which is something I have had to do when teaching students of different levels. I will have more time to help and talk to students before class starts.

Digital pen is another powerful tool that I wish I had years ago, and I know I will use it often to demonstrate how to write Chinese characters. Chinese characters have complicated stroke orders, and being able to demonstrate the stroke order live in class will make learning them more intuitive and easier for the students. This will be much more efficient than trying to teach stroke orders from a book. I can also save these demonstrations for students to review after class if needed, so it is almost as if they can take the classroom home with them.

Another powerful feature is the Input Panel. I can use the digital pen to write Chinese characters, and the tablet will actually convert my Chinese hand-written characters to Chinese text. I have heard of handwriting recognition systems before, but until I actually had a chance to use it I never imagined how useful this could be.

After exploring all the practical tools and benefits, I can say I am completely won over by the Tablet PC. Having it will improve my teaching efficiency, help me perform tasks more quickly, and ultimately make my classroom a better place for the students.

Tablet PC workshop

This workshop has given me insight to some wonderful software products (Camtasia, Audacity, One note, and Atomic Learning). I hope to use these new products along with my tablet PC to enhance my teaching. I have learned about many ways to incorporate this new technology into my classes. It is now time for me to try to implement them into my classes. I anticipate that the dynamic pen drawing feature among other PC tablet features will allow me to create a more interactive class. I am excited to try this out!!

Desktops

Several of you have requested a generic copy of my desktop with the school calendar shown below. I've placed two generic versions on the G: drive.

G:\Tablet Pilot Group\KGO\desktop generic EHS copy.bmp









G:\Tablet Pilot Group\KGO\desktop generic copy.bmp







I've made a Camtasia recording that shows you how to use the background (also on the G: drive -- G:\Tablet Pilot Group\KGO\howtochangeyourdesktop.wmv)

Tablet PC Working Group Homework :)

Thanks to all of you for participating in the EHS 07-08 Tablet PC Workshop. This is a great start to an exciting venture. We will continue to work together throughout the year. One great way to do this is to use this Blog. Feel free to participate anytime you want because this will serve as a record of our thoughts, ideas, and effort.

One quick HW assignment is for you to enter your thoughts about what you got out of the workshop and what goals you might have for yourself and Tablet PC use for the year 07-08.

Good luck and happy computing.

Welcome!

Welcome to the 2007-2008 Tablet PC blog. This is our space to post whatever we want about Tablet PC use in our classrooms. You can share content, ideas, just about anything. We will be referring to this blog throughout the year so please bookmark it. Thanks again for your participation in the group. Happy Tableting!