TeacherTabletPC

Since discovering that Windows Messenger supports ink almost seamlessly, even to non-tablet machines, I’ve offered online help to more than a few far-off friends taking math classes (how does a math teacher end up with so many friends who are math-phobic and trying to pass a basic college math course for the n+1^st time?). Giving this kind of help before was always hindered by the lack of an easy way to communicate mathematics online. Innovate, a “journal of online education,” recently published an article titled “Synchronous Chat and Electronic Ink for Distance Support in Mathematics” discussing the use of Windows/MSN messenger for distance communication between instructor and student in mathematics:

In the following pilot study, we investigate the mechanics of employing a freely available chat client (MSN Messenger) for the teaching of mathematics to distance students. The client incorporates an electronic ink function that allows users to directly post and edit mathematical formulae and diagrams while communicating synchronously, thereby avoiding the technological limitations noted by previous researchers. In this study we explore the benefits and the difficulties experienced by students and instructors in the use of the client, and we provide the results of a course survey in which students assessed the value of MSN Messenger for distance courses in mathematics.

(Free registration required to view full article.)

In my quest to have interesting news and links to post about here, I’ve been reading bunches of other education and tablet blogs and looking at all sorts of web sites. If you hadn’t noticed, I’ve gotten to really like GottaBeMobile.com. They’ve got video blog entries they call “InkShows”—here’s their list from February:

Hardware Inkshows

• Fujitsu T4215 Tablet PC Hardware InkShow: Rob Bushway takes a look at Fujitsu’s convertible and does a comparison with the Lenovo Thinkpad X60.
• SR668 RuggedBook Tablet PC Inkshow: Rob and his son Dax do their best to beat up, drown, and otherwise destroy Samwell’s ruggedized Tablet PC.
• Quick Look at the LG XNote C1 Tablet PC: Just when you thought the CES coverage was over, Dennis Rice and Warner Crocker take a look at the LG XNote C1 Tablet PC.
• The Electrovaya PowerPad 95 InkShow: Warner Crocker examines the PowerPad 95 battery.

Software Inkshows

• PhatWare PenCommander Software Inkshow: Matt Faulkner walks you through using PhatWare’s PenCommander.
• The New York Times Reader Inkshow: Warner Crocker takes a look at The New York Times Reader.

Though I doubt many of you will notice, I’ve made a very slight update to the design of this site.  This site no longer has a horizontal scrollbar when viewed in portrait mode on a 1024×768 (or is that 768×1024?) tablet, at least for me in Firefox.  I no longer remember where I saw the offhand comment about how few Tablet PC sites actually fit on screen horizontally in portrait mode, but the thought has been percolating ever since and, spurred by a desire to procrastinate combined with the earlier technical work of fixing DST on several OpenBSD boxes I, finally made this site fit.

From GottaBeMobile.com:

Josh Einstein, of Einstein Technologies, has just released a fantastic tool for developers interested in learning more about developing for the Tablet PC and how the ink analyzer works, called Ink Analyzer Explorer. The program demonstrates nearly all of the ink analyzer capabilities including shape recognition, analysis hints, correction, etc. It is also a good tool for anyone else wanting to learn why and how the recognizer does what it does.

If this prompts anyone to do some ink-enabled programming, I’d really like some better ink-friendly blogging tools, better inking in Firefox/Thunderbird, and some more free ink games.

PC World said:

An artfully designed ultraportable convertible Windows Tablet PC, the HP Pavilion tx1000 is geared for multimedia. It’s lightweight (4.2 pounds) and has some distinctive design touches, including a unique touchpad, that make it interesting. But its poor battery life and reflective screen make it a less-than-desirable traveling companion.

Warner Crocker at GottaBeMobile.com said:

HP’s latest entry into the Tabletscape is now available for ordering on the HP website. The Pavilion tx1000z series is a touchscreen convertible Tablet PC running an AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core processor, touted as offering enhanced virus protection and well as longer battery life. There are more configuration options than you can shake a stylus at available from choosing which Vista SKU to install, to memory, to HD size, etc…

Plus, there’s a GottaBeMobile InkShow from CES on the HP tx1000.

Linda A. Epstein at tabletpc2.com said:

The HP tx100z is the first Tablet PC HP has designed for the consumer rather than the road warrior. With an AMD Turion 64 bit Dual-core processor, 2 gigs of memory and running Windows Vista™ Home Premium the HP ttx100 is the fastest Tablet computer I have ever had the pleasure of using..

The High-Definition Bright View Widescreen Display with Integrated Touch-Screen is simply amazing. Personally I’m not one to watch movies on my computer, in fact I’ve never watched a movie for more than a few minutes of a movie on any Tablet PC, UMPC or desktop computer. Now I am looking forward to watching a dvd on my next flight which happens to be to the Microsoft MVP Summit.

Looks to me like a very interesting consumer-level machine, though probably not something for the classroom.

Because of a somewhat spotty^† one-to-one computing pilot, I have a few kids sprinkled here and there with Tablet PCs (they get issued a Toshiba M400). Mostly, they seem to be gravitating toward OneNote, if they use the tablet for note-taking, though I think some may be using Journal.

Most interesting (at least for this post) is that a number of these students have asked if they can email my their homework when it is something that would otherwise be on a sheet of notebook paper or whatnot. Since I have a tablet and can easily grade right on their file (I’ve been asking for Journal files) and email it back, I’ve said yes and so far it seems to be working reasonably well.

I do think it would be at least a little harder to deal with if I had a full class of students emailing me assignments (or even 4-5 class-fulls of students), but I imagine it would be manageable with some creative email addressing and/or subject line requirements and filters. We also have the option of drop-boxes on the network servers, but that has always seemed like more trouble than it’s worth—it takes time to get set up, it’s not necessarily remotely accessible (for me and/or for students), and files may not be as readily associated with specific students (depending on setup).

† (By spotty, I mean that the group(s) of students who have tablets has no relationship to the groups of students that I have in class, so I get one or two here and there with no visible reason or patter from my perspective. I think it may be by humanities teacher or something.)

From “The Influence of Learning Styles on Learners in E-Learning Environments” by Naser-Nick Manochehr (pdf) in the December 2006 issue of CHEER:

The results revealed that for the instructor-based learning class (traditional), the learning style was irrelevant, but for the web-based learning class (e-learning), the learning style was significantly important. The results indicated that students with the Assimilator learning style (these learn best through lecture, papers and analogies) and the Converger learning style (these learn best through laboratories, field work and observations) achieved a better result with the e-learning (web-based) method.

(as seen in Learning and Learning Style Preferences in Steve Myers’s blog)

My post this morning actually made me curious, so I went and did a little research. All data in the table is based on each manufacturer’s own web site. My minimum requirements were a 12″ screen with an active digitizer (not just a touchscreen). This table is probably not comprehensive.

Slates versus ThinkPad X60

My Thoughts

So, I stand by my thoughts that I can’t see a significant advantage to any of the slates—some are a bit lighter, which matters, but the trade-off is in battery life (important) and processing power (less so). The Fujitsu slates and the Sahara i440D are probably the most tempting.

If you’ve been reading a while, you’ve probably noticed that most of my hardware references have been to convertibles. For me, the first foray into Tablet PCs was a rather tentative one, and I suspect it would be for many people. Not knowing exactly how I was going to end up using it, I couldn’t really even consider a slate.

Having used this X41 (I’m typing on it now) for over nine months, I can safely say that I’d give strong consideration to a slate. I rarely use the keyboard (though I am now). When I do, more than half the time I’m doing data entry which is sufficiently annoying on a laptop keyboard that I have a USB numeric keypad (though with CompUSA closing all their Chicago area stores, I found a good deal on a wireless full keyboard that’s just small enough to fit in my Timbuk2 bag, but that’s probably a whole separate post).

Despite this, if I were buying a tablet today, I think I’d almost certainly end up with the Thinkpad X60. The crux of the issue is the same one I’ve mentioned with nearly ever hardware mention here—I want small and light with a 12″ screen. I have not seen any slates (please comment and correct me on this if I’m wrong) that have roughly the same specs as the X60 and are either thinner or lighter. So, while my biggest use for the built-in keyboard is typing emails, blog posts, or shell commands while my students take quizzes and tests, I don’t have any motivation to give up te built-in keyboard.

(If I’ve missed something significant, please do tell me. I really feel like I’m looking for a reason to go with a slate and just not finding one.)

Jim at HP is working on Creating a Software Guide for Tablet-enabled Teaching & Learning—a list of software for use in the classroom with Tablet PCs.

With the help of our HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients, we’ve come up with the following list of software products that one or more faculty member has mentioned. I’ve taken the liberty to sort them by “what you can do with them”, so you’ll see some titles repeating