Last Thursday, Mike B. asked if I would have use for a tablet pc in the classroom. I immediately said yes, because I had already thought through some ideas for it while other teachers were piloting the program.
We had a snow day on Friday, so I ended up getting it on Monday. The first night was just courting, as I got acclimated to it's functions, and set it up the way I like things to be.
I hit my first snag when I found that the button that switches screen orientation did nothing when pressed. And nothing when not pressed. So it was a fairly boring button. Looking through the options, I couldn't find anything that jumped out as an obvious solution. I asked Phil for help, and he showed me that it was under graphic options, hotkeys. Who'da thunk it? A button does not a hotkey make. Gateway should pick up a dictionary.
I'm taking the trial rather seriously, as I am a bit critical of how much the tablet itself is contributing to the educational value, as much as just having the laptop. I ask myself, what is it about the writable screen that is making this lesson better. Yesterday, I walked around the room, and had kids draw circuits on it, which stirred up some excitement. I suspect that when I can display it on the projector, it will work better as a learning aid.
So far it's clearest advantage for me has been teacher-centered. Being able to walk around with it in my hand makes it much easier to take notes on which students are working at what levels, who is getting lost on which topics, and how many times I'm getting to each student. There is definately a student benefit there, but again, no more than really a palm pilot could do.
One highlight of the experience was calling Dell technical support via a Voice Over IP service through the tablet, and walking around the room while the class asked him questions.
More on this as it develops!
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