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What: Crosstalk Seminar on Educational Change
Where: 4-237
When: Thursday, January 20 at 2:00 p.m. (Coffee at 2:00, presentation at 2:30)
Title: Progress toward the Paperless Classroom: Using Tablet PC's at MIT and the HKU Medical Faculty
Speaker: Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department

Abstract
This project is the systematic replacement of paper by tablets for the students as well as the replacement of the chalkboard for the professor. We are attempting to understand the limiting factors associated with the use of this technology on a daily basis. To this end we are recording reliability, usability and the increase in learning that is derived from the use of Tablet PC's. We are also attempting to measure the fundamental shift required to eliminate paper and to create instantaneous access to the information for the students. This will serve to increase the speed of learning.

We started with two highly visual classes, Neuroanatomy and Mandarin. We then extended Tablet PC's to include special projects in various other subjects, such as Biomedical Engineering, Health Science and Technology, Business and a class at the University of Hong Kong Medical Faculty.

I will present what we have learned, plus new ways to use Tablet PCs in education. In addition, I will provide the data to show that not only was there an increase in course material delivered but also a dramatic increase in learning was achieved. Some of the Results to be discussed and illustrated at this presentation are:
For the students:

1. Increased interactions with teaching assistants - the amount of time spent making paper copies and maintaining websites will be reduced so they are able to spend more time interacting with students.
2. Increased access to information on-demand
3. Decreased back strain from carrying an entire collection of notes and books
4. Use of color
5. ncreased student-student interactions concerning course work
6. Guidelines for how much time it takes students to become proficient in a particular type of material presented in a class

On campus:

1. Increased efficiency of knowledge transfer with more interactive lectures
2. Color figures will be delivered to the students without a 20-fold increase in copying cost
3. More conversion of course material to digital format: faculty will increase their use of electronic delivery of lecture material, using PowerPoint, AVI files, and audio files for demonstrations.
4. There will be a reduction in cost of AV equipment since multimedia demonstrations can be done on the computer in PowerPoint without the need for a tape deck, mixers, movie projector, overhead projector, and the disruption caused by the transition to each of these machines during class.
5. Enrichment of course content will be easier for faculty.
6. More course material will be available on the web.
7. Less time will be spent on clerical work.
8. Online office hours for students will increase faculty-student interchanges. E-Tablets will allow quick drawings to be used in these interchanges.

About the Presenter

Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, PhD, is part of the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the past he has held positions as a Senior Vice President of a public consulting company and various other positions in companies culminating in a CEO position before returning to school to pursue a PhD. His Ph.D. is in the field of Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience from MIT. Also, he received an AMP/ISMP from the International Senior Managers program at Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He is a member of Society for Neuroscience (SFN), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), BioMatrix - MIT/Sloan/Health Science Technology Biotech mentoring program and is on the committee for Harvard Business School Health Industry Alumni Association. Rutledge is also a member of the MIT Graduate Alumni Advisory Committee. In addition to his work in CNS regeneration he has introduced the Tablet computer to the classroom at MIT as part of the migration to the paperless classroom and the delivery of all course material and texts to the students digitally.

By Ruth Reynard

The use of Internet technology to facilitate interaction, communication, and collaboration is well documented but its use in establishing and developing "personal voice" as part of learning is also now being addressed through the use of blogs. This article in Campus Technology Magazine reports on studies done at Trevecca Nazarene University on the use of blogs in the classroom.

Read this article in the Campus Technology Online Magazine.

by Rich Garcia

Can the Apple iPod -- the symbol of a generation of students plugged in to
downloaded music -- serve as a delivery system for serious education? Experiments at several universities are exploring the iPod's value as an educational technology.

• An experiment that began in 2002 at Georgia College and State University
  has led to several iPod-enhanced honors courses. Most involve music in some
  way--ethical issues as reflected in song lyrics, for example, or how musicians
  have protested or commemorated war. However, instructors leading classes in
  travel abroad have recorded lectures, language lessons, and cultural information
  as well, to make the most of the time spent on buses and trains.
• At Duke University, every incoming freshman in 2004 was
  given an iPod, and faculty have been devising interesting ways to use them.
  The university's Center for Instructional Technology lists eleven examples,
  and most don't involve music. For instance, students in the Fundamentals
  of Digital Signal Processing use the iPod with a microphone attachment to
  record ambient sounds, then bring them to the lab for analysis. For a large
  lecture class in Economics, lectures are made available for students to review
  before exams. An intensive class in Spanish distributes examples of authentic
  speech as an aid to comprehension and speaking exercises, and a writing class
  asks students to use their iPods to record three individuals' memories of
  important events, then compare these interviews to official accounts, to look
  for similarities and differences in the way collective memories are formed.
• A professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania
  has established a library of digital recordings of comtemporary poets reading
  their own works.

Are MIT faculty and students finding innovative academic uses for iPods? If
you know of any examples, please comment below or send email to et-consult@mit.edu
and we'll investigate and report on these uses in future Ed Tech Times articles.

References:

The iPod at GC&SU: A Pocketful of Learning.(n.d). Retrieved January
28, 2005 from http://ipod.gcsu.edu/project.html.

Duke Academic and Course iPod Projects. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28
from http://cit.duke.edu/about/ipod_faculty_projects.do.

Thoughtfully and effectively integrating technology with teaching is an ongoing
challenge for those of us who conduct research in, develop, or support educational
technologies at MIT. Over the past year a number of our colleagues have won
awards for their work and we would like to acknowledge their acheivements. Congratulations
to all!

This year's Harold Larnder Prize was awarded to Professor Richard Larson.
This award is given annually to an individual who has achieved international
distinction in operational research modeling and analysis opportunities in the
educational sector.

Former MIT Intelligent Engineering Systems Laboratory (IESL) student Dr.
Hai Ning (graduated in June 2004) won the Best Ph.D. Student Presentation
Award in the Seventh International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology
in Education (CATE 2004) at Kauai, Hawaii, USA, in August 2004. Dr. Ning’s
paper Tablet PC Enabled Design-Oriented Learning, a research effort
originated from the MIT I-Campus project called Robot World, received the highest
score from the judges. The paper illustrates the development of the software
tool, InkBoard, and its impact in design-oriented learning environments such
as mechanical engineering machine design courses. The CATE conference is sponsored
by the International Association of Science and Technology for Development (IASTED).

(Dr. Ning will be presenting on his paper at MIT Academic Computing's Crosstalk Seminar for Educational Change, February 17, at 2:00 in 56-114.)

OpenCourseWare has won several awards and nominations this
year including:

• Computerworld 21st Century Achievement Award - “Best IT Application
in the World of Education and Academia.”

The MIT OpenCourseWare project was nominated for this award by Bill Gates, chairman
and chief software architect of Microsoft. Honorees were celebrated for their
significant achievements in the use of information technology to benefit mankind.

• Digital Education Achievement - “Best of Web Award"

from the Center for Digital Education. The BOW evaluates Higher Education, K-12
state and K-12 district Web sites on their innovation, Web-based delivery of
public services, efficiency, economy, and functionality for improved student
and faculty access.

• District 1 Gold Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of
Education (CASE) which recognized the "About OCW" pages on the MIT
OpenCourseWare Web site which introduce users to the MIT OCW concept and include
the homepage, FAQs, media section, the "About Us" and other informational,
non-course-related sections.

• Nominated for the Webby Award – Services Category

Nominated by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, at http://www.webbyawards.com/

The Teal Visualization Team placed in the finals of the prestigious Pirelli
Award in the multimedia category. This competition aims to promote the spread
of scientific culture by merging the “values of culture with the passion
for new technologies”. The Teal Team placed as one of two finalists in
the multimedia education category. Led by Prof. John Belcher, the team includes
Peter Dourmashkin, Sen-ben Liao, David Litster, Norman Derby, Stanislaw Olbert,
Yehudit Judy Dori, Andrew McKinney, Philip Bailey, Pierre Poignant, Ying Cao,
Ralph Rabat, Michael Danziger, Mark Bessette, Michael Danziger, Andreas Sundquist
(DLIC), Mesrob Ohannessian.

Craig Counterman, Web Tools and Operations Head, Academic Media Production Services(AMPS), and chief architect of the Stellar course management
system, won the 2004 Infinite Mile Award for his work on Stellar. According
to the citation, “... Craig led an interdepartmental team of diverse talents
and successfully produced an enterprise software application in the face of
significant challenges.”

The MIT Infinite Mile Award Program, sponsored by the Offices of the Provost
and Associate Provost and the Vice President for Research, recognizes those
individuals or teams who have made extraordinary contributions within their
own organizations to help the Institute carry out its mission.

The Steven Wade Neiterman Award was presented to Katie Vale of Information Services and Technology (IS&T) Academic Computing (formally of AMPS). Katie was cited for “...her eagerness to happily share her impressive technical expertise,
and her in-depth institutional knowledge with the MIT community”, as well
as for her team spirit, willingness to take responsibility, and her ability
to keep the greater goals of projects in mind and clearly communicate them to
others. “[Katie's] efficient yet unassuming ways encourage clients and
others to take the initiative in projects of interest and benefit to the Institute.”

The Steven Wade Neiterman Award is given to individuals who in their work demonstrate
exceptional abilities for collaborative problem solving, team building, coaching
colleagues, sharing knowledge, and commitment to creating community at MIT.

Academic Media Production Services (AMPS) won a 3rd place
award in the ACM Special Interest Group on University and College Computing
Service (SIGGUCCS) competition in the Communications – Web-Based Services
category for the AMPS web site. (http://web.mit.edu/amps)

The Ed Tech Times Project Team won Honorable Mention in the Electronic Newsletter
category in the ACM (SIGGUCCS) Competition. The team included from IS&T
Academic Computing, Jean Foster, Phil Long, and Carter Snowden, and
Joanna Proulx, Ben Brophy, and Mark Brown from AMPS.

Although this award was not received in the past year, we'd like to also mention
the Infinite Mile Award for Innovation and Creativity that was presented to
the Libraries' Digital Reference Pilot Project Subgroup for
their groundbreaking work on Digital Reference. According to the nomination,
“When they first proposed it, almost no one was doing Digital Reference.
... For their foresight, bravery, creativity, and collaborative skills, we honor
[group members] Pat Flanagan, Deborah Helman, Lisa Horowitz, and Sarah Wenzel."

Date: Friday, March 4, 2005

Time: 9:00 - 12:00, OR 1:00 - 4:00

Room: 1-134

Register:

Go to the NI Registration site and select either the MIT a.m. or p.m. session.

IS&T Academic Computing is sponsoring two sessions of an introductory LabVIEW workshop taught by representatives of National Instruments, Inc. (NI) This is an opportunity to get free, hands-on experience with a tool used by many across campus for data acquisition, signal processing, controls, and other instrumentation needs. Each attendee will also receive a free copy of the LabVIEW student edition for personal use which includes 14 toolkits and usually costs $70. You have a choice of either a morning or afternoon session.

Faculty, researchers, lab managers, and graduate students in engineering and science disciplines can benefit from attending.

These sessions are free and seating is limited. To ensure a spot, please register at the URL above.

Topics Covered

• Explore the LabVIEW Student Edition and the 14 add-on toolkits including signal and image processing, control design and simulation, PDA programming, and Internet connectivity.
• Learn how to integrate data acquisition, signal processing, and analysis easily within the LabVIEW environment.
• Discover firsthand how LabVIEW makes connecting to lab equipment, sensors, circuits, and instrumentation hardware quick and easy.
• Learn how to create complete LabVIEW applications from scratch in minutes with interactive Express VIs and I/O assistants

Alan Levine from the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) will discuss how the Center uses cutting edge technologies to support teaching and learning.

(If you missed this Crosstalk event you can view it online.)

Are Google searches just getting your users in the ballpark? Not having the right metadata is like having a ticket to the game, but no seat number. Discover how metadata can make your digital resources more accessible.

What: Meet metadata experts, learn about effective metadata practices and enjoy ballpark snacks.

When: Tuesday, May 24 at 3 p.m.

Where: Information Intersection, Stata Center lobby

The metadata experts from the MIT Libraries can help you organize your digital resources, making them easier to find, access, use, and share with students and colleagues.

Consider Metadata Services if:

• You have large collections of digital resources you need to share with others
• You want better results from search engines like Google
• You want to preserve your data over time and across new technologies
• Your time and resources are limited, but you want professional results

Contact Metadata Specialist, Robert Wolfe (email:rwolfe@mit.edu, phone: (617)253-0604) for a free consultation or visit: the MIT Libraries Metadata Services page to find out more about how Metadata Services can help you with your next digital production project.

By Mikael Blaisdell

In the open source vs. commercial course management system debate, support turns out to be a deciding factor. Here’s why.

Read this article in the Campus Technology online newsletter.