implementation of a laptop program dr. bill moss – bmoss@clemson.edu mrs. laurie sherrod –...

IMPLEMENTATION OF A LAPTOP PROGRAM

http://laptop.clemson.edu

Dr. Bill Moss – bmoss@clemson.edu

Mrs. Laurie Sherrod – laurie@clemson.edu

Preparation for a pilot A ‘champion’ at a dean/provost level A laptop committee for planning

Laptop courses Laptop instructors/training Classroom prep Technical support Program management

Classroom Preparation Instructor Podiums

Laptop plugin to projector/ethernet

Student tables Ethernet port Electricity

Wireless Turns any location into a ‘laptop classroom’

http://wireless.clemson.eduhttp://dcit.clemson.edu/train/studenttrain/smrtcls/classrm.htm

A common laptop!

The key to top notch support is to require or strongly recommend a common laptop. Here are the things a common laptop facilitates:Spare parts

A software image --- software issues are 90% of support issues.

We partition drives into C: (windows/

programs) and D: (data) and offer

refresh of C: without affecting D:

Loaner laptops with student hard drive

Sharing of parts among users

Vendor selection Decide on approximate specifications Invite several vendors to bid Compare all aspects of each bid:

Hardware Prices Support options Delivery issues ‘Extras’

Free spare laptops? Paid warranty repairs?

Student notification Send letters to accepted students in the

early spring Presentation at summer orientation Web page/ phone ordering

Student preparation August workshop

Put software ‘image’ on laptops Put in student’s settings Instruct on use of email, CU network, and laptop

Advantages for the university Less need for labs

Save $$ on new computers Save $$ on lab support Frees space for other use

Save on printing costs! Common hardware = simplified/better support for students Equal access for all Any class can be turned into an instant lab when all have laptops

What is support is needed? A laptop helpdesk

Hardware support (10%) Software support (90%)

Someone to coordinate laptop selection, communications,training,support

A web page

Do your homework! Research what other schools have learned

We visited Wake Forest and UNC many times We attended conferences and spoke with

representatives from 25-50 other schools

Prepare your infrastructure

Classrooms Wireless

Prepare your faculty

Cost to students? Most students were already spending at

least $1000 on a computer – so $1500 for a laptop is a $500 ($125/year) additional cost

60% of those not required to have laptops are buying them anyway

They generally say the portability is well worth the additional cost

Software Licensing at Clemson

We believe that universities need to work together for good group options

Some vendors were convinced to allow the use of their software on student owned laptops

MS licensing is key to keeping laptop costs down

One of our biggest hurdles was software licensing! Here are a few things we learned:

Links Clemson – http://laptop.clemson.edu UNC - http://www.unc.edu/cci/relatedlinks.html Wake Forest - http://www.wfu.edu/technology/thinkpad/ NC State - http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/soc/

Clemson:•Wireless – http://wireless.clemson.edu

•Faculty laptop - http://laptopfaculty.clemson.edu/

•Bill Moss – http://www.clemson.edu/~bmoss

•Laurie Sherrod – http://www.clemson.edu/~laurie

Clemson Laptop ProgramFaculty Perspective

William F. MossCollege of Engineering and Science

Clemson UniversityClemson, South Carolina USA

http://www.math.clemson.edu/~bmoss/laptop_pedagogy/

Why Laptops?To build a better product

Laptop students have better … Communication skillsTechnology skillsTeam building skillsLife-long learning skills

Why Laptops?To enhance the classroom …

Laptop course characteristicsStudio coursesIntegrated lab and lectureOn-line quizzes and examsHybrid exams

Why Laptops?To slow the growth of IT costsWhere are the IT dollars going?

Keeping labs up-to-date Printing costs Storage costs Support of multiple platforms

Why Laptops?Convenience, professional practice

Students see advantages to the laptop even when they have no laptop courses. Mobility Small foot-print

Laptops are becoming standard in business, law, medicine, and engineering practice.

Laptop Program Best Practices

Student mandate, faculty opportunity. Provide for faculty development. Early adopter faculty should offer “best fit” courses first. Not all courses have to be laptop enhanced. Build smart classrooms with wired and wireless network

access as needed.

Engineering Laptop Programs

Clemson - http://laptop.clemson.edu Oklahoma -

http://coe.ou.edu/advising/laptop/index.htm Vanderbilt -

http://frontweb.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/vuse_web/transit/dean.asp

Tennessee - http://www.engr.utk.edu/coe/compreq.htm

Mississippi State - http://www.msoe.edu/notebook/

RPI - http://www.rpi.edu/laptops/

Faculty Development

Inventory the training needs of the participants. Laptop nuts and bolts, care and feeding. Software application training including a course

management system like WebCT. Smart classroom training.

Faculty Development

Good teaching practices lead to good technology practices.

Provide a good teaching effectiveness workshop. See Richard Felder’s SUCCEED Workshops http://www.ncsu.edu/effective_teaching/

Modeling by laptop faculty. http://laptopfaculty.clemson.edu/

Laptops in Humanities, Engineering …History, Chemistry, English CompositionMBA ProgramGeneral Freshman Engineering Introduction to ComputingMathematical Sciences

Laptop Learning Activities

Individual Quizzes – online and paper Team Quizzes Polling Survey / Minute Paper Think-Pair-Share Courseware Sessions …

Faculty: FAQ

Is the laptop a distraction? When does the technology detract from the teaching of content?

What are the potential classroom logistical problems? Can technology encourage students to be more

independent, exploratory learners?

Research Base

How People Learn, Brain, Mind, Experience, School, National Research Council, National Academy Press, 2000.

Studio Calculus III The Calculus of the 3D World Visualization is a strand that runs through the

entire course. Students build 3D solids by constructing their

bounding surfaces, one surface at a time. This course is more technically advanced than

the traditional pencil and

paper course.

Characteristics

Reduced lecture: 10-15 mini-lectures Course journal and Maple tutorials (TA graded) Tutorials submitted via the WebCT dropbox Low-stakes quizzes, paper and online Team projects and team quizzes Coaching by instructor Practice exams

Maple Tutorials Include

Instructional Objectives with suggested problems for each objective

Main mathematical points with examples worked by hand and with Maple

Course journal homework assignments

Maple homework assignments to be worked at the end of the tutorial

Pedagogy

Students take responsibility for learning.

Coaching enhances formative assessment.

Taking attendance and learning names is easy, e-mail absentees during studio time.

Frequent quizzes increase engagement.

Peer instruction is a goal of team projects.

Studio time mixes individual and cooperative learning.