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Faculty Mini-Grant 4: Annie Xiaoping Shen
A Road to Build Student-Centered wireless Classrooms
Annie Xiaoping Shen (PI)
Ohio University, Department of Mathematics
740-593-1288
shen@math.ohiou.edu
Abstract
This project is to initiate future research on creating student-centered wireless classroom
by integrating Tablet PCs and advanced features in Microsoft¨ Windows¨ XP --
Microsoft ConferenceXP and Microsoft Producer as well as the popular E-learning software tool, Blackboard to enhance teaching and learning in mathematics and statistics.
It is our first attempting to develop an innovative curriculum which focuses on engaging students in the learning process. The set of educational materials will include class demonstrations, student group study modules and class assessment templates. As one of subside outcomes, the project also provides an opportunity for graduate student in math education to experience teaching with technology in classroom environment. It also provides an opportunity for the investigators to exercise on using an important assessment tool: the ARTIST (Assessment of Resource Tools for Improving Statistical Thinking).
Project Description
National Research Council's suggested that educator should provide "active learning environments" for all students, even in large section, lecture-dominated courses[1]. The
Tablet PC is an exciting new platform for such purpose. It allows students to explore and
discover, to discuss with other students, and to more carefully reflect on their own learning.
Tablet PCs have entered higher education since they were on market at 2003. Today, many universities and colleges have embrace Tablets PCs in their classroom, such as
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Texas at Austin, the
University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Bentley College and Seton Hall University, to name a few. It reported that Tablet PCs especially useful for presenting math and technical notations during in-class presentations[2].
In this study, we will be exploring how to create a student-centered wireless classroom by emerging and enabling wireless devices-Tablet PCs and some advanced features in
Microsoft¨ Windows¨ XP We will also experience the benefits from the E-learning tool, blackboard to improve student-student and student-teacher communications. Our goal is to find an innovative way of engaging students in the learning process and expanding the possibilities for communication and collaboration inside classroom and beyond.
The project focuses on how to build a student-centered teaching/learning environment when technology is highly involved. Tablet PCs support active and interactive learning in the classroom. Such new teaching and learning methods have shown great improvements in learning. It emphasizes the importance of student group working and thinking with a goal to improve students' understanding and perception of abstract mathematical concepts in using an interactive computer-based instruction. To develop curricula that realize the potential benefits and to manage student learning activities in a technology-enhanced classroom stimulate high challenging. This project is designed to face such challenging.
Purpose and Rationale
Today, we depend on computers and on technology to perform everyday routines. Using technology in teaching and learning are becoming more important than ever. In particular, the ability to write formulas and symbols has had a significant impact on the teaching mathematics. It is also easy the documentation on Blackboard course management system for student access. The latest developed Tablet PCs possess the handwriting recognition feature up to certain accuracy and effective wireless communication ability among users. The impact of the Tablet PC on teaching and learning was found to be a very positive addition to the educational environment. In this project, our goal is to explore the potential of creating student-centered learning environment featuring wireless communication. The results and outcomes from the study will pave a way to future study in the perspectives of curricula and pedagogy development along the line. In particular, the lessen modules including presentations, demonstrations and student group activities have potential to be adapted to online learning course. The structure and format could be applied to other courses mathematics with similar course contains. During the project, we will also support graduate students in math education area with a goal to train future teachers' ability of teaching with high technology.
Investigative Process to be used
The project requires a technology component. A mobile laptop cart is essential for the project. Recently, one of the faculty members from the department, Dr. Phong Vu, received a grant from HP, which has a cart of 20 HP Tablet PCs and can be wheeled to various classrooms as needed. These machines could be used for this study. At the initial stage, the experimental modules will be used to the following course, math 442/552 Statistical Computing. It worth to note that the similar curriculum design and theme has potential to immigrant to other courses, which have extensive computational components and students registered in the classes are well prepared for using technology, for example, Math 448/548 Introduction to waves and wavelets, Math 444/544 Introduction to Numerical analysis. More importantly, the experiences learned and the design of class models from the experiment in the project would be of a general nature and could be applied to courses taken by preservice teachers, such as the Math 330A Foundations of Geometry (upon further availability of additional grant).
Description of Activities with Timeline
The project consists of the following phases, namely:
- Phase 1.
Initiating software tools. ConferenceXP is chosen as the software used as a communication interface among Tablet PCs in this study. It is an initiative of Microsoft Research designed for creating wireless conference and classrooms. In this phase, we will be developing a set of instructions for students how to initiate the Tablet-pc and how to use the communication software;
- Phase 2.
Designing a set of lessons modules for using tablet PC in class demonstration and presentation. This phase will prepare a set of lecture modules for effective teaching via technology.
- Phase 3.
Creating active and interactive learning environments. This phase will develop a set of group study templates for grouping students to learn;
- Phase 4.
Advancing student-student and teaching to student communication. This phase will develop class homepage on blackboard to enable students to download instructions and class lecture notes from their Tablet-PCs.
- Phase 5.
Realizing the development in phase 1-4. In this phase, we will experience the new curriculum design. We will implement curriculum plans that include methods and strategies for applying technology to maximize student learning use technology to support learner-centered strategies that address in previous phases.
- Phase 6.
Assessment and Disseminating. In this phase, we will apply assessment tool: ARTIST to assess and summarize project outcome. These findings and results will be reported to dept seminar and possibly to conferences up to travel fund availability (see assessment plan for details)
Budget funded
Total: $3,630
