November 2003 — Features
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Catalyst for Change
Once a student has opened the Windows Journal, he or she is faced with a multitude of note-taking options, including assorted highlighters and writing utensils of varying colors and widths, symbols to use for marking important notes, cut-and-paste options, and multi- or single-page viewing options. This is one characteristic of the tablet that deserves recognition; not for its ingenuity, but for its practicality. The idea is simple yet true: students are inclined to take more notes when note-taking becomes more interesting. The flexibility of Windows Journal appeals to students and adds the element of excitement, which is lacking when you're stuck using a pen and paper.
The tablet PC "Snippet" program, for example, offers a refreshingly new approach to the old copy-and-paste method by allowing users who come across a Web site containing valuable information on a certain topic to circle the necessary text or images with the digital pen. Everything that falls within the circle will be transferred directly to the student's tablet PC Windows Journal notes without a single change. The tablet PC can also record dictated words and convert them to typewritten text, so a first draft of a paper, a brainstorm, an outline or an e-mail can all be spoken rather than written.
Equal Opportunities
Each year, high school staffs nationwide continue their efforts to provide equal opportunities to all students. In this seemingly uphill battle, the odds against them can be disheartening. For example, when a student misses class, d'es he or she really receive the same quality lecture when asking the teacher what was missed. Will those students who have hearing and visual difficulties choose to sit closer to the teacher? With such questions in mind, teachers at Bishop Hartley have used the tablet PC to bring the lecture to the students' fingertips and confront the problem at its source. Essentially, every desk becomes a front-row seat once each student has his or her own personal tablet PC.
In coordination with a Bishop Hartley Internet program known as "Homework Online," the tablet provides every student with Internet access to all notes, presentations and assignments that a particular teacher has posted on the Web site. So, when students miss a lecture, they can simply follow the link to that day's notes to obtain an on-screen version of what was missed. More importantly, students can actually view those files on their computers while learning about them for the first time. And for those hearing-impaired students, teachers can also record and attach dictated messages that students can listen to. So, not only d'es the tablet PC compensate for the disadvantages of some students, but it also enables all students to spend more time looking at notes or hearing the directions for a second, third or fourth time.
Groans of frustration can often be heard from students whose teacher moves too quickly through a PowerPoint presentation. With the tablet PC, however, this common method of instruction is taken to a new level. Students are now able to annotate each slide on their tablet PCs, copy material from the slide to their tablet notes and even control the speed at which the slides progress. Imagine how this option benefits students who have difficulty focusing in the classroom. At their own discretion, free of distraction, these students can take the time appropriate for their individual needs to learn any new material.
