November 2004 — Applications
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Tablet PCs and Collaboration Software Improve Classroom Engagement at Cabrillo High School
These Toshiba tablets were the perfect complement for the DyKnow system. DyKnow VISION transfers information between teachers and students using Internet protocols via our computer network. Microsoft SQL Server is the storehouse for DyKnow VISION documents saved on the system. And because the DyKnow system utilizes user-based profiles, students are able to use any PC in the school. This feature allowed us to house tablet PCs on a Bretford mobile recharging cart in order to use DyKnow VISION in any Internet-connected classroom.
Promising Results
Since implementing DyKnow VISION, Cabrillo has received positive feedback from teachers and students alike. Our ability to captivate students with dynamic content; empower them through collaboration and feedback tools; and send them away with a set of personal, archived notes has proved to be invaluable. I often ask students to come up with solutions on their tablets and then pull individual panels to the main projected computer. This allows me to show how students arrived at their conclusions, as well as points out where they went right or wrong. At other times, I’ll let students lead the class from their own tablets and direct the solution themselves. This system has fostered a classroom dialogue that didn’t exist before. In addition, parents have been appreciative because they can now easily look at course material with their children year-round.
DyKnow VISION seems to have had a positive effect - at least anecdotally - on grades as well. I used DyKnow VISION on the tablet PCs in my Math II class, a two-semester mathematics course, during the 2003-2004 academic year. Mainly geared toward sophomores, the course becomes progressively harder by the second semester as more abstract topics are introduced. Using DyKnow VISION in Math II, second-semester final exam averages improved from 72% to 82% between the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 academic years.
While the tablet PC and VISION initiatives are still in their infancy, we’ve been pleased with our first-year results. We’re hoping to retool an entire year’s worth of lesson plans to maximize the functionality of the DyKnow VISION platform during 2004-2005 academic year. Our goal is to purchase more tablets and expose more students to the system this year.
- David Schr'eder, Cabrillo High School
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