Getting Ready for Educause

Educause is next week. I’m looking forward to going to this conference, so I can learn about the latest tech learning directions at colleges and universities. One advantage to spending time demonstrating product in the Microsoft booth is that I get to talk with people involved in all aspects of higher ed — from university medical centers to research faculty looking for electronic lab notebooks to IT decision makers. I expect this year will be just as diverse.

As usual, I’m also interested in seeing what is in the exhibit hall. I’ve made a short list of booths that I want to stop at first. Then, when I get time I’ll want to walk the entire floor and see what interesting and new products companies are promoting.

For those of you with full conference passes, you can attend some great sessions that will include information about pen-based technology, like Tablet PCs.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Handheld and Mobile Computing Constituent Group, 4:55 PM – 6:10PM

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Test Driving a Tablet PC Vision, Rodney Tosten, VP Gettysburg College

Track 5
Thursday, October 25, 2007
8:10 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Room 401

Gettysburg College is conducting a pilot program for using Tablet PCs as a primary computing tool. This program involves 23 individuals from all divisions of the college with access to no other PC than their Tablet PC, docking station, auxiliary keyboard, and monitor. These individuals shared their experiences.

A Mixed-Method Evaluation of Pen-Based Computing Pedagogy and DyKnow Interaction Software by Dave Berque, CS professor at DePauw University

Track 7
Thursday, October 25, 2007
8:10 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Room 609

This session will present our evaluation of the impact of tablet PCs and DyKnow software on student learning. We focus on explaining how our mixed-method evaluation of student learning leverages varied methodologies that span live classroom and controlled laboratory environments. We show how this approach generalizes to other evaluation projects.

Integrating Tablet PCs into the Nursing Curriculum for Active Learning, Phillip Olla, Madonna University

Poster Session – Emerging Technologies
Thursday, October 25, 2007
4:55 p.m. – 6:10 p.m.
Ballroom 6E, table 33

This session will report study results of a two-year project that incorporates Tablet PCs along with innovative software applications into an existing nursing curriculum to promote more active learning experiences for students and equip new graduates with health-technology and health-informatics skills. Lessons learned and findings will be discussed