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Clemson’s LAPTOP PROGRAM. Bill Moss http://www.math.clemson.edu/~bmoss. Why Laptops? To build a better product. Laptop students have better … Communication skills Technology skills Team building skills Life-long learning skills. Why Laptops? To enhance the classroom ….
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Clemson’sLAPTOP PROGRAM Bill Moss http://www.math.clemson.edu/~bmoss
Why Laptops?To build a better product • Laptop students have better … • Communication skills • Technology skills • Team building skills • Life-long learning skills
Why Laptops?To enhance the classroom … • Laptop course characteristics • Studio courses • Integrated lab and lecture • On-line quizzes and exams • Hybrid exams
Why Laptops?To slow the growth of IT costs • Where 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.
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, individual and team • Team projects (peer instruction) • 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 problems 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.