Supplementing Classroom Instruction with Pencasts

1. Supplementing Classroom Instruction with Pencasts Vinnie Gupta Mechanical Engineering @RIT

2. What is a Smart Pen ? • Livescribe Echo or Pulse • Records what you hear and write • You write on special dot-paper • Audio and Notes are synchronized • Information is stored in “Pencast” file • Pencast is replayed using free Livescribe Desktop software

3. Echo Smartpen Package

4. Echo Smartpen

5. Dot Paper (Anoto AB Pattern)

6. Where can it be used ? • Academic: Lecture Notes • Business: Meeting Notes • Creative: Sketches with audio commentary • How-Tos • . . .

7. Where did I use it? • Winter quarter (20102) • Mechanics II course • Problem Solving Sessions • Class Example (MyCourses) • Homework Problem (Email)

8. 4-step Problem Solving Method (PDFS) • Parse: identify knowns & unknowns • Draw: draw a suitable diagram • Formulate: write relevant equations • Solve: solve the equation set

9. Problem Statement If the length of one side of a triangle is 22”, and the angles at its two ends are 25 and 40, find the other two side lengths.

10. Demonstration • Create notes and audio • Upload to a PC • Replay as a Pencast file

11. Concluding Remarks • Used it in the 2nd half of Winter quarter • Uploaded each class example file to MyCourses • Emailed a HW problem solution to an individual student upon request • Do not have data to comment on its usefulness

12. Concluding Remarks (contd.) • Tactile feel is natural – unlike writing or drawing on a tablet PC • Pen is • Low cost ~ $200 • Portable ~ regular pen without pocket clip • Large Storage ~ 400 hours audio • Uploading or replaying is easy • Can speed up or down the replay

13. Comments / Questions ? • Supplement instruction ? • Replace instruction ? • Assist a student ?

14. What is smart about pen? • Dot pattern identifies specific location on a page in a notebook • Write or draw or both • Link audio to notes • Annotate a recording later • Built-in apps (calculator, piano …)