Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Catalyst for Change

2003; 1105 Media; Volume: 31; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

0192-592X

Casey Barton, Kenneth Collura,

Education and Technology Integration

In a world and age dominated by technology, educators may find themselves, at times, ill-equipped to face the needs of an ever-modernizing, ever-mobile student body. Because our goal as educators is always excellence, we cannot afford a lack of foresight; we must always plan the next step and anticipate the next turn. As a pioneer in education technology, Bishop Hartley High School (www.cdeducation.org/schools/bh), a Catholic high school in Columbus, Ohio, has sought to embrace those changes with a revolutionary computer from Hewlett-Packard known as the Compaq Tablet PC TC1000 (www.hp.com/products/tabletpc). In February 2003, Bishop Hartley became the first high school in the country to give an entire student class their own personal tablet PCs, which they could use during school hours or anytime, anyplace outside of school. The students were loaned 140 tablet PCs for the remainder of the school year; amazingly, every unit was returned intact and undamaged. While knowing this situation required substantial responsibility from the students, the technology staff at Bishop Hartley correctly predicted that the end result would justify the means. Note-Taking Options In countless ways, the tablet PCs have proven themselves as an indispensable asset both inside and outside of the classroom. Their mobility, versatility and convenient, user-friendly access have rendered standard computer labs obsolete. Quite literally, everything a student needs for a day's work lies within the confines of a laptop computer smaller and lighter than most textbooks. For the eternally disorganized student, the tablet PC is the breaker of old habits and the initiator of new ones. By using a note-taking program such as the Microsoft Windows Journal, students can now not only type their notes into the computer, but also handwrite them on the screen using an electronic pen. Not to be confused with the capabilities of the Palm Pilot, the glass screen on the tablet PC is not pressure sensitized, so students can lay their hand on the screen as they write. The end result is that the user can take notes more quickly, comfortably and legibly. The tablet PC software also allows students to convert their handwriting to typewritten text, so those poorly organized students will never again have to look beyond their Windows Journal files to find lost notes. If, for example, that dreaded final--exam week is here and students need to locate notes for a specific topic, the search process is simple. Students can quickly type in a keyword, and the tablet PC will cross-reference the typewritten request with their handwritten notes, finding the needed material in a matter of seconds. And in the near future, the tablet PC will also include fully downloadable textbooks for every senior course. In addition, in the unfortunate event that a student loses or destroys his computer, all Bishop Hartley tablet PC files are backed up on the school server, where they can be retrieved for future use. 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. …