Tablet PCs in engineering mathematics courses at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering

Abstract

In fall 2007, J.B. Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville joined the ranks of universities requiring the purchase of Tablet PCs for all new entering students. This article presents a description of how the Department of Engineering Fundamentals incorporated Tablet PCs into their instruction, a review of the literature pertaining to the use of Tablet PCs for instruction and preliminary survey results from the students in engineering mathematics courses at the end of the first year, after students had been exposed to Tablet PCs for 1 year. Results show that a large majority of students in the Department of Engineering Fundamentals agree that presentation of engineering mathematics material using the Tablet PCs and DyKnow software is a vast improvement over overhead projector, blackboard, or PowerPoint lectures and course packs. However, students are split as to whether the Tablet PC is something they actually want to use for their own note-taking. Finally, a plan for assessment of tablet impact on student learning is presented.