Tablet PCs in undergraduate mathematics

Abstract

Undergraduate students often struggle to learn mathematics because introductory classes are taught in large lectures that do not engage students in active problem-solving. These students do not connect mathematics to their lives and feel that learning mathematics is a solitary undertaking. We now use Tablet PCs in a networked classroom to address these challenges. Students in classes that use the Tablet PCs can view and annotate the instructor's Powerpoint slides in real time and also participate in interactive problem-solving. Students save their own annotated slides for subsequent review. They also have immediate access to the synchronized screen capture and audio recording of the class since the instructor posts this file to the course management website. These technological interventions allow students to focus on classroom activities rather than on note-taking. To date, students have taken three introductory undergraduate mathematics courses (College Algebra and Trigonometry, Calculus I, and Calculus II) using Tablet PCs. Student attendance and retention were better in the cohort of students who participated in the Tablet PC courses than in comparable non-Tablet PC courses taught by the same instructor. The evaluation of the instructor was unchanged.