Birgit Loch's Homepage

Plant architecture informatics (leaf surface representation)

Technology in learning and teaching

I'm currently working on

• the use of tablet technology (see this conference paper and this journal paper)
  Funded through a USQ Senior Fellowship in 2009, to evaluate tablet PC in all faculties at USQ. This project also evaluates student use of tablet PCs and digital note pens.
  
• synchronous chat software with handwriting feature
  The trial in a Discrete Mathematics and a Data Anlysis course has led to this paper. The follow up, involving a large first year mathematics course and four tutors to identify if synchronous chat leads to better learning outcomes than asynchronous discussion boards is in progress.
• discourse analysis of synchronous mathematical chats
  This work has led to a poster presentation and a submitted conference paper (November 2009).
• web conferencing software to communicate with distance students
  Elluminate Live was first trialled in a postgraduate education and a first year mathematics course. An official university wide trial followed, the software was evaluated, and a case was made for USQ to adopt a web conferencing tool and include this technology in the Learning and Teaching Plan. A journal paper and a conference paper were published on this trial, followed by a book chapter (in press) to compare the pathways to trial and adoption of Elluminate Live at USQ and Southern Cross University.
• electronic assignment marking with pen-enabled devices
  This project was started in late 2008 together with the Faculty of Business. It is a feasibility study of portable pen-enabled devices used to electronically mark electronically submitted assignments.
• academic staff development in podcasting and screencasting
  This work commenced in S2 2008 as part of an Associate L&T Fellowship.
• peer-mentoring first year students through technology
  Students mentoring students has been trialled in two large first year courses, with very positive outcomes. Results are currently being written up.
• using technology to integrate a maths and computing and a communication course for Nursing students
  This collaborative work with has resulted in a conference paper focusing on numeracy, a journal paper focusing on e-assessment, and a third paper on IT integration is in progress.
• lecture recordings for on campus students
  What do students who purposely enrolled in on campus mode do with lecture recordings? Study investigating the first year course Operations Research 1, submitted conference paper (November 2009). Another paper on screencasts of statistics lectures has been submitted to a conference (October 2009) to be held in late 2009.
  
• lecture recording software
  Investigations started in S2 2008 as part of an Associate Fellowship to identify best tools for recording of lectures in lecture theatres across USQ. This tool, Camtasia Relay, was rolled out to all lecture theatre computers in S2 2009 and feedback from this initial semester is currently being investigated.
• wikis, blogs and other emerging technologies in mathematics and computing teaching
  More a research interest than a proper study at this stage.
• replacing lectures by workshops in an undergraduate computing service course
  Outcomes of a successful trial that has led other lecturers to follow are currently being written up.
• wireless projection
  A component of the tablet project. To be further investigated in 2009.

More on tablet technology at USQ

My involvement with tablet technology started when I was lecturing a large first year mathematics class at UQ in S2 2004. I was faced with the situation where the overhead projector was too bright for my eyes, and the computer projector screen covered the blackboards. As I wanted to write as well as show the course workbook on the computer, the best solution was to write on the computer. I was able to borrow a graphics tablet for the whole semester and then a tablet pc for a few lectures. My experiences were published in this conference paper. The lecture material had been prepared in LaTeX and converted to PDF format. With Adobe Acrobat Standard it was possible to write on the PDF file (in commenting mode) and save in PDF format readable by Acrobat Reader. My (outdated) version of PowerPoint at that stage did not allow keeping the handwriting on slide transition. Click here and here for screenshots of PDF slides and handwritten notes.

On commencement of my position at USQ, I was able to acquire a tablet PC. In S1 2006, I completed lecture material on PowerPoint slides, see examples here and here.

In collaboration with Diane Donovan at UQ we've been able to collect data on student perception of tablets in lecture delivery from four semesters. In two semesters, a graphics tablet was used, in the two recent semesters a tablet PC was available. Some outcomes of this study are that student perception is influenced by

• the lecturer's level of comfort with writing on the computer
• the direct comparison with an alternative mode of delivery in the same course
• the severity of technical problems
• provision of notes on the course website after delivery

This paper describes these results in more detail.

A USQ L&T Development Grant, additional departmental support and funding from the Learning and Teaching Support Unit were acquired in late 2006, and together with the generous support from Toshiba Queensland six tablet PCs were purchased to be used for lecture delivery and preparation of distance material in courses that rely heavily on handwritten explanations. Screen capture software was made available on all computers, and screen video recordings were created and provided to students. This project commenced in S3 2006 and has provided lecturers in statistics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, engineering and German language teaching with a tablet PC loan for one semester.

This picture shows the original tablet PC group with tablet PCs, early in 2008: Christine McDonald (left), Janet Taylor (right), Linda Galligan (second from right).

This project is now continuing at a university-wide scale funded through a USQ Senior L&T Fellowship in 2009. In-kind funding from all faculties, ICT and the vice-chancellor was acquired, to equip all faculties with loan tablet PCs and graphics tablets, introduce and support academics in the use and run a thorough evaluation of the technology. Subprojects that have evolved from the initial project are

• evaluation of student use of tablet PCs
• evaluation of electronic marking of assignments using portable devices
• lecture screen movement recording software
• wireless projection.

If you are a USQ academic and would like to borrow a tablet PC or graphics tablet, please contact me.

Chat and handwriting

Communicating mathematics with distance students can be a challenge. While the instructor may be trained in the use of LaTeX or Word Equation Editor, most students are not and will find it very difficult to explain a problem in type (eg via email or a discussion group). For this reason, we started experimenting with a chat client that offers a handwriting feature, MSN Messenger. We offer regular online tutorials to volunteering students. Click here and here for extracts from chat sessions with external Discrete Mathematics students in S3 2005.

Electronic handwriting How-to pages (not updated for a while)

Click here.