On the first day of WIPTE (Workshop on the Impact of Pen-Based Technology on Education), attendees decided that on the second day of the workshop that they'd record their own I'm a PC commercial -- describing to the world the value and fun aspects of using Tablet PCs. Joe Tront from Virginia Tech just made this video available on YouTube. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to do this. This is my favorite "I'm a PC" story yet.

What do they describe as benefits? Here's a list:

1. Touch
2. Take notes
3. Record lectures
4. Share ideas
5. Make music
6. Can make eye contact and write
7. Engage students in learning
8. Annotate on diagrams
9. Help achieve dreams
10. Help teachers teach and students learn
11. Do the twist ;)
12. joke about lost pen
13. Do physics!
14. Use it

As the Zvi states in the video, "Tablet PC, that's the way to go!"

In flipping through feeds today, I've run across some very nice comments about Tablet PCs. Here are three from twitter.

OpinionatedGeek: @scribbl - I'm not sure how much serious work I could get done on my iPhone, but boy is it handy! I do love the Tablet PC interface though.

songsnchaos: @rasrasras I got tired of scanning. But I saved up and bought myself a tablet so I LOVE the PC now.

bmcbreen: @stephaniehayden Don't tell Uncle Steve, but I am enjoying my new tablet PC + MS OneNote combo; but if that pen works, it's got competition

On Thursday, the 2008 Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware at the Frontiers in Education Conference was presented to Richard Anderson, Ruth Anderson, Natalie Linnell, Craig Prince and those who have contributed to Classroom Presenter development. Congratulations!

 
Screenshot of Classroom Presenter

Classroom Presenter is a presentation tool, combines whiteboard and slide-based presentation methods with delivery of lecture materials from the teacher's Tablet PCs to students' Tablet PCs. So, students receive the instructor's live lecture and can then add their own notes and select students' work can be shared back with the instructor for a complete set of lecture information. It includes additional interactive features, such as QuickPolling, which allows instructors to assess understanding of a topic while presenting.

As Classroom Presenter grew out of the Center on Collaborative Technologies, which is funded by Microsoft Research External Research and Programs, Classroom Presenter is freely available to those in academics who would like to use it. The source code is also available.

Download Classroom Presenter 3.1 

Download Classroom Presenter for the OLPC

Getting Started with Classroom Presenter

Available in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Chinese

As schools adopt PCs for students to use in the classroom and take home, it is good to see more appropriate hardware designs be made available on the market. The balance between the value of the PC and cost is difficult for many schools, so seeing affordable entry-level solutions like the next Intel Classmate design is encouraging.

The next generation Classmate PC will include an integrated digitizer on the display, so that a student can use either a finger or stylus to enter information. The ability to control the PC literally at the touch of a finger will be good for entering commands and direct object manipulation. What ways do you see students using touch technology?

Though touch is a great natural interaction addition to a traditional mobile PC, the educational value of writing and drawing directly on the screen far exceeds touch. On first thought, you may nod your head because the most common tools in the classroom include pen, paper, and [chalkboard or] whiteboard. The one-for-one value of being able to accomplish whatever the students do on paper on a PC can be met. Students can write, erase, and turn in the assignment. The challenge comes with moving beyond the analog equivalent, and this is possible with the right software.

At a simple level, a student may draw a triangle in one space and want to move it to another location. The student can erase it and re-draw, or using the stylus the student can select and move the triangle. Let's say the student wants three more of that same triangle, so now can copy the original, paste the new, then move the new to the preferred locations. Object replication is simple on a PC and faster than with paper and pencil.

A more complex example includes the software providing real-time feedback to the student, so the student knows if his or her answer was correct or incorrect. MathPractice is an example of this type of software. This involves handwriting or shape recognition and software developers can integrate this aspect into applications and this will work if the operating system is Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Windows Vista Business or Enterprise, or the software vendor creates proprietary ink and recognition engine.

Have you gotten a preview of the next generation Intel Classmate? What are your thoughts about it? How do you see your students using it?

For more information on the next Intel Classmate PC, go to http://www.classmatepc.com/sneak-peak/

As you know, I really enjoy talking with people to learn how they're using technology. This week I was able to go to two conferences that happened to overlap in timing, so as you can imagine I was thrilled. First, I attended WIPTE where I was on two panels with Jim Vanides from HP. Then on Thursday and Friday I had the chance to attend Project Inkwell meeting and you can see photos from that meeting on Flickr.

The events were fairly different in form, but the goals are similar of improving the implementation of technology in education and sharing information about advances and research. It's a privilege to be involved and I was honored to spend time with all of you this week.

During the two blogger panels at WIPTE I showed many sites that are useful for finding information about Tablet and Touch technologies. Here is a list of those sites Jim & I mentioned, as well as a few more that you might find useful:

• Craig Pringle's blog 
• Frank LaVigne's blog
• GottaBeMobile
• Incremental Blogger
• JKontheRun
• Mobile PC Wiki
• Mobility Matters
• Nice Creations
• Student Tablet PC (new name Endless Scholar)
• Sumocat's Scribbles
• TabletPc2.com
• Tablet PC Buzz
• Tablet PC Corner (French)
• Tablet PC Education Blog 
• TabletPCReview
• Tablet PC Talk
• Teaching, Learning, & Technology in Higher Education - Jim Vanides
• Teaching and Learning Economics with Technology
• Teaching with Tablet PCs
• Technology Questions education forum
• TheTabletPC.net
• UltraMobilePC Tips
• UMPC Portal

Aggregators, search engines, & social networking sites:

• Thredr.com
• Alltop
• Friendfeed
• Google blog search
• Technorati
• Techmeme
• Twitter

Keep in mind that when you rely on search engines that you need to use a variety of keywords to find content related to Tablet PCs and education. People may refer to handwriting recognition, ink, touch, specific model numbers as "notebooks" or "laptops" that are convertible, or mis-spell Tablet PC as tabletpc.

Charles Bostian from Virginia tech describes how he and his college sophomore students used Tablet PCs during a course. Virginia Tech had a planned roll-out of Tablet PCs in its department of Engineering. Tips from their rollout & his class:

• Planned, methodical implementation where Engineering students required of) purchase Tablet PC (Fujitsu)
• Student homework usually submitted in Word & posted up to Blackboard
• TAs grade and return papers electronically
• Dyknow used for lecture

I've been intending to to a few quick screenshots of how grading works. I'll try to get this posted in the next week or two.

The Workshop on the Impact of Pen-Based Technology on Education (WIPTE) officially begins tomorrow. Of course, we had an impromptu gathering tonight.

Bob, Joan and I took the shuttle service from Indianapolis to Purdue University campus and as we waited for luggage to be unloaded, I started talking with someone who is also going to WIPTE. You're familiar with this person's work -- Rob Mancabelli from Hunterdon Central, which hosts a three day Tablet PC Academy for K-12 teachers, administrators and IT support. Rob will be delivering Thursday's keynote, "Tablet PCs: Gateway to Change."

Within a few minutes, a text message connected us with Jane Prey from Microsoft Research and we ended up meeting with Jane, Rob Reed from HP, Ed Evans from Purdue, Mark Payton formerly of Vermont Academy and now with King's Academy in Jordan, Charles Bostian from Virginia Tech, Zvi Ritz from UIUC among others, then later with Joe Tront also from Virginia Tech. What an amazing group and it's just the beginning because tomorrow is going to be a full day.

Rob Bushway is unable to attend our "From the Blogosphere" panel tomorrow. Rob, we will miss your company tomorrow and will be sure to remind people to join the community at GBM. Jim Vanides is going to web conference in. I'm looking forward to learning from attendees how they would like to see the community grow and how they can contribute.

At the same time Dad, Dave Berque from DePauw University, and Sam Kamin from UIUC will host "Increasing Learning through Feedback from Tablet PCs: What Features are Needed".

See the full schedule: Wednesday and Thursday.

In the last few weeks, I've received several inquiries about the annual CES Tablet PC & UMPC Gathering. Correct, it'll still be actually at CES in January and it's only September. However, the feedback continues to be so positive and long lasting that people are already looking forward to the event! I'm pleased that it's continued to be so successful.

The industry is advancing and I want to make sure that the product interests represented are forward looking. Yes, I'm sure there will be plenty of Windows 7 chatter and hardware comparisons. A couple years ago we expanded the gathering to include mini-Tablet PCs more commonly known as UMPCs. Last year people interested in MIDs attended. My observation is that the common connection is an interest in natural input. Do you agree?

Following that logic, what do you think if Surface is included? What about... yep, I'll ask (gulp) -- iPhone? (Of course, Macworld may overlap, as the gathering has most recently been on the 3rd day of CES. So, it might just be like '08 where people are welcome to pull out their iPhones.)

And yes, then the gathering will need a new name...suggestions?

Previous sponsors of the annual Tablet PC Gathering include (in no particular order): Microsoft Tablet PC & UMPC teams, Microsoft DPE Channel 9 (compliments of Robert Scoble), Motion Computing, TabletKiosk, HP, Lenovo, Fujitsu, VIA, Mobile Demand, OQO, abletFactory, Etymotic, OtterBox, TechSmith, CaseLogic, Diskeeper, JKontheRun, TabletPC2, GottaBeMobile, TabletLawyer, Chris Pirillo Show, ActiveWords, ProvoLabs, and of course TuxReports & all the Microsoft Tablet PC MVPs.

(Steve at Boston Pocket PC posted photos from the 2008 gathering, if you'd like to take a peek at all that was given away.)

Warner shares a video preview of the upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad x200 Tablet PC. Great close-up shots and fair compare & contrast with the current ThinkPad x61 Tablet PC. 

• 12.1" Widescreen display: 1280 x 800 with multiple options for touch & EM combos
• CPU options including Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile Processor SU9300 (1.2GHz, 3MB L2 cache, 800MHz bus) and Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile Processor SL9400 (1.86GHz, 6MB L2 cache, 1066MHz bus)
• Increased battery life
• Slightly thinner & shorter chassis

As an x61 Tablet PC user and someone who is right handed, I'm pleased to see even little features, such as the pen storage area located on the right side.

Of course, the increased battery life will be great for everyone. You can potentially configure a system to optimize for up to 15 hour battery life, depending on the processor and battery cell combination.

Look for additional information from Lenovo on September 23, 2008.