The Universityof Minnesota Duluth iPAQ Initiative

Jim Allert, InstructorDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity of Minnesota Duluthjallert@d.umn.edu

Linda Deneen, DirectorInformation Technology Systems and ServicesUniversity of Minnesota Duluthldeneen@d.umn.edu

James P. Riehl, DeanCollege of Science and EngineeringUniversity of Minnesota Duluth jpriehl@d.umn.edu

Copyright James Allert, Linda L. Deneen and James P. Riehl , 2002. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

CSE Technology Commitment

The faculty in the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth is committed…

To providing a learning environment in which undergraduate students can develop the advanced computer skills necessary to be successful scientists or engineers in the beginning of this new century,

To developing and integrating state-of-the-art educational technology throughout the curriculum as a means of providing our students with a world class education.

Meetings with Technology Stakeholders and Advisory Groups All 9 departments in CSE

6 science departments 3 engineering departments

Vendors Student Financial Aid CSE Student Technology Committee ITSS Staff External Advisory Board UMD Administration University of Minnesota Board of Regents

Key Issues Cost Capabilities Faculty Training Support

The UMD iPAQ Initiative College of Science and

Engineering Majors involved

Computer Science Electrical and Computer Engineering Industrial Engineering Chemical Engineering

Vendor partner Compaq Computer Corporation

Campus partners: Information Technology Systems and

Services (ITSS) UMD Stores

Support by ITSS Wireless network iPAQ configuration

campus-specific settings and applications

Distribution and training in-class, first week

Web and hardcopy documentation

Repair and maintenance Contract management

UMD Wireless Network

Distribution Semester Students Faculty Fall 2001 250 iPAQs 60 Spring 2002 41 iPAQs 0 Fall 2002 195 iPAQs 66 Fall 2002 52 laptops

Returns 60 changed majors 23 left UMD

Current student totals: 403 iPAQs, 52 laptops

Contract

Students Pay $200/semester for 4 semesters Can return iPAQ for partial refund if they

change majors The iPAQ belongs to the student The student is responsible for loss or

damage.

Cost (October 2001) iPAQ H3650 $477 Wireless network card & sleeve

$251 Carry case $ 16 Tax $ 56 Total $800

Cost (October 2002) iPAQ H3950 $534 Wireless network card & sleeve

$175 Carry case $ 25 Software $ 5 Installation $ 10 IT Support $ 51 Total $800

Hardware specifications Fall 2001 (H3650)

206 MHz Intel StrongARM processor

32M RAM, 32M ROM Pocket PC OS 4,096 color display

Fall 2002 (H3950) 400 MHz Intel XScale processor 64M RAM, 32M ROM Pocket PC 2002 OS 65,536 color display

The Pedagogical Issues

How can handhelds contribute toward achieving course objectives?

Example: Computer Science I

Required of virtually all engineering majors

CS-1511, Computer Science I

Fresh73%

Juniors 7%

Seniors 2%

Fall Semester 2001

Soph 17%

Grad/other 1% Course structure iPAQ

7 sections, 200 students

non-iPAQ 6 sections, 100 students

Targeted usage

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Large lecture Large lecture Large lecture

Discussion LabNotetakingPowerpoint slides

NotetakingPowerpoint slides

NotetakingPowerpoint slides

ExercisesOnline polling

Reference

In class

Outside of class

Course syllabusCourse calendarPowerpoint notesLecture notesSample programsTotal pointsStudy guidesBrowsing related sites

Web browsing Email Software Programming Other

Study aidReferenceExperimentation

Class email ReferenceProblem-solving

Online polls

Preparation

Prior to Fall Semester Basic familiarity Course application research Internet issues

CS Dept. web pages (autodetect) CS-1511 web pages reformatted

Custom-designed software and exercises

CS-1511 software

Algorithms Ctools Operators Logical Expressions Selection Structures Loops Functions Searches Selection sort Binary sort Insertion sort Analysis Pointers Pointer arrays Strings Derived types Recursion

Interactive re

f. document (1

4)

Interactive exercises (3

6)

Reference documents (16)

Explanatory documents (8)

Animated exercises (4

)

Interactive quiz (1

)

3456 1

11 1

1 12

3 1

1 54

2 22

1 11

11

11

11

82

1 1 1 1

3

352 2

CS-1511 iPAQ software

Training Before the first week

TAs received iPAQs 1st week

iPAQs distributed in class Training sessions on wireless

email and internet 2nd week

Students were taught how to use IR file transfer

No other special training required

Students caught on very quickly

Assessment

Online polls 4th and 14th week

surveys Exams

Comparison of iPAQ vs. non-iPAQ performance

Course evaluations

Online polls

Survey results Results of Weeks 4 and 14 surveys

The most commonly used applications

CS-1511 software, Internet Explorer, Solitaire, Calendar, Infra-red file transfer

The least commonly used applications MS Excel, MS Word, MS Reader, MS

Transcriber, Windows Media Player 68% of iPAQ use was course-related

Observations Advance time needed to

investigate... What is available? What can I do with it? What can I make available?

Custom applications needed Student programmer Time consuming to produce Beta versions – under constant revision

Access issues Visually impaired students Physical coordination impaired

students

Observations Student reaction

No direct complaints Survey comments

Justify cost vs. functionality Non-iPAQ students

Some changed majors to get them Some bought their own Assumption that iPAQ students had an

advantage. iPAQs were an asset

As discussion assistants In conjunction with exercises or lecture

As reference tools For programs and general study

As study aids Interactive exercises and quizzes

Week 14 Survey

How helpful have the following resources been for you in this class?

No help Some Helpful Very helpful1 2 3 4

Average

2.73

3.24

3.15

2.95

2.88

2.40

2.50

2.60

2.70

2.80

2.90

3.00

3.10

3.20

3.30

Lectures iPAQ Textbook TA lab TA discuss

n = 141

What next? For Computer Science

More use of wireless network Migration of iPAQs to large

lecture More dynamic than PowerPoint More convenient than heavy

textbooks or laptops Migration of iPAQ software to PCs

For laptop users and others More software Experimentation

Collaborative exercises Integration of handheld-gathered

data with PC programs More creative online polling ?

Year 1 in Review Review settings

Student government forum CSE Assembly topic

Response Add more wireless access Allow for wireless laptop option Invest more dollars in faculty training Maintain requirement to existing majors Implement pilot programs in Math, Geology,

Biology, others? Form faculty/student review committee

Current and Future Issues

Technology costs added to tuition increases!

More faculty development! Wireless plan? Laptop Tablet PC’s Pocket PC’s

Questions

www.d.umn.edu/cse/techreq.html