P1 Students Pilot Tablet Computers
Imagine sketching a diagram on your computer or recording a professor’s lecture in synchrony with his lecture slides. Starting this year, first-year students in Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy will have these educational aides and more with their personal tablet computers.
While laptop computers have been used in pharmacy education and other fields for some years, Dr. Dan Brown, dean of the Gregory School of Pharmacy, noticed that many students who had personal computers preferred to print class handouts and take notes by hand. Dean Brown and Ian Burchette, pharmacy IT specialist, sought a tablet computer solution and found the HP Compaq tc4400 from CDW•G, Inc.
“The tablet computer allows students to capture information the way that they like to learn,” Dean Brown says. “It allows students to handwrite their notes on the computer. Those who prefer to type can do that in addition to the capability of recreating diagrams on the same set of notes.”
Course content documents are available 48 hours before a lecture for students to import into their tablets using Microsoft’s One Note software. The software makes it possible for students to take notes with a synchronized recording of the lecture. When students later review the material, they are able to select a portion of the notes and One Note will play back that part of the lecture. Students who want to review the entire lecture can transfer the recording to a device such as an iPod for convenience. In addition, faculty now has tablet-like tools to provide annotations and diagrams during lectures on the same set of notes the students are working on.
“Some of our faculty piloted the use of a tablet in their clinical setting during the previous year. They quickly realized the potential of the tablet as a learning tool and have become strong advocates of its implementation,” Dean Brown says.
The tablets are purchased by students through a fee attached to a required first-year pharmacy course at a cost of $1,995.
Burchette and the faculty are working to develop course content that fully utilizes the potential of the tablet in an “always online” world. Their plans include Podcasts, streaming video and interactive virtual training tools. As students progress into their third year, they will acquire personal digital assistants, or PDAs, so that they can continue to have the medical references they need on hand. PDAs are regularly used by pharmacists in hospitals and clinics.
The computers will do more than help students excel in the rigorous coursework that constitutes pharmacy education, it will help them in their careers as well.
“Pharmacy, as an industry, has been a leader in adopting technology to provide more efficient and accurate services. By immersing the students in a curriculum designed to use computers, they will become more proficient personally and professionally,” Burchette says. “The skills they will acquire can only make them greater assets to their future employers.”
Palm Beach Atlantic University is a private, independent university offering undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees, with campuses in West Palm Beach, Orlando and Wellington. The University is dedicated to the integration of Christian principles to prepare students for lifelong learning and leadership.
While laptop computers have been used in pharmacy education and other fields for some years, Dr. Dan Brown, dean of the Gregory School of Pharmacy, noticed that many students who had personal computers preferred to print class handouts and take notes by hand. Dean Brown and Ian Burchette, pharmacy IT specialist, sought a tablet computer solution and found the HP Compaq tc4400 from CDW•G, Inc.
“The tablet computer allows students to capture information the way that they like to learn,” Dean Brown says. “It allows students to handwrite their notes on the computer. Those who prefer to type can do that in addition to the capability of recreating diagrams on the same set of notes.”
Course content documents are available 48 hours before a lecture for students to import into their tablets using Microsoft’s One Note software. The software makes it possible for students to take notes with a synchronized recording of the lecture. When students later review the material, they are able to select a portion of the notes and One Note will play back that part of the lecture. Students who want to review the entire lecture can transfer the recording to a device such as an iPod for convenience. In addition, faculty now has tablet-like tools to provide annotations and diagrams during lectures on the same set of notes the students are working on.
“Some of our faculty piloted the use of a tablet in their clinical setting during the previous year. They quickly realized the potential of the tablet as a learning tool and have become strong advocates of its implementation,” Dean Brown says.
The tablets are purchased by students through a fee attached to a required first-year pharmacy course at a cost of $1,995.
Burchette and the faculty are working to develop course content that fully utilizes the potential of the tablet in an “always online” world. Their plans include Podcasts, streaming video and interactive virtual training tools. As students progress into their third year, they will acquire personal digital assistants, or PDAs, so that they can continue to have the medical references they need on hand. PDAs are regularly used by pharmacists in hospitals and clinics.
The computers will do more than help students excel in the rigorous coursework that constitutes pharmacy education, it will help them in their careers as well.
“Pharmacy, as an industry, has been a leader in adopting technology to provide more efficient and accurate services. By immersing the students in a curriculum designed to use computers, they will become more proficient personally and professionally,” Burchette says. “The skills they will acquire can only make them greater assets to their future employers.”
Palm Beach Atlantic University is a private, independent university offering undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees, with campuses in West Palm Beach, Orlando and Wellington. The University is dedicated to the integration of Christian principles to prepare students for lifelong learning and leadership.