Florida Southern College was awarded a 2008 HP Technology for Teaching grant, designed to transform teaching and improve learning in the classroom through innovative uses of technology. The grant included 21 tablet PCs, a wireless access point, projector, digital camera, graphics printer, as well as funds to be used for faculty development and additional equipment for classroom and laboratory use.

Overall project goals:

• Use mobile technology to provide a more student-centered, collaborative learning environment in selected computer science, environmental science, and mathematics courses.
• Increase student awareness of the relationship between science, mathematics, and technology.

Project objectives:

• Environmental Science students will have experience in real-time data collection, analysis, and communication of results, and will be able to collect and use images in field work and reports.

• Computer science students will have experience using wireless technology in programming mobile robotics applications.

• Students in the redesigned computer science, environmental science, and mathematics courses will:

  • demonstrate increased ability to synthesize information and solve applied problems.
  • demonstrate improved ability to represent technical information symbolically, graphically, numerically, and in writing, as appropriate to the particular discipline for each course.
  • have more frequent on-task communication with one another during class and laboratory exercises and will be on-task and actively engaged during class a larger percent of the time.
  • demonstrate increased awareness of the relationship between science, mathematics, and technology.

• The number of students enrolling in, and successfully completing, upper-level environmental science courses and upper-level computer science courses will increase.

As of the end of Spring Semester 2009, a total of 94 Florida Southern students have been directly impacted by the HP grant.

Environmental science students use the HP tablets and camera in field work for real-time data collection and analysis.

Click here for more pictures and information about how the HP grant has enhanced collaborative learning in Florida Southern College Computer Science Courses.

Some student comments about using the HP technology in computer science classes:

• Robot programming: “It was helpful to see the code in action, what it could actually do.”
• Pen input: “There are certain things that the pen is vital for, like drawing a diagram.”
• Collaboration: “During every phase of the project it was helpful to have the tablet computers.
The portability of the computers is a major advantage to being tied-down to a desktop.”
• Collaboration: "Being able to go across the room and take the tablet computer along to discuss a design option or a coding problem was wonderfully helpful.”
• Overall: "The tablets changed everything. They made working together on projects completely easy."

Please check this site for updates as the project progresses. For additional information, contact one of the three faculty members directly involved in the project:

• Gwen Walton, Professor of Computer Science (gwalton@flsouthern.edu)
• Ken Henderson, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science (khenderson@flsouthern.edu)
• Eric Kjellmark, Professor of Biology (ekjellmark@flsouthern.edu)