I have combined my comments with Scott's.
In a recent message you wrote:
> > Classroom 2000: The Electronic Classroom
> >=20
> > Our goal is to increase professor and student productivity in the
> > classroom by replacing existing media such as chalkboards and paper
> > with electronic media. Electronic media enables more effective and
> > efficient presentation, and allows distribution of teaching materials
> > in space (distance learning) and time (time shifting of presentations
> > and review of notes).
> I think we want to sound ambitious, but realistic - we may want to
> say "supplement" rather than "replace." I don't know what kind of
> support we have for claiming that electronic media enables more =
> effective or efficient presentation, but it certainly makes regeneration or
> recall easier.
>
I don't think it sounds too ambitious. Nobody has any real data on how
technology as we are looking at it influences education. Our point is to
provide a test-bed to discover those answers.
The second sentence in the Electronic Chalkboards paragraph has a repeated "a
a" that should be removed.
>
> ...
> > Electronic Notes
>
> > Increasing student productivity is also important. Each seat in this
> > classroom will have an inexpensive pen sensitive display device. A
> > student will be able to take electronic notes, either by writing on
> > "blank pages" or by annotating an electronic copy of the presentation
> > on the main display. The time when notes were written will be
> > automatically recorded, allowing students reviewing their notes to
> > recreate what was happening in the classroom at any time. Student's
> "Students", plural not possesive.
> > will be able to review their notes at home using standard personal
> > computers connected to the Internet.
> We may want to add here that most GT classrooms are internet-connected,
> supporting this review.
More than that. We need to stress that student dorm rooms will be
internet-connected. We have a lot of the infrastructure for wired
communication.
> >
> > Tracking Student Knowledge
> >
> > Ultimately, we want to know what each individual student knows so we
> > can teach more effectively, and students could utilize their past
> > course work more effectively. =20
> not parallel - "and allow students to utilize..."
> > By retaining these type of records of
> > what is actually presented in classes for several years, professors
> > will be able to prepare more effective presentations by efficiently
> > looking at what actually happened in prerequisite classes. Lectures
> > could refer to previously presented concepts, and put more emphasis on
> > ideas that had not been presented before. A student that is confused
> > by the concept of "conservation of energy" can review the classes he
> > took previously by asking the system to access previous classes in
> > which that concept was discussed. A student could also review by
> > asking to see times in any classes during which conservation of energy
> > was discussed.
> including, perhaps, classes he/she did not personally take - we may want
> to make that point explicitly.
> >
Good point. I'm finding that it's extremely easy for me to point a student to
Web pages for previous versions of classes I have taught to answer questions
about what goes on during them. The more information we capture about a
class, the more it can be used as a replacement. But of course, Chris has
already bemoaned the fate of video courses, so I don't know that this is a
point we should push too much. Our objective is not to eliminate the need for
classes, but to make them more effective.
> > Active Learning
> >=20
> > The deepest and longest lasting learning takes place when students
> > take control of their own learning. The electronic classroom will
> > allow students to take control in new ways. In a typical classroom the
> > person who holds the chalk is in charge, and everyone else is a
> > passive observer. The student computers will allow each student to
> > take charge of the main display to put forward their ideas.=20
> we may want to be more specific than "put forward"; share, record, =
> document,
> express, etc.
> > New forms
> > of student collaboration could also be explored, where electronic
> > voting or consensus forming could be used by all the students to guide
> > what happens in the class.
> >=20
> > Personal Tutor
> >=20
> > The standard of performance we seek for this system is to make each
> > student feel as if they have had a personal tutor throughout their
> > educational career.=20
> I think this is a big leap from the preceeding paragraphs, without
> much backing information.
Not really. If you are recording all of this information, then it's natural
to ask about what you do with it. It's the basis for the working on better
student assistants. How about Personal Educational Assistant rather than
Tutor?
> > This tutor would know what the student knows,
> > assist the student in linking previous knowledge to new knowledge, and
> > help the student understand and avoid previous mistakes. As the
> > computer's ability to understand speech and handwriting increases, we
> > expect to transition from the Electronic Classroom to the Intelligent
> > Classroom.
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
Good job on this, Chris!
Gregory