ECSU professor receives HP Technology for Teaching Leadership Award
Kesha Williams
July 23, 2008
Elizabeth City State University received a 2008 HP Technology for Teaching Leadership Award. The awards recognize instructors who use technology in such an innovative manner that it transforms the teaching and learning process. Only 10 campuses in the US and Canada received the Teaching Leadership Awards that provide a cash award and equipment to expand their classroom instruction. These awards are reserved for universities as reinvestment grants awarded to HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients whose projects have demonstrated success in their first year of implementation. Dr. Kuldeep Rawat, an associate professor in the ECSU Department of Technology, is the project director for the HP Technology for Teaching program at ECSU. This program was selected for its successful use of HP technology to enhance instruction demonstrate a measurable, positive impact on student achievement and expand the program to cover other disciplines in science, technology, engineering and math. During the 2007-2008 academic year, Dr. Rawat implemented HP mobile technology in two electronics engineering technology courses affecting 33 students. In the 2008-2009 academic year, the award will impact students in up to five courses–approximately 120 students. Specifically, students will use HP Tablet-PCs— small, hand held, mobile computers and related software. Those devices allow students to record classroom notes as digital files. The device also allows students to relay their work as digital files to the instructor for additional classroom discussion. The HP Tablet-PCs can be used from any location, during field trips, to allow students and instructors to interact on classroom assignments. The devices are scheduled for use this year with marine biology students who will conduct research from area waterways. On field trips, several students may collect water or soil samples from different locations yet relay their findings via the HP Tablet-PCs to an instructor who is based at a central location. Dr. Rawat received a cash and equipment award valued at $151,000. In addition to the award, a representative from ECSU will attend the annual HP Technology for Teaching Worldwide Higher Education Conference in San Diego, Calif. in February 2009. During the conference, grant recipients will gather to exchange various uses of HP technology, such as the HP Tablet-PC, into the classroom. Through a series of hands-on workshops, poster sessions and lectures at that conference, recipients from around the world will be invited to share their project details with peer educators across all disciplines such as mathematics medicine and chemistry and geological, physical, biological, and agricultural sciences. Many teachers and professors will also demonstrate their use of a variety of software solutions to support their course redesign efforts. Dr. Rawat says HP technology is invaluable for classroom instruction. "This project will open the doors to endless instructional possibilities through the use of mobile technology in both classroom and field-based activities. I can now share classroom lectures and comments from attending students at a later time with distance learning students," said Kuldeep Rawat. "Students attending a lecture can use the HP Tablet-PC to relay their questions to the instructor and their classroom peers without interrupting the instructor as he/she speaks. An instructor can use the device to instantly poll students for responses. Then, the instructor can determine if students fully understand the topic being discussed before advancing to the next topic." The HP Tablet-PC offers several advantages: An instructor can save her/his classroom lecture notes as digital files that students can access anytime, from any location where suitable Internet service is available. The lectures can be saved as movie files that students can watch at their leisure. A student’s classroom assignment or their examination can be saved on the device and transferred to instructor’s HP Tablet-PC. Such an electronic process reduces the chances of an assignment being lost or destroyed as was the case with assignments written on paper. The instructor can use the HP Tablet-PC as a replacement for the traditional chalkboard-an advantage that could suit various needs of physically impaired or deaf students/instructors. The screen of the HP Tablet-PCs also allow students/instructors to increase the size of the fonts that appears on screen-something that could not be done quickly with penmanship written on the traditional chalkboard. An instructor can mark a student’s homework or exam that is submitted on HP Tablet-PC then provide personalized feedback without exchanging a piece of paper. The device is helping teachers and students reduce the use of paper. The HP Tablet-PC offers instructors a fingerprint identification system that will prohibit any unauthorized use of the device. The HP Tablet-PC offers instructors’ unlimited writing space, unlike the traditional chalkboard. Since 2004, HP has contributed $60 million in HP Technology for Teaching grants to more than 1,000 schools in 41 countries worldwide. During the past 20 years, HP has contributed more than $1 billion in cash and equipment to schools, universities, community organizations and other nonprofit organizations around the world. More information about the 2008 HP Technology for Teaching program and grant recipients is available at www.hp.com/go/hpteach. More information about Elizabeth City State University’s HP Technology for Teaching Project is available at http://www.ecsu.edu/academics/technology/projects/HPTFT.html For more information on ECSU’s award or use of it, contact Dr. Kuldeep S. Rawat, ksrawat@mail.ecsu.edu.