Tablet Computing Environments

Brian C. Dean, Clemson University

When?

March. 14, 2007 Noon-12:50 p.m. (Eastern Time); 11-11:50 a.m. (Central Time)

Where?

The conversations in this series are delivered via IHETS Interactive to multimedia meeting rooms and classrooms throughout the state. To become a host location, please contact Cheryl Denski (cdenski@ihets.org , 317.263.8984)

Session description:

There are many concepts in mathematics, computer science, and other areas of study that are easy to describe in person but harder to explain in written text. In this session, Dr. Dean will discuss creating supplemental course content in the form of dynamic multimedia "whiteboard lectures." These involve tablet computing environments (tablet PC, electronic whiteboard, etc.) consisting of dynamic handwriting with synchronized audio which can be played via the Web with a low-to-medium bandwidth connection. He will demonstrate the use of LectureScribe, a free software tool he wrote for creating these animations and share his experiences using this tool for his own classes.

About the presenter:

Brian C. Dean received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from MIT and is an assistant professor of computer science at Clemson University. His research interests include algorithmic computer science, with published work in approximation algorithms, network optimization, scheduling, randomized algorithms, stochastic optimization, and data structures. He also supports high-school computing, serving as a staff member for the USA Computing Olympiad program for ten years. Using his LectureScribe software, Dean has used multimedia "whiteboard lectures" to supplement the content of his classes since 2001. He currently uses the tool to provide dynamic feedback on graded student assignments. As a long-term project, he is currently writing an algorithms textbook using animated explanations and text to articulate and explain these concepts.