Assesment Of Student Learning When Using Tablet Pcs And The Software Dyknow

Many advances in technology in software and hardware promise to improve student learning. Of the more promising technologies to come onto the market recently were the tablet PC and an interactive-education software package called DyKnow. This combination of software and hardware offered to solve many of the problems that students and instructors face in a regular classroom such deficient student understanding, lack of student participation, and incomplete classroom notes. An objective of this work was to measure student learning comparing two equivalent groups of engineering students in their first semester of thermodynamics. One group was taught using a conventional lecture style, while the other group utilized tablet PCs and the DyKnow software. Both groups were given the same final exam, at least, so their respective levels of understanding could be assessed and compared. These experiments were conducted for three consecutive semesters. Results of both groups were compared by selecting pairs of students with similar GPAs and applying statistical methods on the two groups’ scores. The results from all semesters were very similar. Students using tablet PCs and the DyKnow system did not show better understanding of the subject than the students in the traditional classroom.