Towards an Integrated Hardware And SOftware Book (HASOB)

This paper describes a new concept of an integrated Hardware And SOftware Book (iHASOB). The proposed iHASOB platform aims at increasing subconscious or habit learning to supplement declarative learning 2,3 through the addition of hardware capabilities to electronic books that run on Tablet PCs. The iHASOB would integrate traditional text book information, hardware capabilities to collect external data relevant to the educational topic and software capabilities to provide simulations and analysis of the collected data. The proposed platform utilizes a tablet with enhanced capabilities through external hardware including data acquisition and sensors. iHASOB could be thought of as a new format for educational books, especially scientific or engineering books that may require additional modalities to explain abstract concepts such as filters for example. Such concepts may be better taught through simulations and display and manipulations of data from an accompanying measuring hardware. The paper discusses relevant pedagogical models and issues related to the development of an early prototype of the iHASOB concept with a focus on teaching programming of C language. The embodiment of the idea utilizes an iPad tablet interfaced to an Arduino microcontroller acting as data acquisition system interface to external sensors. Although the idea has not been utilized in an actual classroom at this point, the paper intends to share the concept of iHASOB and practical issues associated with the creation of the early prototype.