Tablet PCs

General Uses

Have you ever seen someone try to balance his or her laptop on one arm while typing with the other? The Tablet PC's compact, convertible design allows you to comfortably use your computer in small spaces—even while standing up. Tablet PCs also include wireless Internet support and a long battery life.

Interact with people, not your PC. Due to its convertible design, you can sit across the table from someone and take notes without having your PC act as a dividing wall. It's perfect for sales meetings, or any meeting in which you don't want technology to interfere with the personal dynamic.

Take notes easily and search for notes. Whether you're in class or in a meeting, you can quickly jot down notes—from mathematical formulas to flow charts. Because they're electronic, you can reorganize your notes and search them later, and leave the paper behind. With Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 you can synchronize your notes with audio recordings and presentations to create binders of multimedia information.

A truly personal computer. Express yourself with your own handwriting. Personalize messages to friends, family, and co-workers—even if they don't have a Tablet PC. With Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and MSN Messenger, you can send handwritten notes, drawings, and even add your handwritten signature to the end of your e-mails. Tablet PC puts the P back in PC.

Make comments quickly and naturally. With Microsoft Office System, you can mark up Word documents and PowerPoint presentations—and share them with those who don't have a Tablet PC. Emphasize your point in business presentations, class lectures, and photo slideshows using the pen to highlight and draw right on the screen.

Easily convert handwriting to typed text. The Tablet PC Input Panel (TIP) makes it quick and easy to convert your handwriting to text. TIP launches wherever you want to write, and dynamically recognizes characters so you can easily make corrections before inserting text. Tablet PC's context awareness recognizes familiar formats, so it won't change the @ sign of an email address to "a".

Or don't bother to convert handwriting to text. Tablet PC can still easily reorganize and search handwritten text, even if you don't convert it into typed text. Tablet PC understands words and phrases in either format.

Rely on all the benefits of Windows XP. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 is Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Service Pack 2 with additional technologies. As such, it includes advanced security tools, deployment technologies and policies, making it easy to deploy and manage throughout your business. Tablet PC has the power of a connected PC, with the freedom and simplicity of pen and paper.

Take advantage of Tablet PC-enabled software. Check out the Tablet PC Software Showcase for hundreds of third-party software applications that help business users within specific industries or roles, as well as students, gamers and home users.

Use the Tablet PC in Multiple Languages. With the free multilingual user interface pack, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 is available in 20 languages in addition to English.

Inside Of The Classroom

As a presentation device in conjunction with an LCD projector that replaces the blackboard/whiteboard/interactive white board.

With products such as Microsoft OneNote, PowerPoint, or Journal, an instructor has the ability to prepare lecture material in advance.

One can write and demonstrate examples “on-the-fly” during class as one would write on a blackboard. It is particularly useful for material that requires interaction – e.g. illustrating how to solve equations or illustrate dynamic processes that may be difficult to prepare in advance through a medium such as PowerPoint.

It is also easy to switch between other computer applications – e.g. a web browser, telnet, or an integrated developer environment.

This allows greater collaboration and active learning within the classroom.

Lectures can be conducted entirely by drawing in digital ink without preparing material in advance, as is necessary with PowerPoint.

Alternately, material can be prepared in advanced and annotated during the lecture. Preparing equations in advance can save in-class time.

The instructor can easily re-display previously covered material that would normally have been erased on a blackboard.

Saving lectures to disk and making them available for online viewing. Students are then able to review the material at their convenience.

Convenient access to multiple pens in different colors, widths, and styles

Easy to switch to other applications (e.g. telnet, web browser, IDE)

Digital ink can be saved and viewed later through a web browser.

Face the class instead of having your back to the class when writing.

By standing off to the side, the instructor never occludes the screen and can maintain eye contact with the audience while lecturing.

No messy chalk or nasty fumes from dry erase markers.

Drawing diagrams, concept maps, and brainstorming sessions. With some software, hand-drawing a box will be automatically converted to a neat and square box, which makes your diagrams more legible.

Live recording of data collection and observation in and out of class.

Interactive editing and grading of papers and assignments with students.

Outside Of The Classroom

When preparing lecture material such as figures and diagrams, we were often able to draw and create these items more quickly with the pen than with a mouse.

Papers and assignments can also be marked up as one would mark up a physical paper. Both Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat support ink annotations on a document.

The instructor found this particularly useful when traveling – instead of carrying a large stack of papers, documents are conveniently edited anywhere.

Useful for note-taking at conferences, department meetings, research meetings, and committee meetings. Microsoft’s OneNote product has the capability to electronically organize, search, and edit electronic handwritten notes. This has helped reduce the number of cluttered notes normally scattered across the faculty member's desk.

eBooks – easier to read electronic books and magazines.

Web – TabletBlogger application incorporates ink into blog.

Instant Messaging – use ink to communicate with students and collegues with MSN Instant Messanger

Planning, Contacts, & Calendar – Franklin Covey Tablet Planner – Organize handwritten or electronic notes, tasks, calendar, contacts, Word, PowerPoint, etc.

Students

A study by Stefanucci found that students preferred notes taken on a Tablet PC compared to notes taken on paper. Some of the factors in the Tablet’s favor included the ability to quickly copy and paste diagrams to reflect layered changes to the diagram as made by the instructor on the board, the ability to highlight and flag important concepts, availability of colors and ink, and the ability to add new space to notes instead of cramming material into fixed margins.

Give to all students in the class so that they can submit ink-based materials to the instructor and the instructor may choose submissions to display on the projector.

Share files/notes, answer questions, collaborate with each other.

Use As A Distance Education Tool

All content can be managed through one tablet device: audio lecture, handwritten material, prepared electronic slides, and live software demonstrations. Several software programs (Centra or Elluminate) allow such content to be streamed live for use with synchronous distance courses, or archived for asynchronous courses.

Office Applications

Discipline Specific Applications

Tablet PC Resources, News, Community, and Forums

Tablet PC Buzz - "The Buzz" is home to the largest and most active forum for people interested in all aspects of the Tablet PC, including the platform's capabilities, hardware, and software.

Tablet Questions - Tablet PC Questions is a site for discussing the evolution in the notebook computer, the Tablet PC. The site includes a Tablet PC Comparison Chart, software list, list of Tablet PC references, member reviews which list the specifications of all the latest Tablet PCs and all of the different forums. Includes free registration for posting messages.

Tablet PC Talk - An excellent resource hosting all of the latest news and information in the Tablet PC community.

TabletPC2.com - This is a great site for learning about innovations and trends with the Tablet PC, including model comparisons, news, reviews and other information.

The Tablet PC - An extremely authoritative and inclusive site that is full of information, such as product overviews and comparisons. Each page is crammed full of excellent insight.

Tablet PC Magazine - An online news source for new releases and information related to the Tablet PC. This magazine is produced by Pen Computing Magazine and includes an interesting history of the Tablet PC dating back to 1992.

Tablet PC Home - TabletPCHome.com is an active but smaller Tablet PC Community site.

Tabula PC - a Blog created by Peter Rysavy with thoughts and resources related to the Tablet PC. The site includes links to hardware, software, and other information related to the Tablet PC. Blackboard Backpack is listed as a "Must Try" application on the site.

Key Industry Sites

Tablet PC Post - Tablet PC Post is the best site to find downloads for the Tablet PC. You can browse software titles by cateogry and sort titles alphabetically, by popularity, or by other attributes to find the programs that are right for you. This is an excellent resource to quickly find new software titles for the Tablet PC.

Agilix - Beyond devloping Blackboard Backpack, Agilix Labs, Inc. has also developed products for FranklinCovey and is creating some core technologies that enhance the mobile computing industry. Agilix is a pioneer among software companies creating applications for the Tablet PC.

Microsoft Tablet PC Site - The key initial proponent of the Tablet PC, Microsoft has created the Tablet PC OS and has a wealth of information about the Tablet PC, including platform enhancements, vendors, and more.

Tablet PC Hardware Manufacturers

 


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