Impact of instructors' use of the tablet PC on student learning and classroom attendance

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of posting annotated instructor notes generated with Tablet PCs in two 300-level engineering classrooms at a large land-grant university in the United States. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of sharing instructor notes on students' attendance, note-taking behaviors, and learning. In Course A, the instructor posted detailed pre-notes in lieu of a textbook at the beginning of the semester and then posted annotated notes immediately after each class. In Course B, the instructor posted rough outline notes as pre-notes before each class, but posted the annotated notes under two three-week long alternating time conditions. In the first condition the instructor did not post the annotated notes until several days prior to assessment. In the second condition the instructor posted annotated notes after class. The authors applied both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the research questions. The research findings reveal that classroom attendance decreased gradually in both courses as the semester progressed, regardless of the difference in note-posting strategy. The results also indicate that student perceptions of annotated note posting vary widely. On one hand, students see annotated notes as a learning aid for studying and selfchecking, while others see annotated notes as a reason to not come to class. Practical implications and future research are described.