Gadgets in the Classroom

Pen and paper still seems to be the preferred way for Rice students to record notes from class, but electronic gadgets are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Here are a few portable devices you may encounter in the classroom:

• Laptops & Tablet PCs
  Many students use laptops to take notes nowadays, and Tablet PCs are becoming popular as well. A Tablet PC is essentially a notebook computer with the keyboard, mouse, and monitor replaced by a touch screen for writing and computing with a stylus. Tablet PCs allow students to easily incorporate notes and files from several classes onto one portable device.


• Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
  PDAs offer a variety of organizational tools, such as a clock, a date book, an address book, a task list, a memo pad, and a calculator, in a small hand-held device. PDAs also allow the user to synchronize data with other computers and usually include versions of popular word processing, spreadsheet, and web brower software. Many accessories, such as full keyboards, can be used to enhance their functionality.


• Smart Phones
  A new generation of phones combines standard cell-phone fare with the basic tools and connectivity offered by PDAs. By integrating a full keyboard into a phone, these devices allow a user to record notes, keep a schedule, write emails and surf the Web.


• Digital Audio Players & Recorders
  Digital recorders are available both as stand-alone devices and as accessories for digital audio players, such as Apple's hot-selling iPod. Duke University pioneered this application by giving a new iPod (along with a recorder) to all of their incoming students and encouraging them to bring them to class and record lectures.


• Digital Video
  Four Rice classrooms are equipped with Capture Classroom, a groundbreaking system that allows lectures to be recorded and saved to the Internet, where they are available for high quality stream or download. The system also incorporates images of what is on the professor's computer screen.