Faculty Directions, Fall 2005 - Using Tablet PC Technology for Advising

Ken Weaver
Department of Computer Science

One of the challenges faced by academic advisors is the recording and maintenance of advising records. On the one hand, accumulation of paper is rarely seen as a "fun" exercise, yet having records of interactions with students is a critical component enabling the advisor to keep track of the student's progress and to develop a sense of the student's development through his or her academic program. On the other hand, accumulating paper has an expense associated with it, both in time and real dollars and the advisor must be sensitive to records management issues and the maintenance of confidentiality as required by University policy when appropriate. The Clemson University Advising Committee under the leadership of Dr. Jan Murdoch (Dean of Undergraduate Studies) has been exploring electronic alternatives to paper systems for some time and several approaches seem to hold promise. However, the advent of the tablet PC has opened new horizons for advisors to modify their practice yet adhere to the various structures associated with advising documents.

In my case, I am responsible for coordinating and conducting the advising function of our department, which has over 420 undergraduate students (Fall, 2004). Most departmental advisors have limited administrative support and the vision of paper files is daunting at its best and an endless time sink at its worst. Taking advantage of the technology inherent in the Clemson network and the new features of the tablet PC seemed a reasonable approach to consider. In this article I will discuss the two main components of evolving the advising function to a localized paperless system, first the advisor's desktop environment and second, using the Clemson network to advantage.

The Advisor's Workstation

I made a conscious decision to forego the traditional desktop computer in favor of a tablet PC (while I use the Toshiba Portégé, other brands are equally effective). When my tablet PC arrived, I retained the flat screen monitor from my old desktop system as a remote display for purposes that I will explain in a moment. The tablet PC comes with pen-based features embedded in the WINDOWS XP® Tablet operating system that make changes in the "traditional" advising record keeping process possible. First and foremost is the WINDOWS Journal® software that enables the user to literally print anything that you can display on the computer screen, and then use the tablet features to write (ink) on the document. For advising, the operative feature is the ability to print from the display to create a Journal document which can then be printed or stored electronically. This process is the same as selecting a remote printer or creating a PDF file. Also, there is a Journal Reader available (analogous to the Acrobat Reader), which lets recipients of Journal files view the native format even if they do not have a tablet PC.

The Clemson Network

The integrated computing network at Clemson allowed me to create (with help from Department and College TSPs (Technical Support Provider)) a secure directory on the college server that is backed-up each night. The directory is mapped to my Novell userid and is only accessible to me and appropriate systems administrator personnel. This arrangement keeps student data in a secure setting and protects the student data should something happen to my tablet PC (i.e. theft or damage) as none of the advising files are resident on it. As long as the advisor has a networked file system available, there are a number of ways that a similar secure directory can be created and used. For those who are interested in experimenting with this process, consult with your departmental or college TSP.

Retrieval of student documents is obviously important, and for this experiment my file structure is fairly simple, consisting of the student name and type of document (e.g. SDPR, SCIN, etc. or even templates of general advising notes). The file creation/modification date provides a date stamp to differentiate temporal relationships. While simplistic, for the scale I am dealing with it works for now, but will probably have to evolve as the number of retained files grows. Other more sophisticated systems may key off other data items such as student number, which would allow for record transfer across departments or colleges. Such is the case with systems being reviewed by the Clemson Advising Committee.

Advising with a Tablet PC - The Process

To use this advising system, I first call up the student's Degree Progress Report (DPR) from the Web-based course management system (Web CRSM) and print a copy as a Journal document. (Note that the DPR is the document most used in my department. Other documents may be used as appropriate to each individual situation, which is the power of the software associated with the tablet PC - if you can print it, you can use it.) This document is then displayed on the tablet screen and simultaneously on the remote display (hooked into the VGA port of the tablet, similar to the way you use a projector in a technology enhanced classroom setting) so that the student can observe the mark up as I make it on the tablet. (As an aside, when not actively advising, the second monitor allows the user to use the expanded desktop feature of WINDOWS to good effect, doubling the amount of desktop space available.) I mark the document just as if it were a paper copy, pointing out strengths of their academic progress and areas they should be aware of or that need more attention and making notes of scheduling recommendations. The operative point of this process is that the student finds it engaging and I find that they pay more attention to the process than they do when only paper is used. Also, other student records from CRSM can be processed in the same way as appropriate to the advising session and the needs of the student.

After the advising session, I print out a copy of the marked up DPR (or other document), give the student a copy and file a copy in the protected secure directory. This gives me a consistent trail of contact with the student without creating paper files, and the student gets a hard copy for their personal advising and academic planning files (which our department encourages all students to maintain for themselves). In cases where student acknowledgement of the session is needed I simply have the student sign the working document on the tablet and it becomes part of the record.

Other software packages also take advantage of the tablet technology; for example Adobe Acrobat® includes a pencil function which enables me to scan a hardcopy document to a PDF file and then mark it up on the tablet while the student observes. As with the Journal, I can then print a copy for the student and file an electronic copy in the secure directory. Alternatively, the PDF file can be printed to the Journal format. Also, the new Microsoft Office 2003® suite of applications has integrated tablet PC features (referred to as "inking") and the markup process can be done in any of the applications. Then an electronic copy of the documents can be provided to the student and viewed later by the student in the native format (e.g. .doc, .xls, .ppt, etc.) even if the student is using an older version of Office.

Observations from the Process

Since I implemented this experiment last academic year several things stand out. First, the advising process becomes more active for the student. The tablet technology seems to engage the student more in the advising process and it certainly seems to me that the student pays more attention. Second, the process secures a trail of contact with the student and lets me quickly retrieve material from previous advising sessions. Thirdly, the amount of retained paper-based material is significantly reduced.

And lastly, even though this experiment is small scale, it has convinced me that it is possible to move the advising function to a "paperless" state and indeed, with the correct infrastructure, allow such advising materials to be transferred between departments when a student changes majors. This is a characteristic of those systems being investigated by the Clemson Advising Committee. But even without one of those systems, the technology is now available through the tablet PC to allow even a small department to improve its advising process and filing techniques.