0018-9162/07/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE32 Computer P u b l i s h e d b y t h e I E E E C o m p u t e r S o c i e t y

unsuitable user interface, inaccurate handwriting recog-nition, and a poor digitizer.

Microsoft entered the field in 1999 with its proof-of-concept machine, shown in Figure 2, which was basedon the Transmeta TM5800 processor. With 256 Mbytesof RAM, a 20-Gbyte disk, and a 10.4-inch slate formfactor, it pushed the power efficiency envelope by pro-viding 5 hours of runtime (200 hours standby). But themachine was not a commercial success because it wasso slooooow.

Now all that has changed. As the Gartner Group’s“Dataquest Insight: Tablet PCs Are Slowly Gaining Mo-mentum” report indicates, Tablet PCs are here to stay (www.gartner.com). Whereas the insurance, healthcare, publicsafety, and real estate industries were the first users of tablettechnology, Gartner suggests that the next big verticalenterprise to identify the usefulness of Tablet PCs will behigher education. “In the past two years, higher educationfaculty and students have been the main emerging usersadopting the convertible tablet PCs,” the report states.

G U E S T E D I T O R S ’ I N T R O D U C T I O N

ablet PCs—what are they? Are they just a fad, ordo they really play a significant role in the com-puting milieu?

Wikipedia defines a Tablet PC as “a note-book- or slate-shaped mobile computer. Its

touch screen or digitizing tablet technology allows theuser to operate the computer with a stylus or digital penor a fingertip instead of a keyboard or mouse. The formfactor offers a more mobile way to interact with a com-puter. Tablet PCs are often used where normal note-books are impractical or unwieldy, or do not providethe needed functionality.”

The Tablet PC concept is not new; the ideas behindpen-based computing hark back to visionaries such asAlan Kay, Butler Lampson, and Chuck Thacker and toinnovative companies such as Xerox PARC in the late1960s and early 1970s. Alan Kay’s Dynabook from1968, shown in Figure 1, looks remarkably similar totoday’s machines. But the technology just wasn’t ready—many attempts at pen-based computing failed due to an

Early adopters in higher education have developed Tablet PC teaching platforms that

incorporate active learning techniques and support in-class collaborations.

Jane PreyMicrosoft Research

Alf WeaverUniversity of Virginia

Tablet PCTechnology: The NextGeneration

T

Early adopters in higher education have developedTablet PC teaching platforms that incorporate activelearning techniques and support in-class teacher/studentand student/student collaborations. Novel software isavailable to grade assignments, conduct online officehours, tutor circuit design, and illustrate concurrent pro-gramming—among many other applications.

IN THIS ISSUEThis issue of Computer presents five articles that look

at tablet technology from the perspectives of applica-tion development, research, and instruction.

“Magic Paper: Sketch-Understanding Research” byRandy Davis describes how sketch understanding sys-tems let users draw more naturally and with a freedomnot available with CAD systems so that they can createinformal figures as a way of thinking or workingthrough a problem.

In “Ink, Improvisation, and Interactive Engagement:Learning with Tablets,” Jeremy Roschelle and colleaguesdiscuss how today’s approaches to teaching have movedbeyond the notion of learning as recollection to newmetaphors and approaches. They describe how com-munities that form around platforms such as ClassroomPresenter, GroupScribbles, and related applicationsshould provide an excellent forum for advances in theuse of tablets in educational settings.

In “Handwriting Recognition: Tablet PC Text Input,”Jay Pittman declares that pen-based computing is herenow and describes how a large neural network trainedon a very large training set containing ink samples fromthousands of people with a diverse range of writingstyles is being used to support poorly formed cursivescript, providing amazing recognition accuracy, espe-cially once users acclimate to writing with a plastic penon a plastic screen.

“Classroom Presenter: Enhancing Interactive Educa-tion and Collaboration with Digital Ink” by RichardAnderson and colleagues discusses a Tablet PC-basedinteraction system that supports the sharing of digitalink on slides between instructors and students anddescribes its use in classroom interaction scenarios. Theydemonstrate that the technology offers flexibility and arange of expression that can achieve a wide range ofeducational goals and foster a more participatory class-room environment.

In “Facilitating Pedagogical Practices through a Large-Scale Tablet PC Deployment,” Joe Tront describes themultifaceted, collaborative approach that faculty andstudents at the Virginia Tech College of Engineering areusing. They have begun exploration of the use of TabletPCs in engineering and computer science courses, work-ing with an implementation process that includes com-puter acquisition, faculty training, infrastructuremodifications, and multiple learning assessments.Preliminary results have been quite positive.

September 2007 33

Figure 1. Alan Kay’s Dynabook mockup, first shown in 1968.

Figure 2. Microsoft’s proof-of-concept Tablet PC based on

Transmeta’s early TM5800 processor (1999).

W e hope that these articles will raise your aware-ness and curiosity about tablet technology andencourage you to think about how you might

apply it in your own work. Thanks for your interest. ■

Jane Prey leads the Tablet Technologies in Higher Educationand the Gender/Pipeline initiatives at Microsoft Research.Prey received a PhD in instructional technology from theUniversity of Virginia. She is a member of the ACM Edu-cation Board as well as a former member of the board forACM SIGCSE. Contact her at jprey@microsoft.com.

Alf Weaver is a professor in the Department of ComputerScience, School of Engineering and Applied Science, at theUniversity of Virginia. His research interests include net-works, e-commerce, computer security, and computer appli-cations to medicine. Weaver received a PhD in computerscience from the University of Illinois. He is a Fellow of theIEEE and a member of the ACM. Contact him at acw@cs.virginia.edu.