Draft:MIS 202 Microcomputers in Business - Paulson

About This Article

This article describes how mobile computing, specifically tablets, was piloted in Professor Pat Paulson's MIS 202 Microcomputers in Business to transform teaching and learning.

Intended Audience

WSU instructors interested in past faculty experience with tablet devices in the classroom.

Spring 2013 Android Pilot

Students in this course had access to a Samsung Tab 2 Android tablet to use throughout the spring semester along with several apps selected by Professor Paulson for use in class and in the field.

How the Samsungs are Used in MIS 202

Students were assigned tasks to do throughout the semester. In the past, these tasks were all performed on the students' laptops. In this pilot, select tasks were assigned on both the laptop and the tablet to determine whether the tablet was a viable choice for business-related task completion.

During this pilot course, Professor Paulson hoped to:

• Determine if tablets are viable educational tools. As tablets become more ubiquitous in business, learning how they work and what they can do was a must for MIS majors. Professor Paulson realized it was important to determine if their introduction into the classroom as a business tool held educational value.

Outcomes

Changes in the classroom

• Tablets were accepted by the student body. Professor Paulson and his students found that some tasks were readily accomplished on the tablets while others were more time consuming or difficult. Students reported that once they were past the learning curve for the new device that many operations were easy to do on the tablet and the tablet's mobility lent itself to being carried and used.

Recommendations

• Conferences, SIGs, and meetings. Sponsored by TLT, this training would help faculty understand the tablets and prepare for their immersion in the classroom.
• Training on Office 365, SkyDrive, and Google Drive. Professor Paulson's experience shows that learning the cloud-based tools is as much or more of a challenge than the tablets and other applications.

Android Applications Employed in MIS 202

Professor Paulson used the following applications in his MIS 202 tablet pilot:

• Adobe Connect
• Microsoft Word
• Outlook Web Access
• Polaris Office
• Skype

Descriptions, pricing, and links to Google Play for each of these applications is available on the Android Pilot Applications page.

More Information

Related Wiki Topics

• Faculty Starter Application Set
• SPED 414 and SPED 415 - Danneker
• EDUC 335 and SPED 425 - Reap Danneker
• BIOL 211-212 Anatomy and Physiology - Hiddinga
• BIOL 310 Genetics - Hiddinga
• MKTG 365 Advanced Professional Selling - Collins
• Wellness Exchange
• CS 275 Mathematical Foundations of Algorithms - Gegg-Harrison
• College Bound
• SPED 300 Children and Youth With Exceptionalities - Kirk Street Ellis