Handheld wireless-computing technology was implemented in

several University of Wisconsin language courses this week.

The new technology is part of a project put forth by the College

of Letters and Science’s Learning Support Services Instructor

Network for Teaching in a Multimedia Environment (IN TIME) program

and a grant from Hewlett Packard, Inc. awarded to LSS in the summer

of 2002.

Equipment, including laptops, handheld digital assistants and

wireless-networking equipment was included in the grant, Learning

Support Services director Read Gilgen said. He added that the UW

also received a monetary donation from the computer company. The

supplies will be used in about 15 programs designed to provide a

more effective undergraduate educational experience at the

University of Wisconsin with the implementation of emerging

technologies.

Some programs include the use of wireless devices to work with

sound files in foreign-language programs, laptops and handhelds to

conduct chat sessions with students in other countries or, in some

cases, wireless handhelds to improve student interaction in

discussions.

One such program, being implemented by comparative-literature

professor Keith Cohen, involves the use of wireless-handheld

devices in his Comparative Literature 203 course. In discussion

sections this week, students taking the course were given

state-of-the-art wireless devices provided by HP and asked to view

a short film. After the film was shown, students were asked to

respond to the film using their handhelds and send the information

back to the teaching assistant’s central laptop. The students then

discussed their reactions.

“Everyone had to comment — not just the person who raised [his

or her] hand,” said UW freshman and Comp Lit 203 student Kate

Robin. “There was more student involvement,” Robin added.

Teaching assistants for the class also noticed a significant

difference in student interaction. “It definitely made the

discussion more lively,” teaching assistant for the class Drago

Momcilovic said.

LSS’s IN TIME program is working with HP in coordination with

Division of Information Technology and various members of the LSS

staff. The program started in the late 1990s and has implemented

several successful projects for integrating technological advances

into teaching methods in recent years.

The current program is part of a third round of projects and

experiments executed by IN TIME and designed to begin

implementation of technology in the classroom.

“We encourage faculty not to start out by revamping an entire

course but to start small by revising three or four lectures,”

Gilgen said. “After their (pilot) semester is over, they typically

implement their [solution] on a larger, broader scale.”

HP’s call for grant proposals included the company’s goals for

the initiative. The program stated its goal “to positively

influence the teaching and learning experience of students on

campus,” and “to stimulate explorations in emerging technologies,”

as stated in the original proposal.

Grants from HP were awarded to four universities including the

UW, though UW’s grant was the only award given to a

humanities-oriented project.