Abstract
The pen-enabled Tablet PCs(penTPC) has been adopted by increasing numbers of lecturers teaching in mathematically intensive disciplines within the study university. This uptake has been facilitated by the device’s capability to provide continuing support for established lecture-based approaches. Inherent in the lecture approach is the student activity of notetaking, with the quality of notetaking previously linked to subsequent student performance. In this study, lecturers and students were surveyed on their views on notetaking activity during lecture sessions, and on the potential provision of lecturer notes after class. Students placed high importance on notetaking, and while lecturers endorsed the activities of student notetaking in class and reviewing of material outside class, they did not appear to regard monitoring of these activities as being a lecturer responsibility. Furthermore, while the pen-enabled Tablet PC technology provides a range of enhanced capabilities for generating, displaying recording and distributing lecturer notes, a consistent approach to the use of these capabilities has not yet evolved. The study relates the observed student and lecturer views on notetaking to established theory and suggests directions for refining usage of this technology within contexts of both current and future development of pedagogic practices.
