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By Technology Review

April 2003

No More Notebooks

The idea of creating a "paperless classroom" had been drifting around the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences for about four years, so when the latest generation of e-tablets came out last November, the department was ready to test the concept in one of its courses. It purchased a handful of e-tablets, which are about the size of laptops and function like spiral notebooks, and distributed them to a few students in Gerald Schneider's neuroscience and behavior class to use in place of paper.

Using a wireless connection, the students downloaded course materials, PowerPoint presentations, audio files, and colored anatomy handouts. Then, during lectures, they wrote notes onto the electronic materials in their tablets and saved them. At the same time, Schneider says, he used his e-tablet as a chalkboard, projecting his notes and drawings for students to capture on their machines.

Students in Schneider's lab made the experiment possible. Led by Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, PhD '02, the students, anticipating the day when e-tablets would make the paperless project feasible, had spent three and one-half years converting all the department's course materials and handouts into digital formats.

The computerized notebooks were distributed to students in five other courses this spring. "The tablets are going to change students' habits," says Ellis-Behnke. "It's going to be fascinating watching that transformation."