Reaching through the Screen: Using a Tablet PC to Provide Feedback in Online Classes:

Abstract Growth in the number of online classes in higher education has provided additional post-secondary opportunities to students in rural communities. This growth has also resulted in challenges for students and faculty. Using the digital ink of a tablet PC to provide hand written feedback on document files allows faculty to efficiently provide precise feedback. Students indicate that feedback provided with the tablet PC contains clear information as well as a "human touch" for online assignments. Faculty members report the ease of using tablet PC technology increases the efficiency with which they can provide more detailed digital feedback. For many students, taking a college course often looks much different today than it did only a few years ago. No longer can we assume that taking university courscwork will involve the traditional trip to campus for face-to-face interaction with a professor and classmates. Recently, there has been rapid growth in the number of distance education (DE) classes in higher education. During the 1997-98 school year, only about 1/3 of the nation's post-secondary institutions offered any distance education courses. In 2000-2001, over 1/2 of these institutions reported having such course offerings, and this growth was accompanied by increased enrollments and expansion in the number of separate or different course offerings (Allen & Seaman, 2004; Lewis, Snow, Farris, & Levin, 1999; Waits & Lewis, 2003). Distance education can take a variety of formats ranging from faculty members traveling to remote sites for face-to-face course delivery to online instruction. Online courses, in special education, have increased dramatically, in part as a result of the need to generate more special education teachers to serve rural areas. Distance education offered through online course delivery, is the focus in this article. Although many students have welcomed the expansion of distance education classes, other students may feel they learn best through direct interaction with an instructor and other students, resulting in the perception that online instruction puts them at a disadvantage, by being too impersonal or isolating (Beard & Harper, 2002; Roberson & Klotz, 2002; Rovai, 2002). Some have also expressed perceived limitations with the quality of interactions with and feedback from the course instructor (Jennings & McCuller, 2004). These two issues, interactions and feedback, are among the factors believed to contribute significantly to effective web-based instruction (Swan, 2001). Communication and Feedback In a learning environment where students and instructors are separated from one another by physical distance, and in which written communication is the key to all interactions (Cray, 2002), feedback becomes an important issue in helping students maintain interest and be successful with course content (Klinger & Connet, 1992). Attention must be given to timeliness and quality of feedback, both of which have been concerns with online instruction. Some students have reported receiving limited feedback in online classes, while others have indicated that feedback becomes mechanical and impersonal (Jennings & McCuller, 2004) The systems in place to facilitate communication with instructors and/or other students are often cited as a critical feature of course design (Barker, 2001; FurstBowe, 2002; Hill, Han, & Raven, 2001). Students in online environments often "feel more alienated from their instructor than traditional students do," calling for instructors to provide more individualized feedback (Gray, 2002, p. 41). In a discussion about transactional distance and immediacy in the online classroom, Woods and Baker (2004) assert the distance between students and instructors might be more pedagogical than geographical, and instructors can construct an online learning community which facilitates positive social interactions and interpersonal communication. …