Mohave Community College is a 4-campus rural desert system spread out over the fifth areally-largest county in the U.S. The large distances between the campuses challenge the consistency of our course offerings in the sciences and engineering. We incorporated HP Mobile Technology into three core science courses: Fundamental Chemistry, General Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, and, to a lesser initial extent, Introductory Biology. We have already realized greatly increased student performance and satisfaction in these courses, compared to that at the control campus, which did not utilize any HP Mobile Technology.

Useful Resources: 1) Alias Sketchbook, a graphic tool. 2) Anatomy and Physiology Revealed, An Interactive Cadaver Experience, McGraw-Hill Higher Education Div.).

Manipulation of Anatomic Images Utilizing Real Time Communication Between Student and Professor

Accomplishments We have already realized an approximately 20 percent increase in academic perfomance in 15 areas of Fundamental Chemistry during Final Examinations by students at the HP Mobile Technology-impacted campus, compared to students at the non-impacted campus. In Fundamental Chemistry the Student Satisfaction surveys demonstrated a 1) 90 percent agreement that the use of the HP Laptops was "very effective" in helping students perform experiments in the laboratory, 2) 80-84 percent agreement that the use of the tablet function to outline lab steps in Flow Diagrams and recall them during the actual experiment was "very useful", 3) 91 percent agreement that posting Power Point lectures on the online educational platform Blackboard, to be accessed wirelessly, was "very helpful", 4) 87 percent agreement that learning how to draw with the stylus and use the graphic functions (e.g. Alias Sketchbook") while the HP Tablets was "very easy", and 5) 93 percent agreement that it was "very easy" to save the student's work for future access. Similarly, Anatomy and Physiology students trained by digital exercises (e.g. Anatomy and Physiology Revealed, An Interactive Cadaver Experience, McGraw-Hill Higher Education Div.) using the student HP laptops realized a 5 percent increase in objective cognitive assessment and in subjective student assessment, compared to those students taught in a separate Anatomy and Physiology course-section using traditional methodology (cadaver dissection, physiology lab exercises). In Introductory Biology the use of the HP Tablets to record microscopic observations of microbial cell structures was evaluated against traditional methodologies (e.g. pencil and paper). Finally, and most exciting, many students in the HP Mobile Technology-impacted lower-division Fundamental Chemistry courses are now so stimulated by the wonders of Chemistry that they are enrolling in our upper-division two-semester General Chemistry courses, and are now focussing on matriculating to more ambitious four-year college programs in science.

What was your approach and/or what evidence have you gathered? The traditional approach: Power-Point based lecture format, standardized exams, and a hard-copy based set of laboratory exercises. HP Mobile Technology approach: 1) Post our Power-Point lectures on Blackboard, an on-line educational platform, which students access before, after, and real-time using the HP laptops. 2) Digital camera-record all steps of our Chemistry laboratory experiments, which students access before and during laboratory exercises, using the on line tool and the HP laptops. 3) Students draw “Flow Diagrams” of each lab step using Tablet graphic programs, then access during the lab. 4) Anatomy and Physiology students used digital exercises (Anatomy and Physiology Revealed, An Interactive Cadaver Experience, McGraw-Hill Higher Education Div.). 5) Introductory Biology students draw microscope-based obervation of microbial cells, -structures and animal and human tissue types, using the laptops in Tablet function, the stylus and Alias Sketchbook graphic program.

Connecting Microscopy and HP Tablet Technology

Microscope Observations and Drawings Using HP Tablet and Alias Sketchbook, in Intro Biology Lab.

Typical Lab Step Digitally-Photographed and Uploaded Real Time During Lab Experiment

Chemistry student teamwork promoted by laptop-provided student Flow Diagrams and Digital Photos of Lab Steps

Chemistry student executing Lab procedure as shown, using wireless-uploaded digital photo of same step