Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better than PowerPoint?

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» Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better than PowerPoint?

I've seen a number of educators who are using Microsoft Journal and their Tablet PC to prepare and deliver presentations in class. I'm intrigued by the simplicity - and how in many ways, it is better than PowerPoint...

Let me show you what I mean. I've created a quick demo (~4min) and uploaded it to YouTube:

If you have had any experience using Journal in the classroom, please add a comment and share some of your "best practices". Do you think it's better than PowerPoint? I look forward to hearing your thoughts...

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Program Manager - Worldwide Higher Education Philanthropy
Hewlett-Packard

For information about the HP Technology for Teaching philanthropy initiative in higher education, visit www.hp.com/go/hpteach-hied

Posted by Jim Vanides on Thursday, October 04, 2007 7:27 PM

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Comments for Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better than PowerPoint?

Re: Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better th

Well, I think this is dead on and exactly matches my experiences.
I mostly prefer Journal over Powerpoint when I want to explain   things interactively. Powerpoint ist very good for presentations, but in classroom situations I like to have a the possibility to do things "on the fly".
A plain PPT presentation is just to "sterile" for my taste, and writing/sketching things on the go forces me to slow down to a pace my students are able to follow.

In comparison to the chalkboard (or whiteboard) your clip shows many advantages. I just want to add that using Journal I am able to face the class all the time, resulting in a closer contact and keeping some of them from throwing around things behind my back ;-)

There's still two things I'd like to be improved with Windows Journal:
For one I'd like to be able to customize the icon bars (e.g. add "Convert to text" and "group" functions),
and secondly I'd like to have the option to really use "endless" paper, that meand I'm not forced to switch pages as I'm going - I'd rather like to do this later on before printing, if necessary.

Good job - I'm looking forward to your next installments :-)
Andy

Posted by andykroell on 10/6/2007 9:24 AM
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Re: Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better th

I think PowerPoint has it's place, but it is probably not in the classroom. An exception is probably those publisher supplied PowerPoints that match a textbook. For a long time I have not used PowerPoint in the classroom, not since I discovered digital ink. The ability to annotate PowerPoint is fabulous, but even there I often print the PowerPoint to MS Journal (or to SMART Notebook, or to DyKnow Vision) because I can mark it up better there and make use of the tools you give in your second video. Much of my "lecturing" now consists of cutting and pasting and annotating into a software like Journal. You are on to something Jim. Journal and its other whiteboarding cousins are the way to go. By the way, not just in the classroom, I often print student submissions to Journal to mark it up before returning the graded assignment to the student. My blog entry on yours is here http://learnecon.blogspot.com/2007/10/whiteboarding-with-tablet-pcs-in.html Stop by anytime. Steve Myers

Posted by campnmug on 10/6/2007 4:14 PM
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Re: Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better th

I generally prefer Journal over PowerPoint - it promotes a more active presentation style for the class than a typical PowerPoint lecture (static material with an instructor lecturing over it).

I've mostly used OneNote over Journal due to its superior range of features. It's certainly better as a tool for organizing notes. I've recently had to re-evaluate OneNote as a lecturing tool though when I met a middle school math teacher that uses a tablet in his classroom. He has quite a nice setup with a wireless projector and Promethean board with voting clickers. One thing that struck me was his preference of using Journal over OneNote. His main reason is that in Journal he has the option to save and overwrite his notes, while OneNote is constantly saving.

Why? He makes a template of the lesson before class in Journal, marks it up during class, then cancels saving at the end. This preserves his original template and it can be used again for the next class.

In OneNote, he would have to make a copy of the OneNote file or erase all the added ink from the class session.

I've been erasing ink when I want to re-use a OneNote template, which is a bit time consuming.

Posted by kenrick@acm.org on 10/7/2007 3:29 PM
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Re: Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better th

I'd prefer oneNote over PowerPoint and MS Journal. From my limitted experience, I think oneNote interacts better with MS Office. Can anyone share more experience?

Posted by chang_yc on 10/10/2007 9:02 PM
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For teaching the next class, I'd save a unique copy for a specific class and use the right copy for the right class. Thus, no need to erase ink to re-use.

Posted by chang_yc on 10/10/2007 9:16 PM
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Journal - Better than PowerPoint?

Hi Jim.

I started using Journal for presentations back when Tablet PCs first came out, primarily for its annotation and digital link capabilities, and sometimes still present with Journal, I went back to PowerPoint long ago for several reasons:

1) I just get my presentations done a lot quicker when using PowerPoint, esp. when I clone a previous presentation and morph it into a new one.

If I need digital ink and ad hoc annotations, I temporarily switch to Journal, write and draw, and then get back into PowerPoint.

2) I need PowerPoint's basic tools like bullet lists, spell-checker and rich text formating

3) As much a Tablet PC aficionado as I am, I am foremost an asynchronous learning evangelist and PowerPoint gives us better tools for creating asynchronous class materials, like on-demand narrated PowerPoint presentations delivered via Flash or Java, cross-platform playback (Windows and Mac -- a Journal Reader for Mac and Windows Mobile would help here), creating handouts, self-paced mini-lectures, this is all easy and possible with PowerPoint, and not with Journal.

You will still find me using Journal a la John Madden, however, all the time and at any time, for live presentations, Webcasts and for notetaking and brainstorming. I also use OneNote, GoBinder and the Blackboard Backpack client (i.e. GoBinder for Blackboard). I really like OneNote's rich feature-set and that convenient little voice recording button, but Journal is easy, free and quite useful.

--- Ed Garay
    University of Illinois at Chicago 


		Posted by eagaray on 10/11/2007 7:05 AM

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Re: Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better th

Hi Everyone, I read this post a few days ago and decided to try Journal instead of PPT. Didn't really like the experience at first, for lack of animation and ability to link to other media. Also missed the clear typed text. So I blended the two, PPT and Journal. I prepared my lessons in PPT, then printed to Journal. Then simply added a page between slides for all the positive reasons presented in this discussion. As for the links to other media, just opened them before class and simply toggled to the ones I needed. Now enjoying it quite a bit. Cheers,

Posted by nxlutz on 10/11/2007 11:48 AM
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Re: Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better th

TabletPC is to whiteboard as computer with word processing software is to typewriter.

I had a professor who who used a tablet PC, it's a huge benefit to the students. I've also used a tablet in some instructional capacity as a graduate student TA and I've found it to be an excellent tool. I use it for ALL my homework assignments, then I print out a copy to turn in. I also take all my course notes on the tablet too.

Several key observations:

1) By storing a journal presentation and making it available online, you free students from having to take notes. I can't count the number of times I've had to stop taking notes in a class in order to process and digest the material, only to have the instructor erase what he wrote before I get a chance to copy it down.

2) Copying sections of your presentation can be a huge timesaver. Say you create a table/diagram, and then you need to create a similar table or diagram with only several changes to compare to the original. Just copy the first section and paste. There have been a number of times when I take notes in a class where a professor does this, and he's copying and redrawing his sketch from one whiteboard to another and I just copy and paste the same material in my own notes, and then I sit and wait.

3) You never run out of room. Instructors often draw themselves into a corner on whiteboards, then they flounder around trying to fit everything in. With a tablet, just reposition an entire page or insert some space, and you're ready to go.

4) Awesome for math equations. Saves lots of erasers from an early death.

Posted by davebenham on 10/11/2007 12:20 PM
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No Smell!

Many thanks to all of you who have posted comments! Your additional perspectives have me thinking more deeply about when PowerPoint might be better - and Ed Garay's comment about using BOTH PowerPoint and Journal is a good example of being thoughtfully selective. Nice!

I also like a comment posted by Layne Heiny at UMPC Buzz (http://www.umpcbuzz.com/blogs/umpc_buzz/archive/2007/10/05/Journal-over-PowerPoint-in-the-Classroom.aspx). Layne adds two more important considerations: "A second advantage (not discussed) is the lack of marker smell and not dealing with the dry markers getting all over your hands. Finally, dry markers run out of ink whereas digital ink is always available." For those of you who miss the smell, just keep an open pen in your shirt pocket. For the rest of us, we'll simply breath easier...

- Jim Vanides

Posted by jgvanides on 10/11/2007 3:42 PM
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Re: Tablet PC Tip #2: MS Journal - Better th

Not to be negative, but I don't understand why everyone is acting like you can't write on PowerPoint slides - you can! There is an update from Ms if this is not already on your tablet. I do this everyday - face the class, show the slide, fill in blanks, draw diagrams, answer questions, etc. I'm now looking at Classroom Presenter, free from U Washington, that adds a whiteboard and slide-shrinker to give more room to write. - Norris

Posted by preyern on 11/1/2007 9:20 PM
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