I may be a little off topic, but I could use some help and the forum members here may be the type that can assist me.

I'm H.S. a math teacher. I had been contemplating tablet PC; I even purchased one. But eventually I gave up on using it because it wasn't quite working out as I hoped. I felt that nothing beats actual pen and paper for keeping attendance, grades, and any other kinds of notes.

To be honest, the only program that I tried was GradeKeeper. But GK was not all that intuitive, didn't really make much use of a tablet (and its pen). I found it rather convoluted.

All I really want is a simple to use program where I can put something as simple as a check mark and have the H.W. recorded (as handed in), enter a test score and have it recorded, attendance, etc. And I don't want each interaction with the program to have to be an ordeal. I want to be able to look at it, and tell a student: you owe me such and such H.W. or your GPA right now is, you need to take this and that test. And I want it to be all easily done with a pen and paper like feel. In other words I want the ease of use of actual pen and paper, combined with the computing ability of a PC. For the most part most programs I've seen like gradekeeper, and gradequick, and a few others are really not that simple, intuitive, or quick to interact with.

Maybe something that will help me keep track of calendar stuff and what not, like -this week is regents, Monday school is closed, and eventually I'd like to be able to have my pacing calendar set up -something to help me keep organized, without having to carry a ton of papers, binders, etc.

Does such technology exist yet or is it still in the making?

My classes are composed of a population that resists education and will break into absolute chaos the split second I break rhythm. And usually it's nearly impossible to get them back. I need a tablet and software that will not strive to become the center of my attention, but a quick and reliable tool.

I think I've become redundant and possibly whining, so I'll stop here. But if you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you in advance.

I moved your post into its own thread so that others could read and chime in with their thoughts.

The Tablet PC is a full computer, generally loaded with Windows XP. Software that runs on the XP should operate on the Tablet PCs.

Now, is there ink enabled software available? You might start with Active Ink and see if there is something there for you.

__________________
Layne P. Heiny / Administrator for Tux Reports Network

Please do not send private messages requesting technical support. Place your request in the proper forum and hopefully someone can help you.

Computer Sites
Tablet PC Blogs | Technology Questions | Tablet PC Post | Windows Vista | What Is New

Prelaunch
Insane Politics

Thanks.

Just to add, I took a gander at the "Using Tablet PC: A Guide for Educators" document, through a link I found in these forums.

WOW -Active Ink is not for NYC teachers. We can't afford that.

So your school doesn't have a standard attendance application that it requires you to use? Or are you hoping to find an alternate?

As Layne suggested, with forms apps you can build your own. Here are a few of the more popular forms packages:

ActiveInk Software
Design Universe
Mi-Co

They are all enterprise level applications, so you might talk with your IT staff about allowing other teachers to use the apps too.

__________________
-- Lora Heiny

TabletPCPost | WhatIsNew | TechnologyQuestions

Lora, thanks for the response I really appreciate it.

To answer your question -no, my school is not using any electronic grade book yet. I think they're contemplating gradeQuick.

But I guess what I'm looking for doesn't really exist. I'm not rally looking to need a PhD to use some of these programs available (excelsior gradebook2, gradeQuick, and some others). And I don't want to have to spend 20 billion dollars on these softwares that will require 8 million years for me to learn to design my own.

The reason I'm looking for a program to assist me with grade book keeping, is because I want to streamline my work, not increase my workload. I don't want to add more work for me to do. If the software isn't going to be responsive on the fly, then I can't justify using it, over good old fashion pen and paper. And it seems that there does not exist anything that can math the speed of pen and paper.

Wow, I probably sound bitter or something. Well maybe I'm a little grouchy; but not at you Lora, I appreciate the feedback. I'm just mad at myself for wasting my money on a tablet. They're useless -at doing what I want to do- and expensive.

I had forgotten this until just now...

DyKnow has an attendance piece in their app. DyKnow

__________________
-- Lora Heiny

TabletPCPost | WhatIsNew | TechnologyQuestions

When I've talked with schools they repeatedly say that they find value in two products -- OneNote & DyKnow. Now, this is primarily lecture / presentation driven. But since you have a Tablet now, check them out then see if they appeal.

What other things are you trying to do that you haven't sorted through how yet?

__________________
-- Lora Heiny

TabletPCPost | WhatIsNew | TechnologyQuestions

I guess what I am I really looking to find is a piece of software that would let me actually hand write/tick attendance and maybe enter grades, as if I wre doing it on a piece of paper; but at the same time, let it be digital enough, so that it's not just an annotation, but a digital record that can keep track of overall attendance, grades, homeworks, etc.