Experiences with an electronic whiteboard teaching laboratory and tablet PC based lecture presentations [DSP courses]

This paper presents our experience in constructing an electronic whiteboard-based computer laboratory for teaching digital signal processing (DSP) courses in Australian undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Student interaction with the electronic whiteboard-based tutorial class environment is also reported. Away from the laboratory, DSP lectures were presented using a tablet PC as a digital whiteboard. This supported high quality handwriting annotation of lecture slides, and overcame the limited flexibility present in the existing PowerPoint mode of lecture delivery. For selected self-paced tutorial questions, solutions were provided in electronic format comprising the lecturer´s handwritten explanation on a blank slide, input using the tablet PC, combined with audio commentary. An evaluation of student opinions towards this multi-mode delivery of DSP education was illuminating, and the overall experience with these technological aids was that signal processing could be effectively and naturally taught with high student attention span.