Classroom Technology
Steve Wolfman UW CSE Education & Educational Technology Research Group
Educational Technology
…in the winter of 1813 & '14 … I attended a mathematical school kept in Boston…On entering [the] room, we were struck at the appearance of an ample Black Board suspended on the wall, with lumps of chalk on a ledge below, and cloths hanging at either side. I had never heard of such a thing before. [Samuel J. May, 1855]
Technologies in the Classroom
Challenges for Classroom Technologies
“Raise the floor” [Nass]
Don’t “lower the ceiling” [Nass] Sculpt an effective design space
Secure adoption!
Our projects
Classroom Presenter
Initial development at MSR
Classroom Feedback System Structured Interaction Presentations
Classroom Presenter
Initial problem
Develop a distributed presentation space for use in a distance learning class
Later
Many of the same issues / challenges in large lecture classroom
Large lecture classes
Challenges
Maintaining attention Communication Feedback from students Flexibility in presentation materials Conducting activities in class
Background studies
Studied UW CSE PMP
Interviews, Surveys, Observations
Presentation environment “PowerPoint is a pain for the same reason it’s a pain in a non-distance course, the slides impose a rigid structure on the lecture and make it more difficult to adjust to the interactions that occur during it.” “PowerPoint sucks the life out of a class.”
Greatest pain in distance course
Important features
Wireless Integration of High Quality Ink and Slides Multiple views “Performance UI”
Classroom Deployments
Spring 2002
Database (Masters)
Summer 2002
Introductory Programming (142) Introductory Programming (Ext 142)
Fall 2002
Introductory Programming (143) Algorithms (417) Software Engineering (403) Languages (413) Compilers (Masters)
Results
Observation, instructor comments, logging Positive reception from instructors
Sustained use of writing through full term Wide range of use
Highlighting / Attention Derivations / Diagrams Recording comments
Student response:
no less more change
Attention to 4% lecture Understanding 2% of lecture
39% 52%
57% 46%
Results
System easy to use Flexible navigation important
Superior to shuffling transparencies
Auxiliary inking surfaces useful
Whiteboard, border, mylar
Pen based UI for navigation and controls is critical
Generally works well (large buttons, workflow) Remaining issues
Questions
What is the educational impact of Presenter?
Across different disciplines, teaching styles Different components of the system
UI Issues for delivering presentations Future development plans
Integration with viewer devices Expand use of ink Manipulatives to go beyond virtual whiteboard
Classroom Feedback System
Student feedback does not scale Encourage participation Ease of expression If the method does scale, how does the instructor make sense of it
Design choices
Low attention requirements Embed in context of the slide
Slides are the mediating artifact
Avoid having to compose questions Instructor control of feedback
Fixed feedback
Example, More Information, Got It Slow Down, Question, Explain, Cool Topic
Experiment
Roughly 12 students given laptops to use in class 3 week deployment in CSE 142
4 weeks no intervention 2 weeks Tablet PC 3 weeks Tablet PC + feedback system
Extensive observations, logging, surveys, interviews
Results
Mixed results
Classroom culture not what we had expected Instructor goals different than expected Pre CFS: 2.4 (spoken) episodes per class With CFS:
Interactions did increase
2.6 (spoken) episodes per class 14.8 (feedback) episodes per class
Discovered new interaction patterns
Structured Interaction Presentations
Assume students have wireless devices Build interactive activities into lecture Computer support to overcome logistical barriers
Why Computer Support?
Facilitate execution Unify design Enforce polices
Why Structure?
Attain broader participation and more input Achieve specific goals Spread cognitive effort over planning time Mediate classroom activity Share activities across instructors and across terms
Example: America Before Columbus [Cross and Angelo]
1.
How many people lived in North America in 1491?
2.
How many years had they been there by 1491?
3.
What significant achievements had they made in that time?
1.
About how many people lived in North America in 1491?
Your Impressions of America Before Columbus
2.
About how many years had they been on this continent by 1491?
3.
What significant achievements had they made in that time?
Your Impressions of America Before Columbus
1.
About how many people lived in North % completed America in 1491? About how many years had they been on this continent by 1491? % completed What significant achievements had they made in that time? % completed
2.
3.
How many people?
0
10
100
1000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000 10,000,000
From
400
To
2,500,000
“Solving” Natural Language
Problem: handling free text responses in class is impractical Solution: “distributed student computation”
allows rapid, in-class turnaround can be pedagogically sound
Significant Achievements
Get together with your neighbor and:
rate the significance of each achievement note if an achievement repeats an earlier one
Significant Achievements
Get together with your neighbor and:
rate the significance of each achievement note if an achievement repeats an earlier one
1 . T ho s e b ig m o und s
2 . Hunting
R e p e at o f:
3 . S us tainab le living
R e p e at o f:
4 . B o w & arro w
R e p e at o f:
2
5 . A uto m o b ile
R e p e at o f:
Significant achievements
Credits
University of Washington
Ruth Anderson, Steve Wolfman, Tammy Vandegrift, Fred Videon, Ken Yasuhara
Microsoft Research, Learning Sciences and Technology Group
Jay Beavers, Jack Davis, Randy Hinrichs, Alvin Hui, Chris Moffat, Steve Wolfman
UW CSE Education & Educational Technology Projects
Professional Masters’ Program Tutored Video Instruction Program CSE 142/143 Classroom Assessment Tools