1 Craig Prince General Examination Talk January 17,

2 Motivation Goal: Improve education by integrating computing devices into classroom. Do in low-cost, sustainable way. One way, leverage devices students carry! 2

3 Before I Begin… Who has a laptop or Tablet PC with them? Who has a cell phone or PDA with them? College Students: 86.1% Cell Phone 12.0% Smart Phone 11.9% PDA 56.3% Digital Gaming Device 73.7% Laptop Source: The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007

4 My Talk – In Three Parts Part I: Background Active Learning Classroom Responses Systems (CRSs) Different CRS activities Part II: Systems Tablet PC-based Handhelds Part III: Future Work Improve type of exercises on handhelds Integrate diverse handhelds into class 4

5 Part I: Background Active Learning Classroom Responses Systems (CRSs) Different CRS activities

6 Active Learning Active Learning = teaching pedagogy were best way to teach students is to have them be active in the learning process Abrahamsons Socratic teaching method Constructivism vs. Behaviorism Student needs to: Build on existing mental framework Incorporate existing knowledge and ideas 6 Abrahamson A. L. Teaching with Classroom Communication System – What it Involves and Why it Works. Mini-Course presented at the VII Taller Internacional "Nuevas Tendencias en la Ensenanza de la Fisica". Puebla, Mexico, May 27-30, 1999.

7 Quantitative Evidence Hakes study 62 physics courses >6000 students Set taught interactively Set taught traditionally (lecture focus) Students in interactive courses had learning gains 2 std. dev. greater than traditional courses Hake R. Interactive-engagement Versus Traditional Methods: A Six-thousand-student Survey of Mechanics Test Data for Introductory Physics Courses. American Journal of Physics, 66 (1), Jan

8 Active Learning in the Classroom Mazurs Peer Instruction Mechanism for Active Learning Basis for many classroom technologies Promotes: Discussing/collaborating between students Integrating student work into lectures Mazur, E. Peer Instruction: A User's Manual. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1997.

9 Classroom Network 9 Public Display Instructor Students A A A B B C D Classroom Network

10 Public Display Instructor Students Classroom Network Classroom Technology Cooperative Note- taking e.g. LiveNotes PowerPoint Slides Digital Whiteboards Digital Ink Presentation Tools Digital Whiteboards Classroom Response Systems Classroom Feedback Systems

11 Public Display Instructor Students Classroom Network Activity Classroom Response System (CRS): Learning Cycle Activity B

12 Multiple-Choice Example Clickers

13 Multiple-Choice Example 2 Classtalk

14 Textual Example 14

15 Diagrammatic Example

16 Diagrammatic Example

17 Image Example

18 Brainstorming Example

19 What Activity Types are Best? No quantitative studies showing digital ink makes for better activities in CRSs Advantages of Digital Ink Strictly more expressive Some activities clearly easier with Digital Ink Instructors like using these types of activities Disadvantages of Digital Ink Harder to aggregate/understand

20 Part II: Systems Tablet PC-based Handhelds

21 Tablet PC CRSs General Properties: Support many types of exercises Examples: Classroom Presenter Ubiquitous Presenter DyKnow GroupScribbles 21

22 Classroom Presenter Devices: Tablet PC Laptop Activities: Whole Slide, Ink/Text Features: Anonymous Submissions Push Model Limits: Cost Anderson R. J., Anderson R., Simon B., Wolfman S. A., VanDeGrift T., Yasuhara K. Experiences with a Tablet PC Based Lecture Presentation System in Computer Science Courses. SIGCSE '04, pp , Site:

23 Ubiquitous Presenter Devices: Web-browser Activities: Whole Slide, Text Multiple-choice Features: Same as Classroom Presenter Limits: Requires Web Server Wilkerson M, Griswold W. G., Simon B. Ubiquitous Presenter: Increasing Student Access and Control in a Digital Learning Environment. SIGCSE Site:

24 DyKnow Devices: Tablet PC Laptop Activities: Whole Slide, Ink/Text Multiple-choice Features: Integrated System Instructor Control Pull Model Limits: Cost DyKnow Website:

25 GroupScribbles Devices: Tablet PC Laptop Activities: Post-It Note, Ink/Text Features: Multi-part Activities Multiple Subs. Editing/Moving Sub. Limits: Cost Brecht J., DiGiano C., Patton C., Tatar D., Chaudhury R., Roschelle J., & Davis K. Coordinating networked learning activities with a general-purpose Interface. To appear in the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning.

26 Handheld CRSs General Properties: Many types of small devices Activities more limited Examples: Clickers Classtalk Pebbles ActiveClass PLS TXT UR Thoughts Ubiquitous Presenter (Mobile) 26

27 Clickers Devices: Custom Activities: Multiple-choice Features: Small and Affordable Scales to 100s Limits: Limited Utility HW Used for Wrong Reasons? Duncan D. Clickers: A New Teaching Aid with Exceptional Promise. Astronomy Education Review, 5(1), 2006.

28 Classtalk Devices: PDA Calculator (TI-83) Activities: Multiple-choice Short Answer Numeric Features: Binning (All Responses) Limits: PDA Cost/Popularity Dufresne R. J., Gerace W. J., Leonard W. J., Mestre J. P., Wenk L. Classtalk: A Classroom Communication System for Active Learning. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 7, 3-47, (1996).

29 Pebbles Devices: PDA Activities: Multiple-choice Question Asking Features: General Framework PebblesDraw Shared Whiteboard Limits: PDA Cost/Popularity Myers B. A. Using Hand-Held Devices and PCs Together. Communications of the ACM. Volume 44, Issue 11. November, pp. 34 – 41.

30 ActiveClass Devices: PDA Activities: Multiple-choice Question Asking Features: Voting on Questions Results Always Avail. Limits: PDA Cost/Popularity Ratto M., Shapiro R. B., Truong T. M., Griswold W. G. The ActiveClass Project: Experiments in Encouraging Classroom Participation. Computer Support for Collaborative Learning, 2003.

31 PLS TXT UR Thoughts Devices: Cell Phone Activities: Question Asking Features: SMS Communication Anonymous Limits: Recurring SMS Cost SMS Length (160) Markett C., Sanchez I. A., Weber S., Tangney B. Using short message service to encourage interactivity in the classroom. Computers & Education, , 2006.

32 Ubiquitous Presenter (mobile) Devices: Cell Phone Activities: Multiple-choice Short Answer Camera-based Features: SMS Abbreviations Anonymous Limits: Recurring SMS/MMS Cost Lindquist D., Denning T., Kelly M., Malani R., Griswold W. G., and Simon B. Exploring the Potential of Mobile Phones for Active Learning in the Classroom. SIGCSE 07, March 2007.

33 Summary of All Systems Digital InkTextual Multiple- choice Whole SlidePost-It Whole Slide? Asking Short AnswerNumeric Tablet PC CPGrp. Scrb.CPDyKnow Laptop CPGrp. Scrb.CPDyKnow Ubiq. Pres. PDA ActiveClassClasstalk PebblesActiveClass Pebbles Calculator Classtalk Phone Ubiq. Mob.PLS TXTUbiq. Mob. Custom Clickers

34 Summary of All Systems Digital InkTextual Multiple- choice Whole SlidePost-It Whole Slide? Asking Short AnswerNumeric Tablet PC CPGrp. Scrb.CP DyKnow Grp. Scrb. Laptop CPGrp. Scrb.CP DyKnow Ubiq. Pres. Grp. ScrbGrp. Scrb. PDA ActiveClassClasstalk PebblesActiveClass Pebbles Calculator Classtalk Phone Ubiq. Mob.PLS TXTUbiq. Mob. Custom Clickers

35 Part III: Future Work Improve type of exercises on handhelds Integrate diverse handhelds into class

36 Integrate Existing Devices Increase Mobile Interaction Enabling Adoption? 36 $$$$ Expressiveness Cost Digital Ink Multiple Choice

37 Challenges Increasing Mobile Interaction Understand types of activities How to do them on mobile devices Using Existing Devices Dealing with heterogeneous mix of devices 37

38 Steps to Tackle Challenges 1. Look at styles of activities supported on different devices esp. what interactions are needed 2. Look at how well each device feature performs on these activity styles 3. Explore techniques for making activity styles feasible on mobile devices and test 4. Develop application that supports multiple device types 5. Develop tool for designing activities to suit multiple devices – design activity once, translate to several devices 6. Develop tool for taking responses of different forms and interpreting/aggregating them 38

39 Step 1: Activity Styles Taxonomy What: Activity Patterns: Brecht et al., DiGiano et al. Classroom Presenter observations Other Education Work Focus on CRS activities Hierarchical Taxonomy Goal: Benchmark How: Large Corpus of Activities Compile Taxonomy Manually Expand as needed

40 Step 1: Potential Activity Styles Locate Item On Image Single/Multiple items? Location? Scale? Boundaries? Create a Diagram Elements? Labels? Connectivity? Modify/Complete a Diagram Structure? Labels? Highlight a Diagram

41 Step 2: Existing Techniques What: Given device capabilities, quantize performance Test feasibility of activity for each device Use existing research where avail. Text input speed on different devices Pointing task research Focus on diagrammatic/image responses How: Literature review Implement techniques Lab studies to test performance on benchmarks

42 Device Input Capabilities Input Modality (Hardware)Example Mobile Devices KeyboardLaptop, Tablet PC (hybrid) KeypadMobile Phone Directional Pad (2-way, 4-way, or 8- way) Mobile Phone, PDA, Gaming Device MouseLaptop (external) TrackballLaptop (external) Touchpad (relative motion only)Laptop JoystickGaming Device AccelerometerMobile Phone, PDA Stylus/PenTablet PC, PDA Touch-screeniPhone, Tablet PC (some) CameraMobile Phone, iPhone

43 Device Screen Sizes 43

44 Step 3: New Techniques What: No adequate techniques? Try to invent new ones How: Identify gaps from prev. step Examples: Stylus drawing on small screen w/ large virtual canvas Drawing arbitrary regions without stylus Test performance using lab tests

45 Step 3: Example Arbitrary Regions Rubber-band?

46 Step 4: Develop Application What: Base on Classroom Presenter Requirements: Identify device type/capabilities Screen size/resolution Open platforms? Android? How: Use existing standards: Ubiquitous Presenter uses HTML and JavaScript Wifi or SMS for networking Support for: 1. Stylus Devices (Tablet PC, PDA, Smart Phone, Nintendo DS) 2. Touch Screen 3. Keypad Success = deployment & support for devices

47 Step 5: Instructor Design Tools What: Consider classroom issues with different devices Envy Equality Given benefits/drawbacks of different modalities, Recommend alternative activity types? Balance activity types given? How: Tool Input Instructor activity (PowerPoint?) Activity metadata Tool Internals Determine activity type Optimizes interaction for each device in class Tool Output Recommendations for activity types Evaluate with user-study of tool

48 Step 6: Instructor Class Usage What: Use activity metadata Use salient regions of responses Understand and aggregate results Finding common misconceptions How: Unsupervised/semi-supervised clustering Evaluation Test data from real classes Measure success on data User-study to observe utility

49 Step 6: Example Tic-Tac-Toe X, X, O O, O, X X, X, O == ?

50 Conclusions Two Problems Increasing Mobile Interaction Using Existing Devices Solution Activities and devices Tools: Enable multiple devices Help instructor Goal Make deploying CRSs a reality Improve Education

51 Questions? 51