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Learning technology was born to be WILD: How wireless handhelds may change education

Learning technology was born to be WILD: How wireless handhelds may change education. Roy Pea Stanford University. Jeremy Roschelle SRI International. And the WILD Team: John Brecht, Mark Chung, Chris DiGiano, Sarah Lewis, Judy Li, Charlie Patton, Deborah Tatar, Phil Vahey, Wenming Ye.

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Learning technology was born to be WILD: How wireless handhelds may change education

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  1. Learning technology was born to be WILD: How wireless handhelds may change education Roy PeaStanford University Jeremy Roschelle SRI International And the WILD Team:John Brecht, Mark Chung, Chris DiGiano, Sarah Lewis, Judy Li, Charlie Patton, Deborah Tatar, Phil Vahey, Wenming Ye

  2. What is WILD?Wireless Internet Learning Devices • A Theme at SRI’s Center for Technology In Learning, and now at Stanford University, too • Since 1997 at SRI: • CILT Ubiquitous Computing Theme • Palm Educational Pioneer Grants • NSF SimCalc Connected Devices project • TeamLab Assessment Prototype • Texas Instruments New Collaborative Products • NSF “Wireless Handhelds for Improving Reflection on Learning”

  3. Why go WILD? “Innovation and Adoption” (2002) Exploratorium

  4. WILDs will be compellingSchools now spend $121/student on tech • Wired Desktops • Expensive • Schedule in advance • 3-6 students/ device • Prepared school rooms • Complex, crashing • Wireless Handhelds • More affordable • Ready at hand • 1:1 device/ student • Anytime, anywhere • Simple, reliable Enables a transition from occasional, supplemental use at school to frequent, integral use……………………. Time on Task

  5. Wireless: What does that include? • IR (Infrared beaming, 1-2 ft with Palms, can be more with specialized equipment) • Bluetooth (~ 1 mbps: Personal Area Networking, 30 ft.) • 802.11b (“Wi-Fi”: ~10 Mbps, 300 ft.) • 802.11a (~50 Mbps, 300 ft.) • NOTE: IEEE standards for 802.11.b and 802.11.a only since September 1999 • NOTE: Free “symbiotic grid” movement in metro areas

  6. “Honey, who shrunk the computer?”No! Think really differently We argue that change is coming and fast: • In kinds of systems we can and will build • In kinds of activity structures they readily support • In evolving theoretical focus and research needed • In stakeholders to be involved

  7. Overview of our talk • Examine a series of early, generative WILD prototypes across the field • Abstract some categories of surfacing trends • Suggest an integrative vision • Speculate on where we go from here and some of the key needs for broad adoption

  8. Example 1: ClassTalk (patented 1989) Students respond individually Teacher presents question Instant histogram results; better assessment data to guide instruction

  9. Expands to Image Map:Take the pulse assessment broadly useful for imagery, visualizations, maps, graphs…

  10. 2: ProbeWare/Sensor-Based ScienceNumber One PEP Grant type: Water Quality Kids get “out of the box” http://palmgrants.sri.com

  11. Example 3: Participatory SimulationsDevices mediate physical interactions to explore scientific concepts Work at MediaLab, Utah, Northwestern, CSCL 2002

  12. Example 4: The Ghost LandscapeExploratorium adds cognitive overlay to outdoor exploration as a visitor’s position is sensed in the environment and location-specific information provided Coot In the fall through late winter, coots appear. They are black and have very strange looking bright green striped feet. Coots are competitive feeders and divers. They are noisy and aggressive with each other. When more than one coot is in the same area, they will usually be chasing each other around the surface of the pond. It is either a male courting a female or two males fighting over a female that you are seeing. (http://www.exploratorium.edu/lagoon)

  13. Example 5: CILT Datagotchi BrainstormEnvisioningOpportunistic Arrangement of Multiple Devices

  14. Example 6: NetCalcEmergent group explorations by aggregating individual work

  15. Characteristic 1:Geospatial information exchanges • Examples: • Exploratorium • ProbeWare • What’s Different? • Focus of attention not within screen • Geography matters • Allowing users to add value via perspective, data • Why important? • All the world’s a stage • Knowledge butterfly net

  16. Characteristic 2:Semiotic spatial overlays • Examples • Image Map • SimCalc / NetCalc • Datagotchi • What’s Different? • Handhelds seem good at topological representation (space) • Handhelds somewhat impoverished for typological rep’s (linguistic) • Why important? • Lemke: a lot of the action is in the interplay of typological and topological; we should attend to shifting affordances

  17. Characteristic 3:Aggregating coherently • Examples: • ClassTalk • ProbeWare • NetCalc • What’s Different? • Emphasis on quick, summary snapshots of learning performance that can help guide teaching • Not ILS’s! Flexible activity structures • So what? • Fundamental issue: individual and collective

  18. Characteristic 4:Conducting classroom performances • Examples: • ClassTalk • Participatory Simulations • NetCalc • What’s different? • “Sage on the Stage” undercut by personal communicators • “Guide on the Side” no longer necessitated by bulky monitors • ----> where is the teacher now? • So what? • Theatrical and musical metaphors: choreography, staging, directing, jazz leader

  19. Characteristic 5:Act becomes Artifact • Examples: • Exploratorium • NetCalc • ProbeWare • What’s Different? • Ability to capture patterns of physical interactions to support reflection • Ability to leave digital traces of experience and interactions behind for others to use (distributed expertise, data-mining) • So What? • HEDOs: Adds layers of interpretation to place, add human stories to exhibits (Stevens/Hall)

  20. Early impressions suggest…“collaborative activity spaces” like Bee Hives • Suggests a metaphor of “Bee Hives” -- Distributed systems w/ periodic coordination • Taking knowledge away, leaving impressions behind • “Face to Face in Place” • Spatial semiotics • New exchange modes: • peer to peer, beaming points, multicast, ad hoc • Gesturally-mediated communication

  21. Evolution in major theory debates(Tim Koschmann, 1997 book on CSCL) • Control: Tutor vs. Tool vs. Tutee (1980’s) • Representation: Modeling the learning vs. mediating conversations among learners (1990’s) • Coupling(Morrison & Goldman; Wenger) (2000’s?) • How tightly/loosely should individual, team, group work be coupled? • How designed/emergent should learning activities be? • How locally/globally should learning objects be located? • How private/public should learning work be? • How rigidly/loosely should roles be orchestrated? • How should act and artifact be related? • How to couple the social and technological planes?

  22. Coupling within and amongsocial and informatic planes And can the participants understand the informatics?How can the informatics align with the social?

  23. What are some major needs to close the gaps between emerging trends and common realities? • Broad range of learning applications and curricula that fit the new form-factor • Thanks to Elliot and the Hi-CE group at U.M. • Also Wilensky and Stroup; Kaput and Roschelle • Take-the-pulse assessments that are not only useful for guiding instruction but in contributing toward accountability • Integral engagement of teachers in developing tools, curriculum, assessment and support

  24. New stakeholders • Current: • Very prominently math and science • Mostly a research community • Future: expanding scope and partners • Disabilities • Language Arts • Informal Learning • Community Centers • Research / Industry / Practitioner alliances

  25. The Usual Cautions:Any technology is but part of a system • Only one element in a coordinated, systemic approach to educational improvement • Standards, curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, teacher development, school culture and school-home connections are fundamentally part of any systemic change • …and instrumental in the roles technology can play and its likely effectiveness • See my talk at www.minds.tv (NCTET 2002 National Summit on Educational Technology Policy)

  26. How learning is organized (Education Systems) Content standards Coherence across levels & incentives Instructional workforce capacity Policy level School/district level Teacherlevel Why people learn (Socio-cultural context) How people learn (Cognition) Student level What people learn (Content) (From Nora Sabelli, SRI International)

  27. Wireless Interactive Learning Devices… Time for New Inquiry in Work with Schools • First things first: new, early, speculative but emerging very rapidly • Handhelds will have very different affordances for learning and teaching • What we know still matters, but large needs to think theatrically about augmented spaces: • Learners in architected places • Thinking about system coupling: • Private-public, interpersonal-informatic, designed-emergent, individual-group, local-global…. • Thinking towards making a difference: • A broader scope of learners’ and teachers’ needs and R&D partners COME to “International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education in Sweden, August 29-30, 2002 http://lttf.ieee.org/wmte2002/

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