Collaborative Technology in Distance Education: Engaging the Remote Audience

1. Collaborative Technology in Distance Education: Engaging the Remote Audience Richard Anderson Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington

2. Engagement of remote audience • UW Distance Learning Course • Experience with audio – video conferencing • Classroom Presenter • Support for student interaction

3. UW CSE Professional Masters’ Program (PMP) • Course based Masters’ program for working students • Metropolitan Area Program • Some courses offered as distance courses • Synchronous • Video conferenced

4. Video conferenced instruction • Instructor lectures to two classrooms • Classroom cameras • Audience mics to allow student discussion

5. ConferenceXP • Internet based distributed classroom • UW Professional Masters Program • Classes between UW and Microsoft since 1997 • Trial use of ConferenceXP Spring 2002 • MS Faculty summit: How to fail at video conferenced teaching • Production use of ConferenceXP starting Spring 2003 • MS Faculty summit: How to succeed at video conferenced teaching • Winter 2004: HCI Course taught by Richard Anderson SHOW EXAMPLE (HAL PERKINS)

7. Off-line viewing

8. Engaging the remote audience • Interest • Engagement • Latency only matters if there is interaction

9. Pedagogy to support interaction • Conscious actions of the instructor promote interaction • Feedback lag • Delay in asking questions

10. Video • How important is high quality video ? • Visual feedback is important for instructor • Increasing resolution of remote video had big impact for instructor’s perception of remote students

11. The gaze problem Display of Remote Students Camera • Many studies show the importance of gaze • This is something we have not done right (yet!)

12. Audio • Instructor voice easy • Audience much more difficult • Hard to predict sound quality throughout room • Goal • Cross site audience to audience communication • Instructor concern • Can remote students hear local students

13. Presentation tools • Survey of instructors regarding distance learning identified presentation tools as the number one issue • PowerPoint is also a pain for the same reason it's a pain in non-distance classes - the slides impose a rigid structure on the lecture, and make it more difficult to adjust to the interactions that occur during it. "

14. Classroom Presenter • Tablet PC based Presentation system • Distributed application for writing on images • Writing is most valuable in interactive situations

15. Classroom Presenter Instructor view Projector view

16. Examples

17. Examples

18. Interactive feedback • Pushpin feedback • Real time feedback associated with slide content • Activity meters • Real time summarized feedback • IM • Messages sent to instructor

19. Structured activities • Planned, student exercises were the most effective means of engaging remotes students

20. Classroom exercise • How many motors are in your car?

21. Computer support • Student submissions • Students write on copies of slides with personal devices • Students submit to the instructor • Instructor display results • Structured Interaction Presentation System

22. Trace the path of Hurricane Isabel

23. Instructor view of ink submissions

24. Structured Interaction Presentation System • Exercises embedded in instructor slides • Students use personal devices • Results shared between students and displayed to students

25. “Mock” class using 24 CS students, staff, and faculty NOT on CS 50 minutes long Took ~1 hour to convert static => interactive Designed INSIDE PPT USING SIP, etc.

31. Conclusion • Mechanisms for engaging students in distance learning • Pedagogy • High quality audio and video • Collaboration applications • Questions? • anderson@cs.washington.edu • www.cs.washington.edu/homes/anderson/