Classroom Technology

1. Education Technology Classroom Technology Steve Wolfman UW CSE Education & Educational Technology Research Group

2. 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]

3. Technologies in the Classroom

4. Challenges for Classroom Technologies • “Raise the floor” [Nass] • Don’t “lower the ceiling” [Nass] • Sculpt an effective design space • Secure adoption!

5. Our projects • Classroom Presenter • Initial development at MSR • Classroom Feedback System • Structured Interaction Presentations

6. 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

7. Large lecture classes Challenges • Maintaining attention • Communication • Feedback from students • Flexibility in presentation materials • Conducting activities in class

8. Background studies • Studied UW CSE PMP • Interviews, Surveys, Observations • Greatest pain in distance course • 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.”

9. Important features • Wireless • Integration of High Quality Ink and Slides • Multiple views • “Performance UI”

10. Spring 2002 Database (Masters) Summer 2002 Introductory Programming (142) Fall 2002 Introductory Programming (Ext 142) Introductory Programming (143) Algorithms (417) Software Engineering (403) Languages (413) Compilers (Masters) Classroom Deployments

11. 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 • Studentresponse:

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Design choices • Low attention requirements • Embed in context of the slide • Slides are the mediating artifact • Fixed feedback • Avoid having to compose questions • Instructor control of feedback • Example, More Information, Got It • Slow Down,Question,Explain,Cool Topic

16. 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

17. Results • Mixed results • Classroom culture not what we had expected • Instructor goals different than expected • Interactions did increase • Pre CFS: 2.4 (spoken) episodes per class • With CFS: • 2.6 (spoken) episodes per class • 14.8 (feedback) episodes per class • Discovered new interaction patterns

20. Structured Interaction Presentations • Assume students have wireless devices • Build interactive activities into lecture • Computer support to overcome logistical barriers

21. Why Computer Support? • Facilitate execution • Unify design • Enforce polices

22. 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

23. Example: America Before Columbus [Cross and Angelo] • How many people lived in North America in 1491? • How many years had they been there by 1491? • What significant achievements had they made in that time?

24. Your Impressions of America Before Columbus • About how many people lived in North America in 1491? • About how many years had they been on this continent by 1491? • What significant achievements had they made in that time?

25. Your Impressions of America Before Columbus • About how many people lived in North America in 1491? • About how many years had they been on this continent by 1491? • What significant achievements had they made in that time? % completed % completed % completed

26. How many people? 0 10 100 1000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000 From 400 To 2,500,000

27. “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

28. Significant Achievements Get together with your neighbor and: • rate the significance of each achievement • note if an achievement repeats an earlier one

29. Significant Achievements Get together with your neighbor and: • rate the significance of each achievement • note if an achievement repeats an earlier one

30. Significant achievements

31. 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

32. UW CSE Education & Educational Technology Projects • Professional Masters’ Program • Tutored Video Instruction Program • CSE 142/143 • Classroom Assessment Tools