Cross-Cultural Issues in a Tutored Video Instruction Course

1. Cross-Cultural Issues in a Tutored Video Instruction Course Natalie Linnell, University of Washington Richard Anderson, University of Washington Jane Prey, Microsoft Research External Research and Programs

2. The Course • Beihang University contacted the instructor about offering an American-style Algorithms course • Improve quality of the course • Side benefit: Improve students’ technical English • Went forth with remote offering in Autumn 06

3. The Problem • Offer an American-style course at a Chinese university • Using distance learning • Preserve interactive learning atmosphere • Our solution: • Tutored Video Instruction augmented with • Tablet PC-based classroom interaction system • Additional materials: Activities, Lecture Summaries

4. Outline • Introduction • The Augmented TVI Methodology • Cultural Issues • Conclusions

5. Tutored Video Instruction (TVI) • Method of distance learning pioneered by Gibbons (Gibbons et al. 1977) • Video shown by a facilitator who stops the video for questions and discussion • Facilitator need not have strong background in subject • More interactive than other distance learning techniques

6. Classroom Presenter at UW • Tablet PC-based classroom presentation and interaction system

7. Webviewer

8. Classroom Presenter at Beihang Students Facilitator Public Display

9. The Beihang Classroom • Three sections • Three TAs/Facilitators • ~25 students in each section • 8 tablet PCs • Public display switched between video and Classroom Presenter • Met twice a week for two hours • Graduate students

10. A Unique TVI Deployment • Cross-Cultural Setting • Students unfamiliar with interactive classroom environment • Language difference • Augmented TVI framework • Active Learning using classroom technology • Supporting Materials • Lecture Summaries, activities • Amount of data collected • Surveys, interaction data, artifacts

11. Lessons from Other TVI Deployments • Ownership of course at remote site • Skill level and motivation of facilitators • Student options and values • Quality of materials

12. Outline • Introduction • The Augmented TVI Methodology • Cultural Issues • Conclusions

13. Cultural Issues • Language issues and culturally-specific references • Relationships between Beihang and UW • Atmosphere of interaction

14. Addressing the Issue of Language and Cultural References • Supporting Materials provided • Lecture videos available online • 17 of 19 students reported spending between 1 and 4.5 hours a week reviewing lecture video outside of class

15. Language Wasn’t a Major Block to Student Learning • “Did the instructor speaking English make it difficult for you to understand the course content?” • <10% “Very difficult” • “Did the American cultural references in the lecture video make it difficult…” • <5% “Very difficult”

16. Forming and Maintaining Relationships Between UW and Beihang Teams • Communicating UW team’s investment in course • Instructor made two visits to Beihang • Institutional Relationships • Local grading • All grading done by TAs • TAs’ ownership of the course

17. Evidence of TAs’ Investment in the Course • Preparation • TAs reported ~10 hours/week • Inking on slides • TAs inked on 24% of slides • TAs taught sections of the course • Re-creating instructor ink and portions of lecture • Inking during video

18. Individual TA Inking Styles

19. Creating an Atmosphere of Interaction: The Problem • Very different from traditional Chinese classroom • Students reported speaking once a week in a traditional class • Very important for TVI

20. Creating an Atmosphere of Interaction: Our Solution • Traditional TVI centered on student-initiated interaction • Added infrastructure for TA-initiated interactions • Active learning exercises with CP • Lecture Summaries

21. Interaction Comparable to an American Class • 2/3 interaction events of UW class • Students reported speaking ~3 times a week • 19.5 student speech acts/class • ~6.1 different students spoke/class • About a quarter of the students

22. Informal Classroom Atmosphere • Laughter observed in person, in videos • Student submissions • TAs were peers Is it that to find the smallest n is O(log n) ? Negate the problem, then find the minimum; Then negate the minimum to get the maximum.

23. Outline • Introduction • The Augmented TVI Methodology • Cultural Issues • Conclusions

24. The Course was Successful • Student grades on midterm and final exams comparable to American students’ • Achieved interaction comparable to an American course • Students reacted positively to both the course and the course methodology

25. Acknowledgements • Jie Luo, Jing Li, Ning Li, Valentin Razmov, Jiangfeng Chen, Fred Videon, Lolan Song, Harry Shum, Wei Li • Microsoft Research Asia and Microsoft Research External Research and Programs

26. Thank you! Classroom Presenter: Free for download http://classroompresenter.cs.washington.edu/

27. Implications for Future TVI Deployments • Was direct contact with UW necessary? • Future deployment: stable materials, technology • Were Tablet PCs necessary? • Activities could be done on paper • Automate creation of some supporting materials

28. Students preferred the course to other courses at their university • “How would you rate this class overall in comparison to other classes at your university?”

29. Students reported high levels of learning • “How would you rate your learning in this class in comparison to other classes at your university?”

30. Study Goals • New TVI methodology • Evaluate success in promoting interaction • Cultural issues • Understand issues at play • Evaluate techniques for overcoming issues

31. Language Background • 8 years of English study • Lots of experience in writing, little in speaking • Highly variable • English TV and movies