Austin Cory Bart Senior Thesis Defense May 9, 2011 First Reader: Dr. Lori Pollock Second Reader: Dr. Chrystalla Mouza Third Reader: Dr. Jim Glancey Question “How can the power of the XO laptop be used to encourage children to write creatively” One-Laptop-Per-Child XO Laptop “$100” Laptop Wireless Antennae Transflective Display Low Power Rugged Casing Kid-size keyboard XO Laptop Sugar Learning Software for the XO Creative Writing on the XO Creative Writing “Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.” Common Core State Standards English Language Arts Grades 4-8 Phases of the Project Development of customized software Intervention at the College School Analysis of children’s responses Intrinsic Motivation “Write this thesis and you get a cookie!” “I really want to write this thesis!” “Write this thesis or you’ll fail college!” “I really don’t want to write this thesis!” Negative Intrinsic Extrinsic Positive Design Principles for Intrinsic Motivation Intrinsic Motivation Perceived Competence Simple Autonomy Expressive Interest Enticing Write Enticing Expressive Simple E-Toys and Scratch Enticing Expressive Simple Story-Builder Enticing Expressive Simple Additional Design Principles Inspirational Don’t make them start from scratch Organizational Help authors organize their story Modal Distinct modes for “write” and “read” Supportive Helpful software agents and tools Juxtapositional Fantastical + realistic elements Collaborative Naturally work together Multimedia Synthesis of audio, text, graphics, etc. Software Development on the XO Software Development on the XO User Interface Animation New Software New Software Collaboration PyGTK 1000 lines 11 MB Libraries Glade New Software : Broadway Multimedia Pygame 4500 lines 6MB Libraries Sugargames Spyral PGU SimpleJSON Intervention Phase College School At UD 1:1 laptops Mild school-affective disorders College School Demographics Literacy Group Female Male Total 1 2 5 7 2 2 3 5 3 7 1 8 4 5 4 9 Total 16 13 29 Intervention Schedule Day Session 1 Session 2 1 Literacy Group #1 Literacy Group #2 2 Literacy Group #1 Literacy Group #2 3 Literacy Group #3 Literacy Group #4 4 Literacy Group #3 Literacy Group #4 Protocol Introduction Presentation Broadway Activity PostActivity Survey Wacky Writer Activity PostActivity Survey Day 1 Day 2 Focus Group Free-time with XO Intervention Instrument Value Competence Effort Interest Choice Intrinsic Motivation Inventory Tension Post-Activity Survey IMI IMI-Reduced 7 Subscales 6 Subscales 24-questions 18-questions 7-point Likert 5-point Likert Balanced Keying Reliability of Results Category Wacky Writer Broadway Entire Instrument .84 .87 Interest .74 .88 Value .87 .87 Perceived Competence .74 .68 Perceived Choice .80 .53 Effort .37 .70 Tension .39 .26 Results Agreement Scores Across Subscales of Intrinsic Motivation in Broadway and Wacky Writer 5 Agreement Score* 4 3 Broadway Wacky Writer 2 1 Choice Effort Interest Competence Tension Subscale of Intrinsic Motivation Value Total * 1: Not True, 5: Very True Broadway and Gender Agreement Scores Across Subscales of Intrinsic Motivation and Gender in Broadway 5 Agreement Score* 4 3 Female Male 2 1 Choice Effort Interest Competence Tension Subscale of Intrinsic Motivation Value Total * 1: Not True, 5: Very True Wacky Writer and Gender Agreement Scores Across Subscales of Intrinsic Motivation and Gender in Wacky Writer 5 Agreement Score* 4 3 Female Male 2 1 Choice Effort Interest Competence Tension Subscale of Intrinsic Motivation Value Total * 1: Not True, 5: Very True Analysis Working Together Details in Photos vs. Backdrops Improvements More students Longer intervention Other Educational Environments Pre-Activity Surveys Future Work Integrate student feedback Increasing creative writing ability Questions? Example Story