Craig Prince
General Examination Talk
January 17, 2008
1
Motivation
Goal: Improve education by integrating
computing devices into classroom.
Do in low-cost, sustainable way.
One way, leverage devices students carry!
2
Before I Begin…

Who has a laptop or Tablet PC with them?

Who has a cell phone or PDA with them?
College Students:
86.1% Cell Phone
12.0% Smart Phone
11.9% PDA
56.3% Digital Gaming Device
73.7% Laptop
Source: The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007
3
My Talk – In Three Parts

Part I: Background
 Active Learning
 Classroom Responses Systems (CRSs)
 Different CRS activities

Part II: Systems
 Tablet PC-based
 Handhelds

Part III: Future Work
 Improve type of exercises on handhelds
 Integrate diverse handhelds into class
4
Part I: Background
 Active Learning
 Classroom Responses Systems (CRSs)
 Different CRS activities
5
Active Learning




Active Learning = teaching pedagogy were
best way to teach students is to have them be
active in the learning process
Abrahamson’s “Socratic teaching” method
“Constructivism” vs. “Behaviorism”
Student needs to:
 Build on existing mental framework
 Incorporate existing knowledge and ideas
Abrahamson A. L. “Teaching with Classroom Communication System – What it Involves and Why it
Works”. Mini-Course presented at the VII Taller Internacional "Nuevas Tendencias en la Ensenanza de la
Fisica". Puebla, Mexico, May 27-30, 1999.
6
Quantitative Evidence

Hake’s study
 62 physics courses
 >6000 students
 Set taught interactively
 Set taught traditionally (lecture focus)

Students in interactive courses had
learning gains 2 std. dev. greater than
traditional courses
Hake R. “Interactive-engagement Versus Traditional Methods: A Six-thousand-student Survey of
Mechanics Test Data for Introductory Physics Courses”. American Journal of Physics, 66 (1), Jan. 1998.
7
Active Learning in the Classroom

Mazur’s “Peer Instruction”
 Mechanism for Active Learning
 Basis for many classroom technologies

Promotes:
 Discussing/collaborating between students
 Integrating student work into lectures
Mazur, E. Peer Instruction: A User's Manual. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1997.
8
Classroom Network
C
Public
Display
D
Instructor
A
B
A
A
B
Classroom Network
Students
9
Classroom Technology
Cooperative Notetaking
PowerPoint Slides
Digital Whiteboards
e.g. LiveNotes
Public
Display
Instructor
Digital Ink
Presentation
Tools
Classroom
Digital Whiteboards
Network
Classroom Response
Students
Systems
Classroom Feedback
Systems
10
Classroom Response System (CRS):
Learning Cycle
Activity
Public
Display
Activity
Activity
B
Instructor
Activity
Classroom Network
Students
11
Multiple-Choice Example
Clickers
12
Multiple-Choice Example 2
Classtalk
13
Textual Example
14
Diagrammatic Example
15
Diagrammatic Example
16
Image Example
17
Brainstorming Example
18
What Activity Types are Best?
No quantitative studies showing digital
ink makes for better activities in CRSs
 Advantages of Digital Ink

 Strictly more expressive
 Some activities clearly easier with Digital Ink
 Instructors like using these types of activities

Disadvantages of Digital Ink
 Harder to aggregate/understand
19
Part II: Systems
 Tablet PC-based
 Handhelds
20
Tablet PC CRSs

General Properties:
 Support many types of exercises

Examples:
 Classroom Presenter
 Ubiquitous Presenter
 DyKnow
 GroupScribbles
21
Classroom Presenter
Devices:
 Tablet PC
 Laptop
Activities:
 Whole Slide, Ink/Text
Features:
 Anonymous
Submissions
 Push Model
Limits:
 Cost
Anderson R. J., Anderson R., Simon B., Wolfman S. A., VanDeGrift T., Yasuhara K. “Experiences with
a Tablet PC Based Lecture Presentation System in Computer Science Courses”. SIGCSE '04, pp. 5622
60, 2004. Site: http://classroompresenter.cs.washington.edu
Ubiquitous Presenter
Devices:
 Web-browser
Activities:
 Whole Slide, Text
 Multiple-choice
Features:
 Same as Classroom
Presenter
Limits:
 Requires Web Server
Wilkerson M, Griswold W. G., Simon B. “Ubiquitous Presenter: Increasing Student Access and Control
in a Digital Learning Environment”. SIGCSE ’05. 2005. Site: http://up.ucsd.edu/
23
DyKnow
Devices:
 Tablet PC
 Laptop
Activities:
 Whole Slide, Ink/Text
 Multiple-choice
Features:
 Integrated System
 Instructor Control
 Pull Model
Limits:
 Cost
DyKnow Website: http://www.dyknow.com
24
GroupScribbles
Devices:
 Tablet PC
 Laptop
Activities:
 Post-It Note, Ink/Text
Features:
 Multi-part Activities
 Multiple Subs.
 Editing/Moving Sub.
Limits:
 Cost
Brecht J., DiGiano C., Patton C., Tatar D., Chaudhury R., Roschelle J., & Davis K. “Coordinating
networked learning activities with a general-purpose Interface”. To appear in the International Review
of Research in Open and Distance Learning.
25
Handheld CRSs

General Properties:
 Many types of small devices
 Activities more limited

Examples:






Clickers
Classtalk
Pebbles
ActiveClass
PLS TXT UR Thoughts
Ubiquitous Presenter (Mobile)
26
Clickers
Devices:
 Custom
Activities:
 Multiple-choice
Features:
 Small and Affordable
 Scales to 100s
Limits:
 Limited Utility HW
 Used for Wrong
Reasons?
Duncan D. “Clickers: A New Teaching Aid with Exceptional Promise”. Astronomy Education Review,
5(1), 2006.
27
Classtalk
Devices:
 PDA
 Calculator (TI-83)
Activities:
 Multiple-choice
 Short Answer
 Numeric
Features:
 Binning (All Responses)
Limits:
 PDA Cost/Popularity
Dufresne R. J., Gerace W. J., Leonard W. J., Mestre J. P., Wenk L. “Classtalk: A Classroom
Communication System for Active Learning”. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 7, 3-47,
(1996).
28
Pebbles
Devices:
 PDA
Activities:
 Multiple-choice
 Question Asking
Features:
 General Framework
 PebblesDraw
 Shared Whiteboard
Limits:
 PDA Cost/Popularity
Myers B. A. “Using Hand-Held Devices and PCs Together”. Communications of the ACM. Volume 44,
Issue 11. November, 2001. pp. 34 – 41.
29
ActiveClass
Devices:
 PDA
Activities:
 Multiple-choice
 Question Asking
Features:
 Voting on Questions
 Results Always Avail.
Limits:
 PDA Cost/Popularity
Ratto M., Shapiro R. B., Truong T. M., Griswold W. G. “The ActiveClass Project: Experiments in
Encouraging Classroom Participation”. Computer Support for Collaborative Learning, 2003.
30
PLS TXT UR Thoughts
Devices:
 Cell Phone
Activities:
 Question Asking
Features:
 SMS Communication
 Anonymous
Limits:
 Recurring SMS Cost
 SMS Length (160)
Markett C., Sanchez I. A., Weber S., Tangney B. “Using short message service to encourage
interactivity in the classroom”. Computers & Education, 46 280-293, 2006.
31
Ubiquitous Presenter (mobile)
Devices:
 Cell Phone
Activities:
 Multiple-choice
 Short Answer
 Camera-based
Features:
 SMS  Abbreviations
 Anonymous
Limits:
 Recurring SMS/MMS
Cost
Lindquist D., Denning T., Kelly M., Malani R., Griswold W. G., and Simon B. “Exploring the Potential of
Mobile Phones for Active Learning in the Classroom”. SIGCSE ’07, March 2007.
32
Summary of All Systems
Digital Ink
Whole
Slide
Tablet PC
CP
Post-It
Grp. Scrb.
DyKnow
Laptop
CP
DyKnow
Textual
Whole
Slide
? Asking
Short
Answer
Numeric
CP
Multiplechoice
DyKnow
DyKnow
Grp. Scrb.
CP
DyKnow
DyKnow
Ubiq. Pres.
Ubiq. Pres.
ActiveClass
PDA
Classtalk
Classtalk
Pebbles
Classtalk
ActiveClass
Pebbles
Classtalk
Calculator
Phone
Custom
Ubiq. Mob.
PLS TXT
Ubiq. Mob.
Classtalk
Classtalk
Ubiq. Mob.
Clickers
33
Summary of All Systems
Digital Ink
Whole
Slide
Tablet PC
CP
Post-It
Grp. Scrb.
DyKnow
Laptop
CP
DyKnow
Grp. Scrb.
Textual
Whole
Slide
? Asking
Numeric
Multiplechoice
DyKnow
CP
CP
CP
DyKnow
DyKnow
DyKnow
Grp. Scrb.
Grp. Scrb.
CP
CP
CP
DyKnow
DyKnow
DyKnow
DyKnow
Ubiq. Pres.
Ubiq. Pres.
Ubiq. Pres.
Ubiq. Pres.
Grp. Scrb
Grp. Scrb.
Classtalk
Classtalk
ActiveClass
PDA
Short
Answer
Pebbles
Classtalk
ActiveClass
Pebbles
Calculator
Phone
Custom
Ubiq. Mob.
PLS TXT
Classtalk
Classtalk
Classtalk
Ubiq. Mob.
Ubiq. Mob.
Ubiq. Mob.
Clickers
34
Part III: Future Work
 Improve type of exercises on handhelds
 Integrate diverse handhelds into class
35
Enabling Adoption?
Integrate
Existing
Devices
Expressiveness
Digital
Ink
Increase
Mobile
Interaction
Multiple
Choice
$
$$$
Cost
36
Challenges

“Increasing Mobile Interaction”
 Understand types of activities
 How to do them on mobile devices

“Using Existing Devices”
 Dealing with heterogeneous mix of devices
37
Steps to Tackle Challenges
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Look at styles of activities supported on different
devices esp. what interactions are needed
Look at how well each device feature performs on
these activity styles
Explore techniques for making activity styles feasible
on mobile devices and test
Develop application that supports multiple device
types
Develop tool for designing activities to suit multiple
devices – design activity once, translate to several
devices
Develop tool for taking responses of different forms
and interpreting/aggregating them
38
Step 1: Activity Styles Taxonomy
What:
 Activity Patterns:
○ Brecht et al.,
○ DiGiano et al.
○ Classroom Presenter observations
○ Other Education Work
 Focus on CRS activities
 Hierarchical Taxonomy
 Goal: Benchmark
How:
 Large Corpus of Activities
 Compile Taxonomy Manually
 Expand as needed
39
Step 1: Potential Activity Styles
Locate Item On Image
 Single/Multiple items?
 Location?
 Scale?
 Boundaries?
 Create a Diagram
 Elements?
 Labels?
 Connectivity?
 Modify/Complete a Diagram
 Structure?
 Labels?
 Highlight a Diagram

40
Step 2: Existing Techniques
What:
 Given device capabilities, quantize performance
 Test feasibility of activity for each device
 Use existing research where avail.
○ Text input speed on different devices
○ Pointing task research
 Focus on diagrammatic/image responses
How:
 Literature review
 Implement techniques
 Lab studies to test performance on benchmarks
41
Device Input Capabilities
Input Modality (Hardware)
Example Mobile Devices
Keyboard
Laptop, Tablet PC (hybrid)
Keypad
Mobile Phone
Directional Pad (2-way, 4-way, or 8way)
Mobile Phone, PDA, Gaming
Device
Mouse
Laptop (external)
Trackball
Laptop (external)
Touchpad (relative motion only)
Laptop
Joystick
Gaming Device
Accelerometer
Mobile Phone, PDA
Stylus/Pen
Tablet PC, PDA
Touch-screen
iPhone, Tablet PC (some)
Camera
Mobile Phone, iPhone
42
Device Screen Sizes
Physical Screen Width vs. Height
16
Screen Height (in.)
14
12
Phones
PDAs
10
Gaming
8
UMPCs
6
Tablets
Laptops
4
2
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
Screen Width (in.)
43
Step 3: New Techniques
What:
 No adequate techniques?
 Try to invent new ones
How:
 Identify gaps from prev. step
 Examples:
○ Stylus drawing on small screen w/ large virtual
canvas
○ Drawing arbitrary regions without stylus
 Test performance using lab tests
44
Step 3: Example Arbitrary Regions

Rubber-band?
45
Step 4: Develop Application
What:


Base on Classroom Presenter
Requirements:
○
Identify device type/capabilities
○ Screen size/resolution
○ Open platforms? Android?
How:

Use existing standards:
○
Ubiquitous Presenter uses HTML and JavaScript
○ Wifi or SMS for networking

Support for:
1. Stylus Devices (Tablet PC, PDA, Smart Phone, Nintendo DS)
2. Touch Screen
3. Keypad

Success = deployment & support for devices
46
Step 5: Instructor Design Tools
What:
 Consider classroom issues with different devices
○ Envy
○ Equality
 Given benefits/drawbacks of different modalities,
○ Recommend alternative activity types?
○ Balance activity types given?
How:
 Tool Input
○ Instructor activity (PowerPoint?)
○ Activity metadata
 Tool Internals
○ Determine activity type
○ Optimizes interaction for each device in class
 Tool Output
○ Recommendations for activity types
 Evaluate with user-study of tool
47
Step 6: Instructor Class Usage
What:
 Use activity metadata
 Use salient regions of responses
 Understand and aggregate results
 Finding common misconceptions
How:
 Unsupervised/semi-supervised clustering
 Evaluation
○ Test data from real classes
○ Measure success on data
○ User-study to observe utility
48
Step 6: Example Tic-Tac-Toe
?
==
X, X, O
O, O, X
X, X, O
49
Conclusions

Two Problems
 Increasing Mobile Interaction
 Using Existing Devices

Solution
 Activities and devices
 Tools:
○ Enable multiple devices
○ Help instructor

Goal
 Make deploying CRSs a reality
 Improve Education
50
Questions?
51