SLE: Student Learning Environment Nathan Campbell Lisa Doan Kirill Kireyev Malte Winkler DLC 2006 Project

Clicker Question! What is more important and why? A. Design B. Learning C. Collaboration D. None of the above E. All are equally important

Challenges of Large Lectures Difficult to gauge students’ understanding and engagement Students hesitate to ask questions –Stall large class –Personal embarrassment No peer discourse –Lacking useful elaboration –Less engaging –Stern, anti-social atmosphere

Opportunities of Large Lectures Large lectures are prevalent and inevitable Can we positively exploit: –Large body of knowledge? –Diversity of opinions? –Teaching assistants? –Existing technologies (laptops)?

Clicker Question! Are clickers effective? A.Yes – they help me gauge how much I’m learning B.No – I get attendance points and don’t care about getting the right answer C.Other answer

Clickers Pros Pros: Inexpensive Easy to use Instructor learns about students’ performance Students test their skills Peer discussion

Clickers (cont) Cons: One-way communication –Students can’t ask questions –Students can’t give feedback No justifications for answers No means to store questions/answers in context

FEEL (DLC 2004)

FEEL (Cont) Pros Students can ask questions –Anonymously –No interruption Students may “support” other’s Q’s Students give feedback –e.g. “Lecture Too Fast” Cons Distracting –Overloads instructor Limited student discussion Not integrated with notes, context

Clicker Question! Do you remember what some of our design issues were (from our IR Presentation)? A.Yes, they are… (answer in reasoning box) B.No. I am lame and forgot all of them. C.What presentation?

Technology Design Issues Balance online vs. face-to-face –How to integrate? Structured (WebCT) vs Unstructured (wiki) –Freedom may be messy, overwhelming General vs. specific Mediation? Support flexibility, evolution –Users will use in different ways Sensitive to context, time

Making Collaboration Successful Shared motivations, common goals Adequate incentives Positive interdependence Symmetry of ignorance –Diversity of opinions, backgrounds Flexibility, opportunities for creativity Establishing team goals, deadlines, roles Regular synchronous meetings Social relationship building

Our Design Goals Build on previous projects –Student’s inquiries, feedback Leverage the TAs time, knowledge Students can ask questions –Others give “support” vote Raises question’s importance –Instructor sees “confusion level” Incorporate note-taking

Our Design Goals Justifications for answers –Carl Wieman does this “by hand” –Students become exposed to opinions, justifications Stimulates thinking Promotes engagement “Beaten Path” –Provide submitted justifications during the questions Catalyses discussion –Incorporate into grading extra credit attendance

Student Learning Environment (SLE) Incorporates feedback, clickers Uses the ubiquity of computers Professor is minimally informed Students choose participation level –Can integrate with notes and context

SLE Notes Clicker Questions Random Justifications Students’ Questions Current Questions What is “L3D”? Student’s View

Students’ Questions Answer/ Discuss Ask Questions Justifications Notes TA’s View

SLE: Instructor’s View Try to make Instructor’s UI minimally distracting “Confusion” Level Ask Clicker Quesionts

Architecture Web Application –Portable –No installation required PHP pages Dynamic content via Ajax XML data persistence Authentication

Future Work: End-User Design Lecturer –Create animations, interactive demos –Images/charts/pages –Applets, AgentSheets TA’s –Gather statistics Students –Integrate into , calendar, chat –Personal profiles/pages

Other Future Work More robust Interface Integrate with presentation, multimedia Better note-taking system Timeline reflecting notes, questions Chat?

Conclusions Large lectures are a challenging environment... –Can’t get rid of them Yet many opportunities exist Technology may make large lectures more –informative –engaging –collaborative

Clicker Question! What did you think of the SLE? A. Awesome! B. Brilliant! C. Flippin’ sweet! D. How can I be as cool as you guys? E. OK, but you should add some features…