Stephen Crossley Supervisor: Dr. Haifeng Shen 9 Unit Engineering Project Results Enhancing student learning through collaborative.PDF annotation

Overview GroupNotes ◦ Android Mobile Application Student centred learning ◦ Collaboration ◦ Small group involvement

Contributions PDF annotation tools exist ◦ Commercial and free mobile device ‘apps’ Groupware exists ◦ Web-based, document editing and sharing tools Proposed solution ◦ Mobile device app to communicate PDF annotations over a local network

Android Development Learning a new skill set ◦ Learning the basics, then more advanced skills ◦ Managing a growing environment Teaching resources ◦ Published books not necessarily good – some teaching material outdated ◦ Searching online resources for most recent information

PDF annotation Commercial tools ◦ Development support ◦ SDK for mobile devices ◦ Costly up front fees or subscriptions Open Source ◦ Free under GNU General Public License ◦ Community support

MuPDF “Lightweight” PDF viewer ◦ High quality image and text display ◦ Smooth and fast Comes with ◦ PDF viewer ◦ Text mark up tools

Collaborative annotation ClientPDF Reader Client opens PDF reader ◦ Passes file to be read ◦ Passes any existing annotations

Collaborative annotation PDF Reader PDF reader ◦ Loads and checks annotations ◦ User edits document adding / removing annotations ◦ Reader saves annotations

Collaborative annotation ClientPDF Reader PDF reader ◦ User closes reader ◦ PDF file saved ◦ Annotations passed back to client

Collaborative annotation Client ◦ Receives annotations ◦ Transmits to other clients Client

Yet to be delivered Transmitting annotations to other clients ◦ Currently implementing ◦ Due by end of mid term break

Project outcomes Android development ◦ Useful skills for beyond project ◦ Too much time spent with older / newer resources ◦ Time management always a key factor in project success

Project outcomes Mobile collaborative PDF annotation ◦ Certainly achievable ◦ Final stage of development expected to be complete soon ◦ Useful group work tool

Thankyou Questions?