MessageGrid: Providing Interactivity in a Technology-Rich Classroom Roy P. Pargas and Dhaval Shah Department of Computer Science, Clemson University What is MessageGrid? MessageGrid is a web-based software package that facilitates any class activity in which individual students or teams input responses that the class needs to view in their entirety. The activity may occur in class or out of class, synchronously or asynchronously, and in almost any type of course: laptop, distance-education, or traditional-classroom (with a web-connected computer attached to a projector). The input may be in text form -- e.g., contributions to a discussion, answers to recitation answers, solutions to problems, or data to be merged -- or may be images, movies, audio files, hyperlinks, Word or pdf documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, swf animations, or any other type of file that a browser can display. Unlike a discussion board, MessageGrid can display all the student responses at the same time in a grid, table, or chart, allowing comparisons among and mergers of entries. The instructor has the option to keep student submissions anonymous or private. It also allows the instructor to add to (critique, correct, elaborate, etc.) the posted responses, making the saved product suitable for students to study later. Technology MessageGrid is being developed using Microsoft VisualStudio.NET 2003, Internet Information Services 6.0, and SQL Server Situation The classroom is changing! More universities are mandating that entering students arrive on campus equipped with laptop computers with wireless capability. Without being asked, students arrive on campus with laptop or tablet PCs, PDAs, and smart phones. Powerful technology has become commonplace and a growing number of instructors are eager to take advantage of the tremendous potential that technology can bring to the classroom. Instructors scan the classroom to see row after row of laptops each with a student eager to put it to use. Using MessageGrid: Easy as MessageGrid Step 1 1.Instructor designs and creates grid 2.Prepares clicker questions 3.Releases grid to students 4.Uses grid in class MessageGrid Step 2 4. Post responses to instructor prompts 5. Respond to clicker questions; views results 6. View submissions by other students (if allowed) 1.Students open grid 2.Submit text, images, documents, presentations, video, audio, links, etc., as required 3.Synchronous access in class or asynchronous access outside of class MessageGrid Step 3 1.Instructor assesses and corrects student submissions 2.Makes corrected work available to respective students, or entire class Problem / Opportunity It is at this point that a sobering fact quickly becomes obvious to both instructor and student: there is a surprising scarcity of software that can facilitate teaching, promote interactivity, and enhance the learning process in a technology-rich classroom. Since January 2004 at Clemson University, a multidisciplinary group of faculty members teaching what are called laptop courses, have collectively designed software that allows students to use their computers to submit: responses to questions documents prepared by students digital images taken by students PowerPoint presentations student-edited video clips links to student-developed web pages links to any other web page Under instructor control, the software can provide: peer-learning (students observe other students’ work) class discussion and collaboration, anonymity (students do not know who submitted work) privacy (students can see only their own work) discussion threads (students can reply to submissions) rapid assessment (through polling ) The result is a web-based software package called: MessageGrid Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge support in the form of a multi-year Faculty Fellowship from the Clemson University ETS-OTEI Laptop Faculty Development Program and a 2003 Content and Curriculum Development Grant from Microsoft Corporation. Sample Grid: Recursion Exercises Student 1 Grid management functions Student 2 Student 1 Instructor labeled rows with student userids Submissions are stamped with student name, date and time submitted, shown here redacted Instructor can edit and delete posted response Anyone can reply to a posted response Student can post multiple responses in a grid cell Instructor labeled columns with recursion problem Student submits answers to instructor problems Clickers enable instructor to quickly poll students No more submissions! Very quickly, the instructor can discover which students made multiple attempts and came close to the correct solution, which students could not get started, and which students had no problem developing the algorithms. This capability to assess student abilities rapidly and early in the semester allows for early intervention. Future Work Development of the software and of a comprehensive User Guide will continue through the end of summer We are currently seeking funding to conduct formal assessment of the effectiveness of MessageGrid as a teaching and learning tool during the school year. If proven effective, we will seek funding to disseminate the software to educational institutions during the school year. If you are interested in learning more about MessageGrid, send to Roy Pargas, July 17-19, 2005