1 Cross-Cultural Issues in a Tutored Video Instruction Course Natalie Linnell, University of Washington Richard Anderson, University of Washington Jane Prey, Microsoft Research External Research and Programs

2 The Course Beihang University contacted the instructor about offering an American- style Algorithms course ◦ Improve quality of the course ◦ Side benefit: Improve students’ technical English Went forth with remote offering in Autumn 06

The Problem Offer an American-style course at a Chinese university ◦ Using distance learning ◦ Preserve interactive learning atmosphere Our solution: ◦ Tutored Video Instruction augmented with  Tablet PC-based classroom interaction system  Additional materials: Activities, Lecture Summaries 3

Outline Introduction The Augmented TVI Methodology Cultural Issues Conclusions 4

5 Tutored Video Instruction (TVI) Method of distance learning pioneered by Gibbons (Gibbons et al. 1977) Video shown by a facilitator who stops the video for questions and discussion Facilitator need not have strong background in subject More interactive than other distance learning techniques

6 Classroom Presenter at UW Tablet PC-based classroom presentation and interaction system

7 Webviewer

8 Classroom Presenter at Beihang Students Facilitator Public Display

9 The Beihang Classroom Three sections Three TAs/Facilitators ~25 students in each section 8 tablet PCs Public display switched between video and Classroom Presenter Met twice a week for two hours Graduate students

10 A Unique TVI Deployment Cross-Cultural Setting ◦ Students unfamiliar with interactive classroom environment ◦ Language difference Augmented TVI framework ◦ Active Learning using classroom technology ◦ Supporting Materials  Lecture Summaries, activities Amount of data collected ◦ Surveys, interaction data, artifacts

11 Lessons from Other TVI Deployments Ownership of course at remote site Skill level and motivation of facilitators Student options and values Quality of materials

Outline Introduction The Augmented TVI Methodology Cultural Issues Conclusions 12

13 Cultural Issues Language issues and culturally-specific references Relationships between Beihang and UW Atmosphere of interaction

14 Addressing the Issue of Language and Cultural References Supporting Materials provided Lecture videos available online ◦ 17 of 19 students reported spending between 1 and 4.5 hours a week reviewing lecture video outside of class

15 Language Wasn’t a Major Block to Student Learning “Did the instructor speaking English make it difficult for you to understand the course content?” ◦ <10% “Very difficult” “Did the American cultural references in the lecture video make it difficult…” ◦ <5% “Very difficult”

16 Forming and Maintaining Relationships Between UW and Beihang Teams Communicating UW team’s investment in course ◦ Instructor made two visits to Beihang Institutional Relationships Local grading ◦ All grading done by TAs TAs’ ownership of the course

17 Evidence of TAs’ Investment in the Course Preparation ◦ TAs reported ~10 hours/week Inking on slides ◦ TAs inked on 24% of slides TAs taught sections of the course ◦ Re-creating instructor ink and portions of lecture Inking during video

18 Individual TA Inking Styles

19 Creating an Atmosphere of Interaction: The Problem Very different from traditional Chinese classroom ◦ Students reported speaking once a week in a traditional class Very important for TVI

20 Creating an Atmosphere of Interaction: Our Solution Traditional TVI centered on student- initiated interaction Added infrastructure for TA-initiated interactions ◦ Active learning exercises with CP ◦ Lecture Summaries

21 Interaction Comparable to an American Class 2/3 interaction events of UW class Students reported speaking ~3 times a week 19.5 student speech acts/class ~6.1 different students spoke/class ◦ About a quarter of the students

22 Informal Classroom Atmosphere Laughter observed in person, in videos Student submissions TAs were peers Is it that to find the smallest n is O(log n) ?Negate the problem, then find the minimum; Then negate the minimum to get the maximum.

Outline Introduction The Augmented TVI Methodology Cultural Issues Conclusions 23

24 The Course was Successful Student grades on midterm and final exams comparable to American students’ Achieved interaction comparable to an American course Students reacted positively to both the course and the course methodology

25 Acknowledgements Jie Luo, Jing Li, Ning Li, Valentin Razmov, Jiangfeng Chen, Fred Videon, Lolan Song, Harry Shum, Wei Li Microsoft Research Asia and Microsoft Research External Research and Programs

26 Thank you! Classroom Presenter: Free for download

27 Implications for Future TVI Deployments Was direct contact with UW necessary? ◦ Future deployment: stable materials, technology Were Tablet PCs necessary? ◦ Activities could be done on paper Automate creation of some supporting materials

Students preferred the course to other courses at their university “How would you rate this class overall in comparison to other classes at your university?” 28

Students reported high levels of learning “How would you rate your learning in this class in comparison to other classes at your university?” 29

30 Study Goals New TVI methodology ◦ Evaluate success in promoting interaction Cultural issues ◦ Understand issues at play ◦ Evaluate techniques for overcoming issues

Language Background 8 years of English study Lots of experience in writing, little in speaking ◦ Highly variable English TV and movies 31