1. Research Philosophies “Where do I fit?” Jerry Alan Fails University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab

2. About Me PhD CS Candidate at UMD / HCIL –Advisor: Dr. Allison Druin –Worked with Kidsteam for four years –Thesis: Mobile Collaboration for Young Children MS (2003) & BS (2001) CS at BYU –Thesis advisor Dr. Dan Olsen Jr. –Thesis: Image Processing with Crayons

3. Qualitative Evaluation Quantitative Evaluation Children Design Technology

4. Current Approach Children (including learning theories) –Constructionism (Papert, 1980; Papert and Harel, 1991) –In situ learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991) Design –Cooperative Inquiry –Participatory design Technology (open to various types) Evaluation –Qualitative –Quantitative –Mixed methods Interdisciplinary

5. Design Approach Kidsteam Cooperative Inquiry (Druin, CHI 1999; Guha et al., IDC 2004)

6. Technology/Systems Research Group –Hazard Room Game (Fails et al., IDC 2005) –Tangible Flags (Chipman et al., IDC 2006) –Mobile Stories (Fails, IDC 2007) Partners –Microsoft –Discovery –National Park Service –Public and private schools –Children’s Environmental Health Network –…–…

7. Evaluation Quantitative –Interactive machine learning (Fails and Olsen, IUI 2003) –A design tool for camera-based interaction (Fails and Olsen, CHI 2003) Mixed methods –Child’s play: a comparison of desktop and physical interactive environments (Fails et al., IDC 2005) Qualitative –A case study of tangible flags: a collaborative technology to enhance field trips (Chipman et al., IDC 2006)

8. What Makes Successful Research Research team – interdisciplinary and intergenerational Iterative design –Broad, iterative approaches, quick turnaround –From low-tech, to Wizard of Oz, to working prototypes Exposure across multiple groups of kids –Various user groups –Extending Cooperative Inquiry to younger and older children Evaluation that fits the research goals Contribute –Make it broad, original, robust –Help extend to new paradigms and applications Impact – children and beyond …

9. Qualitative Evaluation Quantitative Evaluation Children Design Technology

10. Qualitative Evaluation Quantitative Evaluation Children Design Technology Acknowledgments Dr. Allison Druin Gene Chipman Mona Leigh Guha Kidsteam fails@cs.umd.edu www.cs.umd.edu/fails/