Implementation |
Pedagogy
The course, as taught in 2005, was dominated by in-class lectures that paralleled the assigned textbook. Students were also expected to complete 3 assignments and a major course project. The assignments were:
- A query assignment in MS-Access
- A query assignment using SQL (essentially replicating the MS-Access assignment)
- A design assignment in which students created ER diagrams and table structures for an imaginary lawn care company
The project consisted of a design assignment in which groups took a real world situation related to one of their businesses and built an appropriate database. For student groups who did not have a real-world project, a complex "canned" design exercise was also available.
Although all course content was presented in lecture mode, Camtasia developed walkthroughs of the first two assignments and short ER diagram walkthroughs were available online.
Although many elements of the 2005 version of the course were retained (most notably, the assignments and online walkthroughs), student comments (in the course evaluations) made it clear that a significant majority strongly resented the need to work as a group for many of the activities. Moreover, it was very difficult to gauge individual contributions to projects that were completed as a group--since all the collaborative activities were being undertaken outside of class. As a result, the basic philosphy of the course redesign was to:
- Move as much informational content--particularly lectures-- online as possible, so that it did not have to be communicated during class time
- Use the class time saved by reducing the number of lectures for in-class group meetings, thereby reducing the negative logistical impact of group work
- To involve student groups in the development of information content
To use mobile technology to support group learning activities for those areas of the course where student skills were typically weakest (e.g., developing complex SQL queries, creating ER diagrams to model business situations) |
Technology
The HP Tablet PCs were used in a number of different ways to support the pedagogical objectives of the new design. Specifically:
- Using Classroom Presenter, the instructor posed groups of students query problems. They then responded by writing appropriate SQL SELECT statements to retrieve the requested information. These were then displayed and discussed by the class as a whole.
- The instructor handed our short (1 page) design scenarios. Using Classroom Presenter, groups of students developed ER diagrams for appropriate data solutions. These were then displayed and presented to the class as a whole.
- Using Lecture 123 software, groups of students created presentations based on assigned topics (that had previously been the subject of instructor lectures in 2005). These presentations were then placed online and viewed by the remaining students in the class.
While the use of Classroom Presenter represented an adaption of existing uses in computer science, the Lecture 123 activity was relatively novel. The Lecture 123 tool works as follows:
- Students create a PowerPoint presentation
- Students record the presentation. Lecture123 captures ink annotations that are made as the preentation is made, making it an excellent fit with the Tablet PC (e.g., popping up a whiteboard)
- Students upload the presentation to the Lecture123 server
- Students watch the presentations created by other groups on their home PCs.
- As they watch the preentations, students can pose questions to authors by right clicking the mouse on the screen and entering the question.
- Authors can approve and answer questions posed by other students asynchronously. Once approved, the presence of a question is indicatged by a small number that appears on the presentation as it is viewed. Subsequent students watching the presentation can then see both the question and the answer. This creates the potential for an unusual level of interaction for the online lectures.
One limitation of the technology implementation related to the number of Tablet PCs available to students. Because the class was conducted 60 miles away from the instructor's office (and because the HP Grant tablets were being used for 3 other courses at the same time), only 7-9 tablets could be transported to the class each week. Thus, students had to share the tablets for all activities (2-3 students per system). Since the technology was intended to foster group activities, this sharing did not appear to have a major negative impact. |
Impact on Student Learning |
The principal learning objective for this project relates to student attitudes, rather than specific achievements--which seemed quite acceptable in the previous cohorts. Specifically, it is hoped that the incorporation of mobile technology into the course will lead to:
- Substantially greater class time allocated to group activities
- Improvements in the instructor's ability to gauge student individual performance through direct observation of in-class group activities
- Evidence that students responded favorably to the innovations, measured through direct survey responses
- Improvements in student attitudes towards the course (as evidenced by evaluation scores moving up into the 4.3-4.6 range, which would be outstanding by cohort standards)
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One Year Ago
In spring 2005, students completed the course exercises with reasonable proficiency, although it was impossible to accurately assess how evenbly learning was spread across group members. Student objections to group work led to course evaluations that were acceptable by cohort standards (~3.7 out of 5) but far below what the instructor views as strong. |
Today
Of the 4 listed objectives, support for the first three is apparent:
- In the current version of the course (ending on 3 February 2007), almost 50% of all class time has been allocated to group activities and meetings, up from about 10% in the spring 2005 version.
- The instructor has been able to observe the internal functioning of every group, since he can wander from group to group during class meeting time. This has allowed for a much more accurate assessment of individual participation and learning.
- Based on a voluntary and anonymous online survey of the class (conducted from 25-30 January 2007, 65% response rate), students have had generally positive reactions to the specific elements of the redesigned course. In Table 1, for example, the use of Classroom Presenter and the availability of Tablet PCs, in general, got very high marks. Equally signficant, in Table 2 (where a value of 3 implies keeping the current structure), nearly all repsonses suggested keeping the same basic structure of the course (i.e., they were near 3). The greatest variation recommended was the desire for increased Instructor-led Tablet PC exercises (4.00).
- Student instructor evaluations, at 3.7, were essentially the same as for the previous cohort and were nearly identical to values given to other instructors. Student comments suggested that disappointment with the Lecture 1-2-3 activities accounted for some of this. This is supported bybthe Table 1 data.
Table 1: The following Ism6217 activities were helpful to my learning |
Statement |
Strongly Disagree |
Somewhat Disagree |
Neutral or Don't Know |
Somewhat Agree |
Strongly Agree |
Didn't Participate |
Average |
Using Classroom Presenter and the Tablet PC for SQL query exercises |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
4.417 |
Using Classroom Presenter and the Tablet PC for ER diagram exercises |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
4.455 |
Using the Tablet PC to help develop Lecture123 content |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
0 |
4.385 |
Having Tablet PCs generally available in the classroom for use as needed |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
10 |
0 |
4.769 |
Working as a group to create Lecture123 presentations (not necessarily using the Tablet PC) |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
3.833 |
Watching Lecture123 presentations created by other groups |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
3.692 |
Asking questions on Lecture123 presentations created by other groups |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
3.615 |
Answering questions on Lecture123 presentations posed by other students |
1 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
3.333 |
Table 2: Please indicate how you'd recommend changing the emphasis on the following Ism6217 activities for later cohorts. For the purposes of this question, you may assume that obvious technological glitches that were encountered have been repaired. |
Statement |
Much less |
Somewhat less |
About the same |
Somewhat more |
Much more |
Don't know |
Average |
Instructor face-to-face lectures |
0 |
1 |
10 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3.231 |
Instructor-authored online lectures and walkthroughs |
0 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
3.462 |
Instructor-led Tablet PC exercises |
0 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
4.000 |
Student development of online Lecture123 content |
3 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2.615 |
Viewing and interacting with Lecture123 content outside of class |
2 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
2.846 |
Access query projects |
2 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3.250 |
SQL query projects |
3 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3.000 |
Database design projects |
0 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
3.769 |
Class time designated for group meetings and activities |
0 |
0 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
3.615 |
Including a somewhat nebulous "participation" component in grading |
3 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3.083 |
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One Year From Now
In spring 2005, students completed the course exercises with reasonable proficiency, although it was impossible to accurately assess how evenbly learning was spread across group members. Student objections to group work led to course evaluations that were acceptable by cohort standards (~3.7 out of 5) but far below what the instructor views as strong. |
Student Comments
Tablet PC-related student comments from the January 2007 survey:
Things I MOST liked about using the Tablet PCs in class were as follows...
- The were user friendly and easy to operate. Very portable
- The new technology. I have never had the opportunity to use a tablet. I imagine years from now we will all have them and it wont be special but right now it was the most relevant part of the class.
- Having the opportunity to become familiar with the technology/software was beneficial and much appreciated.
- use during in-class exercises
- I felt like the whole class was on the same page, especially with the access and sql exercises in the classroom
- real time feedback from on the spot exercises
- Class discussion worked well on Tablet pc
- Made it easier to display group work to instructor and the rest of the class, which I believed enhanced learning.
- Versality and flexibility it provides. The ability to write on the screen is excellent. I liked it so much I bought one.
- I am a hands on person and like the opportunity to work with the technology.
- The ease of writing the queries and drawing the diagrams
- Ability to see others comments at the same time and discuss
- Exploring the technology.
Things I LEAST liked about using the Tablet PCs in class were as follows...
- Not enough of them to go around. It would have been nice to be able to check these out for homework.
- Nothing. It is very cool.
- N/A
- use for lecture123 (biased due to hatred of lecture123)
- The battery life
- Limited access to all users; usually just group leaders
- Nothing I liked least.
- Fear of losing the pen
- To the contrary, I enjoyed it very much.
- none
- I can't think of anything I did not like.
- Some had poor battery life and too many running processes.
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