plt2007 – catania (italy) pen-based tools for the creation of handwritten learning content luciano...
TRANSCRIPT
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy)
Pen-based tools for the creation of handwritten learning content
Luciano Seta and Giuseppe Chiazzese Institute for Educational TechnologiesItalian National Research CouncilPalermo (Italy)
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Topics
• Pen-based learning applications• PBL in online context• STAT: an online BSc degree at
Palermo• Why is it useful a pen-based approach
in this context?• The our proposal• Examples• Results and discussion
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
PBL applications
• Some incentives to apply a PBL approach:– To facilitate the data input (HCI researches)– To elaborate textual and graphical
information simultaneously– To enrich the semantic dimension of the
educational contents– To move towards mobile educational
settings (Kristóf Nyíri - Towards a Philosophy of M-Learning)
– To introduce new technologies into the classroom
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
PBL applications
• Some problems to apply a PBL approach:– Costs– Technological divide– Handwriting recognition– Graphic and image recognition– Elaboration and retrieval of the
handwritten documents– Metadata, Learning Objects and
Learning standards compliance
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
PBL in online context
• In online context it is important to have interactive pen-based applications
• The handwriting process can help the creation and/or the interaction between teacher-student and student-student
• The student can use handwriting systems to support annotation of the online didactic materials
• The teacher can use handwriting systems to produce learning materials
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
STAT An online BSc degree in Palermo• STAT means
– Scienze e Tecnologie per l’Ambiente ed il Turismo• Translation
– Sciences and Technologies for the Environment and Tourism
• STAT is a bachelor degree set up by the Faculty of Science at the University of Palermo
• STAT is delivered completely on line, using a Learning Management System
• STAT started in 2001• STAT involves 40 teachers and in six years
30 students have been enrolled.
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The welcome page of STAT Web site
The URL The Institution involved in STAT:
The University of PalermoThe Faculty of SciencesThe Institute for Educational Technologies (CNR)
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The first page of STAT Web site
The menu
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The list of modules in STAT
• Some figures of STAT– 52 modules– 43 modules online
(4 laboratories)– 40 teachers– 20 students actually
enrolled– about 30 students
enrolled in six years
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Surveys on STAT
• Various surveys was carried on during STAT experience to assess the quality of the courseware:– Interviews with teachers and students– Motivational questionnaire to evaluate the
reasons of the choice to follow the online course – Questionnaires at end of each didactic period
about the modules followed– Questionnaires at end of each academic year
about the whole experience– Analysis of the didactic contents and learning
technologies used
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Examples of data results
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Examples of data results
• The principal motivations to prefer STAT:– The opportunity to make up study and work
(about 65% of students enrolled indicated this between the most important reasons)
– The innovative way to organize the study using new technologies (about 45% indicated this between the others reasons)
– The opportunity to study at home (about 40%)– The specific topics of STAT (about 36%)
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Formats for contents• The analysis of the
formats used by the teachers to prepare the contents for the different modules shows the following distribution:– The power point format
prevails (slides in figure)– In the html formats are
included also java applets and javascript code to realize simple interactive applications
– The materials are essentially static and not interactive
47%
40%
10%3%Slides
HtmlPDFFlash
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Some general remarks• The analysis of the data recorded highlighted some
critical aspects of this experience, in particular:– The biggest challenge for the teachers is preparing
learning materials compatible with the LMS and with the web;
– Many teachers have no experience of e-learning environments and so they tend to set up online lessons not suitably tailored for activities based on the web;
– The students often perceive the arrangement of the contents as the main weakness in their online didactic experience; in fact, if the online experience is frequently unsatisfactory because of the lack of real interaction between students and teachers this impression can be increased by the poor composition of the contents;
– The arrangement of the learning contents can lead the learners to study the online materials like a traditional textbook; for this reason some of the advantages of e-learning will be lost and the impact of this didactic environment may be disappointing.
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Why a pen-based approach
• From this remarks we thought to apply a pen-based approach with the aim to– facilitate the teacher’s work to prepare the
contents– permit a more simple creation of digital
documents including text and graphic– create movie files reproducing the didactic
content like a lesson into the classroom– make free the teacher with respect the
technologies applied in the e-learning context
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The our proposal
• We decide to try a PBL approach for preparing some lesson in the module of “Computing programming and database”
• We chose to apply a didactic methodology based on trial and error
• We planned to prepare some lessons in which the students have to learn from examples
• We used this approach during four years
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Technological tools
• The following list shows the tools used by the teacher:– sheet of paper;– Pegasus™ pen based device;– handwriting acquisition software;– screen capture software;– video real time streaming software;– peer to peer videoconference software
connection.
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The workflow•We tested two scenarios•First (asynchronous)
1.While the teacher is writing, a handwriting acquisition tool reproduces the electronic version of the handwritten text
2.In the meantime a live screen recorder captures the writing activity together with the teacher’s spoken comments
3.A database of handwritten streams was created so that the teacher could use them for the composition of lessons
•Second (synchronous)1. Like previous2.Like previous3.Using a video conference tool the handwritten
document is delivered in real time to all connected students
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The handwriting acquisition
• The teacher used the Pegasus™ pen based device
• This device consists of an acquisition apparatus, the base clip, attached to an ordinary sheet of paper and a digital pen. As soon you start writing your text appears on the screen and the NoteManager application allows you to file, edit, modify or e-mail your text.
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The Pegasus™ deviceBase clip connected to the PC via USB cable
Ordinary sheet of paper
The digital pen
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The digitalized handwritten document
Desktop of the computer
The digital image of the handwriting document
The menu to modify, convert, save and send the digital image
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The screen capture tool
• We capture the handwriting process using a live screen recorder tool (Camtasia™ Recorder)
• The tool permits to capture also the teacher’s audio notes
• Using a post-production tool (Camtasia™ Studio) stream videos are created and this tool also permits to assembly graphics, audios, images and videos
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The delivering (asynchronous)• The stream audio/video is moved via Ftp on the
streaming server• In this way a database of handwritten streams was
created so that the teacher could use them for the composition of lessons
• The link to the file is embedded in a html file that presents the topics
• When the student clicks the stream start• The student can stop the reproduction and
view/listen again• When the student looks at the electronic notes he
feels as though he is watching the teacher writing on the board
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The delivering (synchronous) • The teacher can use a videoconference
tool• Using the pen-based device the teacher
can interact with the connected students
• The stream can be captured and delivered via the Learning Management System
• The video can include also the audio and the image of the teacher
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Another application (correction)• The student sends an exercise to the
teacher• The teacher opens the file and correct
s the exercise with a pen-based device
• The corrections are saved in a new file, static or as a video
• The teacher sends the file to the student or delivers the file via the Learning Management System
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Results of this test
• This experimental procedure was applied to prepare some contents for an introductory course on computer programming, for first year students, and we observed the reaction of the students for a period of four years
• This PBL approach evidences advantages both for teachers and for students
• To assess the PBL procedure we think to enlarge the teachers involved
• At this phase only a qualitative evaluation was possible
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The teacher’s point of view• The lessons can be planned in a similar manner to
frontal lessons in the classroom: the teachers can continue to work in a traditional manner, thus overcoming some of the problems frequently encountered when one has to prepare web resources
• The pen-based procedure permits to realize attractive lessons with a minimal effort
• The time to prepare lessons and to answer to the students’ requests was shorten
• The quality of the didactic materials appears good• This procedure permits teacher to show the whole
process needed to construct the concepts and present the various issues through exercises and practice
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
The student’s point of view
• The feedback of the students was positive– The time to prepare the final exam was shorter
with respect the same module during the first two years when this procedure was not applied
– The students’ answers to the questionnaires put on evidence their satisfaction
– The students shown to understand better the computing programming procedure and the examples of algorithms illustrated by the teacher with the videos
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Some considerations
• We have not the opportunity to supply the students with the handwriting acquisition tool
• The video didactic materials can be embedded into learning objects but there are problems with the matadata and tagging
• The compliance with learning standards (like SCORM) is not simple
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Forthcomings
• To enlarge the number of teachers involved• To recorder more data and to asses the
learning efficacy of this approach using quantitative data analysis
• To prove this approach when also the students can use a pen-based device
• To apply standards for tagging video/audio files
• To include this materials into learning objects repositories
• To track the students activities when they interact with these materials
PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) - Chiazzese & Seta
Contacts:Luciano SetaITD – CNRPalermo (Italy)E-mail: [email protected]