Expanding the reach of education through technology
Richard AndersonDepartment of Computer Science and EngineeringUniversity of Washington
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Research in Educational Technology
• How can computing technology enhance education?– Focus on classroom instruction
• Challenges:– Extending reach of education– Increasing interaction– Addressing problems of scale– Facilitating expression of ideas
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Past and Current Research Projects
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Video conferenceddistance education
UW PMP
DISC
ConferenceXP
Center forCollaborativeTechnologies
Presentationsystems
ClassroomPresenter 2.0
Classroom Presenter 3.0
Classroom interaction systems
Classroom FeedbackSystem
CATs for CS1
Structured InteractionPresentations(SIP)
Student submissions with CP
Tutored Video Instruction
UW CC TVI Project
Beihang TVI project
Digital StudyHall
Research Approach
• Deployment driven– Classroom use– Technology development and promotion
• Goals and success criteria– Adoption of technology and
methodology– Influence educational practice
• Target specific deployments– Innovate in some aspect of deployment
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Today’s Talk
Distance Learning and Video Conferenced Classes
Tutored Video Instruction Digital Study Hall Educational Technology for Low
Resource Environments
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Video Conferenced Teaching
• Multi-site internet based audio-video conferencing
• UW Master’s Program– Site-to-site courses between UW and
Microsoft since Winter 1997– www.cs.washington.edu/education/dl/course_ind
ex.html– Master’s level courses– Goal: interaction across sites
• Approximate single classroom
– Various technologies have been used since the program was introducedDec 15, 2008 Microsoft Learning 6
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Distance Classes in UW CSE Master's Program
• Initial phase• Winter 1997 – Winter 2002– Polycom + Netmeeting for
PPT and SmartBoard• MSR DISC Project
– Target: UW, CMU, UCB, Brown graduate class
– Spring 2002• ConferenceXP
– Since Spring 2003– Four way courses, Autumn
2004, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006• UW, MSR, UCB, UCSD
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ConferenceXP
• High quality, low latency video to support interactive classes
• High bandwidth internet video conferencing– Internet2– Multicast
• Single machine deployment– High end PC– Performance limit: handling multiple high
resolutions video streams• Innovative presentation tools
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Initial Challenges (Spring 2002)
• What went wrong– Technology and systems
failures– Multicast networking – High cost of interruptions– Audio– Loss of trust– Room configuration issues– Lack of control of lecture
room– Production quality
• Meta lesson– Learn more from failures
than from successes
• How to Fail at VideoConferenced Teaching– Microsoft Faculty
Summit 2002– Anderson & Beavers
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Success in distance classes
Goals Real time interaction between sites High quality video
Challenges High bandwidth connections
▪ Multicast vs. Unicast Classroom Audio Establishing a pattern of interaction
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Going International
March 29, 2008, LACCIR Meeting Latin American and
Carribbean Collaboration for ICT Research
Seattle and University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
Seminar presentation October 15, 2008
CXP Unicast reflectorDec 15, 2008 Microsoft Learning 13
Masters class, UW - Pakistan Masters class
University of Washington
Lahore University of Management Science
Microsoft Computing for the
Developing world
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Technical Challenges
Ensuring adequate bandwidth Limited bandwidth to Pakistan Reliability Multicast Ensuring this did not compromise UW-MS
class Limited time to prepare
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Basic PMP setup (2 sites)
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PMP VENUE
Archiver
Video cameras
Audio
Video Displays
Speakers
Video cameras
Audio
Video Displays
Speakers
CP3Instruct
or
CP3Display
CP3Display
Student Tablets Student Tablets
UW Microsoft
CXP
CP3
3-way setup for UW, MS, LUMS
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PMP Venue 1
PMP Venue 2
Archiver
Microsoft LUMS
UW
CP3
CP3Serve
rCP3
CP3
Use of Classroom Presenter Tablet PC based
presentation and classroom interaction system
Ink based presentation
Classroom Activites
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Classroom Presenter
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Student
Student
Instructor
Public Display
Classroom Activities
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Project status
High connectivity for 9 out of 10 classes One lecture originated from Pakistan Only failure was on the UW-Microsoft
Link (which also brought down UW-Pakistan)
Improved audio (microphone issues) Participation of students from
Pakistan Student submissions Questions and discussions
Multiple rounds of audio communication
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Key lessons
Participants must have incentive for a distance course
Instructor need to make an effort to create multisite interaction
Active participants at remote sites help
Time zones and scheduling are major issues
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Tutored Video Instruction• Video recorded lectures shown with facilitator
– Original model: lectures stopped by students for discussion
– Peer tutors• Developed by Jim Gibbons at Stanford University • Positive results reported in Science [1977]
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UW TVI Projects
Introductory programming Address community college articulation Experiment with alternate approaches to
introductory computing instruction UW – Beihang Algorithms course
Offering of UW Algorithms course in China
Digital StudyHall Primary education in rural India
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Tutored Video Instruction
Recorded lecture materials Generally based on live classes
Class model Lecture playback alternating with
facilitator led discussion Facilitation models
▪ Gibbons: Peer instruction▪ Active facilitation
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UW-Beihang Algorithms Class Offer a course in Beijing
based on UW course UW instructor could not
teach the course in China
Scheduling prevented a live course offering 1:30 pm in Seattle is 4:30
am in Beijing Materials captured from
live class Tutored Video Instruction
Slides, talking head, digital ink
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Involvement with Remote Site Set up visit
Met with Teaching Assistants Tested all technology Trained Teaching Assistants in facilitation Gave classes to students to demonstrate technology
and TVI Midterm visit
Observed classes Gave lecture without recorded video
Regular communication with Teaching Assistants
Data collectionDec 15, 2008 Microsoft Learning 27
Course Delivery
Applications displayed Webviewer for video
replay Classroom
Presenter Teaching
Assistants would show video or show CP for inking on slides or classroom interaction
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Summary of Project Results Offering successful
Technology, institutional relationship Cross-cultural issues
English language materials were comprehensible Classroom discussion primarily in Chinese
Facilitation model Significant support for facilitators Classroom activities successful (and popular) Facilitators innovative and reproduced some of
the instruction Interactive and informal classroom atmosphere
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Language Issues
Lectures delivered in English Language exposure consider to be a positive side
effect of the course Teaching assistants facilitated in English
But discussions were generally in Chinese Students reported using lectures outside of class Instructor observations from site visit
Chinese students had substantially more English listening than speaking experience
Recorded lectures did contain some colloquial usage and cultural specific references which were lost
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Facilitation
Support provided for facilitators Lecture notes Activities
Facilitators invested a larger effort in preparation Studying videos Planning how to cover
content Active facilitation
Worked through lecture examples
Led activities Asked questions to students
Example: facilitators working through example from lecture slides
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Instructor Facilitator A
Facilitator CFacilitator B
Classroom Activities
Tablet PC supported activities Student submission
model Used for every lecture
Technology generally successful
Considered very positive by students High rate of
participation Provided a structure
for active learningDec 15, 2008 Microsoft Learning 32
Classroom Environment
Contrast to traditional large lecture class Highly interactive class
Interaction episodes measured by observation logs and videos of Beihang classes
Average of 13 interaction episodes per class, 10 with students speaking
UW class averaged about 20 interaction episodes per equivalent length of time
Beihang episodes averaged a greater number of rounds of communication
Class atmosphere was informalDec 15, 2008 Microsoft Learning 33
Results
• Offering successful– Technology, institutional relationship
• Cross-cultural issues– English language materials were comprehensible– Classroom discussion primarily in Chinese
• Facilitation model– Significant support for facilitators – Classroom activities successful (and popular)– Facilitators innovative and reproduced some of the
instruction– Interactive and informal classroom atmosphere
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Digital StudyHall• Affiliated Project• Collaboration with
Randy Wang in Lucknow
• Tutored Video Instruction for primary education in rural India
• YouTube + Netflix
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Key components
A people’s database Mediation based pedagogy Hub and spoke model Content distribution by DVD
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Status: network of hubs and spokes
• Operational hubs in Lucknow, Calcutta, Pune, and Bangladesh
• Each hub works with a number of poor village or slum schools
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Digital StudyHall Evaluation Study
Classroom study starts July 2009 Two year study
12 schools in Uttar Pradesh 12 DSH Classrooms 12 Traditional Classrooms
Evaluate Learning gains through pretest/posttest
Classroom observations Study impact on teachers
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What we’ve learned from all of this
• Value of electronic materials in the process of classroom instruction
• Tools for teaching– Teacher and students drive the process– Flexible and unpredictable use
• Importance of high reliability– And attention to address issues
• Broader context – interplay of technology and other issues
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Educational Technology for Low Resource Environments
Facilitated Video Instruction Biggest opportunity to enhance expertise
Synchronous Distance Limited applications – but some specific
cases of interest Classroom capture
Classroom Computing Computer lab and individual devices
Computing Education Lack of technical literacy is a limiting factor
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Facilitated Video Instruction Recorded video with a facilitator
Take advantage of expertise Facilitator has very important role
Applicable to a broad range of educational domains Primary and secondary Health Agriculture Vocational College
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Facilitated Video Instruction Applicability for low resource environments
Low cost▪ Replay (TV + DVD)▪ Digital Video + PC based editing
Locally created content Key components
Facilitation methodology Support for facilitator Program structure
▪ Content creation through delivery Technology
Video production tool chain Content distribution Delivery Feedback and monitoring
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Synchronous Distance Education
Bandwidth is a significant issue Low bandwidth + high cost
May be relevant for institutional outreach programs Arvind Eye Hospital, Tamil Nadu, India International medical education
Positive side effect: classroom capture
Risk: Driven by need to justify infrastructure – not for educational needs
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Classroom Computing
School based computing Risk: deployments leading educational goals Challenge: maximize benefits of “computers
for schools initiatives” Models
Low cost educational devices ▪ Classmate, OLPC, Asus eee, …
Shared use▪ Multipoint
School server
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Computing Education
Shortage of trained professionals Hostile Computing Ecosystem
Very high virus infection Poorly administered machines Solutions
▪ Computing practices and maintenance
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For more information
• Richard Anderson– [email protected]
• Classroom Presenter– http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/dl/pre
senter/• Center for Collaborative Technologies
at UW– http://cct.cs.washington.edu/
• Digital StudyHall– http://dsh.cs.washington.edu/
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Acknowledgements
• Support from Microsoft Research, National Science Foundation, HP, Ford, UW CSE
• Jay Beavers, Jane Prey, Randy Hinrichs, Chris Moffatt, Jason Van Eaton, Paul Oka, Steve Wolfman, Ken Yasuhara, Andrew Whitaker, Ruth Anderson, Craig Prince, Valentin Razmov, Natalie Linnell, Krista Davis, Jonathon Su, Sara Su, Peter Davis, Tammy VanDeGrift, Joe Tront, Alon Halevy, Gaetano Borriello, Ed Lazowska, Hal Perkins, Susan Eggers, Fred Videon, Rod Prieto, Oliver Chung, Crystal Hoyer, Beth Simon, Eitan Feinberg, Julia Schwarz, Jim Fridley, Tom Hinkley, Ning Li, Jing Li, Luo Jie, Jiangfeng Chen, Melody Kadenko, Julie Svendsen, Shannon Gillmore
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