Shneiderman et al. [13] discuss the effects of introducing technology into the classroom in terms of the paradigm shifts that result. All of the existing systems they discuss, and all of the attempts we know of, have one common feature that we are trying to avoid. Technology in the hands of the student usually translates into a workstation at each desk. This approach is fine, even necessary, for classes that involve computer-based activities (such as programming). We want to investigate the usefulness of alternative interfaces that are less intrusive and allow natural handwritten note-taking, such as pen-based laptops, PDAs, tablets, or palmtop PCs.
Our work has been greatly influenced by the work at Xerox PARC in
ubiquitous computing [18, 19] and tools to support
electronic capture and access of collaborative activities
[9, 10]. We want to capture information
provided by the teacher during a lecture, so electronic whiteboard
capabilities provided by the Xerox LiveWorks LiveBoard
[4] are inviting.
We
also wanted to provide the students with an electronic notebook with
the capability to take notes during the class that could be the basis
for review after class. The Marquee note-taking prototype developed at
PARC [17] and the Filochat prototype developed at
Hewlett-Packard Labs [20] both came close to what we
wanted to have in the hands of the students. Marquee provided a simple
mechanism for producing notes with a pen-based interface that also
created automatic indexing into a video stream. Filochat used a
pen-based PC to capture electronic annotations that served as indices
into a digital audio stream. We have also investigated paper-based
solutions to note-taking, similar to the work done by Stifelman
[14]. The implicit connection between the note-taking
device and alternate information streams (audio and/or video) is a
common theme that has also been explored at MIT's
Media Lab [7] and at Apple [3].
With the availability of ubiquitous information technologies, such as the
World-Wide Web, most universities are able to provide students with access to
vast repositories of educational materials. It is quickly becoming the norm
for individual courses at many universities to have their own Web page that
serves as a central clearing house for all course
documentation. While this use of the Web
has some obvious advantages for both instructor and student, it does not
take an active role in assisting learning and teaching. We wanted
to view the whole classroom experience as a multimedia Web authoring task and
provide ways to capture and relate information before, during and after an
actual classroom session. A serious design decision for the Classroom 2000
prototypes, a decision that prevented the use of some existing solutions for
our prototypes, was to make all information accessible via the Web. The
hardships incurred by this decision were far outweighed by the ease of
cross-platform distribution, a must for our student population. This more
active use of the Web infrastructure is in tune with some recent applications
of WWW technology in education [8, 12, 5].
Our major contribution beyond this existing work is the concentration on
in-class capture of information that is to be augmented through coordination
with other classroom information via the Web.
Several of the research prototypes cited above have been subjected to some form of evaluation to determine both usability and usefulness. The two most substantial evaluation studies have been conducted at PARC and Hewlett-Packard. For a two-year period at PARC, a suite of tools for capture, automated indexing and integration, and access [9] was used to support a process of intellectual property management [10]. At Hewlett-Packard, the Filochat system was evaluated in field and laboratory studies, generating both qualitative information on the reaction of users to the technology and also quantitative information comparing the accuracy, efficiency and confidence of Filochat with paper-based and dictophone systems [20]. The initial evaluation we report in this paper is based on a 10-week experiment in a live classroom and provides both quantitative and qualitative evaluation of student reaction to the technology. This evaluation is more of a feasibility study than a proper usability or utility study as was done at PARC.
Many researchers investigate the effect of technology in education. There is an important distinction for research in this area, based on whether the research is focused on education or on technology. We have taken a technology focus in our work so far, as evidenced by the way we describe our work and evaluate its impact. Before we can honestly assess the educational impact of ubiquitous computing technology, we must first develop robust, though not necessarily perfect, prototypes that have been tested in real environments. This is a serious challenge, especially when dealing with off-the-shelf ubiquitous computing technology that is anything but robust. Our technology-driven approach to educational technology contrasts with a more education-driven focus, as demonstrated by Wan and Johnson [16] or by Guzdial et al. [6], in which the purpose of the research is to understand and inform theories on learning. In the wider arena of educational technology, there must be both forms of research.
Future Computing Environments