PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) Pen-based tools for the creation of handwritten learning content Luciano Seta and Giuseppe Chiazzese Institute for Educational

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


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


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


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


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.


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)


The first page of STAT Web site

The menu


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


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


Examples of data results


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%)


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


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.


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


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


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.


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


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.


The Pegasus™ deviceBase clip connected to the PC via USB cable

Ordinary sheet of paper

The digital pen


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Contacts:Luciano SetaITD – CNRPalermo (Italy)E-mail: [email protected]

Documents

PLT2007 – Catania (Italy) Pen-based tools for the creation of handwritten learning content Luciano Seta and Giuseppe Chiazzese Institute for Educational