Wolfgang Effelsberg1 Knowledge Media in the Interactive Lecture Hall Wolfgang Effelsberg University of Mannheim Germany November 2007

Wolfgang Effelsberg 1

Knowledge Media in the

Interactive Lecture Hall

Wolfgang Effelsberg

University of Mannheim

Germany

November 2007


Overview

1. Motivation

2. Architecture of the WIL/MA system

3. The Quiz Tool

4. The Online-Feedback Tool

5. Empirical Evaluation

6. Summary and Outlook


1. Motivation

We know from educational psychology: interaction, to be active oneself, is vital to the learning success.

This is difficult to achieve in a large lecture hall.

High-capacity handheld PCs together with wireless Internet access constitute a new generation of learning devices.

The goal of the WIL/MA Project (Wireless Interactive Learning/ Mann-heim):

to enable interactivity between students and the lecturer through the use of mobile terminals in a wireless LAN

thus increasing motivation and improving learning success


The Problem


Approach

Design and implementation of the WIL/MA system with services promoting interactivity in the lecture hall

Close cooperation with educational psychologists, for advice and evaluation of the learning success

Extensive testing of the prototype in lecture halls in technical and non-technical fields


2. Architecture of the WIL/MA System


3. The Quiz Tool

How it works:The lecturer prepares brief quiz questions about the course material. He/She takes two to three quiz breaks during the lecture, sending the

questions to the students‘ handheld devices. The students have three to five minutes to respond to the questions and

send their answers back to the lecturer‘s computer. There the answers are immediately statistically evaluated and dis-

played. The lecturer discusses the results with the students IMMEDIATELY.Advantages:

Immediate detection of lesson material not yet understood Feedback for each student on his/her performance status An unexpected occurrence of wrong answers indicates that the lesson

material has not been presented clearly enough, or that the lecturer has made a mistake.

Switching from one medium to another makes the lecture more lively and captures/increases the audience‘s attention.


The Quiz Tool in Action

visible for all

for the student only


4. The Online Feedback Tool

How it works

The lecturer defines categories for which he/she would like to receive feedback (e. g, too fast / too slow, too difficult / too easy, what is your current level of attention?)

The students can indicate their current feeling about these anytime during the lecture.

Advantages

The lecturer gets an immediate feedback. Educational psychologists can measure the students’ status during a

lecture without interrupting it.


The Online-Feedback Tool in Action


5. Empirical Evaluation

Evaluation in four major courses since the end of 2001WS 2001/2002

Multimedia Systems (Prof. Effelsberg) Tryout of acceptance and learning success

SS 2002 Computer Networks (Prof. Effelsberg) acceptance, learning success

SS 2003 Computer Networks (Prof. Effelsberg) acceptance, leaning success under the variation of the feedback given after

each quiz roundWS 2003/2004

Educational Psychology (Prof. Hofer) acceptance and learning success in a non-technical field

… as well as in three smaller field trials


In the Lecture Hall

lecturer

assistent

laptopswith WIL/MA

remotestudents

quiz on the large screen


Students with PDAs


Evaluation Results

Very high acceptance

Most students want to have more courses with interactive elements.

Higher knowledge gain (compared with non-interactive parts of the course)


Acceptance

Acceptance of the interactive version is higher

Left: Computer Networks, SS 2002, n=70 Right: Computer Networks, SS 2003, n=60

comparison of different styles of feedback after a quiz


Ko nventio nelle Vo rlesung Intera ktive Vo rlesung

1 0 ,8 2

1 3 ,6 8

1 6 ,7 41 8 ,0 6

1 0

2 0

2 4

p o stp re p o stp re

Learning Success

Measured knowledge gain

M: 13.68, SD: 4.79 p<.001, η² =.298 M: 16.74, SD: 3.30 p=.007, η² =.264 M: 18.58, SD: 3.49

M: 10.82, SD: 4.92 p<.001, η² =.829 M: 18.06, SD: 3.14 M: 18.55, SD: 2.15

traditional lecture

interactive lecture


Profiles of Two Classroom Sessions with the Feedback Tool

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

5

1 2 3 4 5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

5

1 2 3 4 5

How interesting is the course?How concentrated are you?How difficult is it to follow the lecturer?How hard is the material?


6. Summary and Outlook

Project goal: Interactivity in large lecture halls Server in Java available under Linux, Windows, Solaris Clients in Java available under Windows CE (iPAQ), Linux, Windows Tools: Quiz, Online Feedback, Call-In available

Evaluation Preliminary trial in Winter Semester 2001/02 very successful Four large field studies completed Considerable increase in attention and motivation Considerable increase in learning success Valid for technical and non-technical fields Cognitive load for the students acceptable But: considerable cognitive load for the lecturer


More Info

http://www.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/pi4/projects/wil-ma

[email protected]


big screen, high resolution; no limiting factor for applicationsbattery size depends on different factorsbuilt-in keyboard good for text input, but mouse replacement is quite awkward

usually big and heavy; smaller devices much more expensivewide range, but usually still quite expensivevery high; all application (incl. games, browsers, mail clients etc.) may be run; noisy

Devices

Notebook PocketPC TabletPC

CPU, Memory, Drives ++ o ++

Screen ++ - ++

Input Devices (K / M) + / - - / + + / +

Battery ? - ++

Size and Weight - ++ o

Distraction Factor - + -

Price - ++ - -

relatively slow CPU, limited memory; but still most educational applications may be ported to PocketPC

fast CPU, plenty of memory, large hard drives; almost all applications can be used

very small screen, low resolution; applications have to be carefully designed to run

text input is very slow, but perfect pointing device (stylus)usually very small batteries; when WLAN is enabled, lifetime is less than 100 minutes

small and lightweight; easy to carry aroundvery low; limited amount of applications, noiseless, takes up no space

very cheap; PocketPC with WLAN around 350$

Documents

Wolfgang Effelsberg1 Knowledge Media in the Interactive Lecture Hall Wolfgang Effelsberg University of Mannheim Germany November 2007