An innovative Tablet PC based System for Learning Mathematics with Gaming and more.. Amer Hasan Ali Obeidah Ananda Gunawardena Carnegie Mellon University.

An innovative Tablet PC based System for Learning

Mathematics with Gamingand more..

Amer Hasan Ali Obeidah Ananda Gunawardena

Carnegie Mellon University in QatarICT Presentation

Doha, Qatar, April 2008

Outline• Background on Tablet PC’s

• The promise of tablet PC’s

• Tablet Math Whiz Program– Client application– Web application– Data collection

• Other Educational Applications– Flash Cards– Collaborative Learning

Today’s Tablet PC Market

Sahara i213

12.1”, 1.6GHz Centrino

Motion

Computing

Tatung TTAB

10.4”, 1 GHz ULV

Tatung B12D

12.1” 1.2 GHz Centrino

Fujitsu 5000

10.4/12.1, Indoor/Outdoor

1.1 GHz ULV

NECVersaPro, 10.4”, 1.1 GHz

LE 1600

LS 800

Today’s Market: New Convertibles

Acer

C1xx

C300

C250

Averatec C3500AMD 2200+

12.1”, DVD

Electrovaya1.4 GHz Centrino

12.1”, Biometrics

Scribbler SC-2200

Gateway M275

14.1”, DVD

1.8 GHz Pentium-M

SHARPActius TN10W12.1”, 1.1 GHz

ToshibaM200, 12.1” SXGA+

2 GHz Pentium-M

ViewSonic

12.1”, 1 GHz

Fujitsu

T4000

IBM ThinkPad x41

HP tc4200

Concept Design: New hinge

A Concept Tablet for Kids

• Low power– (7W)

• 8.4” display

• Tethered pen

• Rugged

7

Typical Tablet PC use

– Portable, mobile environment, without a keyboard

– Direct interaction,– Low precision aiming

Tablet PC in Education

• (HCI) Natural interfaces that facilitate a richer variety of communications capabilities between humans and computation.– speech, pen and gesture input

• In 5 years, we will be communication with computer more using pen, touch and speech

• Bill Gates at CMU on February 18th, 2008

• Pen allows natural interaction in any language– English, Arabic

• Smart programs recognize handwriting and sketches and provide useful feedback to the student– What was missing in education computers that can naturally

interact with the users

Promise

Why Tablet PC makes sense inEducation

• All student writing can be captured, archived, analyzed and shared

• Students and teachers can communicate with the language of “sketching”– No keyboards, no specific templates etc.

• Student’s handwritten work can be archived– Easy search and find

• Teach the student a lessons of a “green” world.

Tablet PC Math Whiz

Our Goal• To create a natural pen-based interface for

solving Math on the computer• To relieve the burden of teachers to grade

handwritten work– This system recognizes the student handwriting and

grade them automatically• Teachers to spend more time on finding

students who needs help– System can filter scratch work by several criterias and

show teachers where students are having problems• No other system provide the functionality

described above

Tablet Math Whiz System

• Technology– A Tablet PC based client as student interface

• C# application

– A web application for classroom management• Asp.net

– Supported by CMU servers for all pilot studies• Mt Lebanon Elementary School• Glendale Elementary• St. Agnes School

Login Screen

Self Study Guide

Student Scratch Work

Teacher Login

Teacher Access

Teacher Assigned Exercises

Student login Receives assignment

Student work on it

DB

Scratch Work for incorrect Problems

Research Questions?

• How will teachers and students react to the system?

• How will teachers integrate the system into their current curriculum?

• What attributes are needed in order for tablet PC software to be successful?

• What characteristics of tablet technology provide learning improvements (if any)?

Classroom Setup

• Three classes• Each class used the tablet PCs for six

weeks• There were six tablets set up in the back of

the classroom• Teachers assigned an “exercise” for their

students to complete each week• If students finished the exercise, they

worked on their own

Results

• Students completed 18,992 problems

• Students skipped 2,211 problems

• Class A average – 74.38%

• Class B average – 75.96%

• Class C average – 85.59%

• Teachers assigned 15 exercises over 18 weeks

Student Results

• Problems Completed by Students

Class Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Total

1 1646(310) 1126(427) 542(107) 113(34) 3427(878)

2 6014(1049) 1978(957) 2584(548) 95(11) 10671(2565)

3 3283(271) 25(1) 3797(752) 0(0) 7105(1024)

Total 10943(1630) 3129(1385) 6923(1407) 208(45) 21203(4467)

Student Data; Incorrect/Skipped Responses in (Parentheses); 2211 Problems were Skipped

Student Perception

• When students were asked ''On a scale of 1-5, how much fun did you have using the Tablet Math System,'' 29 of the 49 students surveyed selected 5, the highest level of fun

• When students were asked “On a scale of 1-5, do you think you did better at math on the tablet pc or on paper?,'' 25 of the 49 students surveyed selected 5, indicating they did better on the tablet

Students having fun

Student Perception

Tablet Math with Gaming• Integration of two ideas

– Flash card based games – Tablet Math Whiz

• Gaming and Tablet Math

Team 1Team 2

Source: Images.google.com

Want to use the Software?• CMU-Q is looking for schools, preferably with Tablet PC’s to be pilot

participants• Problem types can be expanded to fit middle and high school

curriculums• Pilot schools will have access to tablet Math Whiz as well as online

management system• We will create a teacher account and teachers can then manage the

class online, enter students, create exercises etc.• Teachers can examine data (including scratch work) filtered by

various criteria's• Interested? contact

– [email protected]– [email protected]

• Project Website: http://srv01.pragma.cs.cmu.edu:1400

Collaborative Learning Software

Goal• Create software that allows students to

collaborate using their own handwriting and sketching on a tablet PC

• Designed for small groups of students to collaborate on a closed network

• It only needs a local intranet to run effectively• Studies have shown that the system is highly

effective• Can be used at any grade level for any subject

User Interface

Tablet PC Flash Cards

Goal• Create software that allows students to create

flash cards on a tablet PC• Highly effective for learning languages – Arabic

to English • Flash card decks can be shared with others• Use Cases

– A community of students creating electronic flash cards and sharing

– Individual students using flash cards to learn concepts

User Interface

Learning Korean and English

Conclusion• Tablet PC enhances education as no other

device has done before• Studies show that students learn more when

they write and sketch rather than type and use computer based tool to draw

• This presentation is about showing the possibilities

• Possibilities with this new technology are limitless

• We welcome your participation of this revolutionary technology

Thanks

• Qatar-ICT Conference committee for the opportunity to present

• Dr. Majd Sakr, head of computer science at CMU-Q for his encouragement

• Dean Chuck Thorpe and staff at CMU-Q

• Human Computer Interaction Institute, Information Systems Department, Computer Science Departments at CMU