Class pal report

Interaction Design Project Report

ClassPal : the Classroom Assisting System

Jatin Pherwani 10020518

Vikas Luthra 10020544

Bhasker Sharma 10020512

Abstract In this paper we describe the process and outcome of our work developing an Interactive doubt clearance portal to enhance the learning experience for a lecture based classroom. During the project we have learned about the various forces playing part in effective learning ranging from discussions in the class to effect of personality traits on the participatory activities.

Keywords Introvert learning, Doubt Clearance, Interactive Assistance

Introduction ClassPal is the name of our concept portal which will help enhance the learning experience of a traditional lecture classroom. Many different features of this application are inspired from real life experiences such as Doubt clearance, Quiz attempt and Student feedback. We started our process by choosing the topic of Education and confining it to the domain of learning experience in a classroom. Another area that fascinated us was the variety in personality traits that exist within students and teachers, how these make the phenomenon of learning an even more complex process.

We chose to explore and do research on the related topics of personality traits like introverts and extroverts. The learning techniques preferred by the students had enough variety, which allowed us to search for a problem area which might be present in the rigid methods of teaching, which exist throughout classrooms in a school. While we explored the area of interest, there were findings that indicated how learning is primarily a social activity and participation in the social life of the school is central for effective learning to occur. We set ourselves out to come up with a solution that would help maintain the balance of social and individual learning at the same time not disturb the various complex dynamics of individual personality traits.

The portal as discussed, will have an experience of

interactive classroom by making use of network

technology and social interactions

Research Phase The project demanded a lot of research to be done since our areas of interest were too wide and had to be connected logically. Since we as students have been through the situation of learning in the classrooms, there were many decisions where we were tempted to use our own discretion and act as the user. However that would not be the way a designer works to solve such a problem. Thus there was extensive literature study done to get the concepts related to personality types and their effects on learning right.

Secondary Research

Reading research papers cleared our assumptions about the factors playing role in learning in a classroom for different individuals. We chose to concentrate on four topics mainly. First, the learning activity for a classroom based environment. Secondly, the types of personality traits that exist and their behavior towards an activity like learning. Third, the different researches that have been done to support demarcations in learning styles of extroverts and introverts. Fourth, the various interactive platforms that exist to enhance the classroom learning experience.

The famous ted talk by Susain Cain describing the nature of introverts and why the society can’t afford to ignore them. Ref. www.ted.com

“If I offer my idea in class, however, I feel as though it is unconnected and makes no sense in the conversation. For this reason I often keep my ideas to myself. I sometimes end up speaking at the end of class, when I have fully processed all of the ideas that have been presented and therefore feel able to contribute my opinion, but by then it is usually too late. My preference for an introverted learning style does not mean that I never speak in class or that I don't like to speak in class. I actually enjoy participating in a lively, thought-provoking discussion, as long as it is structured in a way that allows me to contribute. “

The following is an abstract from a paper called Reflections on Being an Introvert in the Classroom by Jeanne Briggs, '96

Learning at school requires students to pay attention, to observe, to memorize, to understand, to set goals and to assume responsibility for their own learning. These cognitive activities are not possible without the active involvement and engagement of the learner. A few ways the teacher can assure this of are : • avoid situations where the students are

passive listeners for long periods of time. • Provide students with hands-on activities,

such as experiments, observations, projects, etc. • Encourage participation in classroom

discussions and other collaborative activities

- Elmore, Peterson & McCarthy, 1996; Piaget, 1978; Scardamalia & Bereiter,

1991.

“Eysenck’s theory places assumption on the difference in the nervous system of people with different personality traits. Introverts are assumed to have a weak neural inhibition That the stimulation of senses easily prompts activity in the brain, while extroverts have strong neural inhibition making it difficult for sensory stimulations to activate the brain.” -Introverts and Extraverts require

different learning environment Ronald Schmeck and Dan Lockhart 1983

“Most students are neither totally introverted nor totally extraverted. They require both quiet as well as stimulating learning environments. The challenge thus is one of (1) Providing the majority of students with an

environment that may sometimes be too stimulating for the teacher.

(2) Providing a little extra stimulation for the extraverted children.

(3) Keeping all this stimulation from interfering with the learning of extremely introverted students.”

-Introverts and Extraverts require different learning environment Ronald Schmeck and Dan Lockhart 1983

A Playground for Leif by Designliga A playful environment designed specifically for introvert toddlers.

The Office of LYCS Architecture is typically extroverted: light, open, and

airy to facilitate collaboration.

School of One is one radical initiative that aims at Reimagining the classroom to

meet the needs of every student

Primary Research

The User research was done within the premises of our campus, IIT Guwahati. The students and teachers can serve as a reflection of many higher education institutes and universities in our country. The strategy followed for research were divided into two phases. First to get a wide range of general opinion on the context, we carried out surveys for a large group of people. Second phase was done to get the in depth knowledge of the matter and included activities like observations, user interviews and expert interviews and focus group study.

Survey

The first step was to identify the range of personality traits in a typical classroom in the college. The questionnaire was carefully designed to serve two main purposes. One, to identify the personality trait of a student and secondly a few opinion questions to know about their problems with the existing methods of teaching and interaction in class.

The survey research was done with 94 freshmen in the lecture theatre after the class. The method followed was to modify an approved personality test, to suit our purpose. Items were drawn from the Eysenck’ personality questionnaire which is a simple test with 15 multiple choice questions to help determine the person’s traits on a fair range of introversion.

Observation

We conducted observation sessions in two types of classrooms to see the activities of students and teachers. There were many interesting findings from this method. Techniques like Shadowing, and Fly on the wall were used to observe and record behavior of students without interfering in their activities. A time lapse video and our own notes recorded the useful observations which were used in further analysis.

Subject Matter Expert (SME) Interviews

The matter of classroom learning required knowledge of knowing different social factors influencing a participatory activity like doubt asking. We consulted Dr. Naveen Kashyap a professor of Psychology department at IIT Guwahati. We asked

Frames from the Photographs and time lapse videos as a part of the activity

observation.

Students filling in the survey questionnaire

User Interviews

We have till now interviewed 8 students as a part of the research. We chose these people from the result of their surveys. Having done the analysis of the scores in the personality questionnaire, we picked a sample size of 8 people who reflected the extreme and moderate personality types for getting to know the different perspectives and experience. Questions were asked in a friendly manner to make the students as comfortable as possible (so as to get the natural responses). Their responses for having a more interactive classes were quite apparent however a few insights were more of findings.

Focus Group/ Discussions

Without much analysis, one may infer that teachers/instructors are an essential part of learning in the classroom. As a part of carrying the research, we interviewed a few of the very experienced professors at IITG to know their side of the context with interactivity in a classroom. An informal session carried out in a relaxed environment helped ignite many sparks of ideas for the concept and motivated us to the right path.

him about the experience a student goes through in the class and the problems they might face in interaction sessions or doubt clearance.

User interviews being conducted.

Group discussion with teachers at IITG.

Research Analysis Phase

Secondary Research

After the research done at secondary level (mostly reading research papers), it was implied that the introvert students face problems in a gathering of people to share their ideas or ask doubts. Where many findings from secondary research also indicated that a quiet personality may not be the only restriction for an individual get his/her idea through the social barrier. A few very crude conclusions and ideas that came after secondary research were :

• The establishment of a fruitful collaborative

and co-operative atmosphere is an essential part of school learning at any level.

• It is essential to create circumstances for students to interact with each other, to express their opinions and to evaluate other

students’ arguments.

• Where a platform for sharing of ideas and opinions /asking doubt may be advantageous for the students who like to be in their shell, it is not going to hamper the learning style of an extrovert student.

• Social networking and blogging was an activity the student section of society is very active in, this can be incorporated within the classroom scenario too.

Survey Analysis

The survey brought results of 94 students and we were able to identify the students, with whom we should interact with for further research. Also from the analysis we were able to get the opinion of freshmen on the teaching methods and the idea of doubt clearance within the class.

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exterme extrovert low introversion andhigh extroversion

high introversion andlow extroversion

extreme introvert

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Sample Size: 94

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Question: Do you prefer studying on your own than having group studying session?

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Question: I am often able to share my ideas with group of people effectively and easily ?

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Question: I don’t like over stimulating environment?( I am not comfortable in going for horror movies or roller coaster ride or loud rock concerts)

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No of Students

Question: Do you often ask doubts in a class ?

Focus Group and Discussion session

As mentioned earlier, a group session with three very experienced teachers at IITG was done to get their take on our idea and an insight on their side of problem. They expressed concern over the diminishing

trend of discussions and idea sharing within the class. Through the discussion, we were intimate about the following important issues :

• The class hours have been shrinking

over the years, because of which discussions and doubt clearance within the class is not promoted. However the doubts are entertained via email after the class.

• Their might be issues of breaching the

discipline through the portal if it supported anonymity , also students may not concentrate on the instruction.

• The teachers backed the idea to be implemented in tutorial and problem solving sessions since they are not all about grasping concepts by the means of instruction.

User Interviews

In a question answer session carried with 10 primary users i.e. the students, their were many insights developed and got to know the problems they came across while sharing ideas or asking a doubt. All the sessions were a very open and we tried to promote the sharing of experiences with us. Where many common findings were recorded, we analyzed all user statements and then prepared a chart to get the clear understanding.

Flow Model and Affinity Analysis

After the intimation of all the different factors involved in the activity of doubt clearance within the class, we developed a flow model to reflect the system.

STUDENTS

DOUBT INSTRUCTOR

REFERENCE SOURCES

PEER

Left Disregarded Left Disregarded

Feedback/ Attention

Instruction Noise/Distraction

Clearance

Flow Model Doubt Clearance in a classroom

Affinity Analysis

Observation Inference Opportunity

Instructor assumes that the concept taught has been grasped well by the students but not sure.

There is a feedback in some form from the students but lacks assurity.

A system for better feedback from the students can be made.

Students prefer a concept, repeated multiple number of times.

The learning of a new concept strengthens on repetition.

The student may have an option of going back and repeating the concept for himself.

Teacher seemed the most interested during the class regarding the topic.

Doubt clearance is most likely to be entertained well by the instructor during the class.

Need of an instant system with the features of having doubts cleared within the class.

Verbal Interaction during a class is always appreciated by students.

A sudden break/change in the course of a monotonous lecture is good to bring back interest.

A change in the media of instruction, a dialogue with the instructor, an idea shared.

Majority of students have many times not asked a doubt due to the fear of public speaking.

Speaking in a gathering is mainly not welcome, with personality type playing a small role.

A platform to share the doubt and have less influence of speaking in public.

Doubt asking was not entertained within the class due to lack of time with the teacher.

If not very important or supported well, asking the doubt may cause a break in the class flow and waste precious class time.

A discussion platform where all the doubts get accumulated and entertained by the instructor after the class.

Students do express their opinions and ideas on platforms like social networks and blogs.

It is easier for all the individuals to have discussions on the internet which if not equally, is very effective to an interaction ‘in person’ .

A platform where students can post their ideas, opinion in public or communities and initiate a discussion.

Chart of the User Interview analysis

Brainstorming

After an intensive research analysis we sat down to join the parts of the problem that we knew. The Brainstorming session was purely done to draw relations and associations between the concepts we were working on. As the associations were made, we derived what and where the problem can be solved via design intervention. We decided to consolidate our problem here to build an in class portal for the students at IITG which shall assist in class interaction in particularly doubt asking. This will cater the needs of the shy and the introverts while build in an interactive and interesting lecture which brings back the lost excitement of a lecture class.

Problem Statement

Interaction and doubt asking in classrooms has been on a decline over the past years. This is supposed to increase interest in the class and have participatory learning. A medium can be provided in the classroom and tutorial sessions for the college students (IITG students here) which allows them to ask doubts and share ideas within the class without any hesitation or fear which is ubiquitous amongst a large audience.

Vision Statement

To Design an interactive networking portal for the students of IITG which allows Idea sharing and Doubt clearance within the class such that the students get actively involved in the existing topic and build interest in class .

Design concept of the background system.

Observation and Inferences of Classroom

Writing the observation

Scenario Deriving the insights from user interviews and analysis of all the research, we represent the present situation in the form of a scenario. Having different instances that often occur during a general class with a lot of gathering.

Ramesh enters the classroom, he has not attended the last two classes. He had inquired from his friend the current topic of discussion, and decided to attend the class. He takes a backseat so that he doesn’t feel crowded.

Ramesh inquires from a nearby batchmate about the on goings in the course and a few updates about an upcoming exam, syllabus etc.

As the instruction session proceeds Ramesh encounters a doubt in understanding the order of differential equation. Before approaching the instructor, he chooses to ask his batchmate and the doubt is cleared. The topic was taught in the last class which he didn’t attend.

The topic is taught, Ramesh is able to follow. There occurs another doubt in his mind regarding the method taught to solve a second order equation, he thinks he has a better way of doing it. Again, before approaching the instructor, he chooses to ask his batchmate. This is might be a new way of solving this, his friend is impressed and thinks Ramesh should ask the instructor about his idea.

Out of the motivation which his friend provided, Ramesh dares to interrupt the teacher and raise his hand to ask the doubt.

The instructor listens to his idea and acknowledges it however his may not be the method they would be taught and deal with for all equations. He regards the doubt as a silly one and continues with the lecture. Ramesh is left puzzled and a little demotivated.

Ramesh after the class feels a little demotivated however his idea of solving the equation is very much in his mind and he decides to search it on the internet. Bingo! What Ramesh had suggested during the class was a classic way of solving the problem called Murrs anaylsis. He feels confident again and writes an email to the instructor about his doubt and the new discovery he had made within the class.

Persona Building The user statements reflected a general character of the students for class interactions. Keeping the opinions in mind and applying our own insight, we developed a persona. This was referred to at all stages of designing the platform.

Name : Harshit Gupta Age: 20 Occupation : Undergraduate student at Guwahati University Gender : Male Nationality : Indian Likes : • To read books • Write blogs, social networking and • internet surfing • Study and learn through online websites • Playing Music Dislikes: • Going out to parties • Giving presentations/addressing people • Taking part in cultural activities.

Goals: • To have a good job and excel in it • To write a book on his life • To do substantially good projects at

college

Motivations : Harshit is a curios and shy person. He attends lectures in the college daily and makes notes during the class. He generally faces many doubts during a lecture, which he usually gets cleared from his friends or batchmates. He doesn’t ask doubts from the professor in front of too many people due to the fear of public speaking and embarrassment. If a doubt bothers him much, he may go to the concerned instructor during office hours or search it online.

Needs: • To learn from fruitful interactions within the class. • To have his doubts cleared and feel motivated to learn • To have interesting lecture.

Name : Rahul Mishra Age: 19 Occupation : Undergraduate student Jorhat Engg. College Gender : Male Nationality : Indian Likes : • Debating • Write blogs, social networking and • internet surfing • Socializing, partying • Listening to rock Music Dislikes: • Reading books • Giving presentations/addressing people • Taking part in cultural activities.

Goals: • To have a good job in the advertising industry • To write a book on his life • To make friends and have a large social circle.

Motivations : Harshit is a curios and outgoing person. He doesn’t attend lectures in the college daily and borrows notes during the exam time. He generally faces many doubts during a lecture, for which he usually doesn’t take any initiative. However during exam time he wishes to have hi doubts cleared. He doesn’t have much fear of public speaking and embarrassment but would rather not ask the doubt. If a doubt bothers him much, he may go to the concerned instructor during office hours or search it online.

Needs: • To learn from fruitful interactions within the class. • To have his doubts cleared and feel motivated to learn • To have interesting lecture.

Task Flow

Home

Today’s

highlight

Chemistry

Lecture*

Doubt Portal

Posting a

doubt

Searching an

answer

Promoting the

existing

doubts

Commenting /

Answering the

existing doubt

Lecture Slide Chemistry

Course Calendar

Discussion

Forum

Maths

Lecture*

Physics

Lecture* Tutorial Lab Instruction Notice Board

Course

Material

Information Architecture

Paper Prototype

Login Screen

• Enter User Name • Enter Password • Tap on Login Button

Home Screen

The page shows today Schedule for a student Like today’s lecture Labs, Tutorial and notice Board where mails, Updates are available.

Home Screen

• Student taps on • chemistry to go

to current lecture .

Current Lecture Slide

At top left side have 4 buttons. First icon takes you to doubt portal where student could ask doubt r elated to current lecture going on. Student taps on doubt portal icon.

Doubt Portal Screen

Left section of the screen Shows all the doubts asked by the students. Doubts blows up with increasing number of likes. (Which Implies many students have the same doubt.) Right section gives student a chance to post his/her question.

Doubt Portal Screen

Student taps on the white Space to write his/her doubt.

Doubt Portal Screen Student types his/her doubt through the keypad.

Doubt Portal Screen

Question/Doubt get posted on which students can promote if they have same doubt or comment if they know the answer. User’s question is differently coloured.

Scenario Wireframes The following screens show the wireframes of the platform for a simple task of posting a doubt.

Prototype

The project done is a part of generic problem solving. As students faced the

problem of not having their doubts cleared within the class or have a fruitful discussion. The matter is required to be addressed and we explored it and made an attempt at its solution via design intervention. The problem was treated to provide an interactive portal which was truly a job of an interaction designer. During the project we learned to apply different Interaction design methods and techniques. The framework of our project had research as its important component. We learned about field studies, how to carry out observation, how to conduct user research and make sure it is useful in the end solution. The analysis of data gathered by research was an interesting stage where many insights started to develop and we were able to picturize a solution in our head. There is still a lot of scope for development of this initial concept and many features need to be consolidated with more research. However, our next step will be to test the solution proposed till a satisfactory result is gathered about the system loopholes and usability of the interface.

Conclusion References

Introverts, Extroverts, and Achievement in a Distance Learning Environment -Baruch Offir, Rachel Bezalel, and Ingrid Barth 2007 Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Reflections on Being an Introvert in the Classroom by Jeanne Briggs, '96

-Introverts and Extraverts require different learning environment Ronald Schmeck and Dan Lockhart 1983

-Personality type and Online versus in class Satisfaction Richard Daughenbaugh, Lynda Daughenbaugh, Daniel Surry and Mohammed Islam 2003

- Designing Class Participation Experiences for the Introverted Student By: Jeanne Merkle Sorrell, DAEd Hazel N. Brown, EdD

- Relations Between Personality Traits, Language Learning Styles. İsmail ERTON 2010