Question

Develop a prototype for education system

write a 2-page paper addressing the topics/questions below

-Create your prototype. I

-Describe your prototype and the process that you used to develop it.

-How will your prototype help you get feedback on your idea? What concepts are represented by your prototype?

-Tell me why you think your prototype will help you get valuable information from potential users.

Education System:

Answer 1

Designing new educational experiences, which utilize novel technologies, are usable by teachers and learners and integrate well into existing, everyday educational contexts is extremely difficult. Educational designers need to take the complexity of the overall context into account, including the sometimes conflicting goals and expectations of the main players: the teachers, children, parents andschools; the differing constraints under which they all have to operate, such as time, age, resources and cognitive limitations; and the physical and organizational contexts in which the system is to be used. The design process has to find a path through this difficult and complex space.

Prototype : The Homework system is built upon a pedagogical framework called the Broadband Learner Modelling framework. This framework is based upon the concept of a Broadband Learner Model which we define as a learner model created through the use of technology to link a learner’s educational experience across time and context.

Prototype process

PHASE 1 Activity and Aims: Communicate and assess initial vision. Engage with teachers, explore lesson
planning and learner profiling from the teacher perspective

Method and duration :

2 * 1 Day Teacher Workshop.
Participants asked to:
1) Work in small groups to discuss:
• the characteristics of individual children that influence the selection of learning activities for that child • the characteristics that
influence the choice of a
learning partner for that
child.
2) To work as a large group and discuss their reactions to our system vision scenario presented as a power point presentation

Tools: Flip charts, post-it notes, pens. Laptop, PowerPoint scenario and projector.
Human: Facilitator foreach group. ‘Ringmaster’ forPlenary. A recorder. A technician.Participants: 40, Teachers

Data collection : Data Collection: Video camera for plenary. Digital Voice recorders – one per group. QuestionnairesData: Plenary videotapes. Group audio. Completed Post-it notes, drawings, flip chart sheets.Questionnaires, researcher observation notes

Analysis: Key learning activity characteristics, learners’ individual traits and contextual constraints expressed by teachers extracted from notes, transcript

Output: Re-vision/user requirements
modification: Initial learner profiles and content metadata schema updated to
include teacher specified characteristics. Ongoing work with teachers to develop first semi-functional prototype demo & school trial.

Phase 1 Re-Vision Modify System Vision with increased detail of teacher user interfaces and updated learner model components and metadata content descriptions. Expressed as an enhanced storyboard from teacher
perspective, formal learner model description, summary of expressed teacher opinions and requirements.

PHASE 2 Activity and Aims: Improve understanding of home context and home users needs. Home
contexts, parent engagement, explore current homework patterns, current home technology, location and use,
assess family availability and attitudes to tablet activities in the home and related technology attitudes.
Method and duration
Diary study: Adult participants volunteered to record every half hour what they were doing as
well as their current enthusiasm level for undertaking a homework activity.
Parent interviews: 45 minute interview using a PowerPoint scenario and a semi structuredscript with a set of questions and optional follow-ups.
Tools: Diaries. Interview Script, Laptop with PowerPoint Human: Researcher with transport

Participants:Diary Study: 37 parents or carers
from 22 families at 2 local schools.
Interviews: 12 sets of volunteers from diary study participants
Data Collection:Digital Voice recorder Completed diary sheets.
Data: Completed Diaries.Interview audio recordings.Researcher notes.Interviews with 12 sets of volunteers from diary study. participants Analysis: Emergent extraction of themed responses in interview transcripts and diary recorded dataRe-vision/user requirement
modification: Homework activities need to be
designed for use in first hour after children return from school.Homework activities need to be
flexible, e.g. different length activities for different children.Parents want to know what child has done at school. Finding Large differences exist between different schoolsstudied and between some parents’ information needs.

Phase 2 Re-Vision A modified System Vision with clarification of: appropriate homework activities, parental expectations and further implications for learner modeling and home interface design. Expressed as an enhanced home context storyboard integrated into classroom storyboard from the previous phase

PHASE 3 Activity and Aims: A) First system Demo. Demonstrate revised vision in practice. Emulate the
classroom context and reveal unpredicted practical issues. Evaluate technical specification and user requirements. B) Lab session to evaluate tablet PC technology. Further explore technical issues that arose at the demo and reveal and evaluate usability (and other) issues that arise when 6-7 year olds use tablet PC

PHASE 4 Activity and Aim: First iteration of the home interface linking to classroom activity. Small scale
and limited test of tablet based technology in the home and school context. Evaluate participant reaction. Verify findings about homework from diary and interview study. Evaluate home usage, how much, how often, what, when, by whom, etc… Observe classroom usage, integration with ongoing teaching & planning.

Phase 4 - Re-Vision System Vision validated in one context on a small scale (both temporal and number of
users). Vision revised to support parental issues (e.g. concerns over Internet access – decided this was unnecessary as this phase had managed without) resulting in a modified technical and home interface specification. System can be communicated through rough functional prototypes of home interface and polling software and custom built lesson plans, video and diagrammatic representations of actual usage in this context and evaluation data, feedback quotes from teachers and parents

PHASE 5 Activity and Aim: 2nd iteration of in context evaluation. Increase validity through scale up of usage data (number of users and time of use). Validate in an alternative context (different school, different teacher, different parents and homes). Explore system infrastructure capabilities for the delivery of limited personalization through differing curriculum objectives for year 1 and year 2 learners by using a class combining year 1 & year 2. Expand evaluation of home usage and classroom planning and management
requirements using interactive whiteboard and a full class set of tablet PCs and improved home interface and custom-built classroom lesson plans. Record the process of collaboratively building classroom and homework plans using the available resources with the teacher and analyse requirements for teacher interface.

Phase 5 Re-Vision. Clarification of teacher planning requirements through assisted planning in context and in real-time, issues involved in identifying and communicating relevant resources to teacher, flexibility to change plans at short notice, division of control teacher/learner/system issues. Identification and design of solutions to organizational issues (set-up and put away time). System expressed through: video illustrating actual classroom and home usage, summary of parental experience expressed through diaries, representations of usage from logged data, enhanced storyboard of teacher interface informed by planning and delivering 4 weeks of sessions, teacher perspective of experience enhanced through feedback from and additional teacher
and teaching assistant. Further requirements for classroom system and planning identified. Substantial burden placed on researchers as technical assistants required by daily manual updates to Tablet PC content

PHASE 6 Activity and Aim: 3rd Iteration of in context evaluation. Increase validity of teacher interface and classroom system requirements through contextual use and evaluation of semi-functional teacher interface with a different teacher. Test redevelop infrastructure for easing update and delivery of content to tablets.
Evaluate redesigned home-interface and automated daily update of home content to match school content.

Phase 6 Re-Vision An evolution of the current system vision – represented by semi-functional system (home & classroom), videos of usage, accompanying design for integration in organizational context, and evaluation
data. Remaining validity concerns/limitations: the kind of school/home context and novelty – what happens with much longer periods of less intensive classroom usage?

Concepts: broadband learner model

Knowledge of the learner
• Knowledge of the domain of available educational resources
• Knowledge about pedagogy and scaffolding
• Knowledge about how to support collaboration

I think this will help to get information from potential users Whilst most projects of this kind working with children have focused exclusively on the school context (see Scaife, Rogers, Aldrich and Davies, 1997 for example), the HOMEWORK model is designed with both the school and less formal home contexts in mind. For the learner model a number of pedagogical categories were felt to vary between formal and informal environments, especially for very young learners who have far less control of their environments. For example, the confidence of a child with a non-English home language may well be considerably lower within the school context compared to a child from a home where work can be discussed with a native speaker. Conversely, the collaboration potential within the home would be far lower for a child with no siblings compared to the classroom setting. Such variations require consideration when designing a single user model profile for each child. The question: “How can the profiles for these two contexts be combined into a single learner profile?” is one which is currently under consideration. Insights into the design of the learner model were largely derived from the work under Phase 1 of Table 1 described earlier. In this section of the paper we consider Phase 2 of the design process as described in Table 1 and provide more detail about the manner in which our studies with users in the home context have impacted upon the HOMEWORK system development.