Electronic Problembased Learning Technology

1
Distributed Electronic Collaborative Learning
Francis Li James Landay Anthony Joseph Group for
User Interface Research UC Berkeley
Supporting lifelong learning on and off the campus
Growing Educational Demands for Engineering and
Information Technology Professionals

Fall 2000 Study and Evaluation Plans

• Metrics for project progress monitoring and
  evaluation
• Provide reports and visualizations to both
  students and instructors over the course of the
  semester

• We expect a 50 increase in student population in
  our program alone
• Industry demands more than just a large knowledge
  base
• Ability to work in a team
• Effective communication and presentation skills
• Real world problem-solving skills
• The knowledge base is continuously being updated
  and refreshed

Research Ideas

• Integrate real-time and asynchronous
  communication tools with existing work practices
• Instrument and analyze tools to determine
  progress and understanding of students
• Promote peer-review and self-assessment to
  increase feedback and evaluation

Deployment Plans
Fall 1999 Preliminary Study

• Target course CS160 User Interface Design and
  Prototyping
• Students work in small teams on a semester-long
  project
• Students interact opportunistically with other
  groups
• They have limited knowledge of other groups
  progress
• Students tend not to report problems with social
  loafers
• Instructors dont encounter the problem until it
  is too late
• Students in a group prefer to work co-located
• Crowded labs, restricted schedules

• Each student equipped with a wirelessly networked
  notebook computer
• Team desktop (custom Windows ActiveDesktop)
  presents
• Awareness metrics of team members
• Individual, team, and class progress reports and
  visualizations
• Central point of access for Web-based assessment
  tools
• Instant messaging client instrumented for
  communication analysis