Research Philosophies Where do I fit

1
Research PhilosophiesWhere do I fit?

• Jerry Alan Fails
• University of Maryland
• Human-Computer Interaction Lab

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About Me

• PhD CS Candidate at UMD / HCIL
• Advisor Dr. Allison Druin
• Worked with Kidsteam for four years
• Thesis Mobile Collaboration for Young Children
• MS (2003) BS (2001) CS at BYU
• Thesis advisor Dr. Dan Olsen Jr.
• Thesis Image Processing with Crayons

3
Quantitative Evaluation
Design
Technology
Children
Qualitative Evaluation
4
Current Approach
Interdisciplinary

• Children (including learning theories)
• Constructionism (Papert, 1980 Papert and Harel,
  1991)
• In situ learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991)
• Design
• Cooperative Inquiry
• Participatory design
• Technology (open to various types)
• Evaluation
• Qualitative
• Quantitative
• Mixed methods

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Design Approach

• Kidsteam
• Cooperative Inquiry (Druin, CHI 1999 Guha et
  al., IDC 2004)

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Technology/Systems

• Research Group
• Hazard Room Game (Fails et al., IDC 2005)
• Tangible Flags (Chipman et al., IDC 2006)
• Mobile Stories (Fails, IDC 2007)
• Partners
• Microsoft
• Discovery
• National Park Service
• Public and private schools
• Childrens Environmental Health Network

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Evaluation

• Quantitative
• Interactive machine learning (Fails and Olsen,
  IUI 2003)
• A design tool for camera-based interaction
• (Fails and Olsen, CHI 2003)
• Mixed methods
• Childs play a comparison of desktop and
  physical interactive environments (Fails et al.,
  IDC 2005)
• Qualitative
• A case study of tangible flags a collaborative
  technology to enhance field trips (Chipman et
  al., IDC 2006)

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What Makes Successful Research

• Research team interdisciplinary and
  intergenerational
• Iterative design
• Broad, iterative approaches, quick turnaround
• From low-tech, to Wizard of Oz, to working
  prototypes
• Exposure across multiple groups of kids
• Various user groups
• Extending Cooperative Inquiry to younger and
  older children
• Evaluation that fits the research goals
• Contribute
• Make it broad, original, robust
• Help extend to new paradigms and applications
• Impact children and beyond

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Quantitative Evaluation
Design
Technology
Children
Qualitative Evaluation
10
Acknowledgments Dr. Allison Druin Gene
Chipman Mona Leigh Guha Kidsteam fails_at_cs.umd.e
du www.cs.umd.edu/fails/