James MadleySupervisor: Dr. Brett

Wilkinson

EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF

HANDHELD DEVICES IN EDUCATION ENVIRONMENTS

The QuestionsBackgroundPast ResearchPast Research – ResultsThe TechnologyMethodologyThe AppEvaluationTimelineQuestions

OVERVIEW

Evaluation of the effectiveness of handheld devices in education environments

1. What are teacher and student attitudes towards tablet PCs in class?

2. What effect do tablets have on the mathematical learning of students?

THE QUESTIONS

DynaBook: Mobile education device concept proposed by Alan C. Kay in 1972. [5]

Mobile devices have overtaken desktop computers in usage. [1]

Computer-aided learning may provide significant benefits for low-achieving students. [6][7]

BACKGROUND

The DynaBook

Several experiments over the years.Until the last ten years, focus has been

on more traditional computing.Research involving more recent mobile

technology more scarce.[Mobile devices] make the educational

process flexible and adaptable for students. [4]

PAST RESEARCH

Majority of studies show improvement but there is a large variation on just how great the effect technology has on learning. [2][9]

Student reactions to using technology for learning are nearly always positive.

Teachers more cautious and sceptical, especially when they lack training.

Novelty a source of motivation for students. [10]

PAST RESEARCH - RESULTS

HardwareGoogle Nexus 7

tablets

SoftwareAndroid 4.1+

THE TECHNOLOGY

Google Nexus 7

Establish relationship with a primary school.

Perform experiment with middle/upper primary students.

Learning programme based on mathematical topics students are expected to learn for their age.

Topics chosen with teacher input and/or NAPLAN test material.

METHODOLOGY

Test students in control and experimental groups.

Introductory session to introduce the tablets to the students.

An app will be developed taking into account recommended design factors for education software. [3][8]

METHODOLOGY

TypeTBDGamification aspects

highly likely

Development ToolsAndroid SDK with

Eclipse IDElibgdx (or another 2D

graphics library) if the app design includes animation

THE APP

Mathmateer (Freecloud Design, Inc.), Brain Tuner Pro (GreenGar Studios), and Dragonbox (WeWantToKnow)

Pre and post testingPre: Get performance baseline.Post: Judge impact of learning format on control and experimental groups.

Satisfaction questionnaireReactions to tablets from students and teachers.

App user experience.Interview teachers

Obtain detailed understanding of teacher opinions.

EVALUATION

TIMELINE

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

Literature review

Experimentation

App development

Thesis

Analyse results

Ethics approval

SummaryEvaluate the effect tablets have on student learning.

Focus on learning improvement and satisfaction of tablet devices.

Future researchPerform on-going experimentation and analysis.

Expansion of test material; are tablets effective in other subject areas?

CONCLUSION

References[1 ] A l va rez , C . , C . B rown and M. Nussbaum (2011) . "Compara t i ve s tudy o f ne tbooks and tab le t

PCs fo r fos te r i ng face - to - face co l l abora t i ve l ea rn ing . " Computers i n Human Behav io r 27(2 ) : 834 -844 .

[2 ] Cheung , A . C . K . and R. E . S l av in (2013) . "The eff ec t i veness o f educa t i ona l techno logy app l i ca t i ons fo r enhanc ing mathemat i cs ach ievement i n K-12 c lass rooms: A meta -ana lys i s . " Educat i ona l Research Rev iew 9 (0 ) : 88 -113 .

[3 ] E l i s savet , G . and A. A . Economides (2000) . Eva lua t i on fac to r s o f educat i ona l so f tware . Advanced Learn ing Techno log ies , 2000 . IWALT 2000 . Proceed ings . I n te rnat i ona l Workshop on .

[4 ] Fu r i ó , D . , S . Gonzá lez - Gancedo , M . C . J uan , I . Segu í and M. Cos ta (2013) . "The eff ec ts o f the s i ze and we igh t o f a mob i l e dev i ce on an educat i ona l game. " Computers & Educat i on 64(0 ) : 24 -41 .

[5 ] Kay , A . C . (1972) . A Persona l Computer fo r Ch i l d ren o f A l l Ages . Proceed ings o f the ACM annua l con fe rence - Vo lume 1 . Bos ton , Massachuset ts , US A, ACM.

[6 ] Ke tamo, H. (2003) . "An Adapt i ve Geometry Game fo r Handhe ld Dev i ces . " Educa t i ona l Techno logy & Soc ie ty 6 : 1 .

[7 ] Ng , W. and H. N i cho las (2009) . " In t roduc ing pocket PCs i n schoo l s : At t i tudes and be l i e f s i n the fi r s t year. " Computers & Educat i on 52 (2 ) : 470 -480 .

[8 ] Oz tek in , A . , Z . J . Kong and O. Uysa l (2010) . "UseLearn : A nove l check l i s t and usab i l i t y eva lua t i on method fo r eLearn ing sys tems by c r i t i ca l i ty met r i c ana lys i s . " I n te rnat i ona l J ou rna l o f I ndus t r i a l E rgonomics 40(4 ) : 455-469 .

[9 ] P i l l i , O. and M. Aksu (2013) . "The eff ec ts o f computer-ass i s ted i ns t ruc t i on on the ach ievement , a t t i tudes and re ten t i on o f f ou r th g rade mathemat i cs s tudents i n Nor th Cyprus . " Computers & Educat i on 62(0 ) : 62 -71 .

[10 ] Schar f , F. , S . Gunther , T. Wink le r and M. Herczeg (2010) . Spe l L i t : Deve lopment o f a mu l t i -touch app l i ca t i on to fos te r l i te racy sk i l l s a t e lementary schoo l s . Fron t i e r s i n Educat i on Con ference (F IE ) , 2010 IEEE .

[11 ] S iozos , P. , G . Pa la igeorg iou , G . Tr i an ta fy l l akos and T. Despotak i s (2009) . "Computer based tes t i ng us ing “d ig i ta l i nk” : Pa r t i c i pa to ry des ign o f a Tab le t PC based assessment app l i ca t i on fo r secondary educat i on . " Computers & Educat i on 52 (4 ) : 811 -819 .

QUESTIONS?