Hypothesis and Evaluation
Arnold Pears
Specific Hypotheses
That wireless environments encourage spontaneous
meeting and sharing of information in a wider range
of locations than those provided by traditional learning spaces.
This mode of interaction should stimulate Peer Learning.
Experimental Setting
Many important collaboration spaces exclude the possibility
of using commputer information. Examples
- coffee room converstations
- chance corridor meetings.
- spontaneous meetings of groups in recreation areas.
Wireless communication makes new information and collaborative
tools available in these environments.
This pilot project will investigate teaching, learning,
technical and research aspects of supporting widescale
wireless learning environments.
Loosely coupled collaboration between Uppsala and KTH
though similar courses in computer networking provides
the opportunity for comparative studies.
This document concentrates on defining methods
and experiments that investigate specific
aspects of the teaching and learning impact of
providing wireless networking.
Important Questions
How does wireless networking change the teaching and learning
environment?
- pervasive connectivity
- spontaneous meetings
- spontaneous construction of tailored learning spaces.
- use of a lecture room for laboratory work
- high density connectivity permitting a large
number of participants to engage in a virtual
meeting, while sharing a common display space
(such as a video projector)
- multi-mode use (by small groups) of a larger
shared space.
- access to online data-collection and student interaction
software facilities in lecture environments.
- importance of wireless networking in providing a high quality
platform supporting peer learning at both a local (intra-institute)
and global (inter-institute) level.
- cost vs benefit of adopting wireless networking
- rollout cost vs learning benefits
- usability/cost/flexibility/maturity of tools
- reliability vs connectivity advantages
The pilot study concentrates on a subset of these important areas.
Specific Studies
Wireless vs Non-wireless collaboration
How does collaboration occur in the context of
wireless and non-wireless enabled groups of students?
Characteristics
- same learning task
- similar study background
- access to different technologies
Measure
- collaboration techniques
- distribution of effort
- expectation and reality of advantages of wireless.
Intra-institute Peer Learning
Peer learning in wireless communication courses
between students at Uppsala and KTH.
Evaluation of the frequency and usefullness of peer
learning activity between students in similar courses
with very similar projects at two separate institutes.
Hypothesis: Students form working groups based on content/context
not local geography. Widespread access to communication
makes locality irrelevant to learning.
Inter-institute Peer Learning
Peer learning in the context of the Networks 2 course
at Uppsala University.
Evaluation of the frequency and usefulness of peer communication
between local students in the Networks class at Uppsala.
These students are working on different specific projects
within a single course where they are in weekly contact and
share the same local network resources.
Hypothesis: Students form high level theoretical collaborations
at a more abstract level than their specific projects.
Impact of Wireless technology on collaborative behaviour
Comparative investigation of behavioural characteristics of
students at Uppsala and KTH who are working in groups using
wireless communication.
Independently measure (using a common standard)
the frequency and types of interactions in which
students interact using wireless technology in
the courses at Uppsala and KTH. Comparison of this
data will reveal similarities and dissimilarities in
the use of wireless networking that are of significance
to both teachers and educational researchers.
This study will also provide a basis for further investigations
into the nature of learning in wireless environments
(as outlined in the project framework document).
Hypothesis: Access to wireless networking should have generalizable
benefits for educators. Such benefits should be evident
in all courses supported by wireless networking and should
be identified and classified.
Methodological Approach
The pilot project will study pedagogic and learning implications
of the use of wide space wireless learning environments using
a combination of qualitative and quanititative techniques.
Qualitative assessment of expectations and outcomes for students
and teaching staff will be conducted using a combination of
interviews, activity logs, and surveys. This will establish
a context for future qualitative assessment of learning and
teaching practices, and help to identify key issues for further
study. We plan to use different techniques to obtain the activity
logs [time study] and evaluate them [data quality, answer rate,
ease of use, etc.] in order to obtain high quality data.
Quantitative measures of network traffic levels, and support costs
will be collected and used as indicators of the cost of providing the
environment in comparison with more traditional techniques.
Specific measurement activities
- Expectations of Staff and Students will be measured by survey
at the commencement of the course.
- Student activity will be logged over a two week period
using students interviews and online acitivity logs that
students will fill out during the course.
- Interviews will be conducted with selected students to
provide interpretative context to the activity logs.
- Students and staff will be surveyed at the conclusion of
the course to evaluate how the use of wireless networking
was viewed in the light of their initial expectations.