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Overview
Overview
Overview
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Last year, we began formulating a vision for a computer-based teaching facility that would enable more innovative and effective teaching techniques. We envision a highly flexible, adaptive space that can serve many teaching styles, and that can also serve as the hub for a broader learning environment without walls or physical space constraints. This classroom of the future would be useful in many disciplines by many departments.
| Equipment and Furnishing |
For students physically within the classroom, a pool of wireless-enabled tablet PCs would be available. A student can checkout a tablet for a class session and return it at the end of class. These tablets are used as highly mobile access points, rather than conventional personal computers.
The electronic heart of the classroom is a Windows server (or cluster) configured to act as a file repository. Student accounts in the learning environment are maintained on this server, and can be accessed from any tablet. In addition, the server is also configured to provide remote Terminal Services and so that their desktop can be accessed transparently from anywhere outside the lab as well, from their own wireless laptop, or over the internet, making their personal environment transportable among devices.
The room is furnished with simple, movable/reconfigurable seating and desk/table space. We need the ability to switch from lecture-style seating, to small discussion groups, to a lab format, to anything else, without equipment getting in the way.
| A Typical Class Session |
Imagine a typical class session in this classroom of the future. We will use a computer science course as an example, since that is the field we are most familiar with, although other scenarios for other fields are also easy to imagine.
Students file in before class starts. Some have their own tablets or laptops, while others check out a loaner tablet to use for the session. Regardless, they all have access to the same software and their personal desktop environment via the server. The seats and table space are arranged in rows facing a large wall that serves as a projection screen. When class starts, the instructor uses a wireless tablet to give a short mini-lecture on that day's topic. The wireless tablet allows her freedom to move about the space. Students do not have their view obstructed by rows of desktop machines, and each can easily take notes or make annotations as they follow along. After introducing the day's topic, the instructor uses an active learning exercise (a minute paper), asking students to use a form on the course web page to jot down one or two sentences about the concept they believe is most important to learn from today's lesson. After entering their answers on the tablet, the instructor uses her tablet to project the three most common answers on the wall. The class briefly discusses the issues. The instructor gives basic instructions for a short programming task and then breaks the class into pairs for practice.
The students push the tables and rearrange their seats so that they can work together. They have the freedom to arrange themselves in a way most conducive to their learning and comfort. No desktop machines or wires restrict this arrangement. In this case, with the instructor's guidance the students arrange themselves into groups of four-two pairs working together in clusters-so they can discuss with their partner and also cross-check with another pair when they finish the task. Students with questions use their tablet to signal the instructor, who can see a "hot list" of students waiting for assistance on her tablet.
When students have completed their small in-class programming task, they use the tablet to submit it to an automated grading system that provides them with immediate feedback on their code and the quality of the software testing they have performed. Coding and stylistic errors are automatically highlighted in their program listing. The instructor calls the group's attention back to the front, where she selects a student solution to project and discuss. The other students critique and comment on the solution, identifying its strengths as well as its shortcomings. The instructor closes the class with a wrap-up activity, asking students to use the form on the class web page again to write a sentence about what issue they are most confused about. They know the instructor will show the most common responses at the start of the next class and use this feedback to guide the next lesson. Finally, they rearrange the furniture and return loaner tablets.
| Active Learning |
Active learning techniques work in virtually all disciplines, are greatly enhanced in this kind of classroom. One can move away from a pure lecture format and use more engaging strategies:
Minute papers and entrance/exit slips are easy to write and collect.
Automated collection can be followed by automatically selecting a few at random to present/discuss on the spot, or the instructor can briefly review them on his/her tablet and select some to present/discuss.
Instant polling can be used to keep students engaged, gather feedback, and guide discussions.
Brainstorming activities are easy-everyone writes down one idea, and a minute later we can see the whole list sorted by frequency for class discussion.
Summary lists and results from team/group activities can easily be shared with the class.
For CS classes, we can provide live code examples on the web that students can directly modify, run, and interact with using nothing but a browser on their tablet; this opens many possibilities for more interactive and interesting presentation of CS content in the classroom.
| "Reflection in Action" in CS Education |
In addition, we have more specific ideas about computer science uses of such a facility. The server-based, wireless nature of the lab means that students around campus, from any wireless-enabled space, could use the server facilities for activities that support "any time, anywhere" use. These services would also be available from wired connections, and would break down the walls to create a "virtual" learning landscape. Further, we can use this laboratory facility without walls to promote "reflection in action" in student class activities:
CS students learn programming by doing, but are typically confronted with daunting synthesis tasks (writing code) before having mastered basic comprehension and analysis skills.
Students need more practice analyzing their own code and reflecting on its behavior, as well as frequent, rapid, concrete feedback on their performance at these tasks.
The CS classroom of the future will employ a mix of lecture-based (with active-learning) and laboratory-based instruction; the lab (and assignments outside of lab) are the best place to provide practice and feedback on comprehension and analysis skills through reflection in action.
Software testing-requiring students to exercise their code in a planned way and to predict what it will do in response-encapsulates basic comprehension and analysis skills in one activity, so give basic instruction in software testing and require all student programming activities to require submission of test cases along with code.
Use an automated submission/grading system to:
Require software tests with every submission.
For every submission, give the student detailed feedback on:
Which tests are passed
How completely their tests exercised their code
Which test cases (if any) were incorrect (contradicted the assignment)
Which parts of the code need better testing
What style or coding errors were made, and where
Other assessments indicated above under "lab use"
Allow unlimited submissions, so students can receive as much feedback as they like, as often as they want.
Provide support for TAs to mark up draft or final program submissions on-line using the pen/tablet live in lab, and automatically return mark up comments to the student.
Provide support for students to do peer review and mark up of other students' submissions, for use in classes where such group activities are employed.
This service can be provided on the lab server through a web interface so that it can be accessed by any student without the need for additional software on client machines; web access also means it will be available to any student outside of lab as well.
The goal: not just "writing programs": instead, require students to reflect on the behavior of their own programs, then give them clear, consistent feedback about how well they are doing and how to improve
| To Do |
Populate remaining to-do lists for tablet tasks.
| Done |
[03-06-26] Set up web pages for this task.