Breakdowns

 

 

 

Interaction is good, but factors against it.

• profile system/ chatroom/IM/notesharing

U4: "I get no individual attention from TA or Professor."

U4: "Office hours are really crowded"

U2: "I dont talk to students I dont know"*

U7: "I dont really get to know people in class."

U7: "I should study with the smart girl in class."

G1: "I usually study alone, but now that I know someone in class, a group session would be helpful"*

U4: "It is helpful to study with classmates."

U2: "I like studying in a group"

U11: "Student speak is better than professor speak."

G2: "WebCt discussion boards are really helpful."

U7: "Reviewing with friends brings up concepts I might not have thought of studying."

G2: "Its helpful for me to explain my homework to my friends."

U2: "I do my own work, I am self reliant."

U7: "I feel like I am smart enough to do it on my own."

u7: discussion instigates clairification

g1: handwritingnotes is criticalfor remembering

 

 

Much info not captured.

Info cature is tough.

• annotated lecture slides/ TA notes/ other student notes and your notes automated to be posted on U.P. archive of notes directly in U.P. Podcasts paired with powerpoints

u11: my teacher writes very fast and i have to capture everything myself

u4: prof use caulk board sometimes to draw diagrams

u11: difficult to capture everything prof says aloud

g3: prof uses 3d molecule visuallization software which is not caputred

u3: lecture slides do not fully represent content of lecture

u4: prof goes through powerpoint too fast

u1: having to handwrite notes prevents comprehension during lecture

g2: class without lecture slides that arnt online are difficult because we have to write down everyting

g3: my teachers annotations on slides are usef

u13: lecutre materials not available online, would use them if they were

u3: in class i get feedback through the questions of others

u6: I take few notes during lecture, I'd rather focus on listening and understanding

u11: sometimes i can't copy everything of the caulk board and everything on the board is important

 

 

Questions are helpful, factors against them

• with laptop, chat w/ other students may answer questions/ability to annotate (point) @ professor's/TA's slides in front of class
• at home --> annotate and ask friends through server @ home, annotate the confusing material at hoome and post/email to prof/prof only message board
• feature where you can choose recipients of your question solves cultural influence of looking stupid
• answering questions --> either email, IM, or post on message board with powerpoints --> annotates powerpoint (either prof or TA) and post on message board or notify student of question response
• Archives

g2: i only come to section if i have questions prepared

g1: i don't ask the prof questions unless i've spent a lot of time searching because I dont want to bother her or look stupid

u1213: clairify questions with a student that already took the class

u3: in class, I get feedback through the questions of others

u4: my questions can only be answered in questions (i need to show the prof my math work)

u3: i ask the prof questions via email

u34: study independently but ask eachother questions

u1213: uses gesture to answer questions involving things with a general structure

g1: both users look at a diagram and point at it and ask question to eachother

u3: example questions would help me study

u4: example problems are critical for learning

u12: reads aloud and tests u13

g2: to study we quiz eachother from class notes

~u7: chat rooms wont work for math

 

 

Getting people to participate in class.

• multiple choice, participation becomes emergent as people use our system in classs to take notes, and annotate lecture slides.

 

Working Alone

 

breakdowns in media exchange

• all class material will be automated to be addd to UP server
• classmates can/should upload or type study material into UP system. Access to materials on other's profiles

g1: anything user has other user would like to borrow and/or look at

u2: photo)(copying notes is a pain so i dont do it

g1: user will email ta and ask for media he may not have gotten

g1: other tas provide important material only for the people in their section

u5: if i dont go to section, i dont get tas material

u3: i check for online content first to start studying, such as questions, notes and so on

u6: users scans through u5s material looking for things he doesnt understand before he goes home with material

g3: past media is still helpful

u7: i would give my friends my notes

u2: i only share notes with people i know, and i dont know anyone

g1: wouldn't ask other students for notes because it would be a pain

~g1: i borrowed someones notes before and it didn't help (i need to ask them a question but couldn't contact them)

g1: different ta give out different handouts and different quizes

u11: i would give my friends my notes

u5: i would give my notes to anyone that asked, but no one asks

g1: different media forms are readily available and are referenced when needed

u7: i reference home solution online to study

~u7: i post homework on web to turn it in

u1: descrepensies in material from tas

 

 

 

Distractions While Studying

• optional screen lock
• alert system/personal status (ex: don't ask me questions)
• disable pop up notifications from other programs

g2: use laptop to look at facebook during study

u13: find computer to be distracting because of aim, and internet

g1: group members socialize

u12: uses comp to study and also has aim and gmail open on screen

 

 

 

non-searchable media (

       tag with keywords) "this will be on a midterm"

• global search on main page
• edit-ware / read-ware
• tag with keywords "this will be on a midterm"
• Highlighter system

 

 

u3: to find desired content must scan through a lot of material

u3: I want to seach through materials on my computer

u3: google for the article in searchable form instead of scanning for word

u3: "searching for important vocab in scanned articles" 

g2: "I use wikipedia when I study"

u2: "I study what the professor says I need to know but not much else"

u2: "website find functions enable me to find specific terms within longer articles"

u8: "Depends on highlighting in book to find important concepts fast."

u10: "I use stars and arrows to highlight notes"

 

 

limitations of computer: Size, Screen Real-estate, paper, Disorganization.

 

• acess to everything within same usable window
• everything printable

u11: "prefer to not bring my heavy laptop to class"

u1: "computer physically constrains my studying its heavy i dont want to carry it around"

u2: "I dont like a lot of windows so i print whatever i can"

u6: "I would print out slides if i could do it how i wanted"

u3: "I copy figures, captions and additionaly info from slides into a notebook when I study."

u10: "I use stars and arrows to highlight notes"

u2: "i print lecture slides and annotate them during studying"

 

 

Stuff not posted

• automation
• incentive to post your notes
• will create study database

u2: "Would annotate lecture slides if prof. provided them before class"

u3: "i reference lecture slides on my laptop while studying

u13:"lecture materials not available online would use if they were" 

u10: "classes without lecture slides online are difficult because we must write everything down with no time to process the info" 

u11: "My teachers annotations are important"

u5: "aware that other TA has provided other media that he does not have"

(i would let people borrow notes, people's notes would help me)

 U3: My backpack got stolen, and i lost all my study materials

U5: I lost a study sheet before, because i am disorganized.

 

 

Conversion to computer from notebook and vice versa

• digital pen
• tablet PCs

u12: "redrawing chemistry breakdowns and redrawing charts from computer screen is helpful"

u2: "Photocopying notes is a pain so i dont do it"

u3: "i copy figures, captions and additional info from slides into a notebook when i study"

u9: "typing is faster than handwriting"

all users: "I dont have a tablet"

u10: "I like the freedom of handwriting notes"