Natalie Linnell’s research while affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University and other places

This paper describes the design and initial evaluation of a mobile application for training Community Emergency Response Teams. Our goal is to model the kind of remediation and performance support provided in high-end eLearning systems, and provide it during hands-on learning in the real world, using mobile phones and sensors embedded in the environment. Thus far we have designed the learning system and tested it with real users, simulating sensor-based activity recognition using an Android-based Wizard of Oz system that we have developed. Our initial user tests found that users were able to use the system to complete tasks, including some that they had never done before. They had little difficulty understanding the interaction mechanism, and overall reacted positively to the system. Though learner reaction was generally positive, these user tests yielded important feedback about ways we can better manage the division between the real world and the digital world. © 2013 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Although mobile-based prototyping platforms are numerous, there are currently no tools that support Wizard of Oz interactions on Android. This paper describes a Wizard of Oz prototyping system for Android, via which a designer can enhance digitally generated mock-ups or scanned-in paper sketches with interactive widgets and automated screen transitions. Screen transitions can be based on user action such as a button presses, triggered manually by an experimenter observing from a laptop or triggered based on the user's location or the time. We have integrated scenario-based user testing, a context in which Wizard of Oz testing is often used, by providing support for location- and time-based display of videos and screens in the prototype. It is our hope that this system will find wider use in the design community.

This research addresses the use of mobile devices with both embedded and external sensors to provide contextualized help, advice, and remediation to learners engaged in real-world learn-by-doing tasks. This work is situated within the context of learning a complex procedure, in particular emergency responders learning to conduct urban search and rescue operations. Research issues include the design and delivery of contextualized performance support and the inferring of learner actions and intentions from sensor data to ensure that the right support is delivered just in time, as it is relevant to what the learner is doing.

Our work explores how handheld technology can help mediators perform at a higher level when facilitating video material, using two novel interaction mechanisms. We describe work with Digital Green, an NGO using facilitated video for agricultural extension in rural India. During an investigation into the information needs of Digital Green facilitators we found that novice facilitators benefited from targeted information presented during the video shows. Based upon this finding, we built and field-tested two different solutions for delivering this information to the facilitator in real time during the video shows. The primary difference between the two was the mechanism used to synchronize the video with the device, allowing the user to interact with the device as an extension of the presentation system (e.g. TV/DVD player). One approach involves audio codes embedded in the video that were decoded on an Android smart phone using digital signal processing. The other approach was a custom-hardware "smart" remote control. We field tested both devices for four weeks with Digital Green facilitators in northern Karnataka, and users stopped for and discussed most of the prompts. This field test established both approaches as viable for field use and identified a number of improvements for revised devices.

The educational system, especially in developing regions, remains one of the most challenging systems for intervention and implementation of change. The objectives of this paper are to present findings of the first year of an evaluation study of Digital StudyHall (DSH), a Facilitated Video Instruction system being used in rural primary schools in India. Our analysis shows that the DSH system supports classrooms by providing teachers with instructional resources, access to expertise, and in-practice professional development. In the paper, we will a) describe the DSH system b) detail the evaluation design and c) present an analysis to demonstrate how some of the teachers using the DSH system change their teaching based on their experiences.

The Center for Collaborative Technologies at the University of Washington is dedicated to creating software tools that encourage interaction in the classroom. These include Classroom Presenter, a Tablet PC-based presentation and interaction system, and ConferenceXP, a video conferencing application for distributed courses, co-developed with Microsoft Research. In this article, we describe the use of Classroom Presenter in a pair of international distance learning courses. The two classes used different technologies: one was a synchronous class that used internet-based video conferencing and the other was an asynchronous class that used Tutored Video

We present a case study of an international distance education course involving two sites in the US and one site in Pakistan. We use the case study to examine the elements of the distance learning environment, and specifically how those elements can be best used to promote classroom interaction. In particular we discuss the effectiveness of two software tools for distance learning that we have developed: ConferenceXP for video conferencing and Classroom Presenter to facilitate interaction across sites. We bring special attention to the use of student artifacts including digital ink and text, and their use in the presentation of design proposals, the facilitation of critiques, and in the promotion of general interaction.

In this paper we discuss cultural issues encountered while offering an Algorithms course from a US university at a Chinese university using Tutored Video Instruction (TVI). TVI is a distance learning methodology where lectures are recorded at one site and then shown to a group of students at a remote site by Teaching Assistants (TAs) who stop the video periodically for questions and discussion. In conducting this cross-cultural class, we were interested in determining if we could overcome the issues of using English language materials for Chinese students, achieve a sense of local ownership of the course, and create an interactive classroom environment. We were generally successful in achieving these goals by providing supporting materials and working closely with the Teaching Assistants who served as facilitators.

In this paper we discuss cultural issues encountered while offering an Algorithms course from a US university at a Chinese university using Tutored Video Instruction (TVI). TVI is a distance learning methodology where lectures are recorded at one site and then shown to a group of students at a remote site by Teaching Assistants (TAs) who stop the video periodically for questions and discussion. In conducting this cross-cultural class, we were interested in determining if we could overcome the issues of using English language materials for Chinese students, achieve a sense of local ownership of the course, and create an interactive classroom environment. We were generally successful in achieving these goals by providing supporting materials and working closely with the Teaching Assistants who served as facilitators.

This paper describes the fruits of a partnership between two academic departments: offerings of environmental science and resource management courses technologically enhanced with a classroom interaction system developed in the computer science department. The system allowed the instructors to adopt a style of teaching - by engaging the vast majority of students during lecture - that would have been difficult without the electronic support. The main contributions of this work lie in the novel techniques and teaching philosophy used in creating materials, especially in-class student activities, to take advantage of the system's capabilities, and in the new usage model employed in these courses. Specifically, emphasis was placed upon using the system to encourage all students to directly participate in classroom discussions; in previous deployments it was used to support other pedagogical goals. Feedback data confirms that we were successful in devising classroom activities to engage students, create an atmosphere of participation, and accomplish some additional pedagogical goals of the instructors. In this paper, we describe the technology and pedagogy used in the courses, and evaluate the courses based upon the body of collected data, including in-class observation notes, digital ink artifacts created by students and instructors, instructor analyses, and student surveys.