Handheld device interactive system for enhancing the learning and teaching environment in the classroom
Ronald Choi Ting-hei,
Ng Sin-chun and Andrew K Lui
Open University of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong SAR, China
This paper discusses the development of a system based on a hand-held device which can be used for enhancing teaching and learning in a classroom environment. Lecturers can make use of this system in class to perform various functions, such as managing attendance records, communicating with students via simple messaging, and tracking students' progress by creating customized drill-type questions to test their knowledge of the subject concerned.
Nowadays, the average size of classes at post-secondary level is increasing, with lecturers often having to instruct more than 100 students at the same time. This development clearly has a negative impact on the quality of teaching, as it is becomes difficult for lecturers to keep track of the progress of the entire class. Even the matter of keeping attendance records becomes problematic, an issue which is especially important for programmes where attendance is part of the overall assessment, such as the Nursing programmes at the Open University of Hong Kong.
A Handy Educational Tool (HET) system was specifically designed for use by both teachers and students in order to address these issues. The system makes use of resources that are currently available -- a single desktop and a Windows mobile-based hand-held device are already assigned to each student and the whole system functions when used in conjunction with the campus wireless network. The main aspects of the system are:
Automatic attendance-taking: Students simply have to sign in and the system automatically records all the necessary details; and security measures are in place to ensure the validity of the attendance records.
Dynamic quiz distribution with instant feedback: The quiz function in the system allows lecturers to ask drill-type quiz questions to test students' knowledge of the particular subject. The results are collected automatically and sent back to the server for evaluation.
An interactive whiteboard: An interactive whiteboard allows lecturers to illustrate concepts and students can view the changes on their hand-held devices in real time, and can save up the illustrations for other purposes later.
In short, an HET system, which uses a hand-held device and the University's wireless network, has been designed and implemented to solve various problems with very large lecture classes and, ultimately, to improve the teaching and learning environment.