Facilitating collaborative learning between two primary schools using large multi-touch devices

James Mcnaughton,Gary Beauchamp,Andrew Joyce-Gibbons,Elaine Tan,Tom Crick,Nick Young

doi:10.1007/s40692-017-0081-x

Abstract

This paper presents a technical case study and the associated research software/hardware underpinning an educational research trial in which large touchscreen interfaces were used to facilitate collaborative interactions between primary school students at separate locations. As part of the trial, an application for supporting a collaborative classroom activity was created which allowed students at either location to transfer resources to the students at the other via a ‘flick’ gesture. The trial required several novel innovations to the existing SynergyNet software framework to enable it to support synchronous remote collaboration. The innovations enabled the first successful classroom collaboration activities between two separate locations within the United Kingdom using large touchscreen interfaces. This paper details the challenges encountered in implementing these innovations and their solutions.

Highlights

Large touchscreen interfaces offer various opportunities for collaboration between co-located learners
This paper presents a technical case study and the associated research software/hardware underpinning an educational research trial in which large touchscreen interfaces were used to facilitate collaborative interactions between primary school students at separate locations
This study presents the challenges encountered in developing the SynergyNet framework in authentic classrooms; in particular, it details how this can be achieved when dealing with the technical challenges of the school’s infrastructure

Summary

Introduction

Large touchscreen interfaces offer various opportunities for collaboration between co-located learners. Abstract This paper presents a technical case study and the associated research software/hardware underpinning an educational research trial in which large touchscreen interfaces were used to facilitate collaborative interactions between primary school students at separate locations. SynergyNet studies have been concerned with how the use of multiple large touchscreen interfaces impacts collaborative education in single environments, i.e., individual classrooms (Basheri and Burd 2012; Mercier et al 2017).

Results

Conclusion