Interactive Logbook A Personal, Mobile Learning Environment Dan Corlett, Tony Chan, Jeffrey Ting, Oliver Westmancott, Mike Sharples Centre for Educational Technology and Distance Learning University of Birmingham B15 2TT UK
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Abstract Virtual Learning Environments are now almost ubiquitous. Nearly every large university or college has at least one supported online system. The new drive is to build into VLEs tools that support personal development planning (PDP) and portfolio or logging activities. However, the one major limitation in each of these is the lack of personal ownership and ubiquitous access. This paper describes a project that seeks to remove this limitation by providing a suite of personal and pervasive learning tools that supplement and enhance existing systems, providing a solution to the lifelong learner.
1
Introduction
A Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is being developed to meet the needs of students engaged in formal and informal learning. Virtual and Managed Learning Environments (VLEs and MLEs) are now prevalent in major learning institutions and have greatly improved access to and consistency of learning for many (Maccoll 2001; Fuller, Awyzo, & McFariane, 2001; Morss, 1999; Carey, 1999). However, they have shortcomings: • Systems are institution-owned and tend only to provide access for the period of a course or programme of study. Whereas, a given course and its associated resources are just one part of an ongoing learning journey across many institutions and over a lifetime. • Most VLEs do not have client tools that allow offline use and where client tools are available, they are not compatible with other vendors’ systems. • Institutional systems may not be geared toward allowing learners to record their learning path, except where the activities recorded are part of the formal programme of studies. Furthermore, students may be reluctant to record personal portfolio information on a managed system. • Tasks such as managing a timetable are common across every learning context. However, systems both within and between institutions, operate in isolation. An integrated solution is required. Another motivation for the design of this system is the new requirement in UK universities for provision of learner progress files – a means for supporting personal development planning (PDP) and portfolio activities (DfEE, 1997). The author originally presented the concept of an Interactive Logbook to a ‘Masters of Engineering’ (MEng) student team as a group project in 2003/4. The team of six pursued this for one year leading to the first iteration of the software (Kiddie et al., 2004). Following a successful evaluation, national funding was secured to take the concept system and develop a robust and deployable system for the Higher Education community in the UK. During this second phase a number of modifications to the design were made, and a much heavier emphasis was placed upon personal development planning and portfolio activities. A further strand of development was introduced, focusing on a slimmed down client running on a mobile phone.
2
Previous Work
The Educational Technology Research Group has been working on a number of similar projects since 1998. These include HandLeR (Sharples, Corlett & Westmancott, 2002), the Student Learning Organiser (Corlett, Sharples, Chan & Bull) and MobilO (Chan, in proc.) HandLeR built on the concept of Alan Kay’s Dynabook (Kay & Goldberg, 1977) and created a working demonstrator of a system that supported field trips for children. Based around an early pen-tablet PC, it captured still and moving images, provided one-to-one telephony, had a GSM internet connection and consisted of a suite of tools to support experiential and problem-based learning. The Student Learning Organiser took the PocketPC as its platform, and delivered a suite of tools that would support students in Higher Education to manage and plan their learning. A concept mapping tool, timetable support and content packaging were part of the offering, with communications support rated most highly by the users. MobilO, again principally for use in Higher Education, gave faculty the tools to plan their teaching timetables and package and deliver content alongside them. Students could not only download the timetable into their own calendar or personal information manager (PIM), but also access the latest version of any notes and resources related to an event in the calendar and then modify and keep these offline. A further, more generic study (Corlett & Sharples, 2004) investigated the use of mobile technology by University students in an effort to discover what the emerging patterns of study in the mobile information age are. The research also looked into the requirements of the learners in terms of hardware, software and institutional support. Out of these projects, the following key findings were brought forward to the Interactive Logbook project. • Learners are faced with too many disparate sources of information related to their learning. Consolidation rather than proliferation is very desirable • Communication tools are the most used and most highly valued • Wireless connectivity is important, particularly as most students spend much of their time on the move • Familiar tools are important. There is a reluctance to learn new ways of doing old tasks • Personal control and management of learning • Students desire access to learning content any time and anywhere, and are prepared to view it even on small screens • Ownership of mobile devices is increasing and students’ demand for support by institutions is also increasing
3
Methodology
The project follows the Socio-cognitive Engineering methodology (Sharples et al., 2002), which offers an analytic approach to the design of human-centred systems. A process diagram for the methodology is presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Socio-cognitive Engineering Methodology (Sharples et al., 2002)
The Task Model, a set of General Requirements, refined through Field Studies and Theory of Use is described in Section 4 under the umbrella term of ‘Problem Space’. The Design Concept, Design Space and System Specification are explained together in Section 5 as the Solution Space. This is, as figure 1 shows, an iterative process, such that the Interactive Logbook is undergoing constant evaluation and redesign.
4
The Problem Space
Students’ learning is not just confined to what happens within the one institution. Part time study, work-based learning, leisure study and a whole variety of informal activities go towards the individual’s learning goals, some of which are linked whilst others are completely self-contained. In the lifelong learning age, people are expected to be continually setting targets, up-skilling, re-skilling and showing evidence of their growing portfolio of competences. Many students now arrive at University with at least one personal mobile device. From faculty at the University we know anecdotally that an increasing number are bringing with them some form of laptop, and that these are being used more in both classroom and informal settings. The University of Birmingham is seeing increased requests from students for registration to its wireless network, year on year. In addition to laptops, personal music devices and PDAs, the one piece of mobile technology that can be taken almost completely for granted is the mobile telephone. Nearly every student at the University has one, using them not only for calling and texting one another, but also a range of other activities including voice recording, time management, browsing news sites and managing their contacts. VLEs are an enduring feature of the learning landscape. Not only will they be around for some time, but they are becoming increasingly sophisticated. As institutions attempt to rationalise their systems, the functions of student management, fee payment, content management and more are being built into portal solutions delivering individualised services to their users. As technical literacy grows amongst faculty and students, more ad-hoc collaborative tools such as weblogs, newsgroups, discussions and chat are being used informally alongside those provide by VLEs. Whilst providing more options for information and communication, it increases the number of separate logins required by the user and presents a greater challenge for search and retrieval of relevant learning materials. There is a growing overlap of electronic tools that provide the same functions including calendars, contacts, email. These exist online, on computers and in mobile phones. What students have been reporting in our earlier research is that they want the information from each of these sources consolidated in one place. As more learning services are moved online to increase efficiency and access, a problem is emerging for the typically nomadic student. Whilst university students may have broadband internet in their accommodation, and access to PC clusters on campus, much of their time is spent moving between lectures, tutorials, laboratories, the library and social spaces. Even with a laptop, wireless access may be patchy or non-existent and power outlets may be few. Access to a networked learning environment is therefore limited in the very place where it is most needed. Through the quality assurance process, the UK government is pushing for a formalised method of enabling students to keep portfolios and plan their learning. However, this has long been a tradition in higher education anyway. In science and engineering disciplines paper-based logbooks have been used to record and review learning activities. The problem with paper-based, manual entry logs is that much of a learner’s activities are conducted electronically – with email, web browsers, word processors and spreadsheets. Today, using such a log requires laborious copying by hand, or at the least, printing out materials. This is viewed as being a lot of effort for little gain. Previously, where the work itself was being conducted in the log book, it was ‘automatically’ logged there too. Recording and planning learning is for most people a chore, even where the tools are provided to them. If an event cannot be recorded the moment it happens or an idea jotted down as soon as it is thought, it is far less likely to ever be documented. Even a keen diarist for whom it is not a chore may find it a distraction to be making notes while completing another task. Logging on to a computer, opening a piece of software, copying information and knowing what to write are all potential barriers to what should be a simple task.
Cost is an issue that must be considered, as in the UK, the move towards higher top-up fees means that students are demanding more for their money and institutions are looking to make their offer more attractive.
5
The Solution Space
Given the definition of the problem space, we can design a system to fill the gaps identified above, knowing that: • A Personal Learning Environment is necessary to manage and consolidate all of the different electronic environments that already exist to facilitate learning • Portfolio and development planning activities must be supported as these are increasingly in demand • Mobile technology will be widely available, though there may be a number of platforms on which they work. The availability of the mobile phone should be considered • People and institutions choose tools and services that suit them best for a wide variety of reasons. A suitable solution should take advantage of ‘best of breed’ tools rather than compete with them • The solution will need to integrate with a wide variety of other technologies, particularly online systems. Recognised standards for information exchange will have to be adopted. Progressively more systems are adopting a Web Services model, which should open up new possibilities • The complexity of engaging with information and communication must be reduced, not increased • Ownership and management of the system must be personal and individualised • To record progress, only minimum effort must be required • Ubiquitous access is required, that for the foreseeable future demands on-and offline support • The solution and its associated costs will need to be scalable and sustainable for the information to be of use to learners throughout their lives and across all their learning contexts. • Informal and formal learning must be catered for, as must individual and collaborative activities
5.1
Requirements
The requirements of the Interactive Logbook are thus: • IL is owned by the user Low system specification Low cost – can be used for free in conjunction with open source and freeware tools Easy configuration by the individual Configuration help provided by institutions • IL supports lifelong learning Independent of institutional systems Provides access to multiple institutional systems concurrently Keeps a permanent record of content and activities All data is exportable in a standard format for use in other/later systems Formal and informal learning can be logged • IL supports the mobile learner Offline access to content and communication tools Lightweight, cut-down version available on mobile phone to provide ‘ubiquitous access’ • IL supports portfolio management Logging system to capture files, events, communications or anything the user wishes to record • IL supports low-effort logging Automatic, prompted and manual modes to log all activities and content Mobile phone client to facilitate ‘memo to self’ logs when PC is unavailable or inappropriate • IL provides a very functional multimedia environment without adding to the wealth of existing toolsets Draw on existing local software and remote services, present these as part of the IL Standards must be observed to allow integration with the widest possible range of applications Must be scalable to continue to integrate with future systems • IL supports Personal Development Planning Through active review of logged progress
With goal-setting tools With search and browse tools that allow a variety of views on the data • IL supports the collaborative learner With communication tools With file-sharing capabilities
5.2
Use Cases
To best describe the Interactive Logbook, the requirements have been transposed into use cases that describe a day in the life of a ‘typical’ learner.
5.2.1
Use Case 1
Full-time student X switches on the desktop PC their dormitory room and runs the Interactive Logbook. The IL calendar displays all of today’s timetabled events from the institution’s VLE alongside all the personal events. Having checked there are no lectures until the afternoon, this student checks the email from the VLE, the university’s mail server and a free web mail account simultaneously. One email reminds the student that an assignment is due in tomorrow. Browsing through the log of last week’s activities, the student finds the group of files relating to this assignment – a slide presentation from the tutor, a word processor document template and a spreadsheet with some sample data. A new log entry is automatically created, and student X chooses to link the reminder email to this. After a morning’s work on the assignment, it is ready to submit. The student saves the final version of the file, with a log entry to indicate its final status. Using the IL to open the course homepage on the VLE, the student uploads the file to the tutor. Before attending the afternoon lectures, student X uses the Interactive Logbook to check a variety of discussion lists and blog sites relating to the afternoon’s topics. One or two postings are very relevant, so the student clicks on the ‘log this’ button to add them to the log, with some additional notes and a link to a personal learning target. X remembers a particularly salient web site visited last week and looks back through the log to find where it was automatically recorded and opens it up to read before dashing off to catch the lecture. At the afternoon lecture, X is reminded that student PDPs should be kept up to date on the institution’s VLE. That evening, X searches through the Logbook, picking out all the relevant targets and log entries. These are then exported in a LIP (IMS, 2005) compliant file and X imports them into the VLE through the IL. A local copy of this file is also stored and logged.
5.2.2
Use Case 2
Learner Y is employed full-time, but is enrolled on several short and part-time courses related to their work. Some of these courses are supported with a VLE, and all use discussion lists and email to some extent. On the way to work, learner Y uses the Interactive Logbook on the mobile phone to check for new emails, discussion postings and calendar events relating to the courses. Seeing a particularly relevant posting, the learner chooses to ‘log this’ and then adds another log entry in text shorthand to memo a new idea that just came to mind. Later, during a lunch break at work, the learner runs the IL on a wirelessly-networked tablet PC. The log entries made on the phone appear in a ‘pending’ list, and the learner adds some more text to the shorthand one and links them both in to the relevant personal learning targets. Learner Y spends the rest of the lunch time preparing for a review session with their learning mentor scheduled for that evening. Browsing through the log entries, Y puts together a portfolio of relevant work, assignments and events that demonstrate particular skills into a ‘shopping basket’. After shuffling them into a suitable order, a summary is exported to the word processor, where Y can expand on some of the ideas and create a professional portfolio report.
At the review session, Y shows the mentor some of the most interesting news sites and discussions that have been cached in the logbook. The mentor works with Y to set some new learning targets, which Y enters into the IL on the tablet PC. At home, Y remembers a course taken last year that relates to some of those targets. Y searches to find the log entries from the course and links them to the new targets.
5.3
Specification
A detailed specification, based on the use cases above was produced in written and graphical (UML) form and can be downloaded from the project website (University of Birmingham, 2005). A screenshot of the PC client in shown in Figure 2 to give a general impression of the IL. A summary of the specification is described below:
5.3.1
General
• The project is open source and available from SourceForge under the BSD licence • Project documentation must be complete enough for developers external to the institution to develop the host shell further or provide additional plug-ins • The Interactive Logbook operates as a host shell. Plug-ins are then used to provide the interaction with specific systems from local applications (e.g. calendar, email, word processor) to institutional services (e.g. portals, VLEs, email servers) and internet resources (e.g. weblogs, news groups, search engines). • In all but a few cases, plug-ins are simply wrappers to existing ‘best-of-breed’ tools that allow the tool to be used in the multi-tasking environment with the benefit of automated and manual entry to the log. Local tools would typically have been pre-installed on the machine • Any number of plug-ins can be added and multiple versions of any one plug-in are permitted to allow for different configurations for different institutions to which the learner is affiliated • Plug-ins can be added or removed at will by the user with no technical knowledge • Where possible, online tools are interfaced with using Web Services, and information is cached for use offline • Any activity conducted or file operated on within the Logbook should have the option of automatic (background) logging or manual logging. • The log and target database is exportable in a standardised format to provide for forward migration
5.3.2 • • • •
• • • •
PC Client
The PC client is developed with C#.Net (2003) The log and targets database is held on the PC with optional networked backup Log entries are at the user’s preference fully automatic, prompted for (on save, open, read…) or manual Targets and log entries are two separate lists. Targets are hierarchically organised and can be pre-populated by an institution and managed by the user created from scratch. Log entries are independent entities that may optionally be linked to one or more targets. Either can be searched, browsed or sorted by a number of criteria Log entries that are not categorised by target are stored in a ‘pending’ group The graphical environment allows for a number of layouts of individual plug-ins according to the user’s preference The PC client is optimised where possible for Tablet PC, making use of digital ink, and using increased icon sizes for mobile use The PC client offers a ‘shopping basket’ tool for the retrieval and selection of target and log entries to be exported in a standard markup format to be used as the basis for a report, curriculum vitae, presentation or other use
5.3.3
Mobile Phone Client
• The mobile phone client is developed on the Java J2ME platform, MIDP2 specification • Log entries and targets are not stored on the mobile phone. It is used as a ‘helper’ tool to create entries while on the move • Log entries are sent individually or as a batch, via email to the PC client where they are marked as ‘pending’ to be categorised and embellished if necessary • An appropriate subset of local and networked services are included (POP3 email, RSS news reader, calendar tool, which all allow logging to occur • Configuration files for connection to networked services can be shared with the PC client
Figure 2: Screenshot of Interactive Logbook PC Client
6 6.1
Development Process
The development originated with the student team. This first release was not based on fully abstracted plug-in architecture, nor was a mobile phone client part of the specifications. The first release was thoroughly tested and evaluated however, and informed the task model for the second phase of development. The software has since been redeveloped and released through a series of betas and release candidates by a professional development team. The system is now in the public domain and available for further development. Although the host application is part of this, it is envisaged that developers will mostly wish to create or modify individual plug-ins that support a particular sub-set of students. For example an institution may wish to add support for a particular VLE or a site licensed application.
6.2
Standards
The Interactive Logbook is intended to be a conduit through which the user can access best of breed tools, whether locally or on the Internet. Whilst many of these tools will require the use of proprietary interfaces, others will have standards-based means for accessing and contributing to their data. Examples that are a part of the IL specification include calendar systems that support iCal, news and weblogs that are published with RSS and messenger systems that use XMPP.
6.3
Technical Challenges
Technical challenges have been met in several areas. These include: Access to APIs for all the desired plug-ins. Many applications publish an Application Program Interface to control aspects of the application from other applications. This is highly desirable for the Interactive Logbook to allow plugins to share data with one another, enable plug-in wrappers to make full use of existing applications and to enable automatic logging. Variation in the availability of documented and implemented APIs has led to disparity of integration between the various plug-ins. J2ME implementation. Although the MIDP2.0 standard defines what services are available to the developer, how these are rendered on each phone varies enormously and makes it very difficult to produce one build of software that works reliably on each and every handset. Compromises on the handsets supported and the functionality provided have had to be made.
6.4
Testing and Evaluation
Testing and evaluation of phase 2 development is still underway. Any member of the public is welcome to download and evaluate the software, and provide feedback. Two trial groups of around ten students are conducting thorough in-service tests. One group represents science and engineering subjects, the other arts subjects. All have access to laptop computers and their own mobile telephones. Early results are encouraging, showing that the integrated environment is helpful, as is the low barrier to keeping learning records. However, a particular brand of internet messaging and web mail have been strongly requested in order to provide the compelling reason to use, and receive benefit from the Logbook. These plug-ins are now under development.
7
Deployment
Deployment at present is via a download server at the University of Birmingham, from which any individual may install and configure it. When it is officially released for the UK Higher Education community, it is expected that some institutions will produce an optimised, pre-configured version for their students to download and use without needing to apply settings for common networked services such as a VLE.
8
Plans for further work
The deployment model will be developed further, and it is anticipated that the University will work with a small number of other institutions to assist in delivery, and in order to increase the catalogue of available plug-ins. The difficulties encountered with J2ME deployment may force a reconsideration of the development platform. One option is to provide software running on the phone’s native platform (e.g. Symbian OS(™), Windows Mobile(™)). Initially, the set of standard plug-in tools will not be sufficiently compelling for those outside of the University’s own setting. A high priority is to work with other institutions and bodies of learners to identify what are the key applications and services that must be integrated in order to become a highly useful system.
Testing and evaluation will continue. The value of the PDP and Portfolio functionality may not be evident for some time and will need to be monitored over a number of years. More work is required on the visualisation and repurposing of Portfolio and PDP information. The Interactive Logbook could hold the most complete record of a person’s learning path, but with such quantities of detailed information, mining and using the information effectively will become critical to its success. Unfortunately, it will be necessary to wait until learners have amassed enough information to start working with them on analysing what and how they wish to use it. However, other projects such as MyLifeBits (Gemmell, Williams, Wood, Bell & Lueder, 2004) will also shed some light on the problem.
9
Conclusions and Remarks
Development of the Interactive Logbook is well progressed, though evaluation will need to be conducted over a considerable period. Presently, the system provides sufficient plug-in tools to be of use to students at the University of Birmingham. In order to generate wider appeal, first other institutions must be able to see the appeal of the system and imagine how it could be applied locally, then with their input, the necessary plug-ins can be developed. Once a critical mass of plug-ins exist that cover a wide range of contexts, then wider adoption will require less development. As more web-based systems move over to a Web Services architecture, this will make the development of new and reconfigurable plug-ins easier and should lead to a faster uptake of the software. In the first instance, individual learners are unlikely to drive the demand for this type of tool, as the functionality is available elsewhere, and the recording and reviewing activities are in the early stages of support. Initial drivers are likely to be the expectation of institutions to provide suitable tools to students. Cost and basic functionality will be key. As the toolset becomes more sophisticated, it is possible that a desire on the part of the learner to manage their learning in this way will drive demand. For Portfolio and Personal Development Planning to really develop beyond the perfunctory, the participant needs to see the value in what they are doing. In order to provide this value, it requires that plentiful, quality data is gathered and well managed. The only way for this to happen, such that it is not a major encumbrance on the learner, is if it is made an integral part of the learning activities themselves. Such integration will demand access to the necessary tools anytime and anywhere with minimum of effort. By integrating these tools into the everyday applications used by learners, making access to disparate online services easier and offering a lightweight mobile interface, the authors believe that the Interactive Logbook goes a long way towards this goal.
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