Wireless Internet Learning Devices (WILD)

John Brecht, Valerie Crawford, Charles Patton, Roy Pea, Bill Penuel, Jeremy Roschelle, Linda Shear, Phil Vahey

Since 1996, we have been exploring the potential of Wireless Internet Learning Devices (WILDs) to improve student learning of important but difficult ideas in mathematics, science, and other subject areas. Emerging handheld devices offer the opportunity to build on the success of graphing calculators in the math curriculum and the appeal of Palm devices in many curricular areas. The lower cost and easy portability of handhelds (compared to laptop or desktop computers) may make 1:1 student-computer ratios affordable, and thus enable frequent, integral use of computers in classroom learning. Further, wireless communication, whether through infrared beaming or WiFi access points, may enhance classroom workflow, assessment, collaboration and shared representation.

Six recent publications give a sense of the scope of our research contribution:

A chapter in Advances in Computing provides an overview of historical large scale successes of handheld technology in the classroom, reviews relevant new capabilities of wireless handhelds, suggests how theories from the Learning Sciences can inform design, and presents a design tensions framework. This article provides a broad overview of SRI's framework for WILD research and development.
A cover feature in IEEE Computer on Ink, Improvisation and Interactive Engagement presents our view of the affordances of Tablet PCs for education and presents our GroupScribbles environment for flexible classroom coordination.
An article in Research and Practice in Technology-Enhanced Learning describes the co-design process SRI uses for designing new WILD technologies with teachers.
An article in Educational Technology Research and Development presents results from a broad survey of teacher use of student response systems (also known as "clickers").
A book chapter in Ubiquitous Computing in Education highlights the importance of the movement between public and private spaces in the use of wireless handhelds in the mathematics classroom.
A recent special edition of Educational Technology magazine (May-June 2007) was co-edited by an SRI research scientist, and several articles in this special issue describe handheld research at SRI. The entire special edition can currently be found at http://asianvu.com/bookstoread/etp/Educational_Technology_May_June_2007.pdf.

Our WILD initiative consists of a set of related projects with different emphases and clients:

PD3 is a handheld classroom walkthrough tool that runs on the Palm OS and Windows Mobile platforms. It guides principals and district administrators through a structured protocol for rating the quality of instruction in elementary and secondary mathematics and sicence classrooms.
CILT has fostered a multi-institutional "theme team" around ubiquitious computing and communication, sponsoring workshops and seed grants.
TeamLab, a handheld software program developed for the U.S. Department of Education, allows students and teachers to measure the effectiveness of small group collaboration.
NetCalc (SimCalc Connected Devices) is conducting classroom design experiments that explore the educational benefits of combining powerful mathematical representations with interpersonal beaming on Palm handhelds
Palm Educational Pioneers (PEP) performed one of the largest WILD studies to date, studying over one hundred classrooms that applied for and received grants of classroom sets of Palm handhelds.
With Texas Instruments, we are participating in the design of new collaboration and group work tools for multiple subject matters, targeting a new WILD product line.
Wireless Handhelds Improving Reflection in Learning (WHIRL) engages in co-design and evaluation research with the Beaufort, SC school district, targeting the use of WILDs to improve formative assessment in science classrooms.
With Apple, we have examined the role of iPODs in learning.
Our TechPALS project aims to improve student mastery of rational numbers using a promising collaborative technology from Chile
The Tuple Spaces as a Foundation for Collaborative Learning project developed GroupScribbles, a powerful, flexible collaboration technology.

The team also draws upon SRI's world leading position in mobile ad hoc networking and wireless applications in creating new technical approaches and intellectual property for the WILDs.

Began 4/1997 (current)

Funders & Clients

National Science Foundation
Palm, Inc.
Texas Instruments
U.S. Department of Education

Publications

Penuel, W.R., Boscardin, C.K., Masyn, K., Crawford, V., (2007). Teaching with student response systems in elementary and secondary education settings: A survey study. Educational Technology Research and Development, 55, 315-346.
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Penuel, W.R., Roschelle, J. & Shechtman, N. (2007). Designing formative assessment software with teachers: An analysis of the co-design process. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 2, 1, 51-74.
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Roschelle, J., Patton, C., Tatar, D. (2007). Designing networked handheld devices to enhance school learning. In M. Zelkowitz, Ed. Advances in Computers, 70, 1-60.
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Roschelle, J., Tatar, D., Chaudhury, R., Dimitriadis, Y., Patton, C., & DiGiano, C. (2007). Ink, improvisation, and interactive engagement: Learning with tablets. Computer, 40(9), 42-48.
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Chan, T., Roschelle, J., Hsi, S., Kinshuk, Sharples, M., Brown, T., Patton, C., Cherniavsky, J., Pea, R., Norris, C., Soloway, E., Balacheff, N., Scardamalia, M., Dillenbourg, P., Looi, C., Milrad, M., & Hoppe, U. (2006). One-to-one technology-enhanced learning: An opportunity for global research collaboration. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 1(1), 3-29.
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Yarnall, L., Penuel, W. R., Ravitz, J., Murray, G., Means, B., & Broom, M. (2003). Portable assessment authoring: Using handheld technology to assess collaborative inquiry. Education, Communication, Information, 3(1), 7-55.
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Brecht, J., Pea, R., & Chung, M. (2002). CML – The ClassSync Modeling Language. Presented at the Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) conference, Boulder, CO.
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DiGiano, C., & Patton, C. (2002). Orchestrating handhelds in the classroom with SRI’s ClassSync™. In G. Stahl (Ed.), Computer Support for Collaborative Learning 2002 (pp. 706-707). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
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DiGiano, C., Yarnall, L., Patton, C., Roschelle, J., Tatar, D. G., & Manley, M. (2002). Collaboration design patterns: Conceptual tools for planning for the wireless classroom. In Proceedings of WMTE 2002 (pp. 39-47).
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Roschelle, J. & Patton, C., Pea, R. (Stanford) (2002). To unlock the learning value of wireless mobile devices, understand coupling. In M. Milrad, U. Hoppe, Kinsuk (Eds.), Wireless and mobile devices in education, Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society, 2-6.
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Roschelle, J., & Pea, R. (2002). A walk on the WILD side: How wireless handhelds may change computer-supported collaborative learning. International Journal of Cognition and Technology, 1(1), 145-168.
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Stroup, W. M., Kaput, J., Ares, N., Wilensky, U., Hegedus, S. J., Roschelle, J., Mack, A., Davis, S., & Hurford, A. (2002). The nature and future of classroom connectivity: The dialectics of mathematics in the social space. Paper presented at the Psychology and Mathematics Education - North America, Athens, GA.
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Vahey, P. & Crawford, V. (2002). Palm Education Pioneers Program Final Evaluation Report. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
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Soloway, E., Grant, W., Tinker, R., Roschelle, J., Mills, M., Resnick, M., Berg, R., & Eisenberg, M. (1999). Science in the palm of their hands. Communications of the ACM, 42(8), 21-26.
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Roschelle, J., Mills, M., & Stillman, P. (1998). DataGotchi Deep Dive. Menlo Park: SRI International.
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Kaput, J., & Roschelle, J. (1996). Connecting the connectivity and the component revolutions to deep curriculum reform. Washington, DC: Department of Education.
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