Jot - Technology for engaging learning

An Exploration into Future Learning Environments

JOT
Work by
Charles Law & Edward Yen & Krupali Raiyani

Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design &
Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Intitute

How can com
computing te
provide stude
the opportuni
with and from
in order to ga
thinking skills

mposable
echnologies
ents with
ity to learn
m each other
ain critical
s?

The following summarizes a four month This project was completed through the
research and design project targeted towards MDes Interaction Design program at Hong
collaboration, learning, and technology use Kong Polytechnic University School of Design
in educational environments for young kids with the support and sponsorship from the
studying in Hong Kong Primary schools. The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology
focus of the project was to investigate how Research Institute Company Limited.
kids learned, played, and communicated
with each other in order to imagine and
propose a conceptual design solution
involving ‘Dynamic Composable Computing’
technologies.

DESIGN TEAM

Charles Law

Charles is from Vancouver, Canada and attended Simon Fraser
University for his undergraduate studies in Interaction Design.
Before moving to Hong Kong to study at the Polytechnic
University School of Design, he helped global brands such as
Nike and Visa captivate their customers in new and meaningful
ways. Charles believes that interaction design is a process
involving deep understanding of social and cultural contexts in
order to stitch together complex disconnections with delightful
outcomes.

Edward Yen

Edward is from Taiwan, experienced living in Shanghai for three
years and later attended Beijing University of Aeronautics and
Astronautics for his undergraduate studies in Industrial Design.
Due to his interest in user-experience studies and system design,
he moved to Hong Kong to study Interaction Design at the Hong
Kong Polytechinic University. Edward believes that the study of
human behavior and application of cultural studies and social
sciences to design can create a better life.

Krupali Raiyani

Krupali grew up in Bombay, India, where she graduated in mass
media studies and explored advertising and photography while
discovering her passion for design. In her advertising avatar
she’s put together integrated campaigns and worked on brand
strategy, before channeling her skills to interaction design. Her
work at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University involves solving
real world problems by designing meaningful experiences. She is
a keen observer of human behavior and believes that interaction
design is about designing experiences that are sympathetic to
human nature and context.

PARTNERS

Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design

The School of Design is at the forefront of applying Asian innovation
to global opportunities. It is committed to sustain excellence in
design education, practice, consulting and research; to harness
the legacy and dynamism of Asian cultures in creating solutions for
human needs; and to create strategic models for products, brands,
and systems in local and global markets. The school has over 1200
students and is the only institution offering design education at the
higher level in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute

ASTRI was founded by the Government of Hong Kong SAR in
2000 with a mission of enhancing Hong Kong’s competitiveness
in technology-based industries through applied research. In
April 2006, ASTRI was designated the Hong Kong Research
and Development Centre for Information and Communications
Technologies by the Innovative and Technology Commission with
special goals to perform leading-edge R&D for technology transfer
to industry, develop much needed technical human resources and
act as a focal point bringing together industry and university R&D
assets.

Fung Kai No.1 Primary School

Fung Kai No.1 Primary School was founded in 1932 and is located
in the Sheung Shui district in Hong Kong. It comprises of over six
hundred students from primary one to primary six.

PROCESS

Introduction Discovery

Secondary Research

Prototype Iteration
Participatory Design Workshop

Camera Journal
Testing

Jot Class Observation

Student Workshops

Prototyping

Primary Research Synthesis

Initial
Concepts

Introduction
12 Brief
14 What is Dynamic Composable Computing?

Discovery
18 Secondary Research Synthesis
24 Primary Research Outline
26 Participatory Design Workshop
36 Camera Journal
38 Class Observation
40 Student Workshops
43 Insights
44 Future of Education
46 Experience Guidelines

Initial Concepts
60 Immersive Environment Room
64 Connected Pen

Jot
61 Problem Statement
62 Introducing Jot
68 Eco-System
70 Values
72 Why the Pen Form?
74 Scenario
76 Prototyping
88 Reflections

12 Introduction Discovery Initial Concepts Jot

BRIEF

Explore the use of ‘Dynamic
Composable Computing’ technology
solutions within the context of local
Hong Kong schools and collaborative
learning. To approach the project
as “researching as designing” and
apply user-centric principles and
methodologies during the design
process.

The outcome is to propose a concept
demonstrating a clear thoughtfulness
of research and synthesis to enhance
interactivity and collaboration in and
outside classrooms.

Introduction Discovery Initial Concepts Jot 13


WHAT IS DYNAMIC COMPOSABLE
COMPUTING?

‘Dynamic Composable Computing’ (DCC) Three emerging technology pillars that will
is the impromptu assembly of a logical support Dynamic Composable Computing:
computer from wireless components that • High-bandwidth wireless
are nearby - enabled by wireless links and communication
automatically assembling networks. • Effective processing
• Platform sensing


It allows us to re-think
how people interact with
the environment and one
another.

DCC allows users to easily and seamlessly extend the capabilities of their mobile device
extend the capabilities of their mobile device with the nearby resources in their environment,
with the nearby resources in their environment, and further allow its resources to augment
and further allow its resources to augment other devices in the locality.
other devices in the New technologies will
enable electronic devices to seamlessly
connect to one another and affords many new
opportunities and possibilities for people to


CURRENT HONG KONG CLASSROOMS

The Hong Kong education system has a of Hong kong found that “70 percent of
similar system to that of the United Kingdom, highschool students and about 50 percent
and can be said to be extremely competitive of primary students had hired private tutors”
by global standards. However, as more and numbers have increased since then (NG,
research is being done in the areas of n.d). At various levels of schooling, major
education reform and child learning, there examinations determine the opening up or
are new criticisms over certain aspects of the closing off of certain options for the student’s
schooling system. In particular, the major next level of schooling. In Hong Kong, local
critiques of the system include: students take territory-wide examinations at
Primary 5 and Primary 6, Form 5 and Form
Memorization as a means to evaluate 7, to determine placement in upper levels of
education. Depending on the results of these
Schools in Hong Kong lay great emphasis examinations students are allocated schools
on performance in examinations and that are separated into three “Bands”, with
frequent tests. More importance is given to Band 1 being the best schools (“Hong Kong’s
memorization and evaluation than learning Education System”, (n.d). As a result of this
itself. As Dean of Studies at the prestigious examination culture, the approach towards
Diocesan Boy’s School, P. L. Lau, argues acquiring knowledge is pivoted around
“ Hong Kong students have been ‘spoon memorization and not understanding.
fed’ [to the point that] they don’t know
how to really interact within the society” Teacher centered learning
(Ye, n.d). In order to cope with the stress
and demands of competitive exams, most To branch away from rote memorization, Hong
students attend private coaching after school Kong educators need to go beyond traditional
hours. A 2005 survey by the University teacher-centred approaches in the classroom.


In many Hong Kong classrooms, often the Limited task based activities
teacher teaches and student listens. There
is a lack of group engagement due to the Once of the methods in creating a student
old thinking of the teacher as task-maker centered classroom environment is through
with students as their subordinates. For implementing task-based learning. Originally
education reformers, “...there is a dire need developed by N Prabhu in Bangladore, as a
to focus on individual students’ needs and means to learn language, task-based learning
self-expression” (Traditional Education, n.d.) is based “on the belief that students may learn
more effectively when their minds are focused
Hong Kong has been actively promoting a on the task, rather than on the language they
student-centred approach since the 1980s are using” (“What is ask-base learning”, n.d)
but evidence show that is “mere rhetoric and
has not been successfully applied” (Yeung, However, as a result of using testing as the
2009). Teachers have expressed frustration main means to evaluate children, there is a
over the the lack of substantive support from lack of task based activities in Hong Kong
the Hong Kong government to implement curriculum education. This has been a
changes in the system (Yeung, 2009). “The recognized problem for over a decade, as the
class size was too big, manpower and Hong Kong Development Council has itself
resources were too limited, teacher training written that “...learning is more effective when
was so inadequate. All these constraints learners take an active role in the learning
discourage teachers to strive for more process” (Hong Kong’s Education System,
ambitious development of the pedagogy” n.d.), however there is little evidence to reveal
(Yeung, 2009). the required systematic and educational
content changes required to apply such a
transformation.


UNDERSTANDING HOW
CHILDREN LEARN
According to Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development, children ages seven to eleven
are in what is known as the “Concrete
Operational Stage.” Children are beginning
to understand explicit and concrete concepts,
but still struggle with abstract and hypothetical
ones. “The term concrete does not mean
children must see or touch actual objects
as they work through a problem, but implies
that the problems they deal with at this stage
involve objects that are identifiable and directly
perceived or imagined.” As a result children
learn best from and about things that they
can understand firsthand, through trial and
error, and are constantly sorting objects based
on their properties and relationships. At this
stage, children also learn and remember better
when more of their senses are being triggered,
seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting.

When considering how children learn and
learn how to think critically, educators should
also consider the domains outlined in Bloom’s
taxonomy. Bloom outlines six domains or levels
of intellectual behavior in learning: Knowledge,
Comprehension, Application, Analysis,
Synthesis and Evaluation. Knowledge, the
lowest level in Bloom’s Taxonomy, is defined
as remembering previously learned material. It
is associated with skills such as, observation
and memorization. At the top level of Bloom’s
taxonomy is the Evaluation Domain. Evaluation
is concerned with the ability to judge the value
of a material for a given purpose. Learning at
this level is highest in cognitive hierarchy since
it incorporates all the skills involved in previous
levels (Bellis, n.d).


TOPICS OF INTEREST

After an initial secondary research
phase, we decided to focus on three
key areas to begin exploring and keep
track of through primary research:

Learning through play

Multi-sensory learning

Group dynamics


PRIMARY RESEARCH OUTLINE

Research Objective
To gain an understanding as to how Hong Kong children live, learn,
and interact with one another and their environments. We hope to
understand our topics of interest from the perspective of primary
school students, teachers, and parents.

Primary Target Users
Kids aged seven to twelve (Primary School)
• Struggling to make sense of abstract concepts
• Learn through seeing and doing.
• Learn through trial and error.

Secondary Users
Primary school teachers and parents


SOME EARLY RESEARCH INQUIRIES
Kids learning and teaching each other Teachers and School Environment
• How do kids learn? • What is the teacher student relationship
• What are kids taught in school? like?
• Who do kids learn with? • What are the responsibilities of a teacher?
• How do kids learn through play? • What are the teaching tools used in a
• How do kids learn through teaching other? classroom?
• How are kids encouraged to group learn? • How does a teacher support students at
• How does multi-sensory learning work in an individual level?
the classroom? • Is there any learning outside the class?
How?
• What are the teacher’s goals and
Kids Interests priorities?
• What kinds of games do kids like to play • What is the school environment like?
now? • How do students spend their time in
• What kinds activities and interests do kids school?
like to do outside of school? • How involved are parents with the school?
• How do kids like to interact with one
another?
• What kind of things do kids like to do? At Sharing
school and out. • How and what do kids share?
• How do kids behave in presence and • Sharing habits?
absence of guiding adults?
• What influences their interests?
Technology Use
• Technology habits.
Kids outside of school • Internet habits.
• What do kids do outside of school? • Online interactions.
• How do they spend their time with family
and friends? Media
• What do kids learn outside of things they • Media consumption habits
learn at school? • Media creation habits
• Adaptability to new media
• Education through media?


PARTICIPATORY DESIGN WORKSHOP
What Participants

To engage four primary school kids with 4 kids total. International Students.
a series of activities, in order to begin an 3 kids aged 10 in primary 3. 1 kid aged 7 in
understanding of our topics of study in a primary 1.
three hour participatory design workshop.
We designed four activities that tested our
initial assumptions about our users and
their environments, to express themselves
without inhibition about our topics of
interest, and hoped to inspire creativity and
imagination through sketching, drawing, and
brainstorming.

Participatory Design Workshop
Activities Planned

Spin the Bottle

Day in the Life Card Sorting

Group dynamics


Activity 1
Spin the Bottle
What Why

An ice breaking game to get to know the Kids get nervous when they meet strangers
participants better while setting the mood of and especially adults. Making them feel
comfort among the participants. relaxed and making friends with them is
important in establishing trust and being
Questions were framed with an element of fun able to participate in their natural habitat and
and prepared on cards that players took turns activities.
to pick and answer. Our team participated
along with the informants in order to build
an atmosphere of ease and trust through the
course of the rest of the workshop.

Results

Kids did not feel that they are having an
interview but rather like they were playing a
game. They were very to answer questions
and felt comfortable in conversing with our
research team. We found this to be a great
method to ask formal questions to kids in
an informal way. In fact, our participants
did not want to stop playing but due to time
constraints we had to move onto the next
activity. This game allowed the research
team and participants to become familiar
with each other and subsequently allowed
both sides to converse and communicate
informally and easily, which helped us
when completing further activities. Aside
from gaining information based on the kids
answers to the questions in this activity,
we started realizing the power of game
mechanics, and how to engage through
ideas involving play.


Activity 2
Day in the Life Card Sorting
What Why

An exercise to map the activities and feelings To identify and prioritize elements to focus
of a typical day of our target user. Our on and further address. After our team’s
participants were asked to arrange a series of journey framework brainstorming exercise we
cards representing objects, actions, places, realized that a better grasp of the everyday
people, and interactions involving their daily life a child’s school day was required. Through
routine. Pre-written and blank cards with pens this activity, we wanted to compare our
were provided to allow flexibility in sorting and assumptions to the results of our participants
communicating their expressions. card sorting. Their organization and actions
will reveal expectations and priorities about
our interested topics of study.

Results

This was one of the most fruitful activities
during the workshop. While the activity
yielded a rather generic glance at the
activities of our participants daily lives,
through the execution of this method the
research team was able to communicate,
interact, and consider the behaviour of our
participants and how they worked together
as a team to accomplish this task. Through
this activity we were able to delve deeper
into the lives of the kids and their feelings by
asking them questions about what and why
they were creating cards for and why they
were moving them around. They revealed
detail about their past experiences in
classes, how they viewed certain activities,
and provided intuitions and answers
toward our topics of study. One surprising
observation from this activity was how our
participants loved to draw rather than write
on our cards in order to express themselves.
As well, the kids originally thought we were
giving them origami to play with, and started
to fold our cards in unexpected ways. This
affirmed our prior readings regarding how
kids will interact with objects in unexpected
ways and it is important to design for kidsin
a way that they can explore. We were
encouraged by how comfortable kids were
with drawing and writing, and by how much
they enjoyed these actions. Through this
activity, we not only learned about the daily
life of our participants, but also how they
acted, expressed, and communicated with
their friends. These observations during this
activity were important because it helped
the design research team begin to become
immersed in the culture of our target users.


Activity 3
Performance Skit
What Why

To act out and involve our participants in a To illustrate our ideas and concepts to kids
future classroom role playing scenario and in a tangible way. By enacting the activities,
obtain feedback and additional ideas. The within a real or imagined context, we can
design team put on a performance set in a trigger responses to the scenario that
future classroom and demonstrated early otherwise may not be provoked if simply
immersive learning concepts through real imagined through words. The design team
lessons. For example, tablet sized cardboard hoped to gain insight into the scenarios as
cutouts were handed to the ‘students’ well as inspiration about new ideas from the
and were demonstrated in future learning participants. It was vital to demonstrate ideas
scenarios. Participants were encouraged to kids through an experience in order to
to follow along and voice their opinions correctly communicate our intentions and to
and ideas during the skits. Other skits gauge their reactions.
involved gesture based interactions that
controlled the environment and various
new device based ideas. As we explained
and acted out different scenarios the kids
were asked to imagine what they would do
with the demonstrated magical objects and
environments.

Results

It was important to properly communicate
our ideas to the kids before they can
properly inspire us, so this method was very
useful to in creating an environment to focus
their creativity and new ideas. During our
skits, we had some instances where we did
not have a working or fake prototype yet,
and hence asked kids to imagine objects
working in the heads. This turned out to
be less effective because kids were unable
to imagine scenarios if they didn’t believe
that what they were holding or seeing
was real, which was both surprising and
disappointing. They dismissed instances
that were imaginative, and hence were taken
out of the scenario. However, we learned
that it was only important if the participant
believed that their experience was real, even
if it wasn’t, so instances where we “faked”
scenarios worked well and created a “wow”
factor that inspired them. Through this
method, one major insight was that kids
were very excited and comfortable with new
technologies in the classroom and were
eager for interactivity in their lessons. When
we demonstrated an idea where drawings
could be wireless in the environment onto
various walls, and successfully “faked it,”
there was a moment of disbelief and the
kids suddenly became very engaged in
discussions and idea sharing, opening up
and giving their own thoughts on future
classroom scenarios as well as their current
situations.


Key Observations

• Schoolmates are the most immediate resource when
kids need help.

• Kids manipulate and touch objects in unexpected
manners.

• Strong interest in creating and consuming media.

Noted Observations

• When kids know there is reward, they will change their
behavior.

• Drawing is an excellent method for kids to express
themselves.

• Group dynamics changes how kids behave.

• In group work, a leader will usually emerge.

• Kids love to collect things.

• Kids want straight answers to questions.

• Kids are very comfortable with technology.

• Parents like to get involve in kids learning.


CAMERA JOURNAL
What Why

Provide participants with a disposable camera To reveal points of view and patterns of
and ask them to take photos of objects and behavior about personal feelings that are not
places that are important to them. possible to obtain through design workshops
or interviews.

Participants

2 kids, aged 10, both in primary 4.

Results

There needs to be clear instructions and
constraints when giving assignments to kids.
If this is not the case, the results may be
difficult to parse. In our case, we presented
kids with loosely defined instructions that
asked them to take photos of objects and
places of importance. While we did get
some interesting photos, many of the kids
photos were taken hours after receiving the
camera. More focused instructions, and
making the desired results more game-
like with objectives would probably have
garnered a better result. We had hoped
for diverse photos and a different look into
the life from the eyes of a child. While we
did get that, many of the photos taken
were around or inside their home. It might
also help in the future if we provided a tool
that allowed kids to take photos and draw
on them, such as a Polaroid camera. The
limitations of the disposable camera, 24
photos per camera, turned out to be a bigger
constraint than the research team originally
imagined. Still, through this activity it was
very noticeable that kids love cameras and
taking photos. By using these disposable
cameras as prizes during our participatory
design workshop, it helped us focus our
participants during creative brainstorm
activities.

Noted Observations

• Love to take photos.

• Amusement from object collection.

• Creates stories and meanings about the
things and people around them.


CLASS OBSERVATION
What Why

Observed a general science class being Witnessing and capturing our target users
taught in a computer aided room to primary habits, behaviors, and actions firsthand in
four students. The design team sat in the their natural environment, in this case the
class to obtain a first hand experience about classroom, is immensely valuable to ground
how computers are used to teach students in the design team’s assumptions and thinking
Hong Kong schools. towards the context.

Participants

Class with 30 kids, aged 10 and 2 teachers.

Results Noted Observations

Many unanticipated issues and revelations • In many classes there is little chance to
were procured from the design team through ask additional questions to the teacher.
this activity. For one, we were surprised that Classes are short with many students, and
schools were already using computers to the priority of the teacher is to get through
teach many general topics through digital the lesson.
content software produced by various local
content companies. Although rudimentary, • Kids were engaged with digital learning
it emphasized that teachers and students content due to animations, media, sounds,
were already comfortable with e-learning and interactivity.
and that there is a growing need to make
sure that the design, experience, and • There is a need for students to access
interactions of such learnings be fruitful. digital lessons easily in class.
Through observation and conversations
with the students, they were more engaged • Teacher needs to be able to access all
with the content due to the extra layer of computer screens in the class to focus
media and interactivity that digital learning students as well as show them content
entails. The class used Google Documents easily.
in order to share programs, which every
student had to log on to in the beginning of • Workbooks are written and drawn on for
class. This expressed a need, for a school- later reference.
friendly content management system for
teachers and subsequently for students • Many students do not enjoy lecture based
to access digital lessons in class easily. note-taking classes.
During the lesson, there was a combination
of students working individually on their • Students first ask neighbours and friends
computer and the teacher taking control for help in class before teachers.
of the class to explain and show parts of
the lesson. The teacher also had control of • Students don’t have time in class to ask
all the screen’s in the class, which for him teachers questions even if they wanted to.
was important because he could focus the If kid’s miss something, they have to ask
students when he needed to as well as show their neighbour. When classes end, they
content to everyone easily. In additional to have little time to go to the next class.
digital lessons, students all had their own
workbooks that they wrote and drew on. • Students treated computer equipment
We realized that it was very important for roughly and playfully.
students to write things down, to draw, and
to have something physical to study outside
of the classroom.


STUDENT WORKSHOPS
What Why

Creative brainstorming and interview sessions To obtain the viewpoints of our target
with small groups of students in similar age users and listen to their experiences and
groups at school. Held informal discussions frustrations early on in the project. The goal
about their thoughts and feelings about their of the workshop was to understand what
current school experiences as well as discuss kids were going through at school and gain
their ideas about new devices and tools to empathy for their struggles and real life
help kids learn. Three different sessions, scenarios.
filtered by age, thirty minutes each.
Participants

3 sessions with 9 kids total.

Session 1 : 3 Kids aged 8 in primary 2
Session 2 : 3 Kids aged 10 in primary 4
Session 3 : 3 kids aged 12 in primary 6

Results Noted Observations

Speaking with public school students • The actions, motivations, and values of
provided the design team with a different kids in different grades are drastically
outlook than those generated from the different. In particular, as kids get older
prior participatory design workshop with they are more concerned with taking notes
international students. In particular, the in class and memory based learning. This
local students seemed less technologically may be obvious, but it is an important
sophisticated than the international students. observation to grasp in the early design
Not surprising, considering the income stage.
level differences between the two groups,
but it was unexpected that some students • In group learning, eventually someone will
were unfamiliar with even what an iPhone always take on the lead role.
was. Comparing kids of different ages, we
noticed that there was a large discrepancy • The experiences and values of kids
between their attitudes, values, behaviors, differ sometimes drastically between
and expectations about school and the international and public Hong Kong
world around them. With regards to school, schools.
primary two and four students were less
concerned about homework and taking • Many kids don’t ask their parents if they
notes in class, rather they were encouraged have homework questions, but many do
by how to explore the environment and as well.
objects around them. Speaking to primary
six students, who were aged twelve, they • During class, kids prefer to ask their
expressed the importance of homework friends and peers before the teacher.
and taking notes in class. Through this
observation, we can infer that our ideas • Many students attend after school tutorial
must further target specific age groups classes.
due to their diverse attitudes, needs,
and interests. Regarding this research • Kids expressed interest in having better
methodology, we realized a couple things ways to follow along with the material that
to rectify if given the chance. Firstly, the the teacher is going through in class.
school seemed to have given us their best
and most responsible students. With the • Kids demand playful and interesting
chance to execute this activity again, it experiences. Whatever the learning
would be recommended to specifically ask material is, if it is presented in a
for different types of students, as to to gain a compelling fashion, kids will be interested
better understanding of student diversity and in it.
interests.
• Kids want instant feedback for everything.


INSIGHTS FROM PRIMARY RESEARCH
• Kids have a natural instinct • Kids pick up and learn how to
to explore various uses for use something very quickly.
different objects.
• Kids will use an object
• The idea of something in many different and
physical for students to take unexpected ways.
and bring around and modify,
such as notebooks and • Learning through play is
workbooks, is very important. powerful.

• Group dynamics : somebody • Group learning is powerful.
will assume the lead and
others will follow. • Doing is learning.

• Multi-sensory experiences • Kids enjoy being hands on
result in more engaging and more than sitting, reading,
memorable learning. and listening.

• For many kids, their support • Kids like to participate in
structure is with friends first, activities with each other.
then parents, then teachers.
• Kids form groups and there
• For some kids, they cannot are different roles within the
rely on their parents at home group.
for homework help.
• Kids are more engaged when
• For some kids, they cannot learning with media.
rely on the teachers for
homework help. • Many kids love to collect
objects.


FUTURE OF EDUCATION

Steps towards education reform
are creating frameworks that
enable students to acquire critical
thinking, collaboration, creativity and
communication skills. An education
solution that is designed with these
values in mind should provide tools
that encourage and inspire self initiated
learning, task based activities, multi-
disciplinary content and peer support.
We believe the future of education is
leaning towards allowing ‘immersive
learning’ aspects over ‘passive learning.’

Immersive Learning vs Passive Learning

Group participation One way
Multi-sensory Reading and listening
Experience the content Memorizing
Multi-dimensional Single dimension
Encourage experimentation Ridid structure


EXPERIENCE GUIDELINES

Inspire and engage me to learn.
Interest children to explore the world
around them.

Teach me. Don’t tell me.
Act as a guide and enable children to
learn naturally with others.

Don’t treat me like a kid.
Deliver compelling experiences that
make kids feel good about themselves.

Respond to my actions.
Provide meaningful and instant
feedback.


IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENT ROOM
What Why

A specially designed room in schools To allow for tangible virtual multi-sensory
equipped with dynamic composable interactive lessons to be experienced
computing enabled objects and displays by students. By providing an interactive
meant to teach specially designed lessons environment, we wish to encourage self
and offer unique learning engagements for initiated exploration, group learning and
primary school students. learning through play.


Immersive Environment Room Scenario 1
Undersea Adventure
Pre-scripted undersea adventure to learn
about the animals and plants that live there.
The teacher acts as their guide as each
student receives a tablet like device and sets
forth in a field-trip like experience.

Clean the Ocean

Students descend down the ocean and learn
about pollution in the ocean and how it affects
the life there. They are given the task of
picking up garbage in the ocean. Nets appear
on the screen of their devices and students go
around the room finding and removing garbage
from the ocean, saving the life there.

Learning about Ocean Predators

To learn about ocean predators, they have
to work together as sea anemone or else
be grabbed by an octopus and be forced
to start from the beginning. Through this
activity students gain collaboration and
communication skills as well as knowledge
about sea creatures.

X-Ray the Ocean

Once students successfully evade the
octopus, they are given a gift on their devices
and have the ability to ‘x-ray’ the ocean. From
here, kids can go around the room and learn
about the anatomy of various fish and sea-life
with their own x-ray device.

Lean about Ocean Life

Students must work together to collect
information about many objects in the ocean
and find out their names and definitions.


Immersive Environment Room Scenario 2
Open Canvas
The classroom is an ‘open canvas’ for
students to pain, draw objects, and create
their own stories by programming their own
creations into the environment.

Color Mixing

Kids can learn about how colors mix together
while painting through mixing and matching.

Play and Paint

Various dynamic composable computing
devices can be used, such as soft objects to
throw around to paint and effect surfaces in
the environment.

Animating Objects

Kids can draw objects on their device, send
them to the environment, and use simple
gestures to create animations and a lively
environment.


CONNECTED PEN
What Why

A dynamic composable computing enabled To rethink the way students connect to one
device in the form of a pen that allows another, how interactive learning materials
students to open up their personal learning are presented and experienced, and re-
management system (LMS) on any enabled configure classroom dynamics in the school.
surface at school in order to access and
manipulate digital learning material and tools.
The new LMS system will include dynamic
access to learning materials, personal notes,
and social content all accessible anywhere
at school through the connected pen and at
home through a web-based interface.


Connected Pen Scenario
As students enter into the classroom for a
lesson, they can sit anywhere and connect to
their learning management system through
their connected pen on any surface.

Kids simply sign their name with their pen
on the surface and can summon their digital
objects. This includes contextual interactive
class content, community functionality with
the rest of the class, and private note taking
applications.

During the class, the teacher has full control
over everybody’s digital spaces and may
either provide learning content or limit certain
functionality such as social networking and
sending messages to others. As well, for
any assignments during the class, immediate
feedback can be given to many.

Desks and digital spaces may be connected
together to allow for easy group collaboration
between students. For example, a large area
can be produced for many students who
have to work together to find and draw all the
constellations in the sky.

Outside of the classroom, students can also
share their work in common areas around the
school.


SELECTING THE CONNECTED
PEN CONCEPT
The ‘Connected Pen’ concept was selected for
further advancement due to the scalability of
the idea, impact of intended interactions, and
prototyping possibilities.

The ‘Connected Pen’ allows us to explore how
children can:

• Naturally interact with new forms of interactive
learning content.

• Access digital learning materials in many new
surfaces and environments.

• Collaborate with others both physically and
digitally.


PROBLEM STATEMENT

Support a student centered, task based
model of learning. To provide students
with the opportunity to learn with and
from each other in order to gain critical
thinking skills.


INTRODUCING JOT
Jot re-imagines how students, teachers,
and digital content will interact with one
another in future learning environments.
It enables access to digital learning
materials and tools on many surfaces at
school with the Jot pen and focuses on
both physical and digital collaboration.

The Jot pen acts as the direct input
tool for students to access dynamic
class lessons, learning materials, and
community content from classmates
and teachers. Students may use their
Jot pen on any Jot enabled surface at
school, which are represented as regular
objects for kids to interact with, such
as classroom tables, collaborative Jot
boards, and public environment pieces.
We envision the Jot pen to be used
during class lessons, collaborative
learning sessions, personal learning
explorations, and various sharing
applications in the school. Outside the
school, students may access Jot content
through other Internet enabled devices
such as mobile phones, tablets, and
personal computers.

Jot enables students to naturally and
creatively interact with one another with
the Jot pen through engaging digitally
enhanced experiences.


Students at Fung Kai No.1 Primary School
trying out a prototype of Jot for the first
time. They are arranging virtual planets
around to form the correct order together
using the Jot pen and surface.


Primary two students at Fung Kai No.1
Primary School playing with a sample planet
coloring application.


Sending the newly colored planet from the
table to another surface.


JOT ECO-SYSTEM
With Jot, the pen and objects in the
environment. The purpose of the Jot
eco-system is to enable a future learning in class
infrastructure that supports accessible enable digital and p
engaging digital content, social networking, collaboration in the
and physical collaboration.
off campus
The students’ personal link to the learning access future learning
management system is in the form of a pen, management system
a tool that allows access to learning material content and tools
and encourages creative exploration. Various anywhere
surfaces in the school such as desks, tables,
and boards serve as display surfaces through
which the pen allows interaction with digital student
content. with flms
Jot Elements

Users
Primary school students.

Jot Pen
Dynamic composable computing enabled student &
pen for each student to connect and digitally parent internet
write on surfaces at school to access digital with flms devices
learning content.

Jot Enabled Surfaces
Access digital learning content with Jot Pen
around the school.

Jot Learning Management System
Cloud based content management system many
that stores and allows access to learning through
materials, tools, and community elements. flms

Internet Devices in sch
Enables access to Jot Learning Management encoura
System outside of school without the Jot Pen in new le
or Jot Enabled Surfaces.


physical
group
e classroom student with & Jot
student & Jot
many
student through
& Jot Jot

teacher to many
through Jot

future
jot learning
student jot pen enabled management
surfaces system

student with
public & Jot
hool
age sharing and interacting
earning environments
student
& Jot
many
& Jot


JOT VALUES
Engaging Content Accessibility

Jot is a platform that allows Engaging content is only
educators and content meaningful if it can be
providers to rethink how to accessed anywhere and
deliver learning material to everywhere. The Jot concept
children. To captivate and extends digital learning
capture a child’s imagination, content access outside the
content creators must go classroom into other school
beyond simply digitizing environments through digitally
current learning materials enabled surfaces. At school,
for screens. Lessons students only need a Jot Pen,
should be designed to and outside, any Internet
allow student participation, enabled device can connect
peer collaboration, instant to their personal learning
feedback, reward based management system.
learning and high levels of
engagement. Jot is both
a system and interaction
platform to support new
and meaningful learning
experiences.


Enabling Collaboration Balance between Digital
and Physical
The primary focus for this
project was to focus on It is important not to restrict
how technology can enable and push interactions
real collaboration between towards screens and
students to express their digital objects alone. Jot is
creativity, solve problems, designed to encourage real
and learn with and from each world interactions between
other. Jot emphasizes both people and in the tangible
on digital and physical real environment. At the same
world collaborations. time, with Jot, students
and teachers enjoy tools
and content that are more
enabling and enriching
than the present day books
and learning material. Jot
balances the advantages
of better feedback, control,
access,and interactivity
of the digital with the
advantages of tangible and
interpersonal interactions in
the physical world.


WHY THE PEN FORM?
The pencil and pen form has been
a vital tool humans have used to
communicate for centuries. It is a crucial
instrument that aids not just writing, but
also thinking and creative expression.
Over time, with the advent of the
personal computer and digital devices
for many uses, we have replaced or
supplemented the pen with keyboards
and touchscreens. We believe that a
keyboard or a screen based input and
interaction system does not allow the
same level of comfort and creative
freedom as the pen does.

We wish to propose a pen plus touch
based input system that imitates the
experience of using pen and paper.
Finger based touch interactions are
efficient for non-precision based actions
such as moving and pushing digital
objects. However, the pen permits both
freedom and precision with regards to
activities such as writing, sketching,
drawing, and controlling digital objects.
The freedom and instinctiveness of
using a pen is an experience that is
comfortable to humans.


SCENARIO
Rumming is a grade 3 student at Fung Kai
No.1 Primary school. On school days,
she brings her Jot pen everywhere. It
contains all her digital books, notebooks,
schedules, everyting she needs. When she
gets to class she can use any table as her
Jot surface. All she needs to do is write
her name on the table and then her class
lesson, notebook, and school tools appear.

During class, Rumming follows along on
her desk as the teacher shows her various
videos, photos, and interactive graphics.
She likes how there is no need to write
down everything the teacher says. Jot
remembers and records what was talked
about in class.

Rumming has to find a partner to learn
about the order of the planets by playing
a game. Tom and her work together to
solve the puzzle. After solving the puzzle,
they both got a new clothing piece for their
digital avatar, a spacesuit! Rumming is
very excited and uses it right away.

Next, she is working in a large group to
find all a constellations. She helps to find
Orion’s Belt and saves it to her pen. After
class, Rumming excitedly goes to the
school sharing wall to show off her new
finding to her classmates.

Back home, although Rumming cannot
use her Jot pen, she can still access Jot
content through her laptop to see all her
school materials and notes. She enjoyes
to help her classmates with any questions
they might have and share what she did in
class with her mom.

View video online:
http://bit.ly/iiaJLz


PROTOTYPING
What How

To prototype and test the Jot concept on To enable pen based interactions with
ourselves, peers, kids, and teachers. digital elements on surfaces, we made use
of available software to connect infrared
pens to a surface. We were inspired by
Johnny Lee’s low cost multi-point interactive
whiteboard Wiimote program and eventually
settled on a program called Smoothboard to
track our infrared pen’s inputs. We projected
interactive Adobe Flash created digital
prototypes onto various surfaces to test and
used both custom made and commercially
produced IR pen’s as the direct manipulation
input method.

Computer

Pico Projector

Infra Red Sensor
Wii Remote

Infra Red Pen

Projection Surface
Table


Making of IR Pen.


Using the Wiimote to capture the IR pen
and send to the computer.


Demonstrating the Jot prototype
to a primary school teacher.


Primary three students drawing with the
Jot prototype.


Observing primary two kids
using the Jot prototype.


Testing the sketch interface.


SKETCH UI
What How

To prototype and test the Jot concept on We created our prototypes in Adobe Flash
ourselves, peers, kids, and teachers. due to the interactive elements we needed
to portray, such as a planets alignment game
and painting planets with our input device,
the IR pen.


REFLECTIONS

Charles Law

This project was a lot of fun for a variety of reasons. First, to have the
freedom to dictate our own design process proved to be valuable and
allowed us to really become immersed into the project. Taking the time
to talk to both our users and stakeholders,, hold participatory design
workshops, observe local school class lessons,, and then to later be able
to test our early prototypes with kids and teachers in a school environment
was enriching to take in.

The time spent with our users, both primary school children and teachers,
yielded a lot of thoughtful insights and really assisted our level of empathy
and understanding during brainstorming and design sessions. While
many insights seem obvious in hindsight, being there really allowed us
to truly believe it. This project affirms to me the importance of designers
being apart of first-hand research related activities because by being there
when users ‘do it’ really makes a big difference.

Through time spent with kids and classrooms, I also saw first hand
how the current education system and platform is immensely flawed in
Hong Kong, and a drastic change is needed. There is not nearly enough
emphasis on task-based learning, and at the primary school children age,
this is a travesty. Adding in new technology will not remedy this issue,
there needs to be a fundamental philosophical shift towards education
reform in how we teach kids in the classrooms, and assign them learning
activities outside. As well, the teacher is more important than ever, and
any technological proposals in the classroom have to assist them to better
do their job. For them to work with kids in their education, rather than as
the primary task-maker.

The idea of Jot is to re-imagine how students, teachers, and digital
content will physically interact with one another in a future learning
environment. I think that we achieved some breakthroughs in interaction,
especially with how kids could interact with one another, in groups, and
with educational content in the classroom. A project like this requires
many iterations and trials in order to progress from idea to reality,
but I believe we have laid the initial groundwork and proved through
our prototype that the physical manipulation of digital content in the
classroom is highly engaging, and that there are many possibilities around
how this content could be delivered and experienced.


Edward Yen

“Design thinking is changing our culture, not only in its external
manifestations but in its internal character.”

“The Idea of Design”, Victor Margolin and Richard Buchanan

I used to be an industrial designer designing products. Those products
I designed are based on an actual problem. However for this project,
we don’t know the situation of primary school education in Hong Kong,
we don’t know is there any problem or not. We have to go to school to
obsreve and hold workshops with kids, learning their life and to define the
problem which is a breakthrough for me.

Due to our target is primary students, we design workshops instead
of formal interview to learn their life and how they learn both in school
and off school. What we found interesting is during the workshop, how
they express themselves and communicate with other student. It is
because of us, designer, joining the research in person can learn their
behaviors. Doing research in person helped us define the problem and
more importantly created a passion to keep doing the project because
we believed that our design could really help and improve what we
experienced about their current situation.

After coming up with the idea, we prototyped our concept and created
some sample content to testing on kids and teachers. When we saw
how they used the prototype and were delighted in doing so, we gained
confidence for our design concept. As well, we were able to quickly
incorporate their advice to improve our prototype quickly. Without a
prototype, it is difficult to let users understand our design and obtain
useful feedback.

The Jot project lasted for four months, during which we went from
defining the problem to the concept solution. I learned how to apply
various design methodologies to apply to my next projects.

Lastly, I appreciate working with two great partners, Charles Law and
Krupali Raiyani. I learned a lot from them especially how to work as a
team and their specialities.


REFLECTIONS

Krupali Raiyani

Jot has been one of the most fruitful projects that I have participated in.
Creating something for a target group that we knew so little of, has taught
me not just about technology for kids but more about the process of
discovering relevance in design. This project has been process oriented,
with the aim of understanding the needs and existing behaviour and
letting the desired experience guide our design thinking.

Our team has been fantastic to work with, each with our own strong
approaches and opinions, proactively taking up roles individually and
together. Our compatibility helped us arrive at a common vision which was
crucial to making a strong concept.

Jot developed from the recognition of the fact that kids learn from each
other, and learn by doing. There is a need to support collaboration,
participation and engagement in learning activity. The system in schools
needs to shift from passive receiving of information to immersive learning
that is student-centric. Jot supports these values by allowing access
to engaging tools that support digital and physical collaboration, and
encourage greater participation in discovering knowledge together while
supporting individual development. Jot embodies these principles by
allowing access of digital learning tools on physical objects in the school
environment through the Jot pen.

Designing for kids has brought forward new challenges. We discovered
creative ways of arriving at insights, and learnt to modify our research
to suit their lifestyle. The constraints of the project brief were taken as
a challenge and were interpretated as facilitators of new behaviour.
We broke down the technology of Dynamic Composable Computing
into meaningful actions that it can support. We stepped back from
requirements and understood the gaps in the education model and kid’s
learning behaviours first, and then applied the values of the technology to
the opportunity gaps.

Once conceptualised, prototyping and testing the idea was important
to us. We were able to communicate the bigger picture of the proposed
solution effectively by demonstrating a working prototype. Seeing school
children pick up the use of Jot effortlessly was the truly rewarding.


SECONDARY RESEARCH
REFERENCES
Bellis, M. (n.d.). Benjamin Bloom - Critical Thinking and Critical Thinking
Models.Inventors. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from http://inventors.about.com/library/
lessons/bl_benjamin_bloom.htm

Bloom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved
February 22, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom

Brock, M., & Walters, L. (1993). Teaching composition around the Pacific Rim: politics and
pedagogy. Made in Hong Kong: An Imperialist Rhetoric and the Teaching of Composition (pp.
28-29). Clevedon: Multilingual Matter.

Children’s Websites: Usability Issues in Designing for Kids (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox). (n.d.).
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen on Usability and Web Design. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/children.html

Druin, A. (2009). Mobile technology for children: designing for interaction and learning.
Amsterdam: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers/Elsevier.

Hong Kong’s Education System. (n.d.). Study HK. Retrieved December 2, 2010, from
studyinhongkong.edu.hk/eng/01hkesystem.jsp

Lazaris, L. (n.d.). Designing Websites for Kids: Trends and Best Practices - Smashing
Magazine. Smashing Magazine. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from http://www.
smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/27/designing-websites-for-kids-trends-and-best-practices/

Life as a teacher. What is Task-Based Learning?. (n.d.).life as a teacher . Retrieved February
22, 2011, from http://teachingenglishzone.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-is-task-based-learning.
html

NG, Y. (n.d.). In Hong Kong, Cram School Teachers’ Image Rivals Pop Stars’ - NYTimes.com.
The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved February 22, 2011,
from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/business/global/01iht-cramside.html

Pong, W., & Wong, J. (2002). On the pedagogy of examinations in Hong Kong.Teaching and
Teacher Education, 18(2), 139-149.

Radio Johnny (2010, August 16). Debral Gelman on Designing Digital Experiences for Children.
Podcast retrieved http://johnnyholland.org/2010/08/16/radio-johnny-debra-gelman-on-
designing-digital-experiences-for-children/

TED Talks (2010, July). Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education. Podcast retrieved http://
www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html


Thomas, R. M. (1979).Comparing theories of child development . Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth
Pub. Co..

Traditional education. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved May 18, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Traditional_education

Ye, F. (n.d.). Hong Kong Education: All Change. HK Stories - JMSC - HKU. Retrieved February
22, 2011, from http://www.hkstories.net/fall2010/?p=6805

Yeung, S. (2009). Is student-centered pedagogy impossible in Hong Kong? The case of inquiry
in classrooms. Asia Pacific Education Review,10(3), 377-386.

SPECIAL THANKS

Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design

Project Supervisors
Dr.Xiangyan Xin
Michael Lai

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute

Primary Contact
Tristen Zhou

Fung Kai No.1 Primary School

School Staff
Liu Chi Leung
Wong Tak Yin

Students
Chan Ching Ho
Siu Lok Hang
Wong Ka Suen
Chan Chun Ho
Chu Tsz Yan
Wong Lai Kit
Leung Chak Yin
Chong Yee Lam

And to all who helped out, thank you!

Jot - Technology for engaging learning

Jot - Technology for engaging learning

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