DePauw University, Computer Science, Greencastle, IN 46135
PowerPoint presentations are often used by teachers to share information with their students. The content, however, is confined to the projector and is static once run. DyKnow Vision (hereafter referred to as DyKnow, www.dyknow.com) was developed to transmit content from the teacher to student computers and utilizes pen-based technology to allow for annotations. Each student is able to add his or her own personal notes for later review and study. A key feature of DyKnow is the ability to replay individual panels of the notebook to reveal the steps used to create it. Students are thus able to replay inked diagrams stroke-by-stroke or to review the steps taken in editing an essay. This replay feature is limited to visual playback because DyKnow does not record audio of the lecture. As an alternative, software is available to capture computer screen output with audio narration. One widely known program with this capability is Camtasia Studio (hereafter referred to as Camtasia, www.camtasia.com). This software is able to record both the visual and audio aspects of a lecture. A downside to these screen casts, as the recordings are commonly known, is their file size and conversion time.
Our project was centered around providing a method for synchronizing DyKnow objects to a separate audio file. This would allow all annotations, whether they were created by the teacher or student, to be placed within an audio context of the classroom lecture. After class, students would be able to open their DyKnow notebooks and associated audio files to “relive” the classroom experience while they studied. Previously, only the visual component of lecture was available to students in a publishable format. Our goal was to devise an efficient and effective method of capturing both the visual and audio components of the classroom learning experience.
In our presentation, we will discuss the approach used to synchronize both teacher and student DyKnow objects to an independent audio file captured during a class session. Our approach focuses on encapsulating timestamps within DyKnow objects, providing an effective method to synchronize objects transmitted between computers, and providing ways for users to study from synchronized classroom content. After providing the background, we will cover DyKnow’s method of providing students with the classroom’s audio component via podcast aggregation software known as iTunes. We will also discuss the differences between file sizes and conversion times associated with each software system (DyKnow and Camtasia). Our comparison study reveals DyKnow to be a more efficient form of recorded playback in both file size and conversion time. Another measurement of our loose audio synchronization centered around users’ evaluations of both visual/audio quality and their perception of learning obtained from each software. Results of our surveys indicated a statistically significant difference in the user’s perception of the quality of the visual component between the software systems. This difference was attributed to a slight delay in DyKnow’s visual playback of the class recording. However, both approaches were rated as being highly acceptable forms of learning in terms of their visual/audio components and the visual quality of DyKnow playback did not interfere with the subjects’ perception of their learning experience.
[Abstract (DOC)]