Classbeacons: Enhancing reflection-inaction of teachers through spatially distributed ambient information

© 2019 Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). ACM Reflection-in-action (RiA) refers to teachers' reflections on their teaching performance during busy classroom routines. RiA is a demanding competence for teachers, but little has been known about how HCI systems could support teachers' RiA during their busy and intensive teaching. To bridge this gap, we design and evaluate an ambient information system named ClassBeacons. ClassBeacons aims to help teachers intuitively reflect-in-action on how to divide time and attention over pupils throughout a lesson. ClassBeacons subtly depicts teachers' division of time and attention over pupils through multiple light-objects distributed over students' desks. Each light-object indicates how long the teacher has been cumulatively around it (helping an adjacent student) by shifting color. A field evaluation with eleven teachers proved that ClassBeacons enhanced teachers' RiA by supporting their sensemaking of ongoing performance and modification of upcoming actions. Furthermore, ClassBeacons was experienced to unobtrusively fit into teachers' routines without overburdening teaching in progress

Unobtrusively enhancing reflection-in-action of teachers through spatially distributed ambient information

© 2019 Association for Computing Machinery. Reflecting on their performance during classroom-teaching is an important competence for teachers. Such reflection-inaction (RiA) enables them to optimize teaching on the spot. But RiA is also challenging, demanding extra thinking in teachers’ already intensive routines. Little is known on how HCI systems can facilitate teachers’ RiA during classroom-teaching. To fill in this gap, we evaluate ClassBeacons, a system that uses spatially distributed lamps to depict teachers’ ongoing performance on how they have divided their time and attention over students in the classroom. Empirical qualitative data from eleven teachers in 22 class periods show that this ambient information facilitated teachers’ RiA without burdening teaching in progress. Based on our theoretical grounding and field evaluation, we contribute empirical knowledge about how an HCI system enhanced teachers’ process of RiA as well as a set of design principles for unobtrusively supporting RiA

ClassBeacons:Designing distributed visualization of teachers' physical proximity in the classroom

\u3cp\u3eAs necessary for creating a learner-centered environment, nowadays teachers are expected to be more mindful about their proximity distribution: how to spend time in different locations of the classroom with individual learners. However feedback on this is only given to teachers by experts after classroom observation. In this paper we present the design and evaluation of ClassBeacons, a novel ambient information system that visualizes teachers' physical proximity through tangible devices distributed over the classroom. An expert review and a field evaluation with eight secondary school teachers were conducted to explore potential values of such a system and gather user experiences. Results revealed rich insights into how the system could influence teaching and learning, as well as how a distributed display can be seamlessly integrated into teachers' routines.\u3c/p\u3

Classbeacons:enhancing reflection-inaction of teachers through spatially distributed ambient information

\u3cp\u3eReflection-in-action (RiA) refers to teachers' reflections on their teaching performance during busy classroom routines. RiA is a demanding competence for teachers, but little has been known about how HCI systems could support teachers' RiA during their busy and intensive teaching. To bridge this gap, we design and evaluate an ambient information system named ClassBeacons. ClassBeacons aims to help teachers intuitively reflect-in-action on how to divide time and attention over pupils throughout a lesson. ClassBeacons subtly depicts teachers' division of time and attention over pupils through multiple light-objects distributed over students' desks. Each light-object indicates how long the teacher has been cumulatively around it (helping an adjacent student) by shifting color. A field evaluation with eleven teachers proved that ClassBeacons enhanced teachers' RiA by supporting their sensemaking of ongoing performance and modification of upcoming actions. Furthermore, ClassBeacons was experienced to unobtrusively fit into teachers' routines without overburdening teaching in progress.\u3c/p\u3

Unobtrusively enhancing reflection-in-action of teachers through spatially distributed ambient information

\u3cp\u3eReflecting on their performance during classroom-teaching is an important competence for teachers. Such reflection-inaction (RiA) enables them to optimize teaching on the spot. But RiA is also challenging, demanding extra thinking in teachers’ already intensive routines. Little is known on how HCI systems can facilitate teachers’ RiA during classroom-teaching. To fill in this gap, we evaluate ClassBeacons, a system that uses spatially distributed lamps to depict teachers’ ongoing performance on how they have divided their time and attention over students in the classroom. Empirical qualitative data from eleven teachers in 22 class periods show that this ambient information facilitated teachers’ RiA without burdening teaching in progress. Based on our theoretical grounding and field evaluation, we contribute empirical knowledge about how an HCI system enhanced teachers’ process of RiA as well as a set of design principles for unobtrusively supporting RiA.\u3c/p\u3