The SynergyNet project was a four-year study by Durham University’s Technology- Enhanced Learning Research group which had a long standing interest in developing innovative learning spaces (Hatch & Burd, 2006). The group brought together a multi- disciplinary team of computer scientists, education researchers and psychologists, each participating with different research methodologies and research priorities. The drive behind the project was a concern that the ‘move to use’ requirement inherent in much educational technology hardware present in classrooms detracted from the educational impact of that technology. SynergyNet was an attempt to integrate ICT into the fabric of the classroom in such a way as the technology does not intrude on the main focus of the activity (Smith and Harrison, 2001).
The project focused on the development of multi-touch technology, both hardware and software, which was designed to facilitate classroom dialogue by providing unobtrusive and instantaneous transitions between group working and whole class discussion by enabling the teacher to control the distribution and operation of programmes and information on all the multi-touch tables in the classroom. It was also thought that as the multi-touch technology also obviated the need for a mouse it may have increased participation, allowing members to simultaneously interact with the technology and each other.
The SynergyNet project had four aims:
5. To create a radically new technology-rich learning environment that integrated with traditional classroom layouts and collective activities.
6. To design and implement a new form of user interface for educational multi- touch systems.
74
7. To formulate a new pedagogy that eased transition and movement between teacher-centric and pupil-centric interaction.
8. To analyse pupils’ learning strategies to inform fundamental research by capturing data as pupils use the SynergyNet environment.
The SynergyNet project began with studies comparing the behaviour of students completing comparable tasks on paper and on the multi-touch tables. It was found that the students working on the multi-touch tables were able to create a shared understanding of the task more quickly than those doing so using paper based tasks (Higgins, Mercier, Burd & Joyce-Gibbons 2012). Those using the multi-touch tables used them to externalise their thinking in ways which indicated joint cognition more frequently and were more frequently successful at tasks than groups attempting paper-based versions of these (Mercier, Higgins, Burd & McNaughton, 2011). Such studies were a means of beginning to evaluate the first aim of the project.
The second aim, to design and implement new forms of interface, was one which evolved throughout the project. The classroom as setup during the data collection for the present study is described in section 2.2.4. However, it is important to note that this
arrangement was part of a narrative of computer science development which began with the task being loaded individually by computer scientists. The next stage in the evolution was an orchestration desk, a multi-touch computer used by the teacher to control all the tables simultaneously (the study was carried out using this desk). The desk was replaced by an iPad with an app which replicated the same functionality but which allowed the teacher free range of movement within the class. Finally, the teacher controlled the students’ boards using a series of contactless gestures, interacting with the tables using gestures which were picked up by an Xbox Kinect sensor system (Mercier, Higgins, Burd & McNaughton, 2012).
75
The fourth and final aim of the study resulted in the SynergyView data analysis tool (for a screen shot of this tool and the features it contains, please see section 2.2.8). This program allowed researchers to synchronise audio, video and transcript data into one feed which they could explore in detail. Data can be played forwards or backwards. It is possible to go to a specific time point if required. The transcription data can be assigned to speakers and the granularity of the playback varied to show either an overview of the transcript whilst video is playing or the individual utterances. This transcription tool played an integral role in the analysis of the data collected for this study.
It is the third aim of the SynergyNet project which this study seeks to address. It looks at the kinds of interaction between the teacher and the student in a classroom setting. In this setting the teacher speaks to various groups at various times. They may speak to the
individual; however, they do so because that individual is the member of a class or the member of a group which is focused on the completion of a set task. The arrangement of the data recording and analysis capabilities of the SynergyNet project allows the researcher the equivalent of a varifocal lens. They are able to look at interaction within groups, look at interactions between the teacher and groups and they are able to look at the interaction
between the teacher and the whole of the class. Whilst the pedagogy used (discussed below in section XX) is not self-consciously designed to be different in any way to that which might be reasonably employed by a teacher in a normal classroom, in examining the interactions of teachers with students, it is hoped that insight will be gained in to the strengths and
weaknesses of the teachers’ craft. These insights will inform future thinking about teaching and learning during collaborative activities; not only those where multi-touch tables are being used.