| NSF Org: |
IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 24, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | April 30, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1249312 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Lee Zia
lzia@nsf.gov (703)292-5140 IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2016 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $114,984.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $147,041.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2014 = $32,057.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1109 GEDDES AVE STE 3300 ANN ARBOR MI US 48109-1015 (734)763-6438 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2260 Hayward Ann Arbor MI US 48109-2121 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Cyberlearn & Future Learn Tech |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001415DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
This RAPID project focuses on porting existing collaborative software in support of project-based science -- WeMap and WeKWL -- to the iPad. Initial software design and development has been done for Android machines as part of a complementary research project, but iPads are available in so many schools that it would be a shame to miss the opportunity to make available for the 2012-2013 academic year software that could be immediately used in science classes. The work consists in moving the core collaboration support, concept mapping, and KWL facilities to the IPad during summer, 2012, along with development of sample lesson that model how the software can be integrated into classroom activities. The apps will be available in Fall, 2012. Additional capabilities (file management and message board) will be ported in fall and winter and made available to schools as they are available. Together the apps will form what is being called the WeLearn Collaboration Platform. The first apps to be made available form a core of apps that teachers are used to using and ask for when they have a new device available; more general-purpose apps (e.g., drawing and animating, collaborative reading and writing) and science-specific apps (e.g., data collection and analysis tools) will be added to the suite as more is learned from complementary research projects. The purpose of this RAPID is to establish the platform into which those apps can be added and attract significant teacher buy-in with those apps. That infrastructure and the credibility gained through its use will form the basis for a more complete app set and reason for teachers and school systems to see that tools developed through a research endeavor can have value.
This project is addressing a real, imminent need: Throughout the country, schools are buying iPads this summer for use in the fall. Teachers need to be able to use the iPads productively in science class immediately when school begins, yet there is little in the way of educational software available in support of science learning. Given that public=supported bonds are often used to support large-scale technology purchases, it will be devastating (long term) to K-12 school budgets if, like their desktop and laptop cousins before them, iPads are not having the kind of positive impact on student achievement that is expected. Yet, without available apps and models of how to use them effectively for science education, there is little possibility of the technology being used well. This project addresses real needs -- making easy-to-use software for promoting science learning available to teachers and doing it in such a way that they have that software in time to use it on their new devices and have available models of its use to spur their imaginations.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
“Collaboration” is 21st century skill that is particularly important to the effective functioning of commerce. But, “collaboration” is not innate skill, but rather, the skill of collaboration needs to be learned. To support K-12 teachers in helping students – especially those in grades 1-6 – to learn to collaborate productively, in our NSF funded project (#1249312), we developed, and made available for free use, a suite of tools, for Apple IOS devices (e.g., iPads) and Android tablets, that supported students as they engaged in synchronous collaboration. The WeCollabrify Suite consisted of four tools: WeMap, supporting collaborative concept mapping, WeWrite (supporting collaborative multimedia authoring), WeSketch (supporting collaborative construction of drawings and, most importantly, animations) and WeKWL (supporting the collaborative use of the KWL strategy – What do I Know, What do I Want to know, and What have I Learned). According to the Apple store, it appears that, in total the four apps were downloaded by approximately 8,000 students and teachers. We worked closely with K-12 teachers in California and Michigan as they used the apps in their classes and published examples of student work arising from the use of the apps.
As intended by a RAPID-funded NSF project, the WeCollabrify Suite of Apps has served as a springboard. While there are professional level, collabrified apps are available and useable by students in the secondary grades, there is a dearth of collabrified apps to support younger learners (grades 1-6). Thus, using the functionality and interface elements in the WeCollabrify Suite as a basis, we have subsequently developed, with the support from non-NSF sources, the Collabrify Suite of Productivity Tools – apps that, again, support learners as they engage in synchronous collaboration. Written in HTML5, this next generation of free, “collabrified” apps is device-agnostic and thus will run on virtually all computing devices available in K-12, e.g., iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, desktops. As of February 2017, the Google G-Suite Education Marketplace, the primary hosting site for the Collabrify Productivity Tools, reports that these apps have been installed on over 600,000 devices!
As 1-to-1 – one student per computing device – transitions from its current 50% penetration in K-12 classrooms to 100% penetration, as is predicted over the next 3-4 years, the Collabrify Productivity Tools should see increased use – and, enable collaborative learning to more easily take place in K-12 classrooms.
Last Modified: 02/19/2017
Modified by: Elliot Soloway
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