Smart Devices in Education: Virtual Haptic - Research Proposal Example

Research hypothesis Virtual haptic devices, which combine both formal and informal learning methods, can be used in smart classroom for the purposes of enhancing learning in the educational process. The Virtual Haptic Device (VHD) improves the quality of the pedagogical process by increasing the interactivity between the lecturer and their students within smart room’s facilities. Once a tool proves useful in the teaching process, many lecturers like to adopt it to their sessions. For learning institutions, the concern transmission of information to their learners parallels their concern for quality of content. The impact of VHD is directly related to its nature as a student-oriented system. Constructs to be Investigated To investigate the above hypothesis, the certain constructs will be employed. They include the following: 1. Respondent attributes that will aid in the detailing of the sample population (covered in questions 1-5. 2. Respondents’ personal use of technology and their preference for it or lack thereof. 3. The experience of the respondents in smart classrooms. 4. The boons lent to the learning process by the use of smart classrooms. 5. The advantages of using Virtual Haptic devices as an enhancement in smart classrooms. Because for any new device introduced into a curriculum, time must be allowed for a rhythm to be established and to set in, it will be essential to use a device optimized toward self implementation and user friendly with minimal training requirements. The aims of incorporating VHD in education include the reduction in time consumption, improvement of display quality, increase of educational value, and improvement of knowledge absorption. The most intelligible benefit of the use of VHD will be the hastening of the spread of knowledge within the classrooms. The operationalization of the constructs, how they will be detected and measured To operationalize the constructs, various methods may be employed. We will be seeking to evaluate the impact of the use of the VHD on parameters such as lecture duration, quality of the content, quality of the material, running and implementation costs, and how well knowledge is transferred to students. If the VHD has had a positive impact, we expect to observe lecture durations shortening with the increase in the quality and quantity of content presented at the same time. Operationalization may be done in the following ways: 1. Use of a control study whereby the main group will attend a lecture in a smart classroom enhanced by the VHD while the control group attends the same lecture in an ordinary smart classroom. The participants are the n to report on their experiences which will be compared and a conclusion drawn. 2. Use of a questionnaire to be filled at the end of the class which reports on the effectiveness of the tool in the learning process. 3. Issuing an assessment test at the end of a lecture in which the VHD was used and comparing the results to those obtained from a similar lecture in an ordinary smart classroom. Type of questionnaire The questionnaire to be used will be a self-administered one. It will include both closed and open-ended types of questions. The candidates (study population) The audience of the questionnaire will be sampled randomly from King Saud University in Riyadh. The candidates will consist of both instructors (lecturers) and students where applicable for each group. The sample population method will be the simple random sampling method. The data encoding method and requirements The data will be encoded using a computer and appropriate computer software. The yes/no questions will be measured using a Boolean. The quality measures will use a worded scale as applies to the question, for example: Very skilled- skilled- unskilled- Don’t use, or Strongly agree- agree- neutral- disagree- strongly disagree- don’t know. Wording of the questionnaire Questions used are of three types: 1. Closed-ended questions, with either dichotomous response format (where only two mutually exclusive responses are provided) or multiple choice responses (where more than 2 different options are provided), 2. Open-ended questions (when more freedom to the respondents to express their opinion is needed) 3. Filter questions (when skipping part of the questionnaire is relevant). The exact wording to be used will follow the BRUSO criteria: Brief: all questions are between (4-17) words long, Relevant: all questions are relevant to the information needed, Unambiguous: all questions are clear with words that are familiar and understandable to the respondents, Specific: every question is designed to seek a specific item of information without being too narrow or technical. Objective: double negative, compound, biased, leading, or threatening questions were avoided. The questionnaire structure and sequence of questions The structure of the questionnaire will be as follows: 1. Introduction: this will outline the researcher’s name, position, and contact information. It will also outline the purposes of the questionnaire in brief and assure the respondent that their confidentiality will be respected. 2. Instructions: will detail how to go about filling the questionnaire. 3. The questionnaire. 4. A thanking expression Introduction and instructions This survey will be used to determine the effectiveness of Virtual Haptic Devices in the enhancement of the educational process. It will be used in my research paper as part of the requirements for my PhD. Being a student/lecturer at the King Saud University, you were randomly selected to take part in this survey. I will greatly appreciate you taking some time to fill out this questionnaire which should take less than 15 minutes of your time. No identifying information of any kind will be collected about you. Only indirect information will be collected, like the course you are undertaking as a student, for example. Barry Kindly answer all questions in order to help make the study useful, Most questions will require you to tick your selected response. Others will require you to write down a number or a short answer. If there is more than one answer seems applicable, chose the one that most closely applies to you. Do not leave blanks except where the question does not apply to you (specified in brackets). If anything is unclear, please contact me at this no. xxxxxxxx and I will be happy to clarify. After answering the questionnaire, kindly reply to the email provided by attaching the filled questionnaire. QUESTIONNAIRE Demographics 1. What is your occupation? □ Lecturer / Tutor/Trainer □ Student 1. If lecturer/Tutor/ Trainer, How old are you? □ 25-35 □ 36-45 □ 46 and above Please go to question number # 4 2. If student, how old are you? □ 18- 23 □ Above 24 3. What is your gender? □ Male □ Female 4. To what discipline do you belong? □ Business □ Engineering □ Education □ Sciences □ Medicine and health science □ Computer □ Other (please specify) ___________________________ 5. How many students are enrolled per class on average? (instructor response only) □ 10-20 Students □ 21- 30 Students □ More than 31 Students Personal Use of Technology 6. Which of the following electronic devices do you usually use for educational purposes? Check all that apply. Device Yes No Desktop computer Laptop computer Smart phones Personal digital assistance (PDA) Smart laboratories other 7. How many hours per day do you spend on technologies for educational purposes e.g. for classroom activities, teaching/studying? □ don’t use □ Less than hour □ 1-2 hours □ 3-5 hours □ 6-10 hours □ 11 or more hours 8. How would you rate your level of skill in the following categories? Category very skilled skilled unskilled don’t use Email Instant messaging Web surfing Microsoft applications (word processing, power point, excel, ..etc.) Multimedia software Course management systems (Blackboard, Web-CT, ..etc.) Online resources Use of technologies in smart class rooms 9. To what extent do you agree/disagree with the following? strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree don’t know I prefer to : Have a class that uses limited technology Attend a class that employs moderate technologies Attend a class that uses interactive technologies comprehensively 10. To what extent do you agree with the following expressions? strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree don’t know The use of technologies in smart rooms helps me to: Better understand abstract concepts Increase interactivity between students and instructors (better communications) Improve the interaction level between the entities inside smart classroom (other technologies) Get more opportunities to practice my theoretical knowledge Participate more in classroom activities Technology in smart class rooms: Is a better supplement tool than one-on-one classroom activities Is most useful for those needing alternative learning methods Other (please specify) 11. To what extent do you agree with the following: (lecturer/Tutor/ Trainer only) strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree don’t know The benefits of using technologies in smart classroom to you include: Improve learning outcomes Save on time lectures consume Convenience Better management of class activities Improves access to education and reference resources Provides an alternative method of teaching Reduces reliance other technologies Increases classroom interactivity Enables more collaboration Makes demonstration of lectures easier 12. From your own experience, to what extent do you agree with the following? (lecturer/Tutor/ Trainer only) strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree don’t know Technology use in smart class room leads to: Increase and mechanization of the workload Increased need for high level skills to deal with the demand of technical support Increased implementation costs Difficulties incorporating them with other classroom equipment Other (please specify) 13. Which of the following statements best describes your experience with smartroom technologies? Technology use: Yes No not sure Causes me to spend more time engaging in course activities Allows me to meet my learning objectives Increases my interest in the subject material Improves on delivery and presentation of course content Improves students’ grades Enables easier use of the new tool (VHD) Other (please specify) 14. How would you describe your experience with the technologies in smart classrooms? □ Very positive □ Positive □ Neutral □ Negative □ Very negative 15. Which Communication technology tools would you say improve lectures in smart classrooms? □ Online collaboration □ Learning management systems □ Videos and presentations □ Social networks □ Physical interaction tools □ Don’t Know □ Other (please specify) _________________________ 16. In your opinion, is there a need to add more tools to smartrooms to make them more effective? □ Yes □ No □ don’t know 17. If yes, do you recommend implementing a Virtual Haptic Device (VHD)? (VHD is a device that helps uses a virtual reality to help students learn practically.) □ Yes □ No □ Don’t know 18. In your opinion, will the addition of this device inspire other schools to adopt the same? □ Yes □ No □ No idea 19. In your opinion, how important will the VHD be in influencing which classes students choose to attend? □ Very important □ Important □ Not important □ No idea Read More