Learning by Doing with Shareable Interfaces

Jochen Rick
Yvonne Rogers
Department of Computing, The Open University
Milton Keynes, UK

Caroline Haig
Nicola Yuill
Psychology Department, University of Sussex
Brighton, UK

Citation: Rick, Jochen, Yvonne Rogers, Caroline Haig and Nicola Yuill (2009). "Learning by Doing with Shareable Interfaces." Children, Youth and Environments 19 (1): 321-342. Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

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Abstract

New technologies, such as multi-touch tables, increasingly provide shareable interfaces where multiple people can simultaneously interact, enabling co-located groups to collaborate more flexibly than using single personal computers. Soon, these technologies will make their way into the classroom. However, little is known about what kinds of learning activities they will effectively support that other technologies, such as mobile devices, whiteboards, and personal computers, are currently unable to do. We suggest that one of the most promising uses of shareable interfaces is to support learning through exploration and creation. We present our work on DigiTile as a case study of how shareable interfaces can enable these forms of learning by doing. We demonstrate how DigiTile supports collaboration, present a field study on its learning benefits, and show how it can fit into a larger computing ecology.

Keywords: shareable interfaces, multi-touch tables, learning by doing, collaborative learning, constructionism