Research And Implementation Of A Pen-based Collaborative Classroom System

Collaborative Learning is a learning strategy based on teamwork. Students learn collaboratively through cooperation and face-to-face discussion. With the appearance of Graphical User Interface and the fast development of Internet Technology, computer has become an essential tool for students in their learning process. The Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is just the combination of students learning and computer technology.As a CSCL system supporting the real-time collaborative learning among students, Collaborative Classroom simulates the classroom environment in reality. Students learn collaboratively in the classroom by using mouse, keyboard and the other input devices. But there are two problems if students use mouse and keyboard as the input devices in the Collaborative Classroom: first, the information input through mouse and keyboard is accurate, which can not express students' spontaneous thoughts efficiently; second, mouse and keyboard are the input devices of WIMP which lacks natural interactive mode. The train of thoughts of students is always interrupted frequently by the input of the keyboard and by the menu selection made by mouse click, which influences the efficiency of students' Collaborative Learning.To solve problems in the present Collaborative Classroom, the thesis gets solution for the use of Pen-based User Interface as the interface of Collaborative Classroom, and designs and realizes a Pen-based Interactive Collaborative Classroom System in order to prove the validity and rationality of this solution. In the researching process, the thesis develops a Pen-based Edit Tool by applying the gesture design, gesture recognition, graph and character recognition and the other Pen-based Interactive technology. This tool supports not only graphs and characters recognizing students' input, but also the operation on graphs and characters guided by users' input gesture. Additionally, the thesis makes a classification to the information of Pen-based Edit Tool. After making sure of the accuracy of the information in students' learning process, the system makes the users aware of the other users' operation according to different transmission mode based on different information. At the same time, the users can discuss by ways of handwriting, speaking and watching that have been offered by the system. Besides, the systems save students' achievements in Collaborative Study permanently. At last, the thesis proves the validity and rationality of the original system through experiment, and makes an evaluation on it.This thesis was supported by the National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No.2006AA01Z328), the Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Computer Science, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. SYSKF0704) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant (No. 60873095).