Post on 29-Mar-2015
Wacky WritingExploring the XO Laptop as a Platform for Encouraging Creative Writing by Children
Austin Cory BartSenior Thesis Defense
May 9, 2011First Reader: Dr. Lori Pollock
Second Reader: Dr. Chrystalla MouzaThird Reader: Dr. Jim Glancey
“How can the power of the XO laptop be used to encourage children to write creatively”
Question
One-Laptop-Per-Child
XO Laptop
“$100” Laptop
Transflective Display
Rugged Casing Kid-size keyboard
Wireless Antennae
Low Power
XO Laptop
2,400,000
40 countries25 languages
Sugar
Learning Software for the XO
Creative Writing on the XO
“Write narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.”
Common Core State StandardsEnglish Language Arts
Grades 4-8
Creative Writing
Phases of the Project
Analysisof children’s responses
Interventionat the College School
Developmentof customized software
Intrinsic Motivation
“Write this thesis and you get a cookie!”
“I really want to
write this thesis!”
“Write this thesis or you’ll fail college!”
“I really don’t want
to write this
thesis!”
Positive
Negative
Intrin
sicExtr
insi
c
Perceived Competen
ceSimple
Autonomy Expressive
Interest Enticing
Design Principles for Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
Write
Enticing
SimpleExpressive
E-Toys and Scratch
Enticing
SimpleExpressive
Story-Builder
Enticing
SimpleExpressive
Inspirational Don’t make them start from scratch
Organizational Help authors organize their story
Modal Distinct modes for “write” and “read”
Supportive Helpful software agents and tools
Juxtapositional Fantastical + realistic elements
Collaborative Naturally work together
Multimedia Synthesis of audio, text, graphics, etc.
Additional Design Principles
Software Development on the XO
Software Development on the XO
User Interface Animation
New Software
New Software
Collaboration PyGTK 1000 lines 11 MB Libraries
Glade
New Software : Broadway
Multimedia Pygame 4500 lines 6MB Libraries
Sugargames Spyral PGU SimpleJSON
Intervention Phase
College School
At UD
1:1 laptops
Mild school-affective disorders
College School Demographics
Literacy Group
Female
Male
Total
1 2 5 7
2 2 3 5
3 7 1 8
4 5 4 9
Total 16 13 29
Day Session 1 Session 2
1 Literacy Group #1 Literacy Group #2
2 Literacy Group #1 Literacy Group #2
3 Literacy Group #3 Literacy Group #4
4 Literacy Group #3 Literacy Group #4
Intervention Schedule
Protocol
Introduction
Presentation
Free-time with XO
Broadway Activity
Post-Activity Survey
Wacky Writer
Activity
Post-Activity Survey
Focus Group
Day 1
Day 2
Intervention Instrument
Intrinsic Motivatio
n Inventory
Interest
Effort
Value Competence
Choice
Tension
IMI IMI-Reduced
7 Subscales 6 Subscales
24-questions 18-questions
7-point Likert 5-point Likert
Balanced Keying
Post-Activity Survey
Category Wacky Writer Broadway
Entire Instrument .84 .87
Interest .74 .88
Value .87 .87
Perceived Competence
.74 .68
Perceived Choice .80 .53
Effort .37 .70
Tension .39 .26
Reliability of Results
Results
Choice Effort Interest Competence Tension Value Total1
2
3
4
5
Agreement Scores Across Subscales of Intrinsic Motivation in Broadway and Wacky Writer
BroadwayWacky Writer
Subscale of Intrinsic Motivation
Agre
em
ent
Score
*
* 1: Not True, 5: Very True
Broadway and Gender
Choice Effort Interest Competence Tension Value Total1
2
3
4
5
Agreement Scores Across Subscales of In-trinsic Motivation and Gender in Broadway
FemaleMale
Subscale of Intrinsic Motivation
Agre
em
ent
Score
*
* 1: Not True, 5: Very True
Wacky Writer and Gender
Choice Effort Interest Competence Tension Value Total1
2
3
4
5
Agreement Scores Across Subscales of In-trinsic Motivation and Gender in Wacky
Writer
FemaleMale
Subscale of Intrinsic Motivation
Agre
em
ent
Score
*
* 1: Not True, 5: Very True
Working Together
Details in Photos vs. Backdrops
Analysis
More students
Longer intervention
Other Educational Environments
Pre-Activity Surveys
Improvements
Future Work
Integrate student feedback
Increasing creative writing ability
Questions?
Example Story