Drs. Mai Yin Tsoi and Sonal Dekhane

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS IN-HOUSE: SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

WITH PEERS AS CLIENTS TO INCREASE RESEARCH SKILLS

GGC STEM Mini-Grant Spring 2012

BackgroundITEC 3870CHEM 2211Research Skills TargetedFundamentals of TsoiChem II AppQuantitative Results

Peer EvaluationsUsability Testing

Future Directions

OVERVIEW OF ITEC/CHEM PARTNERSHIP

Background:Inspiration: daughter’s iTouch experienceDr. Tsoi’s goal: iTouch learning tool

Main objective: Will using a touch-screen device be effective for learning a new skill?

BACKGROUND

Number of participants: 12Males: 9Females: 3Age range: 21 – 50+ years oldEthnicity: majority Caucasian, 2 African-

American, 1 AsianPrevious Experience: 2 students in mobile

apps development, 1 in graphics and design

DEMOGRAPHIC DATA – ITEC 3870

Junior/senior level courseGoal: teach students how to

implement SD in real-world projectsProject-based courseSmall enrollmentMobile apps introduced 1st class

meeting

ITEC 3870 – SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT II

Required course for majors in: Biology, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dental, etc.

Historically VERY difficultVisual in nature – utilizes spatial,

logical, abstract thinkingMechanism drawings– difficult skill to

master

CHEM 2211/2 – ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Traditional SD course

Communication skills: discussed / studied

Written skills: for instructor, evaluated by instructor

Multiple perspectives: limited

GGC SD Partnership

Communication skills applied with “client”

Written skills: for CHEM students, evaluated by app users

Multiple perspectives: enriched by CHEM students

WHY PARTNERSHIP BENEFICIAL

Develop effective reading, writing, and communication skills

Demonstrate creativity and critical thinkingDemonstrate effective use of information

technologyDemonstrate an ability to collaborate in diverse

and global contextsDemonstrate an understanding of human and

institutional decision making from multiple perspectives

Demonstrate an understanding of moral and ethical principles

Demonstrate and apply leadership principles

GGC’S SEVEN IEE GOALS

Objective 1: Develop effective reading,

writing, and communication skills

IEE 1Interacting with Organic professor, students; setting up requirement

documents, project plansObjective 2: Demonstrate creativity

and critical thinking IEE 2 Design of mobile appObjective 3: Demonstrate effective use

of information technology IEE 3 Xcode, Apple Interface Builder, learning Objective C

Objective 4: Demonstrate an ability to

collaborate in diverse and global contexts

IEE 4 Working together as a class and with Organic students to design app

Objective 5:

Demonstrate an understanding of human and institutional decision

making from multiple perspectives

IEE 5Design of mobile app--taking into

account how a range of users might make a variety of choices while playing

mobile appObjective 6: Demonstrate an

understanding of moral and ethical principles

IEE 6 Plagarism of existing code from other sources, referencing appropriate sources

Objective 7: Demonstrate and apply

leadership principles IEE 7 SD students taking charge of various phases of design and development cycle

HOW PROJECT SUPPORTS IEE GOALS

Objective 1: SD class documents; class presentation videos;

conference calls; discussion boardsObjective 2: Instructor evaluation of SD students’ coding of mobile

app – grading rubricObjective 3: SD student midterm/final exam grades

Objective 4: SD students peer evaluations; teacher evaluations on

collaboration, participationObjective 5: SD students Use Case Diagrams – analyzed for multiple

perspectives of users – Use Case Grading RubricObjective 6: SD citations and references – Grading Rubric

Objective 7: SD students’ peer evaluations; teacher evaluations on

leadership

ASSESSMENT

ORAL PRESENTATION RUBRIC

PEER EVALUATION

BLOG REFLECTION RUBRIC

Molecular reactivity explained = electron movement

Students required to draw arrows = electron movement

Need to understand origin, direction, target

Many struggle – several concepts used simultaneously

WHAT IS A MECHANISM?

EXAMPLE OF A MECHANISM

C

CC

C

CC

H

Cl

O C

CH3

CH3

CH3

TSOICHEM II: BACK FOR THE ATTACK

3 Modes of LearningIdentify, Draw, Challenge

Tutorial screens, Help screensColors to differentiate / guide

userVisuals re-affirmed by color

and soundPositive visuals/sounds as

rewardsSounds/visuals when incorrect

Unexpected group dynamicsLeadership variedAffected by personality, experience

Learning objectives trumped by projectStudents sacrificed learning for sake of project

Pride regardless of participationRealization of importance = communication

Breakdown caused issuesFeelings, pride hurtPower issues

RESULTS OF PEER EVALUATIONS & INTERVIEWS

Very little self-reflectionMore ‘reporting’ than communicativeLittle interaction between partiesMajority of communication = phone,

emailMini-teams communicated the mostFuture: devise better method to

document communication

RESULTS FROM STUDENT BLOGS

Students found UT extremely helpful

Evidence of awareness of multiple perspectives

Evidence of leadershipEvidence of communication

skills improvementEvidence of critical

thinkingAnalyzing why user’s comments were new, unforseen

RESULTS FROM USABILITY TESTING

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

• Analyze student interviews further• Analyze student blogs further• Instructor evaluations• Quiz/final exam scores

THANK YOU!

Dr. Mai Yin Tsoi and Dr. Sonal Dekhanemtsoi@ggc.edu

sdekhane@ggc.edu