School Setting and Class Demographics

• Location: Graham, NC at a rural high school with 1,378 students (82% Caucasian and 18% minority--8% Hispanic, 8% African American, and 2% Asian/American Indian) and with a blue-collar/lower middle class socioeconomic status
• Course: Digital Communication Systems (elective, introductory computer class on a block schedule with three 90-minute periods)
• Assigned Students for DCS classroom: 70 total (subgroup of 14 identified with learning disabilities)

Testing Tools and Documentation

Vision and Testing Uniformity 

One consistent problem with effectively testing digital presentation is student distance from the projector and subsequently information to be viewed.

For this reason, all digital presentations were uniformly broadcast to each student station using SynchronEyes software, so back-of-room seating and/or poor vision have no impact on results. The broadcast feature also insured that every student was exposed to the same information for the same length of time.

Other positive results included easy teacher observation of student interaction in terms of body language and facial expressions when looking at their monitor. The software also allows for screen snapshot documentation and discrete teacher observation of entire classroom’s monitor activity.

Research Data Documentation

Each research question has specific tools to determine hypothesis validity, such as: teacher journal, student work, grade book, worksheets, quizzes, etc. Below is a list of the questions asked and the method utilized.

1. Do teenagers exhibit a preference for a specific color or presentation template?

Teacher journal was just one method to record my classroom observations regarding student involvement, teacher lesson plans, time elapsed, and student comments regarding different templates.

Student work was another significant source of information. There were three separate Power Point assignments approximately one month apart. First, I demonstrated how to customize digital presentations with respect to slide creation, animations/ transitions, font colors, and background templates. Students were then allowed to transform a blank template into one of their preference within a two-minute time frame. Colors, font colors, templates were recorded by hand. 

The second student activity followed a two-day technology lesson about digital cameras, tablet PCs, scanners, web cameras, voice recorders, and digital camcorders.  Students created a detailed Power Point about one item and titled it  "Favorite Alternative Input Device". With a minimum of 5 slides, students incorporated device features, inventor information, relevant graphics, and price ranges. Students had approximately 55 minutes to type information, to research additional facts, and to customize presentation.  Vast majority finished with time to spare. Once finished, students placed a copy of Power Point in digital drop box on website, which was later examined for similar characteristics regarding color, font, template preference.

The third source of student work was an assignment called "The Day I Was Born Project". It was a culminating project emphasizing the use of alternative technology, Internet research, error-free word processing, spreadsheet graphs, and database table creation. Students had approximately 5 days in class to complete. Final projects were placed in digital drop box on website for detailed evaluation.  

2. Would simple format changes to color, animation, and font based on marketing theory dramatically improve student learning and data retention? 

3. If so, what format changes are the most effective?

Both of the above questions addressed potential improvements or reductions in student learning based on visual display changes. There were multiple testing tools to provide ample data.  

My grade book documented class participation, unit tests, projects, state tests, attendance, parent contacts, and special accomodations for special need students. It also gave an accurate comparison of grade trends versus teacher observations. In other words, did my perceptions actually match the objective test data?

Worksheets offered open-ended questions, matching, listing, ordering activities to complete after viewing a presentation. Below is an example of the Power Point and the student work gathered from the questions.

Sample State Curriculum PPT for High School Course and Open-ended Worksheet

Click on this "Using Font Attributes" Power Point digital presentation for Objective 4.01 Word Processing unit (at left).

It was slightly modified by adding word art and ABC graphic on title slide.Otherwise, it is the same that is used in the classroom to teach basic word processing terminology.

This was one of the first true studies of digital media impact. Immediately before presentation, I distributed a worksheet with a slide sorter summary. Everyone kept the paper facedown until the end of slide show and clear instructions regarding the task on the other side of the paper.

Students were told to correctly order the slides by writing a number beside the thumbnail sketch of the slide and to do so within one minute. At the end of the timed exercise, students completed a second task. to write anything that they remember from the powerpoint. It could be color, vocabulary, or any remembered detail. No item was too small to mention. For this exercise, students had two minutes even though most finished before then. Papers were collected and analyzed. See sample results of the "Using Font Attributes" research.

Vocabulary and Visual Memory Tests

After viewing a digital presentation through Synchroneyes, students accessed the classroom webpage to complete digital quizzes. The scores testing visual memory and/or comprehension were calculated immediately in a multiple-choice and timed format. If a student was absent from the original presentation, then their scores were not included in the research data. Results were summarized. Please see the example below.  

Spelling Quiz Summary
10082009 spelling quiz summary.pdf