This SBIR Phase I project proposes to design and develop an educational, curriculum-agnostic student-based screencasting software tool integrated with teacher assessment to support improved student mastery of complex STEM concepts. Though the tool has potential for use in all grade levels, but middle school (when students tend to lose interest in STEM subjects) is critical for demonstrating Phase I feasibility, to prove that the instructional screencasting components function independently, can be integrated to be used as a student- and inquiry-based instructional tool in the classroom setting while integrating a teacher's student-assessment component. Current screencast platforms are limited to stand-alone online tutorials or screen captures that are presented in lecture format from a teacher perspective. These devices do not support the synergistic action of student-created screencasts with formative teacher assessment. The Intellectual Merit of this tool implemented in educational settings is to promote learner-centered mastery of science concepts, as students actively prepare, edit and submit screencasts, gather and synthesize information, and integrate knowledge with critical thinking skills. This screencasting tool is expected to enhance comprehension, reading/writing skills, and inquiry behavior for STEM activities, while enabling teachers to effectively track student progress and provide assessment feedback on student screencasts.
The broader/commercial impact for the screencasting tool includes significant benefits for currently underrepresented and disadvantaged groups, because the Phase I/II design and development includes features such as text-to-speech, closed captioning, image tags, screen magnification, onscreen help, online documentation, voice commands, and screen reader. The tool will provide adaptive support to all students, including students who are struggling to read, write, or think about complex science concepts. Its curricular design flexibility (adaptable to any paper- or electronic-based curriculum) increases its benefit to an educational system burdened with balancing increasing costs and decreasing budgets. Implementation of the Common Core Standards, currently adopted by 45 states, will place an even greater burden on school districts to meet the requirements for greater levels of critical thinking and reasoning activities for students within highly interactive learning environments. This new software is expected to gain significant market share in the K-12 educational learning/assessment market, with strong potential for the company to partner with one of the large three educational companies that together control over 60% of this market. A strong market growth rate of 8% through 2010 demonstrates that school districts are motivated to acquire effective technology tools to help them meet annual performance targets.
U.S. students are falling short in the competitive race to supply skilled workers in STEM fields. Educators need support in implementing the new standards so that they can help all children acquire sophisticated reasoning skills, move away from rote learning, and support more intensive skills typically coupled with problem-solving strategies. Today’s students need to assume active roles performing science practices on a regular basis and through a means that can document specific proficiencies on their behalf. The overarching goal successfully met with this SBIR Phase I research study resulted in an innovative student-centered assessment tool, called InquiryCast (patent pending). Our technology innovation probes student understanding by measuring their performance before, during, or after digital learning activities. By providing an array of easily accessible communication options and features, the innovation reduces many barriers associated with memorization, reading ability, language acquisition, written expression, and can accommodate students requiring individual learning plans. Inquiry Technologies, LLC’s universal assessment tool maximizes student achievement while respecting instructional time by enabling learning and assessment to occur simultaneously within a safe, secure and highly efficient networked environment. InquiryCast allows students to capture segments of digital materials they are working with and generate voice-over explanations and/or commentary that can be used as short summaries and answers to questions. It is our contention that this technology provides students with the means to think out loud about complexities associated with an activity, re-examine their specific actions associated with the digital content that they just recorded, analyze their own explanations and then, if they feel the need, improve upon their work by creating another video capture. We find that this is superior to written reports for evaluating student understanding in inquiry-based learning environments. Students' favorable rankings obtained during the study indicated that InquiryCasts can serve as a creative and alternative method to assess understanding in science class. In particular, students that rate their ability to learn science as average indicated a much greater preference for InquiryCast. Students who felt science was one of their best subjects preferred writing and those that claimed to struggle the most favored multiple-choice questions. InquiryCasts can be especially useful for boys given their traditionally lower reading levels and with ELL students who may be lacking certain language abilities to express their ideas. Preference towards the use of InquiryCasts appeared to improve when teachers assume an active role as a learning facilitator where their students are engaged in computer-based learning activities like the one developed for this study. NSF SBIR Phase II funding and subsequent development, will focus on research to reduce the time commitments and render the use of InquiryCast as a more efficient means for assessing compared to commonly used methods.
