Using Pervasive Displays to Aid Student Recall -Reflections on a Campus-Wide Trial

Abstract

University campuses are rapidly transitioning to environments that are rich in technology designed to support learning throughout the day and in diverse forms. Traditional lectures and seminars are supplemented with rich WiFi coverage, integrated learning environments, video lectures, public display networks and other innovations. Of these diverse technologies, the role and potential of public display networks in higher education is currently least understood. Indeed, most campus displays are merely used as means of information dissemination or as tools to support collaboration.In this paper, we explore the potential of pervasive display technologies as active contributors to university teaching and learning. We describe a real-world explorative study in which campus displays we used to stimulate student recall of lecture material. Our experiences demonstrate that public displays can be leveraged to provide prompts at opportune moments and invites further research in designing memory prompts to leverage the learning potential of pervasive displays in campus settings. The insights we garnered form a solid foundation and highlight opportunities and challenges in the field.

A Design Space for Memory Augmentation Technologies

“…As such, metacognitive augmentation may lend itself to the use of semi-public and public displays. This could be done by expanding upon the study by Mikusz et al (2018) where they used public displays to deliver memory cues to students across the university campus. However, instead of just delivering the cues, this system could be used to create a campus-wide memory palace.…”

“…Technology and tools to address physical deterioration that emerges as a result of age or illness are commonplace. More recently, researchers have begun to express a similar vision for technology use to address limitations in cognitive function, including memory (Chen and Jones, 2010;Davies et al, 2015;Harvey et al, 2016;Hodges et al, 2011;Hodges et al, 2006;Iwamura et al, 2014;Le et al, 2016;Mikusz et al, 2018;Rhodes, 1997;Schmidt, 2017). Most commonly, lifelogging devices and other data sources are used to provide cues to help rehearse personal experiences, known as episodic memories (Harvey et al, 2016;Hodges et al, 2011;Hodges et al, 2006;Le et al, 2016).…”

A Longitudinal Study of Pervasive Display Personalisation

“…Since the mid nineties, researchers have attempted to address display blindness by enabling content to be tailored or personalised to viewers within close proximity [18]. A popular approach has been to use mobile phones for detecting potential viewers' proximity to a screen (e.g., using Bluetooth) and to tailor the screen's content according to the individuals in front of them [15,28,29,39]. Within commercial settings, another common practice adjusts content based on coarsegrained audience demographics captured through video analytics [27].…”