MINOR PROJECT SYNOPSIS

ON

COLLABORATIVE E-EDUTAINMENT

submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Technology

In

Information Technology

Guide: Asst. Prof. Anubhuti Mohindra Submitted By:

Saumya Agarwal (0311153107)

Aman Grover (0591153107)

Bharat Sethi (0611153107)

Winnie Narang (0721153107)

Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering

affiliated to

GGS Indraprastha University, Delhi – 6 (2007-2011)

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CERTIFICATE

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled “Collaborative E-edutainment” done by

Ms. Saumya Agarwal (031153107), Mr. Aman Grover (0591153107), Mr. Bharat Sethi

(0611153107), Ms.Winnie Narang (0721153107) is an authentic work carried out by

them. The matter embodied in this work has not been submitted earlier for award of any

degree to the best of the knowledge and belief.

Date:

Signature of Guide

Name of Guide

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to acknowledge and express our heartful gratitude to our project guide

Asst. Prof. Anubhuti Mohindra who has made the completion of this project possible

and also for the help and inspiration she extended to make the project proceed in the

right direction. Thank you.

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ABSTRACT

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ABSTRACT

In the modern 21st century nobody can deny that technology has revolutionized

education. Educators have also dramatically adjusted their teaching methods in response

to new technology over the years. Gadgets in the classroom can create a more

interesting, interactive environment that students are mostly already familiar with

outside school, except in the poorest districts. Schools thus need to keep abreast with

technological trends, prioritize their needs and accordingly allocate technical budgets.

Learning then becomes meaningful, relevant and fun. With the plethora of new software

and teaching aids available, schools have to carefully consider cost and application

before making any decision. The PC is the basic requirement for each student. However

it is not always possible to provide a PC to each student. Cost is a major prohibitive

factor. Microsoft Windows Multipoint is a revolutionary technology that addresses

precisely this need.

Collaborative learning is a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to

learn something together. More specifically, collaborative learning is based on the

model that knowledge can be created within a population where members actively

interact by sharing experiences and take on asymmetry roles. Put

differently, collaborative learning refers to methodologies and environments in which

learners engage in a common task where each individual depends on and is accountable

to each other. Often, collaborative learning is used for a variety of approaches

in education that involve joint intellectual effort by students and/or teachers. E-

learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching, which

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aim to effect the construction of knowledge with reference to individual experience,

practice and knowledge of the learner. Information and communication systems,

whether networked or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process. E-

learning is essentially the computer and network enabled transfer of skills and

knowledge. It can be self paced or instructor led and includes media in the form of text,

image, animation, streaming video and audio. Early e-learning systems, based on

Computer-Based Learning/Training often attempted to replicate autocratic teaching

styles whereby the role of the e-learning system was assumed to be for transferring

knowledge, as opposed to systems developed later based on Computer Supported

Collaborative Learning (CSCL), which encouraged the shared development of

knowledge. It is widely agreed to distinguish collaborative learning from the traditional

'direct transfer' model in which the instructor is assumed to be the distributor of

knowledge and skills.

So a sincere effort has been made by us for the promotion of shared growth of each

individual along with knowledge enhancement. Using the concept of E-learning and

interactivity along with face to face teaching is a very effective method of making a

person to actually understand the scenario. So, he/she is able to relate with himself more

compassionately and thus, helps in better understanding of the concept. Our project

aims at developing a highly effective application for supporting collaborative working

among students along with entertainment, which uses the concept of Computer-

Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). It is a relatively new educational paradigm

within collaborative learning which uses technology in a learning environment to help

mediate and support group interactions in a collaborative learning context.

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CONTENTS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………12

• CONCEPT OF THE APPLICATION………………………………………..16

• SCOPE OF LOCALISATION…………………………………………….....23

• PLATFORMS USED…………………………………………………………27

• DISTRIBUTION OF ROLES……………………………………………..….30

• PROBLEMS FACED………………………………………………………...32

• CONSULTED RESEARCH PAPERS.………………………………………34

• FUTURE SCOPE……………………………………………………………..36

• CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………….38

• REFERENCES…………………………………………………………….….40

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INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

Windows Multipoint applications allow schools to increase the number of students that

can access technology in a classroom or lab simply by plugging in an existing or new

mouse per student, while all being attached to a single PC. It dramatically alters

classroom demographics by providing enhanced content delivery, greater student-

teacher interaction, collaborative learning and empowered educators. Windows

Multipoint technology enables up to 25 students at a time to simultaneously use and

interact with educational software on one single computer. Education software

programs thus need to be developed that can be used by students and teachers. These

programs are created by specialists in the field whose core business is providing

curriculum based digital content solutions. Windows Multipoint has been extensively

tested in 12 countries in over 300 schools.

ABOUT TECHNOLOGY The Windows MultiPoint Mouse Software Development Kit (SDK) is a development

framework that allows developers to build. As a developer, you can use the MultiPoint

Mouse SDK to create educational applications for schools with limited technological

infrastructure, thus increasing the amount of time any one student can spend on a

computer. Initial pilot programs conducted in India by Microsoft Research show that for

certain subjects, collaborative learning technologies like Windows MultiPoint help

enhance learning when compared to a 1:1 computing scenario. MultiPoint Mouse SDK

should not be confused with applications that allow multiple people to control multiple

mouse devices to perform standard operations. In those cases, the system traditionally

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cannot identify which mouse has made which changes, and there is normally no option

for controlling the permissions of the various devices. MultiPoint Mouse SDK includes

a development framework that enables developers to build applications to take

advantage of multiple mouse devices, including the ability to handle mouse clicks from

different users, independently, and to assign different permissions to each mouse. For

example, the mouse that a teacher uses in a learning application might need additional

permissions to control the activity. Moreover, the technology is not just for schools with

limited resources. Even if classrooms have multiple computers, this software can help

teachers get all the students interact together on the same screen. Parents can create

quick presentations to help kids practice their homework or you could make interactive

game show style quizzes and the whole family can join in!

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CURRENT SCENARIO

The current style of teaching entails students playing a non-active role in the classroom

setting as they learn. The instructor presents the material through lecture and the

students listen and typically make notes on the given information. A large quantity of

material presented through passive lectures does have value, but if it can't be

transitioned into a way a student can understand it, the quality of learning is

significantly decreased. In the classroom setting, quality and quantity go hand in hand

and if a professor's lecture isn't interesting enough to engage students, there is potential

for quality to take a steep decline. Issues with passive learning arise when students can't

relate to the knowledge because they aren't actively thinking about it. Another issue is

whether or not students are listening to the lecture or simply hearing it. Even if a lot of

valuable material is offered through the lecture, if the material is not retained, it isn't

helpful in fostering higher education because the knowledge doesn't get preserved in a

student's long term memory. This also affects quality.

• In the current scenario, the students act as passive entities in the classrooms.

• The learning in the classrooms takes place in the form of passive learning.

• The whole control is with the teacher and therefore, students might feel being

left out.

• The existing teaching methods promote competition among students rather than

collaboration.

• These are not much cost – efficient.

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CONCEPT

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CONCEPT OF THE APPLICATION

For the purpose of supporting team spirit among the student, an application has been

prepared which consists of one tutorial and three games. The topic that is chosen is

“Verbs” from the English Grammar. The tutorial is prepared with the purpose to

inseminate the basics and to help the students for better understanding of the topic in

hand. The games that are prepared have been developed in such a way that it promotes

collaboration in teaching methods along with entertainment. Several storyboards have

been used within the pages that are played when a certain respective event is fired. We

have also employed various multipoint controls. A lot of focus has been put on the

graphics and animation, this is done so because the population of students that we are

targeting need to be bound to the application and must be able to generate a lot of

interest in the application.

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TUTORIAL

The tutorial has been prepared in the form of a video along with the playback feature. It

is incorporated so as to provide a better insight to the students about the topic. A fairy

guides the students through the tutorials. Several controls have also been provided to the

students like play, pause, stop and close. Therefore, they can control it according to

their convenience and may also skip the tutorial if they are not interested. It provides a

clear definition of the topic along with relevant examples.

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VERB RATTLE

• The first application named “Verb Rattle” has is focused at explaining the

concept of subject-verb agreement.

• A virtual keyboard has been implemented so as to eliminate the need of actual

keyboards.

• There are a total of 10 questions in one go and there are three “lives”, one is lost

on each incorrect answer.

• There are two storyboards penetrating to the snake movement.

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SMILEY TALES

• Various animations have been included in this application.

• Many storyboards have been played back to back.

• The user has to cross a demon at each stage and only one lifeline is available.

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BALLOON BURST

• The timer class has been implemented in this application and the timer starts

running down as soon as the game starts.

• The scoring functionality is provided which helps to increase the enthusiasm.

• Balloons have been included as free points.

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SCOPE OF

LOCALISATION

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SCOPE OF LOCALISATION

For universal appeal of the application, it has also been implemented in French

language along with English language. The Google translator has been used for

bringing about the translation. Therefore, the scope of the application gets even wider.

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XML Files

In the application, XML files have been employed for the purpose of storing the

questions. The biggest advantage that they have is that no setup is needed to be installed

on every computer on which the application is to be run. Moreover, a random function

has been used so that the questions and their order is not repeated each time the

application is run.

• XML files can be easily understood by the people who don’t have prior

knowledge of XML.

• It carries the advantage of portability.

• Non-proprietary.

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CODE BEHIND DATA BINDING

• Xdocument - A class under the namespace Xml.Linq. It represents an xml file.

• XmlTextReader - A class to read the xml file.

• Random - A class that represents a pseudo-number generator.

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PLATFORMS

USED

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PLATFORMS USED

• Visual Studio 2008

Adding the references required for multipoint –

Microsoft.multipoint.conrols and Microsoft.multipoint.conrols.sdk.

Coding language used is C#.

• Microsoft Multipoint SDK 1.5.1

• Microsoft Blend 3

For animations and storyboarding.

For creating graphics controls.

OTHER TOOLS

• Verbose text-to-speech converter

• Freecoder 4

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COMPARISON OF TEXT-TO-SPEECH CONVERTER’S

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DISTRIBUTION OF

ROLES

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DISTRIBUTION OF ROLES

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PROBLEMS

FACED

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PROBLEMS FACED

• Sound recording was tedious because of small size of sound files.

• Hard to work with different software on same files.

• Amount of research material was less, since it is a new technology.

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CONSULTED RESEARCH

PAPERS

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FUTURE SCOPE

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FUTURE SCOPE

• The project can replace the traditional way of classroom learning by the concept

of interactive classrooms.

• A game setup will be made such that computers not having Visual Studio can

run it.

• A special control panel will be developed that will help teachers to change and

make new exercise.

• A provision that allows teachers to asses students in case they have not come to

school.

• Our aim will be to make full grammar application in more languages.

• It can be enhanced to be used on a local area network (LAN) instead of just a

standalone system.

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CONCLUSION

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CONCLUSION The motivation behind our initiative was to develop a cost effective learning platform

for the students of backward institutions, on which they can learn along with

entertainment in a collaborative learning environment and therefore, remove the passive

teaching methods. Our computers already have few USB slots vacant but using this

technology, we will be able to simultaneously work with two or more pointing devices

(read mouse) attached to the same computer. While this new software called Microsoft

MultiPoint is being developed primarily for school children in developing countries

who have to share a computer.

Some possible scenarios:

Case A: You colleague walks in to explain something on your computer screen. With

Multimouse installed, you can just pass him the second mouse without affecting your

existing setup.

Case B: MultiPoint will be a blessing for the ambidextrous souls who can operate the

computer mouse efficiently with both hands. Place a mouse at both side of the keyboard

and switch among them seamlessly

Case C: Pure Fun - Microsoft MultiPoint will let you customize the style of various

cursors on the same screen.

Case D: Attach the second mouse as an instant backup like an Uninterrupted Power

Supply. When you primary mouse fails or the battery level is low, the alternate mouse

will come in handy without interrupting your work.

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REFERENCES

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REFERENCES • .Net e-learning platform - Miguel Llopis Department of Software and

Computing Systems mll9@alu.ua.es. Fernando Llopis Department of Software

and Computing Systems llopis@dlsi.ua.es.

• A middle school Math E-Learning system based on dynamic graph-maker

and Microsoft .NET framework - Chen Liang Engineering and Information

Technology, UMS Kota Kinabulu, Sabah Malaysia umsofchen@yahoo.com.cn.

• Microsoft Multippint Pilot Case Study.

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