A synchronous on-line competition software toimprove and motivate learning

Organizing (almost fully) automated quizzbowls with FLEQ

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral

grex@gsyc.urjc.esGSyC/LibreSoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Marrakech, Morocco, April 19th, 2012

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

c©2012 Gregorio Robles, Jesus M. Gonzalez-Barahona, Arturo Moral

All figures are ours, except when the original source is specified.

Some rights reserved. This presentation is distributed under the“Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0” license, by Creative Commons, available at

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Introduction

Figure: Sometimes, learning can be difficult...Original: http://favim.com/image/81555/

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

In this presentation... our aim is to talk about

how to boost difficult to motivate learning by anon-line synchronous trivia-like tournament outside

the classroom

(We have built a web-based software, FLEQ, and have tested it)

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Trivia-like tournaments

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Requirements

Easy-to-use (by students & professors)

Low time investment by organizers (professors)

Flexible time scheduling of matches for studentsit is outside the lectures schedule

Ubiquity: IRC, web, mobile...

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Organizers (Teachers)

Organizers (lecturers) are in charge of the semantics of thetournament.

Creating a Championship

Configuring tournamentUploading questions

Revision of student requests

Supervision of the tournament (if desired)

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Setting up a tournament (Organizers)

Introductory text

Start and finish dates for tournament

List of participants (provided or open)

Default time of matches

Tournament type

Crosses, league, Swiss system, mixed system (league +crosses)...

Upload questions and answers

This should take up to 10 minutes through a simple web interface.

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Introducing questions (Organizers)

Figure: Format used by the organizer to introduce questions. It is asimple text format. Several correct answers per question are possible.

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Participants (Students)

What students have to do for each match

1 Agree on schedule with opponent

2 (Obtain notifications by the system)

3 Access the location where the match takes place (IRC, web,mobile...)

4 Play against other student!

5 Ask professor to review questions if desired

6 Follow classification (and other stats...) if desired

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

IRC client interface

Figure: IRC client interface

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Supervision

Time per match

Number of questions per match

Number of matches that could not be played because of thenon-appearance

For each question

Success rateDelayNumber of wrong answers

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Technicalities

Figure: Architecture

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

Present & Future

We have performed three test tournaments.

for its technical maturityfor its ease of use for participantsfor its ease of management for lecturers.

Free web service offered. You can try it!http://trivial.libresoft.es

Software available as free software for local tuning andenhancement

Future development: we are moving from IRC to a completeHTML5 set-up

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning

A synchronous on-line competition software toimprove and motivate learning

Organizing (almost fully) automated quizzbowls with FLEQ

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral

grex@gsyc.urjc.esGSyC/LibreSoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Marrakech, Morocco, April 19th, 2012

Gregorio Robles, J. M. Gonzalez Barahona, A. Moral A synchronous on-line competition software to improve and motivate learning