RIPPLEAn Open Source Personal Response System to Add Enhanced Interactivity through a Mobile Web Application

William MyersAsst. Director Interactive Media

GroupUniversity of Oregon Libraries

What is Ripple?

Ripple is an interactive audience response system that allows presenters to survey audience members in real time communication through their mobile devices.

Who I am?

• Classroom Teacher in chemistry & physics for over 4 years before IT

• IT since 2007

• Web Development / Design for 7+ years

• We build instructional and research tools / websites / multimedia resources for University of Oregon

• We provide training and consult on User Experience (UX) for online and multimedia projects

What we do?

The Challenge?

• Enhance instruction by allowing an audience to interact with presenter

• Limit financial cost to faculty and students

• System must have custom functionality to send Open Sound Control (OSC) messages.

What makes Ripple unique?

• Web application

• User Centered Design

• Designed for mobile devices

• Open Source

• Extendable

Quick Overview

User Centered DesignIf it is not great for the individual’s using the application then it needs to change!

Lessons We Learned…

Presenter want options…

Core Question types:

True / FalseMultiple ChoiceOpen ResponseNumericVariable SliderWord Cloud

Lessons We Learned…

• Chat is not always a good thing.

• Just because the system can doesn’t mean it should.

Lessons We Learned…

Less is more.

Lessons We Learned…

Usability trumps ascetics and technology especially for technology sake.

Mobile

Reference:1 http://www.digby.com/mobile-2 http://www.localytics.com/blog/2013/mobile-statistics/statistics/

• 56% of American adults are now smartphone owners. 1

• 31% of adults own a tablet device. 2

Mobile

Reference:2 http://www.localytics.com/blog/2013/mobile-statistics/statistics/

• 44% of cell phone users have slept with their cell phone by their side so they didn’t miss a notification. 2

• The average age for a person’s first cell phone is now 13. 2

Ripple & Mobile

• Responsive Design

• Tested on multiple mobile devices including iPhone, iPad, Nexus 7

• Compatible and tested on Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and IE 9

See It In Action…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgWFK9USP5k

Creating a Set

Open Source

• Project on Github

• GPLv3 License

• Free to the World, free to use

Open Source Community

• Community of Support

• Community Development

• Ripple Website

• Issues Forum

• Contribute and help others

Extendable

• Ripple accepts plugins

• Customize it to fit your needs

• Ripple plugin page

• Plugin API

FAQ

Is there a record of student responses?– Yes, each session generates a report that can

be accessed by the presenter. Report also can be exported as a csv file.

FAQ

What if I have a student that doesn’t have a device?

– Small Group or Pair Students

– Have multiple browsers on a single computer

– Use cheap mobile device: iTouch, Kindle, old smartphone with only wireless

FAQ

If I let student use their mobile devices in class won’t it be a distraction?

– Maybe, depending on how you allow students to use the device. Isn’t this the same problem as having laptop in front of them?

FAQ

My school doesn’t allow student to have cellphones in class. What can I do?

– Laptop Carts

– Schedule Computer Lab

– Get a small set of tablets (5 to 6 for class of 24)

FAQ

Can Ripple use 3G/4G? Yes, since Ripple is just a website as long as the computer running Ripple has an external ip then any cell data plan can be used or better yet just use wi-fi (no data charges apply)!

How to get started?

1. Check out the site: Ripple Website

2. Play with it on your own: Ripple Try It

3. Check out the plugins.

4. Give us feedback.

Contact & Feedback?

Email us

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