Purdue's Studio creates digital tools to boost student success
December 22, 2014
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Purdue University's Studio app development team has been selected as the top innovators in higher education for North America by Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton-QS Stars Awards 2014: Reimagine Education. (Purdue University photo/Charles Jischke) |
Students at Purdue have a mobile app for taking and submitting video assignments, an app for study groups, an app for class discussions, an app that tracks their study habits (like a FitBit for academics) and five other apps to help them stay on track and complete assignments.
Now, the team that develped Purdue's portfolio of academic apps has something new to show off — an award naming the suite of apps the top educational innovation in North America from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton-QS Stars Awards 2014: Reimagine Education, which describes itself as "the Oscars of innovation in higher education." Studio was honored as the top education innovator for North America, as well as runner-up in the international awards for e-learning.
It's not the first recognition for the 13-member Studio team. Their work is frequently mentioned in articles in national media — including the front page of The New York Times —following each new release.
Jason Fish, who leads the Studio group, says the Studio tools have created a mini-app store for Purdue students and faculty.
"Studio is kind of like Apple's App Store or the Android Marketplace in that not every app is perfect for every person, but almost everyone on campus will find two or three that make sense for them and are worth using," he says.
All of the mobile apps developed by Studio are free to Purdue faculty and students. Among the mobile apps created:
Pattern — Purdue's newest student success app allows students to self-track their academic behaviors, including extracurricular activities, to help keep themselves on track for academic excellence.
"We were inspired by the Quantified Self movement in which people track their activity and food on tools such as FitBit, MyFitnessPal, and TrackYourHappiness," Fish says.
Gradient — A peer assessment writing tool. The ability of students to critique others' work is calibrated using course-specific writing assignments.
Backdraft — A tool that allows people giving presentations to preload tweets and release them during a presentation.
Convoy — Similar to the popular Flipboard media app, Convoy allows instructors to group presentation slides, handouts, videos, online material and notes into one simple interface.
Passnote — A tool that allows instructors to write more effective motivational messages based on concepts gleaned from educational research. This tool is public and available to faculty and teachers anywhere.
Mixable — A social media tool that allows a defined group, such as a class or study group, to privately share resources and have conversations.
Passport — A digital badges app that helps instructors create badges and allows students to display the work behind the badge to show exactly how they earned the recognition of their competency.
Hotseat — The original Studio mobile app, Hotseat allows students to join in discussions or ask questions using Twitter, text messages, or through the app. Instructors have found that the app is useful for including even shy students in class discussions.
Signals — A data analytics tool that monitors students' academic behavior and allows instructors to intervene or offer encouragement with tips or motivational messages.
In addition, the group does one-off projects, such as the Impact: Earth! asteroid collision calculator, developed with Jay Melosh, distinguished professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. The calculator is used by millions of people, including groups as diverse as academic researchers, students, and staff at the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
Frank Dooley, Purdue's vice provost for teaching and learning, was an early adopter of both Signals and Hotseat. He says that Studio is an essential supplement and at times component of the university's initiative Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation, more commonly known as IMPACT.
"Purdue is known for its academic rigor, and the Studio tools are an important piece in assisting our students and in the IMPACT program," Dooley says. "I'm not aware of any other university that has a campus-wide effort like this, and it's another example of Purdue's commitment to innovation in higher education."
Gerry McCartney, system CIO and the Oesterle Professor of Information Technology, says Studio allowed Purdue instructors to take advantage of a new resource even while many others were shunning it.
"Five years ago when a majority of students first began bringing smartphones to campus, there were professors at some institutions asking their IT departments to shut off Wi-Fi and taking other measures to prevent their use," he says. "We began looking at this and thought it was exactly backwards. Here you had students bringing a device to class that had mind-blowing potential as an educational tool, and it was up to us to take advantage of that.
"Year after year, the Studio team has impressed all of us with their creativity and high level of performance. The recent award from Wharton was well-deserved."
Fish says the Studio team is available to work with any faculty member who wants to use their tools or has an idea for an app.
"We don't develop the tools and try to talk faculty members into trying them," he says. "Faculty members bring us ideas, and we approach the Murphy Award winners to discuss challenges they've encountered in teaching. Developing these tools is a completely collaborative undertaking."
Writer: Steve Tally, 765-494-9809, tally@purdue.edu, Twitter: sciencewriter
