Research Exchange: Meta Mouse

Kurtis Heimerl  [Ph.D. Candidate, EECS, UC Berkeley]

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As always, these talks are free, open to the public and broadcast live on-line at mms://media.citris.berkeley.edu/webcast the day and time of the event. Questions can be sent via Yahoo IM to username: citrisevents. Sponsored by Infineon Technologies. The schedule for the spring semester is at http://www.citris-uc.org/events/RE-spring2010

Abstract:

Enabling computer-based education in the developing world requires addressing significant resource limitations. Students often sit with two or more peers at a computer, and learning in this environment can be a challenge. For this reason, the idea of multiple-mouse interfaces has gained traction, allowing each student to directly interact with educational applications. However, major roadblocks exist to adoption and use of these technologies. First, although there are vast libraries of existing educational software, almost none of this software is designed to support multiple mice. Second, the basic principles for encouraging sharing and collaboration with multiple children using multiple mice are still not well understood. To combat this problem, we have designed Metamouse. In this talk, we describe the Metamouse motivations and interaction techniques in detail. We also compare the different Metamouse techniques, establishing the trade-offs inherent in their use.