Utrecht University
Master: Applied cognitive psychology
THESIS
27,5 ECTS
The effects of implementing the ‘FireFlies V2’ system in a secondary school classroom on
teachers and students
Sara Ordanovski, 5875552
12-07-2017
Supervisor Utrecht University: Dr. Chris Paffen
TU Eindhoven
Supervisors:
Dr. Saskia Bakker
Pengcheng An
, Abstract
In this research, a new classroom technology is presented. The design of this
technology is based on earlier research about design for peripheral interaction and
secondary school teachers’ routines. The purpose of designing technologies for
peripheral interaction, is that they can be more fluently embedded into peoples’
routines, by requiring fewer mental resources than technologies that do not enable
peripheral interaction. The designed system is called ‘FireFlies V2’ and its
purpose is to give secondary school teachers awareness about their attention
distribution. The effects of implementing the FireFlies V2 system in a secondary
school classroom on teachers and students were studied. Ten secondary school
teachers participated in this research, by using the system FireFlies V2 during two
of their lessons. During another two lessons, the FireFlies were not implemented
and the teacher was only being tracked. At the end of all of the lessons, both the
teachers and the students filled out a questionnaire that was put together by the
researchers and the teachers were interviewed. This paper discusses the
quantitative results, which indicate that the sample of teachers was probably too
small to find significant results: The FireFlies V2 system did not affect the
teacher’s self-reports about awareness, satisfaction and mental effort. Also their
division of presence over the front and back of the classroom was not influenced
by the system. However, the testing of a new technology with experimental
methods hasn’t been done before and further exploration and improvement in
future research would be interesting.
Human-computer interaction is a research field in which the interaction of humans with
computers is observed and new technologies that enable novel ways of interaction with
computers are designed. It is a very innovative field which anticipates the fast-moving
digitalization the world is undergoing today. Many disciplines come together in the research
and application of human-computer interaction. This paper will focus on the multidisciplinary
approach to the exploration of a novel technology, combining the fields of industrial design
and cognitive psychology.
Bakker (2013) states that traditional methods of human-computer interaction require
focused attention during interaction. For example, interaction with a smartphone or computer
practically always requires focused attention. The requirement of focused attention can be
, problematic when the aim is to fluently embed computing technologies in people’s everyday
routines (Bakker, 2013). For example, interacting with a smartphone is not easily combined
with other daily tasks such as driving a car. This problem is a current field of interest in the
area of industrial design.
Design for peripheral interaction
As a solution, Bakker (2013) proposes ‘design for peripheral interaction’, defined as:
“interaction with computing technology which can take place in the periphery of attention and
shift to the center of attention when relevant for or desired by the user”. Within this context,
attention is defined as the division of mental resources over potential activities. At the center
of attention is the activity to which most resources are allocated. All remaining potential
activities reside in the ‘periphery’ of attention (Bakker, 2013). Peripheral interaction should
not be confused with peripheral vision; it is not necessarily about the physical periphery of
vision but more so about the attentional ‘periphery’. The aim of designing technology for
peripheral interaction is for the technology to become an integrated and meaningful part of
people’s everyday lives and routines (Bakker, 2013).
Design for peripheral interaction is closely linked to cognitive theories: Similar to
Bakker’s (2013) definition, in cognitive psychology it is common to refer to attention as the
allocation of limited processing resources (Anderson, 2015). These mental- and processing
resources that Bakker (2013) and Anderson (2015) mention, are requirements for performing
cognitive tasks like interacting with technology. These cognitive tasks are generally executed
by the working memory, which is a limited capacity system (Baddeley, 2003). Consequently,
it is possible that a situation or combination of cognitive tasks requires too much mental
resources, causing people to experience ‘cognitive overload’ (Sweller, 1988). Therefore, it is
valuable to develop technologies that enable interaction in the periphery of attention, and as a
result require fewer mental resources for interaction.
Teaching
The concepts of cognitive load and peripheral interaction are useful for understanding and
assisting teaching activities respectively (Feldon, 2007; Bakker, 2013). Teachers have very
busy routines and are especially vulnerable to experiencing cognitive overload (Feldon,
2007). However, most technologies that are developed for classroom settings, such as
Master: Applied cognitive psychology
THESIS
27,5 ECTS
The effects of implementing the ‘FireFlies V2’ system in a secondary school classroom on
teachers and students
Sara Ordanovski, 5875552
12-07-2017
Supervisor Utrecht University: Dr. Chris Paffen
TU Eindhoven
Supervisors:
Dr. Saskia Bakker
Pengcheng An
, Abstract
In this research, a new classroom technology is presented. The design of this
technology is based on earlier research about design for peripheral interaction and
secondary school teachers’ routines. The purpose of designing technologies for
peripheral interaction, is that they can be more fluently embedded into peoples’
routines, by requiring fewer mental resources than technologies that do not enable
peripheral interaction. The designed system is called ‘FireFlies V2’ and its
purpose is to give secondary school teachers awareness about their attention
distribution. The effects of implementing the FireFlies V2 system in a secondary
school classroom on teachers and students were studied. Ten secondary school
teachers participated in this research, by using the system FireFlies V2 during two
of their lessons. During another two lessons, the FireFlies were not implemented
and the teacher was only being tracked. At the end of all of the lessons, both the
teachers and the students filled out a questionnaire that was put together by the
researchers and the teachers were interviewed. This paper discusses the
quantitative results, which indicate that the sample of teachers was probably too
small to find significant results: The FireFlies V2 system did not affect the
teacher’s self-reports about awareness, satisfaction and mental effort. Also their
division of presence over the front and back of the classroom was not influenced
by the system. However, the testing of a new technology with experimental
methods hasn’t been done before and further exploration and improvement in
future research would be interesting.
Human-computer interaction is a research field in which the interaction of humans with
computers is observed and new technologies that enable novel ways of interaction with
computers are designed. It is a very innovative field which anticipates the fast-moving
digitalization the world is undergoing today. Many disciplines come together in the research
and application of human-computer interaction. This paper will focus on the multidisciplinary
approach to the exploration of a novel technology, combining the fields of industrial design
and cognitive psychology.
Bakker (2013) states that traditional methods of human-computer interaction require
focused attention during interaction. For example, interaction with a smartphone or computer
practically always requires focused attention. The requirement of focused attention can be
, problematic when the aim is to fluently embed computing technologies in people’s everyday
routines (Bakker, 2013). For example, interacting with a smartphone is not easily combined
with other daily tasks such as driving a car. This problem is a current field of interest in the
area of industrial design.
Design for peripheral interaction
As a solution, Bakker (2013) proposes ‘design for peripheral interaction’, defined as:
“interaction with computing technology which can take place in the periphery of attention and
shift to the center of attention when relevant for or desired by the user”. Within this context,
attention is defined as the division of mental resources over potential activities. At the center
of attention is the activity to which most resources are allocated. All remaining potential
activities reside in the ‘periphery’ of attention (Bakker, 2013). Peripheral interaction should
not be confused with peripheral vision; it is not necessarily about the physical periphery of
vision but more so about the attentional ‘periphery’. The aim of designing technology for
peripheral interaction is for the technology to become an integrated and meaningful part of
people’s everyday lives and routines (Bakker, 2013).
Design for peripheral interaction is closely linked to cognitive theories: Similar to
Bakker’s (2013) definition, in cognitive psychology it is common to refer to attention as the
allocation of limited processing resources (Anderson, 2015). These mental- and processing
resources that Bakker (2013) and Anderson (2015) mention, are requirements for performing
cognitive tasks like interacting with technology. These cognitive tasks are generally executed
by the working memory, which is a limited capacity system (Baddeley, 2003). Consequently,
it is possible that a situation or combination of cognitive tasks requires too much mental
resources, causing people to experience ‘cognitive overload’ (Sweller, 1988). Therefore, it is
valuable to develop technologies that enable interaction in the periphery of attention, and as a
result require fewer mental resources for interaction.
Teaching
The concepts of cognitive load and peripheral interaction are useful for understanding and
assisting teaching activities respectively (Feldon, 2007; Bakker, 2013). Teachers have very
busy routines and are especially vulnerable to experiencing cognitive overload (Feldon,
2007). However, most technologies that are developed for classroom settings, such as
