Comparing a Single-Touch Whiteboard and a Multi-Touch Tabletop for Collaboration in School Museum Visits

This paper explores two important classes of large screen displays, single-touch whiteboards and multi-touch tabletops, for the context of collaborative learning by school groups at a museum. To do this, we designed MuseWork, as a worksheet activity, with two phases: first, students explore the museum, individually or in pairs, guided by our tablet worksheet app; then, in groups, they collaborate to create a poster at a large-screen display, using our device-customised MuseWork interfaces. Our goal was to gain insights about the implications for engagement and collaboration when groups use these devices; single-touch whiteboards are important as they are widely available in classrooms and multi-touch tabletops are an emerging technology. Our research questions asked: 1) whether MuseWork enabled groups to complete the collaborative task at both devices and 2) how the whiteboard and tabletop each affect key aspects of collaboration. We report a between-subjects study of 67 students, aged 10--14 years, from 2 schools, in 12 groups. Our results, based on qualitative and quantitative data, indicate the MuseWork interface for each device proved effective, with groups completing the activity and satisfied with the result and the experience (RQ1). Comparisons of groups using each device (RQ2) give new insights in terms of the products of the collaborative activity, and the strategies groups spontaneously developed for group co-ordination and device use. Our contributions are insights from the first in-the-field study of children collaborating at single-touch interactive whiteboards and multi-touch tabletops.