A YouTube overture
* Information R/evolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM
* Pay Attention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEFKfXiCbLw&NR=1
* A vision of students today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&NR=1
Gerry Stahl -- R&T 2008
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CSCL @ the i-School
& @ The Math Forum
gerry stahl
The i-School @ Drexel University
Gerry Stahl -- R&T 2008
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Today’s lesson plan
• I. Epochal changes in info dissemination
• II. Glacial changes in edu technology
• III. Virtual Math Teams as a prototype
• IV. Confronting the future
… as it rushes toward us
… teaching HCI at the I-School
Gerry Stahl -- R&T 2008
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I. Epochal changes in
information dissemination
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The epochs, they are a’changin’
•
•
•
•
The oral epoch
The literate epoch
The computer epoch
The network epoch
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Technology
spoken written
computer network
language language
Affordances
Theory
coord. &
thought
myth &
religion
spirits
extern.
persist
enlighten
-ment
Agency
minds &
bodies
Education cultural personal
classics, develop
tradition (Bildung)
retrieve
& manip
infoprocess
computation
transfer
of info
share
globally
group
cognition
small
groups
collab.
knowl.
building
Ed tech
CAI
ITS
CSCL
Gerry Stahl -- R&T 2008
Logo
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• The promise of globally networked computers
to usher in a new age of universal learning
and sharing of human knowledge remains a
distant dream; the software and social
practices needed have yet to be conceived,
designed, and adopted. (Stahl, 2006, p. 1)
• Small groups are the engines of knowledge
building. The knowing that groups build up in
manifold forms is what becomes internalized
by their members as individual learning and
externalized in their communities as
certifiable knowledge. (Stahl, 2006, p. 16)
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Gerry Stahl -- R&T 2008
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• Stahl, G. (2001) The rapid evolution of
knowledge. Available at:
http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/publications/
ideas/rapid.html
-- in contrast -• Stahl, G. (2006) Group cognition:
Computer support for building
collaborative knowledge. MIT Press.
21 exploratory case studies
why it is so hard and so slow
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II. Glacial changes in
educational technology
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Ed tech approaches
• Computer-aided instruction (CAI),
a.k.a., “drill and kill” (1960s)
• AI tutoring agents (ITS) (1970s)
• Logo as Latin (constructionism) (1980s)
• Instructional management systems (IMS)
e.g., Blackboard, Web-CT
• Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
(CSCL) (1990s - present)
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Cog Sci vs. Learning Sci
• CAI & IMS still based on transfer of factual
information
• CAI, ITS, Logo, IMS still focused on
individual as lone learner
• CAI, ITS, IMS assume teacher-centric,
fixed curriculum content
• But learning sciences today call for social
learning, student-centered, constructivist,
engaged, inquiry, discourse-based
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Software design needed!
• Hardware for globally networked
knowledge building and collaborative
learning is at hand -- but not software
• We need support for social networking of
students and others who share interests
and complement skills/knowledge to work
and learn together in ways that let them
access relevant resources, scaffolding,
feedback to build knowledge that is new
and important for them and others
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HCI design issues
• Support for interaction within groups, not
single-user desktop computers
• Support for variety of learners
• Support for knowledge domains, like math
simulations, notations, sketching, comp.
• Integration with other tools and practices
• Adoption by students, schools, teachers,
parents
• Privacy and security for young students
• Business model for developers & schools
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III. Virtual Math Teams (VMT)
as a prototype
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3 levels of social organization
• VMT as a primitive model of designing &
supporting the social organization of
computer-supported systems for
collaborative learning (CSCL)
• Integrating support on 3 levels:
– level 1. individual
– level 2. small group
– level 3. community
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1.Supporting individual learners
1. Elite schools provided elite libraries for
readers
2. Elite schools provided peer socializing
and networking with future leaders
3. Elite schools provided experts to guide
study and to apprentice
1. Internet public libraries are now a solved
problem -- what about socialization &
apprenticeship?
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1. Matching & Networking
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2. Supporting small groups
• THE internet opportunity: to network
learners around the world
• Overcome isolation due to geography,
disabilities, over-specialization
• Overcome alienation of solitary study
• Leverage enormous advantages of
collaborative learning (fundament of
social learning, learn by teaching, mutual
assistance, diverse perspectives)
• Small groups are the “engines” of social
knowledge building and the origin of
internalized individual knowledge
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2. Key role of small groups
• Production of creative knowledge in the
21st Century will take place through
small groups, teams, communities of
practice.
• Individuals will learn by participating in
these knowledge-building groups.
• Knowledge will be disseminated (cultural
transmission) thru networks of groups.
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2. Roles of small groups
• Socialization: To learn math is to become
conversant with talking the language of
math, being mathematical, thinking like a
mathematician. The best way to do this is
to engage in math discourse..
• Apprenticeship: To learn HCI is to
become skilled at interaction design
through doing designs, critiquing
designs,participating in design projects of
design teams, guided by people with
other experience.
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2. The VMT Chat Environment
Message
to message
referencing
Explicit
Referencing
Support
Chat
Scrollbar
Whiteboard
Scrollbar
awareness messages
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2. Referencing: integrate
dual workspaces
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3. Supporting communities
• Scarce resource of experts used to
guide at the level of learning
communities
• Learners contribute to world-wide
knowledge building
• Overcome provincialism and local
maxima of knowledge
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3. Tabs to integrate
(1) workspaces, (2) chat
with (3) an extensive wiki
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3. Math worlds for inquiry
• Grid world & new geometry:
– Imagine a world where you could only move along a grid
of streets. What is the shortest path from any
intersection, A, to another, B? How many shortest paths
are there from A to B?
• Patterns & generalization:
– Consider other arrangements of squares in addition to
the triangle arrangement (diamond, cross, etc.). What if
instead of squares you use other polygons like triangles,
hexagons, etc.? Which polygons work well for building
patterns like this? What are the different methods
(induction, series, recursion, graphing, tables, etc.) you
can use to analyze these different patterns?
• Probability strategies:
– Here are a set of challenges related to probability
problems. You can contribute by adding
your ideas about applying a strategy to
a problem, proposing a new strategy or
adding a new challenge.
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3. The VMT community wiki
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VMT Findings
• VMT publications (80):
vmt.mathforum.org/vmtwiki/index.php/Studying_Virtual_Math_Teams#Writings_on_t
he_Virtual_Math_Teams_project
• My publications (150):
www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/
• Dissertations at the I-School:
–
–
–
–
Info behavior in online groups (Nan)
Negotiating differences for shared meaning (Ramon)
Sustaining group inquiry (Johann)
Group construction of math artifacts (Murat)
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VMT Findings, continuing
• More dissertations and collaborations:
– Adoption issues for VMT (elsewhere at Drexel)
– Technology integration in VMT (in Germany)
– Modeling collaborative interaction in VMT (in
Singapore)
– Intelligent agents in VMT (with CMU)
– International collaboration (with Rutgers & Brazil)
• Forthcoming edited volume of findings in
Springer CSCL book series and monograph
in MIT Press
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IV. Teaching for the future:
HCI at the i-School
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Design-based research in HCI
• User-centered design through iterations of
naturalistic usage
• Prototype => usage => analysis => refine
theory => redesign => ….
• Prototype must be robust enough for
groups
• Usage must be situated
• Analysis must recognize unanticipated
enactments & mediations by users
• Chat interaction analysis!
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Design spaces for HCI inquiry
• Extend Virtual Math Teams:
Design new functionality for the VMT environment to support social
networking among students interested in discussing mathematics. This may
include how students can define profiles, search for profiles, invite people,
rank their experiences, etc. Make VMT into a social community where
students will want to go, invite their friends, meet new people, and discuss
math.
• Extend Internet Public Library:
The I-School at Drexel is developing the Internet Public Library (IPL –
www.ipl.org). We want to extend it to support online collaborative learning in
the virtual library. Your group is being asked to design the interface for a new
IPL feature that could enhance social computing, collaborative learning,
knowledge construction and community building by IPL users.
• Social networking:
The goal of the course is the creation of a wiki page on the topic of “Designing
Social Interaction Software” from an HCI perspective and a wiki page on “A
Vision of the Future of the Internet Public Library.”
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1. A rich learning environment for HCI
students:
• Group synchronous discussion with
persistent log for reflection and analysis;
weekly design milestones
• Whole class sharing between groups on
the wiki
• Group reports: F2F, wiki, Apreso
• Individual reading journal, conceptual
design, reflection paper
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2. An experiment in “blended learning”:
• An online section is integrated with an inclass section
• Each project group includes some students
from each section
• Group reports are presented in class each
week and recorded on Apreso
• Online students watch Apreso any-time,
any-place to view in-class interactions
• In-class time is used for presentations,
discussion, Q&A, clarifications (not lectures,
which are replaced with readings)
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2. HCI group projects
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3. HCI course wiki
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3. Sharing group reports
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3. Reflecting on group reports
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for further info:
•
•
•
•
Nan Zhou — 3 pm, May 14
Johann Sarmiento — 3 pm, May 22
Murat Cakir — 3 pm June 3
Ramon Toledo — PhD proposal
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