A Collaborative Educational IS
Based on WWW
Meiqi Fang ,Tieyan Li, Jinghai Rao, Xiaomeng Su
Information School,
Renmin University,
Beijing, China
Abstract
 What are we going to talk about?
An educational IS
An educational IS based on WWW
A collaborative Educational IS based on WWW
 How we organize the article?
Basic principle and our consideration in designing
such an IS
Illustrate a real project -SIM_EDI to embody the
basic rules
Adjustments and our final suggestions
1.Introduction
Basic principles
Why the WWW?
Easier and wider accessibility
Wide range of Knowledge
Motivated learning rather than Unmotivated
learning
Why collaborative?
Classify the web-based educational IS
1.1 Classification of Web_based
Educational IS
1) Real time remote educational IS
similar to the traditional classroom-based
instruction mode
learning at same time different place
An example to demonstrate both the
advantage and the limitations
1.1Classification of Web_based
Educational IS
2)Educational IS focused on information sharing
Currently the most widely used style
Located the student at the center of the self-teach
Circle
Access at any time any place
Easy participation, enormous resource and
well_organized knowledge
Give a typical example
what we can draw from this?
1.1Classification of Web_based
Educational IS
3)Collaborative educational IS
 Constructive Theory of Education
 The Multi-User Dungeon(MUD) paradigm
 The collaborative learning model can help
positively in applied subjects
 To achieve the goal of a highly functional IS,
certain extra points need to be considered besides
the routine ones
1.2 Our consideration in
designing such an IS
 To what degree your future system can simulate
the real situation--Is it the more the better?
 How to server both the needs of simulation and
to simplifying the system
A careful designed interface
Certain automatic roles can be developed
Monitor and keep track of the participants
As in a game, there must be proper rules
 proper chose of platform and tools
In the remainder of this article, you will
see a sample of the collaborative learning
environment-- SIM_EDI. It simulates the
trading process around a steel factory and
its partners, allowing students to be
acquainted with Electronic Data Interchange
(EDI), commercial routine and the
international trading pattern, through
performing trading activities in this
simulated environment.
2.Architecture of SIM_EDI
We describe the system which we
have designed and tested in order to
show how the above principles may be
integrated with a real system
Now the detail :-)
2.1 Structure of SIM_EDI
 A two-tier structure
 Roles within a LAN
2.2 Roles within a LAN
 Automatic
roles
 Student
performed
roles
 System
manager
2.2.1 Student performed roles and
SIM_EDI working process
 Recycling agents
 Manufacturers
 Wholesalers
 Retailers
 Transport Agent
2.2.2 Automatic Roles
 Simulation Bank--
the key link of
currency flow
 Consumer--the
source and
destination of
currency flow and
merchandise flow
 Customs--the
pivotal agent in the
flow of
merchandise
 Mailer--the key
link of information
flow
2.2.3 Instructor
 the computer system administrator, DBA etc. for
the distributed computer system
 the referee/controller of the game that take place
within the simulation world
 the instructor/guide/assessor in the real world
2.3 SIM_EDI Management Center
(SEMC)
 An intermediary
 Functions
2.4 Other system functions
 Business Management Function
– There is a mini MIS(Management Information System) in
every user’s system.This MIS can manage the daily
routine work and it closely integrate the “enterprise
“ with market information.
 System rewards and penalties
– In an educational system, the instruction should mark
every student according to their performance in the
game.
– Rewards should not be offered only in the form of money,
credit or score, but need to be designed as a method
that can stimulate students to remain assiduous.
– In SIM_EDI students will be “punished” when breaking a
rule
– Use Email to exchange experiences and discuss questions.
2.5 Superiority of SIM_EDI
on WWW
 A much more real environment, oral
negotiation can be avoided.
 Use of WWW distinguishes domestic trade
and foreign trade to some extent
 Conveniently obtain knowledge in relevant
fields through the Internet , not just a
simple online help
 A larger system leads to more variety , and
so more amusements
 When more users participates there is a
wider exchange of experience
3 Conclusions and Suggestions
After analyzing the system, we list some of our
conclusions and suggestions when exploiting a
collaborative educational IS on WWW as
follows:
 Support multiple platforms to ensure the portability of
the system
 Simulate the real environment at the user interface, but
make the internal implementation simple and easy to
manage.
 The game rules in the simulated environment should be
independent of the simulation program.
 Simulation should be flexible. Here: the instructor can
adjust many types of parameter to alter the configuration.
3 Conclusions and Suggestions
 Taking account of the network load, especially
the transfer ate in the Internet, all data transfer
should use short files to guarantee high speed
 Even in an educational system, security should be
considered. In order to avoid cheating, we can
use authority management and log file. Here we
use ftp to transfer the encrypted files.
 There is no centralized management. Every part
of the system can execute freely. The balance of
the system depends on a set of game rules.
Further study
 Collaborative educational IS based on
constructive theory will broaden the
development of CAE.
 Integrate IT with education theory
 Further research and practice are required
in this field
Acknowledgment
Many thanks to Dr. Ken Moody for
helping to clean up the English and
to Huijiang Dong for collecting
materials for the paper, also to the
referees for their recommendations