PowerPoint Presentation - The Virtual Math Teams project at Drexel U. supporting group cognition

1
A YouTube overture Information R/evolution
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-4CV05HyAbM
Pay Attention http//www.youtube.com/watch?va
EFKfXiCbLwNR1 A vision of students
today http//www.youtube.com/watch?vdGCJ46vyR9o
NR1
2
CSCL _at_ the i-School _at_ The Math Forum

• gerry stahl
• The i-School _at_ Drexel University

3
Todays 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

4
I. Epochal changes in information dissemination
5
The epochs, they are achangin

• The oral epoch
• The literate epoch
• The computer epoch
• The network epoch

6
Tech-nology spoken language written language computer network
Afford-ances coord. thought extern. persist retrieve manip share globally
Theory myth religion enlighten-ment info- process group cognition
Agency spirits minds bodies computa-tion small groups
Education cultural classics, tradition personal develop (Bildung) transfer of info collab. knowl. building
Ed tech CAI Logo ITS CSCL
7

• 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)

8
(No Transcript)
9

• 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

10
II. Glacial changes in educational technology
11
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)

12
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

13
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

14
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

15
III. Virtual Math Teams (VMT) as a prototype
16
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

17
1.Supporting individual learners

• Elite schools provided elite libraries for
  readers
• Elite schools provided peer socializing and
  networking with future leaders
• Elite schools provided experts to guide study and
  to apprentice
• 1. Internet public libraries are now a solved
  problem -- what about socialization
  apprenticeship?

18
1. Matching Networking
19
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

20
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.

21
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.

22
2. The VMT Chat Environment
Message to message referencing
Explicit Referencing Support
Chat Scrollbar
Whiteboard Scrollbar
awareness messages
23
2. Referencing integrate dual workspaces
24
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

25
3. Tabs to integrate (1) workspaces, (2) chat
with (3) an extensive wiki
26
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.

27
3. The VMT community wiki
28
VMT Findings

• VMT publications (80)
• vmt.mathforum.org/vmtwiki/index.php/Studying_Virtu
  al_Math_TeamsWritings_on_the_Virtual_Math_Teams_p
  roject
• 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)

29
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

30
IV. Teaching for the future HCI at the i-School
31
Design-based research in HCI

• User-centered design through iterations of
  naturalistic usage
• Prototype gt usage gt analysis gt refine theory
  gt redesign gt .
• Prototype must be robust enough for groups
• Usage must be situated
• Analysis must recognize unanticipated enactments
  mediations by users
• Chat interaction analysis!

32
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.

33

• 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

34

• 2. An experiment in blended learning
• An online section is integrated with an in-class
  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, QA, clarifications (not lectures,
  which are replaced with readings)

35
2. HCI group projects
36
3. HCI course wiki
37
3. Sharing group reports
38
3. Reflecting on group reports
39
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