Computer Supported Cooperative Work: Past, Present, and Future Vision
Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Distance Education
description
Transcript of Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Distance Education
Class 4
LBSC 690
Information Technology
Computer Supported Cooperative Work
and Distance Education
CSCW and Distance Ed Agenda
• Questions
• CSCW - Computer Supported Cooperative Work and CMC - Computer Mediated Communications
• Dimensions/Modalities
• Collaboration and network realities
• Guest lecture by Clifford Stoll– An example of teaching with technology
• Computers in education
• Distance education
Technology and People
• Interface perspective (User interfaces)
• Collaboration / Interaction perspective– People produce information for other people– Organizational information systems– Community information systems
CSCW - the acronym
• Work– Grounded in the study of work processes
• Cooperative– Assumes a shared objective
• Computer supported– Really “information technology” supported
Dimensions of CSCW
• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous– Telephone is synchronous– Email is asynchronous
• Local vs. remote– Meetings are local– Chat rooms are remote
Synchronous Local
• Meeting support systems– Brainstorming– Online review– Annotated minutes
• Example– Support for face-to-face meetings
Synchronous Remote
• Glass wall– Facilitates unplanned interactions– Supports informal communications
• Shared whiteboard– Multimodal interaction
• Example: NetMeeting– Launch NetMeeting, select – Double click on the meeting you wish to join
Asynchronous Remote
• Voice mail
• USENET news
• Mailing lists
• Example - web chat boards– Go to http://www.chem.hope.edu/discus– Pick a board to look at– Describe how it is organized
Effects of Modality
• Establish initial contact face-to-face then later remote interaction is easier
• Audio satisfactory for most interaction
• People often prefer video (Rosen reading)
Other CSCW Concepts
• Structured/Unstructured interaction (Media Spaces, e.g., parties by video)
• Archived meeting reviews
• Negotiation and organizational information systems
• CVE’s (Collaborative Virtual Environments)– Avatars representing participants
• Nomadic Radio
Collaboration and Networked Realities Standards
• Internet tools are based on “open standards”– Routers, servers, browsers, streaming video, …– Easily used to build private networks
• Typically known as “intranets”
• Proprietary standards offer better integration– Lotus Notes is a well known example– Customized to a particular business process
• Expensive and difficult to modify
Security
• Firewalls– Screen the Internet traffic reaching an intranet
• Access control– Prevent impersonation of authorized users
• Encryption– Prevent snooping by outsiders
Replication
• Information may be needed in many places– Faster than the network can get it there– By more users than a single server can handle– By users which disconnect from the network
• Making multiple copies is easy– But maintaining their consistency is hard
• Lotus Notes does this well– But standard Internet applications presently don’t
Example
• Organizing a research symposium– Co-chair in France (6 hour time difference)– Five organizing committee members
• Spread from California to Zurich
– Worldwide participants• Some cannot come to the physical symposium
• All have different computing environments
• How to organize it, run it, and report results?
The Real Example
• Project team coordination– Different tasks– Different schedules– Different locations– Different equipment– Single task
“Guest Lecturer”
• Clifford Stoll– Educator
• UC Berkeley
– Author• Cuckoo’s Egg
• Silicon Snake Oil
– Pundit
What’s the Point?
• Why are we putting computers in schools?
• Are computer jobs the “jobs of the future?”
• What’s so great about information?– How does it differ from data?– What about understanding & wisdom?
• If he’s right, why are we studying this?
Educational Computing
• Computer Assisted Education– What most people think of first
• Computer Managed Instruction– What most people really do first!
• Computer-Based Multimedia– Just another filmstrip machine?
Rationales
• Pedagogic– Use computers to teach
• Vocational– Computer programming is a skill like typing
• Social– Computers are a part of the fabric of society
• Catalytic– Computers are symbols of progress
Conditions for Success
• Most prerequisites are not computer-specific– Need, know-how, time, commitment, leadership,
incentives, expectations– In one study, only one addressed resources
• The most important barrier isn’t either– Teacher time is by far the most important factor
Alternatives
• Facilities– Computer classrooms (e.g., teaching theaters)– Computers IN classrooms (e.g., HBK 0108)
• Objectives– “Computer Literacy” is the most common class– Not so in the Maryland teaching theaters
• Comparatively few technology classes
Computers as Educational Media
• Books– Stable - you can read them at your own pace
• Video– Transient, dynamic, multi-sensory
• Computers– Interactive, process-based– Plus salient characteristics of video and books
Distance Education
• Correspondence courses came first– Focus on dissemination and evaluation
• Instructional television was next– Dissemination, interaction, and evaluation
• Ordinary television supports only dissemination
• Computer Assisted Instruction– Same three functions– Goal is to be better, cheaper, or both
Methodology - Sampling Strategies
• Systematic tests– Broad tests
• Web page example: test every link from the top page
• Database example: Run each query once
– Deep tests• Web page example: follow a full sequence of links
• Database example: Run a query with different data
• Ad hoc tests– Specify how users are selected, give them a task