Class 11
LBSC 690
Information Technology
Computer Supported Cooperative Work
and Distance Education
CSCW and Distance Ed Agenda
• Questions• CSCW - Computer Supported Cooperative Work
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
• Computer supported– Really “information technology” supported
• Cooperative– Assumes a shared objective (what about
competitive interaction?)
• Work– Grounded in the study of work processes (why
not play?)
Dimensions of CSCWLike dimensions of Internet Services
• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous– Telephone is synchronous– Email is asynchronous
• Local vs. remote– Meetings are local– Chat rooms are remote
• Structured vs Unstructured Interaction
Synchronous Local
• Support for face-to-face meetings– Brainstorming– Online review– Annotated minutes– Voting as feedback
Synchronous Remote
• Shared whiteboard– Multimodal interaction
• Example: NetMeeting– Launch NetMeeting, select – Double click on the meeting you wish to join
• Glass wall (CVEs)– Facilitates unplanned interactions– Supports informal communications
Asynchronous Remote
• Voice mail
• USENET news
• Mailing lists
• Example - threaded discussions – 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
• In terms of task completion, audio is satisfactory for most interactions.
• People often prefer video interactions (Rosen reading)
Organizational Information Systems• From MIS to Knowledge Management
• Supporting roles in an organization environment
• What is the impact of information technology on organizations – email “flattens” hierarchies– productivity gains?
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
Example of IT Supporting Collaboration
• 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?
“Guest Lecturer”
• Clifford Stoll– Educator, UC Berkeley– Author
• Cuckoo’s Egg, Silicon Snake Oil, HighTech Heretic
– Pundit (misguided?)
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-Based Training (CBT)– Just another filmstrip machine?
• Computer-Assisted Education– What most people think of first
• Computer-Managed Instruction– What most people really do first!
Rationales for Computers in Schools• 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
– Focus on dissemination and evaluation
• Instructional television– Dissemination, interaction, and evaluation
• Ordinary television supports only dissemination
• Computer-Assisted Instruction– Same three functions– Goal is to be better, cheaper, or both
• Asynchronous Learning – Primarily Web-based
“Intelligent” Computer Aided-Instruction• Computer as tutor
• Assessment - Collect observations of student.
• Evaluation - build “student models” -- what a student knows about the task. Compare student model to “expert model” -- how an expert would solve the problem. Try to determine the “root cause”.
• Remediation - What strategy to adopt in fixing the student’s misunderstanding.
Project Test Plan• Two key issues
– Test types– Sampling strategies
• Black box tests– Assumes no knowledge of the design
• For example, test every link on every page
• White box (or “glass box”) tests– Use design knowledge to test likely failures
• For example, run queries that exercise joins
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
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