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