Prospecting the Future of Learning Technologies and Communities

1. Prospecting the Future of Learning Technologies and Communities Roy D. Pea http://sri.com/policy/ctl Global Learning Conference 20 October 1998

2. Five Ecological Trends • Ubiquity of computing and communications • Visualizations of complexity • Tools for building learning communities • Pervasive project-based learning • Insatiable appetites for high-performance computing and communications

3. Ubiquity of Computing and Communications • Digital convergence • Communication infrastructures • Component software revolution • Miniaturization, portability and cost of computing and communications hardware

4. ESCOT (Educational SoftwareComponents of Tomorrow)* A distributed network of teachers, researchers & developers creating link-able representational tools for real middle school math curricula. *A new NSF grant (Pea, Roschelle, Kaput and DiGiano)

5. Distributed Intelligence: Role of components • Graphs, tables, calculators, geometry, simulations, equations, notepads… probably 100 or so core active representational objects that occupy parts of a screen • Enable mix-and-match, plug&play • Cognitive research rationale: • Dynamic, linked multiple representations key for deeper understanding • Animated graphics for process history • Collaboration support • Assessment support • Leading to: • • Lower cost • Better quality • More flexibility

6. ESCOT Geometer’s Sketchpad • Goals • Collect broadly useful, powerful components • Link to curriculum needs • Combine in new activities • ESCOT Teams Integrate Re-usable Components from a Shared, Web-Accessible Library into Lessons • Teacher: Pedagogical Design • Developer: Component Design • Web facilitator: Web Design (and teamwork)

7. John DoerrVenture CapitalistKleiner-PerkinsMenlo Park, CA “The Web is under-hyped” “We are co-conspirators in the largest legal creation of wealth in human history”

8. Visualizations of Complexity

9. WorldWatcher (Edelson & Pea)

10. Scientists’ Visualization Tools

11. Toward Learner-Centered Design • Empirical studies of scientists’ tool practices • Techniques: From tacit knowledge to explicit representational properties • Geographical context underlay • Explicit semantic units for data • Provision of semantically constrained mathematical operations on data • General framework now encompasses over 30 public domain data sets (NASA, NOAA…)

12. WorldWatcher: Jan, July Surface Temperature

13. WorldWatcher • It is important that learners create their own visualizations and models • Expressive visualizations: ‘coloring’ worlds • Localization activities • Interpretive visualizations: global data • Project inquiries: learner-centered explorations of patterns, driving questions

14. O.L.I.V.E. • On-Line Library of Information Visualization Environments • HTTP://otal.umd.edu/Olive/ • Ben Shneiderman’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab, U. Maryland • His categories: temporal, 1-D, 2-D, 3-D, Multi-D, Tree, Network, Workspace

15. Example: 3-D Visualization • = viewing real-world objects such as the human body, buildings, or molecules for information extraction purposes • Example: The National Library of Medicine’s Visible Human Project

16. “Colon flythrough” of the NLM’s Visible Human Project

17. 3-D World Visualizations • Often for scientific visualization of volumes (rendered from real-world 3D objects) • to test scientific hypotheses • to simulate events or processes (weather) • to practice procedures (surgery) • Also: virtual walkthroughs of architectural or interior designs • Learning: virtual museum visits, virtual travel to historic sites such as Egyptian Pyramids, solar system simulations

18. Tools for Building Learning Communities • Communities of learners, communities of practice • The future of the Net is a social place • Multi-user virtual environments • Persistent virtual worlds, shared media spaces • Social information filtering

19. GeoCities: Themed Neighborhoods HTTP://www.geocities.com

21. SRI’s TAPPED IN Project(http://tappedin.sri.com) • SRI International -- Center for Technology in Learning (Mark Schlager, Patricia Schank, Judith Fusco, Richard Goddard) • Partners are twelve K-12 teacher professional development organizations devoted to science educational reform • Goal: to develop, operate and study an easy-to-learn, multi-user virtual environment for ongoing teacher professional development • In 18 months: nearly 2000 registered users already • 1996-2000 Funding:

22. Bulletin board, Whiteboard Simulations WebViewers Guestbook Message box File Cabinets Lawrence Hall of Science GEMS Room

24. Social Information Filtering • Automated word-of-mouth • 8-10 different companies including Firefly, NetPerceptions’ GroupLens, Alexa Internet, LikeMinds • Used in systems such as amazon.com, CDnow, Sierra Online, Peapod • Prospective uses in education: SRI’s ScienceForum

25. Contributing Factors to Pervasive Project-Based Learning • New learning standards (e.g., NSES, NCTM) • Findings in the cognitive and social sciences of learning • Computer tools for guiding inquiry projects, for probeware data collection, and use of Internet-accessible data sets • Paradigms such as student-scientist partnerships, tele-mentoring

26. Insatiable appetites for media-rich learning

27. A Final Thought • New designs occasionally lead to "fingertip effects," a fit of tool to task so apt that it leads to precipitous social changes • Examples: World-Wide Web browsers for hyper-linked documents, electronic mail, fax saturation, Palm Pilot's design for pocket-size computing • What will be the fingertip effects that will come to exist for K-12 and university-level net learning?

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