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human-human interaction & group learning. gerry stahl The I-School @ Drexel University. Today’s 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.
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human-human interaction & group learning gerry stahl The I-School @ Drexel University
Today’s 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
The epochs, they are a’changin’ • The oral epoch • The literate epoch • The computer epoch • The network epoch
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 studieswhy it is so hard and slow
Ed tech approaches • Computer-aided instruction (CAI), a.k.a., “drill and kill” (1960s) • AI tutoring agents (ITS) (1970s) • Logo as Latin (constructionism) (1980s) • Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) (1990s - present) • Instructional management systems (IMS) e.g., Blackboard, Web-CT
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
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
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
3 levels of social organization • VMT as a primitive model of “designing & supporting the social organization of activity systems for computer-supported learning” founded upon collaborative learning (CSCL) • Integrating support on • level 1. the individual, • level 2. small group & • level 3. community levels
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. Digitizing the libraries is now a solved problem -- what about socialization & apprenticeship?
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
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.
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.
2. The VMT Chat Environment Message to message referencing Explicit Referencing Support Chat Scrollbar Whiteboard Scrollbar awareness messages
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
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.
3. 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 atDrexel 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.”
Design-based research in HCI • User-centered design through iterations of naturalistic usage • Prototype => usage => analysis => refine theory => redesign => …. • Prototype must be robust enough for groups • Usage must be situated • Analysis must recognize unanticipated enactments & mediations by users • Chat interaction analysis!
VMT Findings • VMT publications: vmt.mathforum.org/vmtwiki/index.php/Studying_Virtual_Math_Teams#Writings_on_the_Virtual_Math_Teams_project • My publications: www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/ • Dissertations: • Info behavior in online groups • Negotiating differences for shared meaning • Sustaining group inquiry • Group construction of math artifacts • Adoption issues for VMT • Technology integration in VMT
Future work for VMT for math students: • Social networking to grow user community • Interactive math representations • Future work for VMT for HCI students: • Collaborative literature search & annotation • Future analysis of HHI: • “Studying virtual math teams” (ed.) Springer • “Exploring group cognition” MIT Press
Four stubborn challenges • How to introduce inquiry learning and computer-enhanced exploration in student-centered informal online communities into social contexts dominated by formal schooling, given that schools provide sites for systematic educational activities but have not yet taken full advantage of new opportunities, media and approaches. • How to encourage social networking to involve discussion of math and science issues, given that most current examples of successful teen online communities are largely limited to socializing and pop culture. • How to increase student discourse in classrooms, given that much education focuses on rote learning of facts and procedures rather than explanations and conceptualizations. • How to integrate pedagogical scaffolding, technological affordances, and motivational sociability, since they are all needed to support each other but are too often developed in isolation from each other.
FYI • Gerry.Stahl@drexel.edu • http://www.cis.drexel.edu/ faculty/gerry/ The I-School @ Drexel
