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