DLAC Research

Introduction to Distributed Learning And Collaboration

The paper reports on activities related to and including a June, 2006 symposium, entitled “Distributed Learning and Collaboration (DLAC)” at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The purpose of the symposium is to explore important frontiers in the learning sciences that are only now in the nascent stages of examination through the prism of distributed learning. Some of the topics that researchers will present include stimulation or development of complex reasoning and collaborative problem-solving skill in distributed environments; deployment of networks of pedagogical and organizational agents over learning networks; and the cognitive and neuroscientific dynamics of learning in distributed versus face-to-face (F2F) settings. The topics are not exhaustive, but illustrative of the range of interest that the workshop will represent. The symposium wiki is at http://dlac-research.net.

This symposim is lead-funded by the National Science Foundation [1], with support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research in Tokyo.. Workshop host Shanghai Jiao Tong University furnishes extensive in-kind support, and federal research agencies and universities in several other countries (Mexico, Germany, England, Singapore, Canada, Australia, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)) are providing participant travel support. The participation of these countries emerged in the planning process, as it became clear that a US-China meeting inherently excluded important potential contributors simply because they were based in other countries. (The NSF grant

1-4244-0257-3/06/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE

36*’

that provided the underlying support for the project is from a program that does not provide any funding for non-US participants.) We approached agencies in other countries and a number of researchers to gauge interest in attending a workshop for which we could not provide travel support. The response was more than encouraging and has helped provide a basis for expecting that this research community development effort, which cannot be fully underwritten by NSF, is of strong interest internationally and is sustainable.

DLAC References

1. Hamilton, E., L. Carmona, and R. Shen, International Collaboration on Web-based Learning: Theory, Research and Practice. 2005: National Science Award 0456434 (US Air Force Academy).

2. Hamilton, E., A. Kelly, and F.C. Sloane, eds. Three questions, a continuum and a metaphor. Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education: Directions for the 21st Century, ed. L. English. 2001, Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers: Mahweh, NJ.

3. Lesh, R., F. Lester, and M. Hjalmarson, A models and modeling perspective on metacognitive functioning in everyday situations where problem solvers develop mathematical constructs., in Beyond constructivism: Models and modeling perspectives on mathematics problem solving, learning, and teaching, R. Lesh and H.M. Doerr, Editors. 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ. p. 383-403.

4. Diefes-Dux, H., et al. A Framework for Posing Open-Ended Engineering Problems: Model-Eliciting Activities. in Proceedings, Frontiers in Education Conference. 2004.

5. Shen, R., F. Yang, and P. Han, A Dynamic Self-organizing E-Learner Community Model with Improved Award and Exchange Mechanisms. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (IN:AI2003), 2003: p. 590-600.

6. Hamilton, E., Affective Composites: Autonomy and Proxy in Pedagogical Agent Networks, in Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, J. Tao, J. Tan, and R.E. Picard, Editors. 2005, Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Berlin. p. pp. 898-906.

7. Hamilton, E. and J. Cherniavsky, Issues in synchronous versus asynchronous E-learning platforms, in Web-Based Learning: Theory, Research and Practice, H. O’Neill and R. Perez, Editors. 2006, Lawrence Erlbaum: Mahwah, NJ.

8. Burkhard, R.A., Visualizing Knowledge and Information for Fostering Learning and Instruction: Towards a Framework and a Model for Knowledge Visualization: Synergies Between Information and Knowledge Visualization, in Knowledge and Information Visualization: Searching for Synergies, S.-O. Tergan and T. Keller, Editors. 2005, Springer-Verlag GmbH. p. 238.

9. Sebrechts, M.M., Information Visualization: Visualizing Information in Virtual Space: Prospects and Pitfalls, in Lecture Notes in Computer Science Knowledge and Information Visualization: Searching for Synergies, S.-O. Tergan and T. Keller, Editors. 2005, Springer-Verlag

GmbH. p. 136.

10. Jaeschke, G., M. Leissler, and M. Hemmje, Information Visualization: Modeling Interactive, 3-Dimensional Information Visualizations Supporting Information Seeking Behaviors, in Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Knowledge and Information Visualization: Searching for Synergies, S.-O. Tergan and T. Keller, Editors. 2005, Springer-Verlag GmbH. p. 119.

11. Roschelle, J., et al., Tuple Spaces as a Foundation for Collaborative

Learning. 2004: National Science Award 0427783.

Generous Donators: 

open house signs and tee sponsor signs

1-4244-0257-3/06/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE October 28 - 31, 2006, San Diego, CA

36th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference

S2J-22 

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Intellectual Journey of an Electic group

Tracking the Intellectual Journey of an Eclectic group of Symposium Participants

The participants in this workshop, from twelve different countries, represent multiple scientific and engineering disciplines and interest, and multiple research traditions. They include early career graduate students through distinguished professors. The areas of expertise include developing regions (Western China, Mexico, Africa) and interests not typically associated with international development, such as next-generation pedagogical agent networks, team problem-solving over international boundaries, courseware authoring, brain science and learning, software architectures that enable massive collaboration systems, and bandwidth compression systems. Each of these areas and the others that the DLAC October 28 - 31, 2006, San Diego, CA

participants represent, however, represents important points of potential intersection, where questions that originate in one domain might find explanatory results or findings in another. Much of the design of the workshop is to create conditions for a self-organizing complex system of ideas from which new (higher-order) ways of approaching or looking at difficult issues in learning might emerge [2]. For example, one set of topics that the symposium involves is “model-eliciting activities” or MEAs- an approach to case-based reasoning, especially in engineering education, that stresses the evolution of conceptual systems [3, 4].

Another set of topics involves “recommender systems” in large (>500 students) online engineering course environments [5], whereby software agents track the usefulness of learning resources and match distributed students by interests and needs. A third theme is the use of pedagogical agent networks that furnish instructional sequences over distributed settings [6]. The MEA metaphor of clarifying or disclosing conceptual models in engineering classes at first approximation differs markedly from the topic of agent recommender systems. Yet, such agent systems can be quite useful in facilitating collective problem solving experiences between team members located in different countries. They can help team members articulate conceptual bottlenecks and in so doing share important features of models that they might be using for a large task. Pedagogical agents not only furnish tutoring or learning objects, but also can broker peer-to-peer human tutoring relationships [6]. They can be adapted to large team problem-solving settings that include recommender systems in carrying out complex tasks in engineering courses. Integration of these three themes (MEAs, recommender systems, pedagogical agent networks) is one example of the connections that an eclectic symposium group of this nature can explore. In practical terms, such integration helps to point to directions for learning environments of the future. In theoretical terms, such integration can promote a framework for uncovering cognitive activity in distributed settings, because of the nature of the artifacts that such settings produce [7].

In order to build connections more intensively during the symposium sessions, three particular methods are being used. One involves creating visual connections in real-time between disparate ideas and approaches, using advanced concept mapping tools. Concept mapping has become an increasingly powerful and sophisticated knowledge representation tool [810]. A central challenge our group will face is representing the pathways and connections between theoretical frameworks. One DLAC participant, Tanja Keller, from the Knowledge Media Research Centre at the University of Tubingen, leads a daily discussion that departs somewhat from traditional text-based breakout or summary reporting of a series of sessions by leading a group co-construction of a series of visual maps that exposes new potential connections or research opportunities. Thus, one of the symposium artifacts is a series of visual tools to highlight research directions.

A second tool involves the international premier of a tool under development at SRI, International, under Jeremy

Roschelle, called GroupScribbles. Using TabletPCs, a post-it and whiteboard metaphor, GroupScribbles implements new forms of group interaction during activities such as presentations to promote social learning. It draws on the TupleSpace software architecture under development and research at SRI under NSF sponsorship [11].

A third tool is simply the use of a group messenger system operating during presentations, whereby participants can pose questions for a presenter in a group setting, while the presenter is speaking. A program chair then selects common themes or most asked questions, and of course questioners can discuss the presentation while it is underway. Each of these three systems - real-time concept mapping, GroupScribbles, and real-time group messaging during a presentation — are means to intensify the level of interaction during the symposium and to maximize the opportunity for new connections to surface.

References

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Introduction to Distributed Learning And Collaboration

The paper reports on activities related to and including a June, 2006 symposium, entitled “Distributed Learning and Collaboration (DLAC)” at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The purpose of the symposium is to explore important frontiers in the learning sciences that are only now in the nascent stages of examination through the prism of distributed learning. Some of the topics that researchers will present include stimulation or development of complex reasoning and collaborative problem-solving skill in distributed environments; deployment of networks of pedagogical and organizational agents over learning networks; and the cognitive and neuroscientific dynamics of learning in distributed versus face-to-face (F2F) settings. The topics are not exhaustive, but illustrative of the range of interest that the workshop will represent. The symposium wiki is at http://dlac-research.net.

This symposim is lead-funded by the National Science Foundation [1], with support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research in Tokyo.. Workshop host Shanghai Jiao Tong University furnishes extensive in-kind support, and federal research agencies and universities in several other countries (Mexico, Germany, England, Singapore, Canada, Australia, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)) are providing participant travel support. The participation of these countries emerged in the planning process, as it became clear that a US-China meeting inherently excluded important potential contributors simply because they were based in other countries. (The NSF grant

1-4244-0257-3/06/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE

36*’

that provided the underlying support for the project is from a program that does not provide any funding for non-US participants.) We approached agencies in other countries and a number of researchers to gauge interest in attending a workshop for which we could not provide travel support. The response was more than encouraging and has helped provide a basis for expecting that this research community development effort, which cannot be fully underwritten by NSF, is of strong interest internationally and is sustainable.

Work in Progress: International Symposium in Distributed Learning and Collaboration (DLAC)

Work in Progress: International Symposium in Distributed Learning and Collaboration (DLAC)

Director, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, US Air Force Academy US Air Force Academy 80840-6200mil

Abstract - This paper reports on an international symposium on distributed learning and collaboration (DLAC) held at the E-learning lab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The workshop will be held in June 2006, involving approximately 50 US, Chinese, Australian and European counterparts, to frame critical research issues in distributed learning and collaboration. The testbed venue for this conference is the Network College of Engineering, China’s leading online degree program in engineering, and the country’s leading distributed learning research center. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation’s International Programs Office.

Index Terms - distributed learning, international collaboration, distance education, research community development.

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