1 POW! Perspectives On the Web WebNet ’99 – Honolulu, Hawaii – October 1999 Gerry Stahl Institute of Cognitive Science Center for LifeLong Learning & Design Department of Computer Science University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

2 POW! Perspectives On the Web I. Theory: Web-based Learning Environment II. System: Perspectives and Collaboration III. Use Cases: middle school & grad seminar IV. Assess: 6 Design Issues Encountered V. Lessons for the Next Iteration

3 I. Learning Environments for Knowledge Constructing Communities Classroom as “knowledge-building community” (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991) – CSILE Computer support for collaborative knowledge construction: Toronto, Michigan, Berkeley, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, SRI, etc. Web as medium for sharing ideas (notes, diagrams) Computer keeps track of links, relationships Persistent, asynchronous collaboration (from class, home, library) Annotations, reorganization, edits, history of changes

4 Mediated Cognition Learning of new cognitive abilities is mediated by external media (people, artifacts, symbols, repositories) WebGuide to mediate new powers of collaborative knowledge construction – see case 2 Should provide external group memory Should represent collaborative relationships Should support collaborative processing of knowledge

5 II. Multiple Perspectives for Collaborative Learning Figurative perspective – point of view, interpretation Knowledge is perspectival (Heidegger, 1927; Stahl, 1993a) Computational perspectives to represent relation of ideas to figurative perspectives of groups and individuals Computational perspectives provide structure for large shared repository of notes Collaborative learning consists of perspective-taking & perspective-making (Boland et al., 1995) see case 1 & 2

6 Computational Perspectives in WebGuide A limited, structured view of notes from repository Notes entered there & in “included perspectives” Organized in an expandable outline hierarchy Group perspectives for shared ideas (e.g., class) Personal perspective for ones own point of view Comparison perspectives for browsing other’s ideas “Individuals can change the ideas in their perspective without restriction –- but these changes should not affect any other personal perspective”

7 III. Use Case One: Perspective-Making Class project: Should acid mine drainage be fixed with constructed wetlands? Constructing environmental perspectives in a middle school classroom Collaboration of groups: students, mentors, teachers Perspectives: environmental protection, government regulation, mine owners, local community Web of perspectives: class scaffold, student workspaces, comparisons WebGuide interface: arrange titles & view contents

8 Use Case One: Web of Perspectives

9 Use Case One: WebGuide Interface

10 Use Case Two: Perspective-Taking Class project: theory of the mediation of human cognition Sharing discipline perspectives in a graduate seminar Perspectives: educational psychology, cognitive psychology, computer science, philosophy Web of perspectives: topics, personal, discipline, comparison WebGuide interface: discussion threads in comparison

11 Use Case Two: Web of Perspectives

12 Use Case Two: WebGuide Interface

13 IV. Six Design Issues Issue 1: Converging Ideas Issue 2: Promoting System Use Issue 3: Understanding the Perspectives Metaphor Issue 4: Representing the Web of Perspectives Issue 5: Structuring Learning Situations Issue 6: Distinguishing System Capabilities

14 Issue 1: Converging Ideas Need negotiation support!

15 Issue 2: Promoting System Use Media competition – critical mass of usage Technical frustration – slow & awkward – poor accessibility Public exposure Grading, requirement, restrict alternatives Need focal collaborative task in WebGuide!

16 Issue 3: Understanding the Perspectives Metaphor Where should I put this idea? Where should I look for other people’s ideas? How are the perspectives related to each other? Should I create a new perspective or a new heading? Need training & graphic representation of perspective structure!

17 Issue 4: Representing the Web of Perspectives Need scalable graphics!

18 Issue 5: Structuring Learning Situations Need effective social practices!

19 Issue 6: Distinguishing System Capabilities Threaded discussion –Just respond! New idea articulation –What do I want to say? Knowledge construction –Where does this note go? –What does it link with? –What headings are needed? –Which perspective does it belong in? Need to distinguish & support each!

20 V. Lessons: The bad news There are significant open research issues involving: The perspectives technology Negotiation support The design of the learning environment The social practices associated with its use

21 The good news We have successfully implemented and deployed a learning environment for collaborative learning on the Web with perspectives Perspectives still seem promising as a way of structuring collaborative knowledge construction A perspectives mechanism can be supported in a web- based learning environment The hierarchy of perspectives can be designed to support specific use cases

22 Conclusions There is still much work to do on how to support collaborative learning with computational perspectives We learned a lot from our case studies We have many ideas for enhancing WebGuide for the next iteration For further info: es/1999/aera99/