Oct 11, 2000

Supporting Awareness for Interactive and Collaborative Learning
Hiroaki Ogata, Tokushima University, Japan

Abstract.

I will present our ongoing investigations about CSCL. First, we propose knowledge awareness (KA), a new concept for inducing collaboration in an open ended and collaborative learning environment. Sharlok (sharing, linking and looking-for knowledge) was developed as a testbed of KA, which has a knowledge building and collaborative learning environment connected via Internet. To enhance collaboration opportunities in this situation, KA provides information about the activities of the learners within the shared knowledge space.

Secondly, we will outline an online markup-based composition learning environment system called CoCoA (Communicative Collection Assisting System). It allows students and teachers to exchange marked-up documents via Internet, and its environment is very similar to a real world one in which people use pen and paper. In order to record and exchange corrected compositions with marks and comments, this paper proposes XCCML (eXtensible Communicative Correction Mark-up Language), which is based on XML. This system facilitates teachers to analyze and reuse the marked-up documents for the instruction.

Thirdly, we will talk about a computer supported social networking environment, called PeCo-Mediator-II, for seeking for a collaborator with the chain of personal connections (PeCo) in distributed organizations. This system helps gathering, exploring, and visualizing social networks. The exploration of social networks is essential to find capable collaborators who can help problem-solving and to augment cooperation between users. The experimental results show that the system facilitates that learners encounter collaborators and develop a new helpful relationship beyond the classroom.

Finally, through these empirical studies, I will discuss how to design systems toward efficient human-computer interaction in CSCL.

Biography, Hiroaki Ogata
He received the B.E., M.E. and Ph. D degrees in Department of Information Science and Intelligent systems from Tokushima University, Japan in 1992, 1994 and 1998 respectively. Since 1995 he has been a research associate in Faculty of Engineering, Tokushima University. His current interests are in Computer Supported Collaborative Work and Learning. He is a member of IPSJ, IEICE, JSiSE, IEEE, ACM, AACE and AIED. He got the best paper awards from JSiSE in 1998 and from WebNet in 1999 respectively.