Peder Saether Symposium (March 9-10, 2000)

Asst. Professor Arvid Staupe Presentation

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Interactive learning system

Background

Universities and colleges are being criticised for creating passive students and for using teacher controlled learning methods based on old behavioristic learning theories. When ICT makes its entry, there is reason to believe that this methodology frequently will be copied into internet-based learning as well.

In the last few years, The Norwegian University of Technology and Science (NTNU) has been actively working towards the development of a more flexible, problem- and project-based learning in which network-based learning serves as the foundation of this work. Constructivism/situated learning theories have formed the pedagogical platform, not least in order to be capable of offering flexible learning possibilities when it comes to the need for continuing vocational training in trade and industry.

In order to realise this new network-based learning arena, it has been necessary to develop an infrastructure developed on the Internet. It includes hyper-/multimediasystems on the Internet, video on demand tools, animation tools, object-orientated design tools based on constructivistic learning principles, info-search in free text, a knowledge test based on free text, an oracle-/help service, a workbook, and a plan for student administration. We have also developed demands for necessary services in groupware, but this tool is not realised yet. There is also an option to add a simulation module to the system.

This network-based learning arena has been developed as a prototype during the last 4-5 years and it is estimated that some 1-2000 students have participated in the testing period. As new needs and possibilities become a fact, new tools have been developed and integrated. During the current semester, this way of learning is being used, to a varying degree, in 8-10 courses which  include about 6-700 students, both on and off campus.

Objectives

The objectives of the project "Interactive Learning System" are:

• To develop "Interactive Learning System" as an integrated, internet-based flexible environment/architecture for learning and collaboration.
• To test the system within different learning contexts and for different learning tasks

The environment will be designed to support multimedia for open learning systems in which learners/organizations are offered the choice of what, how, and where to learn (off and on campus). The learners may be individuals remote from other learners and teachers, or they may learn together as a group, with or without a teacher. Connected to learning organizations, net-based learning/collaboration may be seen as an integrated part of organizational development.

The environment/architecture is specifically characterised by:

• An environment based on constructivism/situated learning for collaborative learning (CSCL), interaction and creation through shared processing of information.
• An architecture for integration of multimedia, such as text-files, graphics, Video On Demand, Multi Cast, animation, sound, and hyper-structures.
• An architecture, flexible enough to adapt and integrate other/new modules, for example simulation, to the structure.
• An environment that aids the learner in accessing and interacting with large quantities of information of various forms, from a variety of sources both local and remote, and to process, organise, present, and communicate such information in appropriate ways.
• A standardized, unified, and friendly user interface which is responsive to the specific needs of the individual learner.
• An environment that assists in the management of learning tasks.

Relevant projects:

NTNU and the NITOL-partners (Norway-net with IT for Open Learning ) have all been deeply involved with several projects and have participated in a wide range of national and international projects.

Some projects are:

EU projects:

• MECPOL (Models for European Collaboration and Pedagogy in Open Learning),
• DoODL (Dissemination of Open and Distance Learning),
• EONT (An Experiment in ODL using New Technologies),
• SHARP (Sharable Practice), and
• EUROCOMPETENCE (A university workplace model for developing knowledge for European collaboration).

Norwegian projects:

• SULDAL (School development, teacher training, learning environment),
• The Rørvik-model (An initiative to update the competences of highly-skilled but vulnerable workers in the fast-changing telecommunications industry through distance learning from the NITOL, which  has been acclaimed as a model to promote lifelong learning through the workplace), and
• SMELL (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Lifelong Learning).

Pedagogical approach

Constructivistic learning theory/situated learning

From a historical perspective, the design of the first computer-based training programs was based on behavioristic learning theory, where learning is thought of as passive acquirement, or absorption, of an already existing and often rigidly defined amount of information. The main role of the teacher is to gather formal knowledge, to find efficient ways of distributing this knowledge, and to control for the students' acquisition of the taught material. Then cognitive learning theory followed, focusing on how the material is presented, along with the development of computer-based ways of teaching, which emphasized presentational form and intelligent guidance systems.

Even though we can’t find the same enthusiasm within learning theory today when it comes to the effect of such managed and organised teaching, we witness the international education market explode with offers concerning manage-based teaching, especially when these are directed towards continuing vocational training. From our own school days, we carry with us the knowledge that learning means to be quiet, to watch and listen, and then, finally, to be tested on what we remembered. Thus it doesn’t seem too strange that this model is copied into network-based learning environments, especially not when the Internet as a medium is extremely suitable for fast and comprehensive management and distribution of information, and it is flexible both in terms of time and place.

However, research on learning theory has for the last few years been increasingly focusing on the fact that learning comes through active participation and collaboration in entire social/cultural environments. Constructivism was rooted in the perspective that knowledge is acquired through personal construction of knowledge and arose in connection with Piaget’s research on developmental psychology. Piaget introduced a theory of learning in which new information acts together with old knowledge through a process of assimilation and accommodation (Piaget, 1985). Papert (1980) further claims that the activity of programming computers could play an important role in constructivistic learning and related this to his work on the programming language Logo. Here, the learner plays the role of «teacher» in relation to the computer.

In the 1970s, a group of psychologists, the so-called Genevan School, carried on research based on Piaget’s theories on how social interaction affects each individual’s cognitive development. The main thesis claims that each individual is capable of handling new knowledge by interacting with others. Individual cognition is seen as a spiral of causal connection.

The other main theoretical influence was the research carried on by Russian psychologists who were interested in the cultural basis for human intellect, along with  researchers from the socio-cultural perspective. The best known of these Russian researchers is Vygotsky (1978), who formulated the theory of cultural historical psychology. Vygotsky's general genetic law of cultural development stipulates that learning is always a two-level process: first as an interpersonal act in a social community, and then as an internal/personal process. Internalization refers to the genetic link between the social and the internal plans.

The socio-cultural approach focuses on causal connection and the connection between social interaction and individual cognitive change. Vygotsky’s theory on «The Zone of Proximal Development» (ZDP) has been interpreted in various ways. One interpretation claims that ZDP is the difference between a person’s ability to solve a problem on his/her own, and what the same person is capable of when collaborating with others. Another interpretation of Vygotsky’s ZDP is as the distance between an individual’s personal knowledge and the knowledge that exists in social situations. In both these interpretations, learning happens through social interaction which promotes individual acquisition and internalization of knowledge.

A related school, represented by the Russian researcher Leont’ev (1974) et al., focuses on the role of active participation in human development, the so-called «Activity theory». The basis for analysis is social activity, from which individual mental functions are developed. This theory focuses on signs, symbols, rules, methods, instruments, and other artifacts that serve to mediate this activity. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical psychology, and later the work of the activity theorists, have in turn developed successors, both in relation to educational research and in the specialized area of computer science, where it is directed towards human/machine interaction.

Theories on situated learning are seen as a process for entering a practical society. «To learn to use tools as practitioners use them, a student, like an apprentice, must enter that community and its culture. Thus in a significant way, learning is, we believe, a process of enculturation» (Brown, Collins, and Duguid, 1989). In this perspective, the learning context (both social and cultural) is under heavy interrogation from a view which states «that agent, activity, and the world mutually constitute each other» and that knowledge must be presented in an authentic context, into which this knowledge is normally integrated (Lave and Wenger, 1991).

For these researchers, the environment is an integral part of cognitive activity, and not just a set of relations through which context-dependent cognitive processes are expressed. Collaboration is seen as the process by which a common understanding of a problem is created and maintained. While the earlier approaches focused on the inter-individual levels, common-cognition and situated learning are now focusing on the social level, where new concepts are being analyzed as a group-product.

From constructivistic/situated learning theory, we have decided to emphasise three main principles of learning and to look upon these in relation to the design of internet-based learning environments:
1. Focus on active actors with intentions and creativity, searching for knowledge and collaborators,
2. Focus on collaboration and communication between the actors,
3. Focus on learning in a total context/environment.

So how is it possible to design internet-based learning environments based on these main principles? A technical approach is our solution.

Technical approach

Tools and help services in a virtual competence network:

In addition to the resources/services that are available on the Internet, it is necessary and desirable to have access to a number of tools and help services in order to increase the smoothness of the layout and the production of network-based scientific literature, and to provide support for the learning collaboration.

The learning arena consists of various arenas, depending on their functions. In order to integrate these to form a complete learning environment on Internet, prototypes of the following tools have been developed:

• Infrastructure tool
• Hyper-/multimediasystem on the Internet
• Video on Demand tool
• Animation tool
• Online object-oriented design tool
• Info-search in free text
• Knowledge-test based on free text
• Oracle-service/help service
• Plan for student administration
• Model for a digital workbook

Infrastructure tool:

This tool creates the complete frame for the learning arena and ties the arenas/functions together. Consequently, the arenas are able to communicate and use resources across the borders.

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Hyper-/multimediasystem on the Internet:

Creation of hyper-structures on the Internet, using media such as video, navigation, lecture-paths, personal paths, lectures on video synchronised with information in the hyper-system, the ability to make personal notes for each node, a personal working arena, choosing language, fonts, colours, background, etc.

Video on Demand tool:

The tool edits video (e.g., a lecture) and makes it possible to synchronise events in order to find the desired picture/sequence. By using this tool it also becomes possible to edit overheads and animations in relation to a video sequence. This is useful if one wants to use several media in order to strengthen a message. Video on Demand is available from 28.8 kb and up to a few hundred, or a few mb if needed. We have chosen to connect the main service for video to Video on Demand instead of Multi Cast in order to reuse already produced material without infringing on copyright law. Multi Cast must be considered broadcasting and thus it doesn’t allow for such use.

Animation tool:

This tool makes it possible to create animations which don’t demand much bandwidth. It is also possible to control the animations step-by-step from a video-lecture, for example, if one wants to illustrate a process and explain what’s going on simultaneously.

Object-oriented design tool:

Here, a teacher or a student is allowed to build a set of objects by using their own knowledge. Based on the objects, one may easily construct systems in which the system and the work progress are visualized and animated during the execution.

Info-search in free text:

One may search for information in free text; the information and the search are compared by the use of vectors. Nonsense-answers can be rejected, and answers with a touch of reason can be guided. Here, the teacher can decide where to draw the line between nonsense and reason.

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Oracle service/help service:

The tool structures and creates a connection with an on-line help service. Questions and answers are stored for later use with an automatic service for «Frequently Asked Questions».

Plan for student administration:

Here we find administrative data for the study, e.g. which students participate, groupings, etc.

Digital workbook:

In order to make sure that learning is a result of one’s own activity and production, activities in an electronic workbook are very important. The workbook is a frame into which the users are supposed to put their own products, rather than a book where the correct answers are to be filled in, or where defined tasks are practiced. This workbook is also available to course administrators/tutors in the period of study, so that course-related discussions are connected to the work of the learner, which can be demonstrated by the product that the workbook will become. It is also possible to share and develop a common workbook between several learners.

Connected to the workbook are tools for editing, asking for help, and possibilities for tutor/colleges to add comments.

The workbook is divided into chapters. Which tasks are connected to each chapter will depend on whether there is a special course to be completed, or whether the workbook is being used as a public domain for documenting the work in progress. If the workbook is to be used in connection with a specific course content, it is up to the course administrator and to participants to decide how to proceed.

One example of how to structure the workbook:

• Preface, where the participant presents himself/herself.
• A chapter where a group of persons, individually or together, creates an overhead series in order to present a segment of the material to each other. That is, the participants function as «teachers» for the rest of the group. They do this in turn so that everyone has an opportunity to present course material to the others in the group.
• A chapter for writing a summary of lectures/presented material.
• A chapter for practising exercises. These are solved through discussions and by working in groups.
• A chapter for a project assignment.
• A chapter for miscellaneous.

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Structuring a virtual competence environment:

The resources/services that are available in a virtual competence network can be used in relation to various part-arenas, depending on what kinds of tasks and activities one wishes to emphasize. The services are structured into five arenas according to which tasks/activities are to be dealt with: a presentation-arena for presenting and receiving scientific literature/theories, a competence arena for accessing library services and other accumulated knowledge, a working arena where one processes gathered material and produces new material, a private arena where one makes personal notes and reflections, and finally a communication arena, which is the core of a learning process based on constructivism and situated learning.

Electronic learning arena on the Internet

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Presentation arena for presenting and accessing subject-related material/theories

Presentation-/lecture-arena:

• Files with text
• Web-sites
• Overheads
• Video
• Animation

The criticism against behaviouristic learning theory is especially directed at the belief that «someone can teach someone something» and that learning can be transferred. Thus, the possibility of spreading huge amounts of science material in a simple and flexible way by using network-based systems shouldn’t be confused with learning. Science material should be considered as information until the receivers have treated it and gained some kind of knowledge. Science material can be presented via network-based systems through different kinds of media, such as text, drawings, pictures, animation, video, and audio. How this knowledge can be made available to others all depends on those who have the knowledge  The activities related to this arena are, on the one hand, to mediate information, and on the other hand, to receive information. And, if the communicating parts are equal, vice versa. Based on cognitivistic principles, this arena will be important if the material is to be organized properly.

The amount of activity related to this arena will depend on the amount of information to be presented. For example, there will be much more activity if the system is being used in relation to a defined material/course (reproducive learning), than if it is being used in relation to invention, e.g. related to learning organizations.

Competence arena for accessing library services and other accumulated knowledge

Knowledge arena:

• Online oracle service/help service
• Library service via Internet
• Knowledge-base

This arena is also an information arena. However, its main emphasis is to actively search for information/answers for the topical questions. Thus, accessing databases and libraries will take the form of searching in relation to accumulated and stored information, while requests made to an oracle service may contact either resource persons and/or accumulated information, e.g. stored answers in «Frequently Asked Questions» (FAQ) in a knowledge-base (see Artificial Intelligence – AI).

Working arena for organizing and producing science material

Working arena:

• Own computer
• Group-ware
• Software tool/word processor
• Workbook

Arena for personal organization of material. Based on constructivistic learning theory, this is the real learning arena, in which learning is a result of one's own organization and production. The tools available in this arena are the same as those in the presentation/lecture arena, but are now available as tools for organizing and producing one's own material. Group-ware tools are also included here in relation to personal work, but communication with others is done in the communication arena. The workbook is also here when working with personal material, but it is stored in the private arena.

Private arena for personal notes and reflections

Private arena:

• >Using a private file area/database
• Workbook
• Personal work plan

Basically, the private arena is supposed to be used for storing personal material. The private workbook is stored here.

Communication arena for interaction

Communication arena (Internet via computer network, ISDN, or modem):

• E-mail
• Group-ware
• The World Wide Web (WWW)

Arena for communication and organizing in relation to others. Together with the working arena, this is the most important learning arena according to situated learning. Here, together with group-ware tools, e-mail and the World Wide Web (WWW) are the communicative foundation.

Model outline of the ILS environment

The main emphasis of the project is given in Figure 1. A general way to describe this figure is in terms of a set of models, as shown in Figure 2.

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It is important to note that the six models are not independent, but will work together to support the student in his/her particular stage of learning. Hence the ILS functional building blocks are contained within a modular architecture, in which training support is achieved by various combinations of models and submodels.

Subject-independent facilities to be included in ILS are:

• A definition of the structure and generic contents of six learner environment models, and an overall architecture to enable their integrated use in the educational applications in Figure 1.
• A set of generic tools to aid in the design of the learner environment models and in their inclusion in integrated courseware products.
• A database and information management system (or a set of subsystems) to efficiently store and access the various information.
• A multimedia manager for efficient co-ordination of multiple presentation types and interaction forms.
• A private environment, adaptable to the user, where he/she can store, organize and retrieve personal information, as well as information downloaded from other workstations or accessed via networks, and where he/she will be allowed to define his/her own way of inputting, organizing, and presenting information.
• A group environment, adaptable to a group of users, for sharing and collaborative learning.

In the rest of this chapter, each core technology of ILS and the facilities that it provides are described. The core technologies are multimedia in internet, artificial intelligence, and communication. An additional core technology is human-computer interactions . In this project the HCI methods are closely related to one or more of the three technologies already mentioned, and are therefore incorporated into these. The pedagogical principles and methods, which of course are also dependent on the technological approaches chosen, are described in a separate chapter.

Enabling technologies

Multimedia

In most applications, live video and computer animation will improve the level of understanding. Training must be more "alive" than just static text and graphics. ILS will utilize state-of-the-art techniques for digital information transfer. One of ILS’s R&D objectives is to arrive at an animation scripting language that lends itself to easy production and modification (incl. conversion of applications into foreign languages), and extremely compact network transmission code through Internet and similar networks. A framework on how to integrate multiple media, such as video and animation, will play an important role in the overall model.

Through animation, the learning environment can offer dynamic ways of explaining different aspects of the information. In order to gain the most out of the animation media, a sequence of pictures is not always enough. We want to develop a model where the user can browse the animation in several ways, e.g.:

• step by step
• go to a wishing step
• go to start/end
• sub-steps (i.e., a sub-sequence of steps in order to study a particular part (step) in the main animation sequence).

Earlier experiments with the above-mentioned software have received very good responses from the students. The ability to watch the lectures at any time from any place opens, for many, new possibilities. Until now, this has been separated from the courseware itself, and therefore has not given the learners the ability to control what to see, and when to watch it.

With the multimedia technologies that will be further developed and integrated, it will be possible to integrate videos as part of the courseware itself. This opens up possibilities of indexing videos, which means that the learners can start the video at any existing subject they may wish, or at the active subject of the courseware. We have also received very good responses from the students to offering video as part of an learning environment model, which enables curricula to be brought to lifes and enables the learner to repeat parts of it on demand. With new possibilities in Internet2, learning off- and on campus will take a significant step ahead.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Knowledge-based methods can be used in several modes and at several levels in ILS.

Intelligent task solving.

Solving tasks is one of the few methods that can be used for testing students' level of knowledge (students' level of learning). The problem is to form questions and answers (answering process) in such a manner that the student doesn't just get right/wrong messages. What we’re searching for is intelligent task solving. This intelligent task solving may be carried out as follows:

Quality guarantee of the education.

Evaluation of the education is a difficult but very important issue. One of the evaluation attempts in ILS is based on a cluster-analysis of those questions that are registered in the question-system (the oracle system). All questions from the students to the system are stored in a database. The same thing applies for the answers from the supervisors to the students.

The same way as in Intelligent task solving, both questions and answers exist as text.

By using plastic neural networks we can create question-clusters. Each cluster contains questions with a similarity above a certain limit. The content of each cluster is analysed manually (together with the answers) and creates a foundation for evaluation of the education.

Building a student profile.

A reoccurring problem in every teaching situation is to ensure that the students’ progression is satisfactory. This is especially important within network-based education. In ILS we want to build a profile for each student. This profile can at any time be compared to a standard profile that answers the progression question. The student profile is based on following information:

Questions from the student to the question system (the oracle system), answers to given tasks and those queries that the student has been using in curriculum-search. All this information is stored in a database and can be used by dataminings methods to extract information.

Simulation (option)

Use of simulation in learning is not yet an everyday occurrence, but it is spreading. In 1990, simulation simply was not part of standard learning practice. Now things are changing. The problems have been that the constructing, using, and distributing simulators have been too expensive, time consuming, and difficult. The simulation technology that we plan to work on in the ILS project, will reduce the skill requirements for using simulation and modelling, as well as increasing the ease of access by utilising network technology.

Simulations can bee distributed over a network. They make it easy for people to use simulations anywhere. A websimulation can for example demonstrate to customers how they can save money by using special products. You can create scenarios that communicate to shareholders the impact key factors will have on future business. You can also use websimulation for training purposes, competitive strategy exercises, and other management "flight simulation" experiences.

The figure below illustrates important parts of technology for creating and using simulators.

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Figure 3, Dynamic Simulation

When authoring a system model, a user starts out with a system that he wants to represent as a computer model. The construction phase (at the top of the above figure) results in a model, defining the important elements of the target systems, along with the main relationship between these elements.

A visualisation of the model is necessary to both to build and to communicate the structure of a model. At the abstract level, it can be a textual representation. We believe however, that a set of graphical representation can aid the user significantly in understanding the composition of the target system.

Structural analysis involves methods and tools for analysing a system based on the attributes of its elements and relationships between the elements. Identification of feed-back loops, is an example of structural analysis.

Quantitative properties of a system can be studied by simulation, displayed at the centre of the figure. Based on the model definition and any external factors that is fed into the simulator, the behaviour of the system over time is determined by the computer. The behaviour is basically a time series of data for variables in the model.

Good visualisations of these data are crucial to the interpretation of the simulation. For example, different scenarios should be possible to compare, for example in a time graph. It should also be possible to feed external data into the simulator, both for determining values of parameters, and for comparison between real data and simulated data.

Finally, behavioural analysis can be used on the simulated data, for example to determining probabilities of given scenarios, sensitivity of given parameters, ways of achieving user defined objectives (specified as desired values for target parameters), leverage points in the model (which parameters have greatest effects on a given target variable), etc.

All the above technologies are useful to authors of simulation models, as well as end users of such models, The ILS project aims at further developing PowerSim (Powersim) technologies in these areas. In particular, the process of building models will be addressed, enabling more people to develop their own models.

In addition, the project will develop authoring tools for creating targeted graphical user interfaces (GUIs) on simulation models. This will enable a non-programmer (for example a teacher or a trainee) to create a GUI on a model for a given purpose (for example, training, change management, co-operation).

Collaborative Learning

An important part of the generated system will be the so-called "workspace". This is a private area for which the users can structure what topic of the courseware they want to study a particular day. References to search results, to comments, to parts of the CAT and generally annotations will function as an organised, personal work-plan which also can be saved for later use.

In order to achieve the goal of collaborative learning ILS will also contain a group-oriented working space. The workspace will then function as a tool both for getting hints and to organise what part of the curriculum to study. And, as a positive side-effect, this will become a very valuable navigation-feature among other sort of navigation-possibilities, when a complex courseware is studied not as a whole, but in logical and iterative parts.

The space will be instantiated at one or several higher levels. For the problem-solution building process we need at the different levels to collect information, that is; determine needed information, identify information sources, organise information. The information can be collected from databases, from simulations, brainstorming, individual responsibilities and the like. We need to do analysis, evaluations and build synthesis.

The quality of the information stored in the system is dependent on the way all the information contributors can access and share their knowledge. With a system like the ILS the process of assembling information usually will involves many students in geographically separated location. Since the knowledge can be complex, the individual students will work with different tasks in the problem-solution building. So collaboration is an essential prerequisite in making knowledge available. Conceptions of knowledge change as more people become involved as information providers. Therefore, methods of collaboration are needed which guarantee the quality of information.

At the first level we have the root data/information space, which is only information space global to all students/users. The students will collect information, do analysis and evaluation and build synthesis. The "new" information shall be shared by the group, the information has to be entered into the group space on the level above the root space. At this level we can do much the same process over again. Collect new information in addition and do analysis and evaluation and build synthesis. At last we reach the top level we are at the end of the problem-solution building, perhaps selected a certain solution. The ILS environment will provide possibility to generate several levels to which different users will have both full or limited access.

The student or a higher level instance, mentor/chairman, may initiate information propagation to a higher level information space. Here security aspects are involved. It may be desirable to prevent groups members from altering the group or higher level information spaces, since this may override information from hierarchically higher information levels.

The group members should also be able to share their information in a direct, person-to-person manner. So, the capability to share information explicitly among group members from an individual information space to another is desired.

Bibliography

Brown, J.S., Collins, J. & Duguid, P. (1989). "Situated cognition and the culture of learning." Educational Researcher 18 (1), 32-42.

Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Leont’ev, A.N. (1974). "The problem of activity in psychology." Soviet Psychology 13, 4-33.

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms. New York: Basic Books.

Piaget, J. (1985). The equilibration of cognitive structures: The central problem of intellectual development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Powersim: the business simulation company. Available: http://www.powersim.com/ or http://www.powersim.no/

Vygotsky,L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press