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Journal of Interactive Learning ResearchVolume 9, Number 2 1998
Computer-Support for Collaborative Learning: Learning to Support Student Engagement Cindy E. Hmelo, Mark Guzdial, and Jennifer Turns 107Student Diagnostic Strategies in a Dynamic Simulation EnvironmentMimi M. Recker, T. Govindaraj, and Vijay Vasandani 131The Effect of Being Hypermedia Designers on Elementary School Students’ Motivation and Learning of Design KnowledgeMin Liu and Susan Pedersen 155Interactive Storytelling Systems for Children: Using Technology to Explore Language and IdentityMarina Umaschi Bers and Justine Cassell 183
Abstracts
Computer-Support for Collaborative Learning: Learning to Support Student Engagement Cindy E. Hmelo University of Pittsburgh 816 LRDC, 3939 O’Hara Street Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USAchmelo@rci.rutgers.edu Mark Guzdial and Jennifer Turns College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332-0280, USASometimes the very best thing to happen in a first trial of a research project is to fail. That failure gives the research team perspective on the complexity of the problem and on how much there is to learn from working at the problem. The second best thing to happen in a research project is to have at least some success in a second or third trial, in order to provide a direction and confidence that the problem is tenable. In our work on computer-support for collaborative learning, we have been fortunate enough to have both: clear failures and enough success to suggest that we had found a better direction. This paper attempts to tell the story at two levels: first, as a methodological tale of how our learning led to a better learning environment, and second, as a parable in which we indicate the lessons that we have learned from our efforts. We report on four attempts to use CaMILE, the Collaborative and Multimedia Interactive Learning Environment. CaMILE is an on-line forum for collaboration and reflection. The first two attempts were failures from the perspective of our design goals but provided important lessons for the researchers. These early lessons about the technology and how the instructors framed its use informed later, more successful attempts.
Student Diagnostic Strategies in a Dynamic Simulation EnvironmentMimi M. Recker Victoria University of Wellington P.O. Box 600 Wellington, New Zealandmimi.recker@vuw.ac.nz T. Govindaraj Industrial and Systems Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332, USAVijay Vasandani Axiom Systems 8302 Dunwoody Place, Suite 300 Atlanta, GA 30350, USAWe demonstrate the use of simulation systems for studying diagnostic problem solving. In particular, we present results from two empirical studies in which students diagnosed faults that occurred in a computer-based, dynamical simulation of an oil-fired marine power plant, called Turbinia. Our studies were shaped by a view of diagnosis as dual problem space search (DPSS), in which non-routine diagnosis was characterized as a process of generating hypotheses to explain the observed faults, and testing these hypotheses by conducting experiments. In the first study, we found that the less efficient students conducted significantly more experiments, indicating a strong bottom-up bias in their diagnostic strategy. In the second study, we examined the effects of imposing external resource bounds on students’ diagnostic strategies. Results indicated that constraints on diagnosis time led to a reduction in the number of actions performed and components viewed, without appearing to affect diagnostic performance. Constraints on the number of diagnostic tests reduced search in the experiment problem space, which appeared to negatively affect performance. Taken together, these results suggest that students’ diagnostic strategies were sensitive to constraints present in the software simulation system. As such, the results have important implications for the design of interactive learning environments for fostering strategies that are faithful to the activity demands of real-world situations.
The Effect of Being Hypermedia Designers on Elementary School Students’ Motivation and Learning of Design Knowledge Min Liu and Susan Pedersen Department of Curriculum and Instruction University of Texas - Austin Austin, TX 78712, USAMLiu@mail.utexas.edu shem@mail.utexas.edu Current educational theory and practice clearly shows that project-based instruction has the potential to enhance learning. Preliminary findings on one type of project-based learning in which students take on the role of hypermedia designers supports this claim. This study examined if being hypermedia designers could have an effect on fourth graders’ motivation and learning of design knowledge. The findings showed that engaging students in hypermedia authoring could enhance their motivation, and allowing students to be hypermedia designers could support the development of design knowledge and higher order thinking skills. The skills mostly affected in this study included planning, presentation, reflection, collaboration, task distribution, and time management. The hypermedia design project provided an opportunity for students of different abilities to grow at their own pace cognitively, affectively, and socially.
Interactive Storytelling Systems for Children: Using Technology to Explore Language and IdentityMarina Umaschi Bers and Justine Cassell MIT Media Laboratory 20 Ames Street, Room E15-320A Cambridge, MA 02139, USA{marinau,justine}@media.mit.edu More and more often there is embarrassment all around when the wish to hear a story is expressed. It is as if something that seemed inalienable to us, the securest among our possessions, were taken from us: the ability to exchange experiences. The Storyteller, Walter BenjaminStorytelling is a good medium for learning about identity and communication as it enables exploration of one’s inner world and requires flexing one’s language skills. This paper presents a new approach to interactive storytelling: SAGE (Storytelling Agent Generation Environment), an authoring environment for children to create their own wise storytellers to interact with by telling and listening to stories. In order to encourage children’s emotional engagement in the SAGE environment, the storytellers are embodied in an interactive stuffed animal, also programmable by the children. This paper presents technical aspects of SAGE’s design and implementation as well as results from pilot studies done with fourth and fifth graders. Results show that children had a tendency to share their personal stories with the soft interactive interface. Exploration of identity and communication happened in several ways: First, storytellers built by the children were projections of their fears, feelings, interests, and role models; they allowed them to explore their own identity as well as present themselves to others. Second, through designing and testing the conversational structures of their storytelling characters, children observed and repaired breakdowns in conversational interaction. This process engaged them in the exploration of communication and decentering, or taking the point of view of others.
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