So far in this chapter, the aspects of I M M E D IATE's prototyping that have been discussed focus on the standalone features of the Lea rning Shell. The remainder of this chapter will address the Learning Shell's networked featu res to support collabo rative learning and dyna mic updating of learning resources, and the authoring appl ication .
There were two main stages in prototyping I M M E D IATE ' s networked featu res:
• Developing the add itional functionality for the Learning Shell; and
• Developing the com mun ications and networking services needed to support this
fu nctionality.
The first stage is discussed here. The second stage is discussed in the Commun ication Ma nagement section (6.6).
The major prototyping tas k addressed in this section is to develop and evaluate a method for integrating the learning support, communications and collabo rative work a spects of the Learn ing Shell , by means of a relational database. This was bro ken d own into the following steps:
• Design and build the integrated database syste m .
Chapter 6 : Prototyping
• Refi ne and evaluate for usability a nd modularity.
• Devel op the learn ing support su bsystem.
• Refine and evaluate for u sability a nd mod ularity.
6 . 5 . 1 The system database
1 42
To meet the req u i rements for integrating commun ications and learning support a relational database is implemented at the system level of the Learn ing Shell. The integ rated database model is shown in Figure 6. 1 9. The database stores a l l com m u n ications t o a nd from the student in the Messag ing table . "Section" and 'Topic" fields allow these communications to be organ ised by position in the course. The "Gro u p No" field enables com m u n ications to be organised as collaborative g roup discussions. Keyword fields enable the tutor to link com m u n ications received by h i m/her to key concepts as well as topics in the cou rse to facilitate mon itoring student learn i ng a nd u pdating the suppo rt database. Some ta bles, e.g. Concept, have only one attribute a nd function as look-u p tables to ensure consistency in terminology, and facilitate l i n king, across the entire cou rse.
The Connection table links individ ual concepts to broader themes to support more in depth querying and exploration of learning su pport by the student. In the prototype , student q ueries on a concept may return additional information on that or related concepts stored in the What table, further reading (References), or related web urls (Links), depending on the type of query . The QueryType table maps natural language ph ra se s selected by the student to the allowable query types.
The UserStats table stores system-level data tracki ng student interactions with the support system , which can be used to i mprove responses to student q ueries. This and other system information can be sent anonymously across the network using a specia l user type stored in the UserType table. The tutor receives a d ifferent view of the database , also determined by a d ifferent user type .
The d ata base is replicated on each user's computer and is period ically updated by and upd ates a central copy, as described in Section 6.6. lt has been i mplemented as a set of Paradox tables u sing Delphi's Database Desktop utility. The utility allows featu res like i n dexes a nd foreign keys to be defined , and SQL queries to be developed a nd tested separately from the application.
Learn ing components access the database through a Delphi data module, which belongs in the system l ayer of the Learning Shell arch itecture (Figure 6 . 1 3). The
Chapter 6: P rototyping 1 43
module i s a non-visual form which enables direct database access to be shifted from individual interface components to a n intermediary layer for g re ater modularity and easier maintenance.
What Concept Connection Theme
•concept •concept •concept •Theme
•Theme
•section
•Topic • Keyldea
Elaboration Reference Link Links
Last Updated
•concept •concept •unk
•section •section
References •Topic "Reference •Topic •unk QueryType
Page References Last Updated
·auType
•Reference Last Updated
QuPhrase
Messaging Class List UserStats
•ID *Name •E ntered
•F_From User Type UserType Concept
F_To GroupNo Section
Copy_ To Biography •userType Topic
GroupNo Snapshot First Response
Section Groupleader Last Response
Topic ResponseCount
MsgType CopyTo
Entered
Keyword1 Message Type •copy To
Keyword2 * Primary Key
Keyword3 •Type
Header Description Foreign Key
Text
"'* 1 to M relationshi
Figure 6.1 9: The i nteg rated System Database model.
6.5.2 Com m u n ications a nd G ro u p Work
Com m u n ications are handled in the Lea rning Shell through a Message List component (Figure 6.20) with a simi lar look a nd feel -and functionality -to an email client such as Microsoft's Outlook Express. The principal differences are:
• All messages are tied to a particular topic in the course, and ca n only be viewed
when the G roup Work study mode is selected for that topic.
• I n co m i ng and outgoing messages can be shown together i n sequence to faci litate collabo rative discussion.
All new messages are added to the System Database . To provide for working offline, new messages may be sent immed iately or later. When the student clicks the Update button (or sends a new message immed iately) the Shell attempts to connect to the Course Repository via an FTP Client, providing appropriate m essages in the status bar of the Message List. The FTP Client is implemented using a Thi rd Party Delphi
Chapter 6: P rototyping 1 44
component. If the connection succeeds, then all u n sent messages are transmitted to the Course Repository , and all new messages for the user are downloaded from the Repository. Mcssea e Ust Tutor Chns Hr Group Bob Bob Group Leader Pally Bob All 09-0ct-03 1 6.01 35 Assignment 1 MyGtoup 09-0d-0 3 1 6 Ot 35 Asstgnment 1
Has anyone me de any progress on Assrgnment I ? How do you? desrgn en rntertace With PowerPomt?
Potty
Update View All Repty Forward New
Topic 1 .04 Print Delete {Your me� Iopic ' Explorer Learning Aids tielp Exit Next r_revious Pom
ted this session. ,a
G roup Work Mode Figure 6.20: G ro u p Work component with Desktop Menu open.
Refinements to Group Work component
A refinement added d u ring the pilot study (Chapter 7) allows a list of all new messages received to be viewed on a rrival , from anywhere in the course.
To facilitate collaboration , some additional features h ave been added. Photos of each m e m ber of a student's work g roup and their tutor are d i splayed. By clicking on a picture with the mouse, the user can access a short biography of that person or send them a message . Students may send a message to a nyone i nvolved in the course by selecting from a look-up list. Copies may be forwarded to the student's work g roup, to the tutor or to all students in the course.
A method was outlined for the storing and sharing of docu ments among g roup mem bers to facilitate collabo ration , but was not implemented in the prototype . In essence, this involved sto ring the file path as a field in the Messaging table a nd
Chapter 6 : Prototypin g 1 45
providing a shared sto rage space in the Repository . To observe the narrow bandwidth constra int of the e lectronic mail service, shared files would be limited to text-based d ata rather than large multimedia executables like Word documents, wh ich may run to severa l megabytes.
Integration of basic communication and collaborative facilities
The Message List component im plements sufficient functionality to demonstrate the via bility of the method for integ rating basic comm u n ication and collaborative facil ities into the Shell architecture, and for adding more sophisticated features where these will assist learning. Additional refinements to assist collaboration that cou ld be usefu lly explored are an alternative format for d isplaying messages that better visualises the interactive dialogue with in work groups, and directly incorporating a com m u nication facil ity in the Assignment mode.
6.5.3 Extra m u ra l Support
Learning support has been implemented in the form of an Extra m u ral Support component (Appendix F 1 1 ). Th is component has been developed using the approach of starting simple, but providing for the addition of more sophisticated features should they prove necessary. Therefore, key aspects of the specification have been im plemented at a basic level, but in a modu lar form that would easily accommodate new fu nctiona lity. These include:
• The subject of queries. The point of entry to Extramural Su pport is selecting one of
the key con cepts or learn ing goals in a pa rticu lar course module (topic). These have been defined by the course author, but can be updated by the tutor. Selecting a concept from the displayed list opens the E xtramural Support window initialised to that concept. The student may then query the system on that concept. The database stores information on a greater ra nge of subjects than a re listed as key concepts or learning goals. These can be accessed within Extra mura l Support by search ing related concepts as discussed under "Refinements".
• Natural language-like querying and dialogue. This is cu rrently l i m ited to the user
choosing o ne of three initial questions on a selected topic (" Explain . . . ", "Who wrote more on . . . ", "Where do I find more on . . . ") a nd receiving a response. The student can then continue a dialogue with the Support system via a set of buttons, which a re enabled or disabled accord ing to the state of the d ialogue (Appendix 04 a nd 05). Fig u re 6 . 2 1 shows the top level methods for supporting th is dialogue. Provision is m ade for accom modating a wider range of q uery types. This would
Chapter 6: Prototyping 1 46
req u i re adding a more sophisticated parsing mechanism to e nable translation into more deta iled specification of SOL q ueries.
• A directed search algorithm to return the best available result to the use r. In the
base implementation, the ranking of the results is determined solely on proximity in the database to the current topic. Add itional ranking criteria could be easily added . For instance, providing for a ranking to be added to each data base e ntry (e . g . Level 1 , 2 or 3) would enable multi-level support to be offered . Results could then be based on a breadth-first or depth-fi rst search of the database, depending on the preference of the learner.
procedure TExtram u raiSupport. HelpUser; beg i n end; prepareHel p ; parseUserl n put; executeAsSQL; presentBestResultT oUser; waitForUserResponse;
procedure TExtram uraiSupport.respondToUser;
begi n
actionUserResponse;
end;
procedure TExtramuraiSupport . TryHelpingUserAgain;
begi n
end;
presentNextBestResult; waitForUserResponse;
Fig u re 6.21 : Top level methods for interactive dialog ue with user.
• Dynamic updating which improves the response to users' questions over time. The cou rse tutor may update the items in the support database at any time. The tutor is a utomatically informed whenever a student rejects the system's response to a query ( i . e . clicks the N O button ). In addition , the student ca n red i rect the q uestion to the tutor with his or her own comments. The tutor may respond personally to the tutor, to all students, update the database, o r all of the above. P rovision has also been made to track students' d ialogues with the system and store them in a U serStats table . These can be periodically transmitted to the tutor to help in a na lysing and u pdating the database entries.
Concept Map
An early refinement was to add the Concept Map (Appendix F 1 2) . Thi s component u se s the technique of concept mapping (Novak et a l . , 1 984) to assist learning th rough visualisation. lt p rovides a u ser-centred avenue for exploring the Support database
Chapter 6 : Prototypi ng 1 47
more deeply in a g u ided man ner. When the student chooses to view a Concept Map for the current concept, all related concepts in the database , and the relationships between them a re g raphically displayed (Figure 6.22).
Any related concept may be selected as the basis for a new query. Concepts and their relationships a re entered into the database by the tutor. The map itself is implemented as a graph ADT in wh ich the nodes are concepts and the a rcs are relationsh ips. Drawing the map is then a matter of processing the g raph.
Extramural Su pport was re-implemented to be accessible from any component through the Controller, rather than as an independent learn ing component in its own rig ht. The student accesses Extramural Support via a Key Ideas component, which lists the key concepts to be lea rnt in the cu rrent topic (Fig u re 6 . 1 7). A futu re refinement is to make context-sensitive learn i ng support accessible from every learning component by opening Key Ideas via an icon on all forms, in the same way that the Help feature currently is offered. I!I�EI Conceptual trameworks ��b le·· >?I r :I>:-! j metaphor Conceptual models rr .:O r·' :;I r· � rl>? -
Figure 6.22: Concept Map for "conceptua l frameworks".
Self-Assessment
rncd-=i
In the Lea rning S hell, Self-Assessment is a separate lea rning com ponent approximating to a revision quiz in a textbook. lt assesses the learner's u nderstanding of the key learning goals in a particular topic. This information is passed to the Controller wh ich stores it in the System Tree. lt is then available to be used by the Course Explorer to visually display the student's progress through the cou rse as
Chapter 6: Prototyping 1 48
A further refinement take s advantage of the ability of the System Tree to store additional levels of information (Fi g u re 6 . 7 ) . The self-assessment information is used to d isplay to the student their progress in understanding individual concepts and learning goals. An icon is displayed to the left of each concept in the Key Ideas component (Figu re 6 . 1 7) . The traffic light metaphor is again used to colour-code this icon to show the student's level of confidence in that idea - GREEN (fu lly understood), AMBER (partially u nderstood but requires fu rther revision), or RED (not understood at all).
Self-assessment may be by any method that can be implemented o n a computer. The prototype cu rrently provides for assessment via a m u ltiple-choice q u iz - if the author has provided one - or by default, a q uestionnaire through which the student expresses their confidence in each concept. Concepts are presented to the student in random o rder. Once the student has completed the self-assessment, the results are saved via the Contro ller. They are then used by the Key Ideas component to update each concept icon, as well as by the Course Explorer to update topic and section icons in the cou rse Table of Contents. (This is illustrated in Figure 7 . 1 2 . )
Self-assessment can a lso serve as a revision tool . I n itialising the Learning Shell, for the purposes of revision, is simply a q uestion of setting va lues for all topics and concepts i n t h e m odel t o the default. Th is sets their icons in t h e Key Ideas and Course Explorer components to RED.
6 . 5 .4 Coarse-g ra i ned learning help
As impleme nted , Extram u ra l Support is a coarse-grained form of learning help structured by topic and limited to a few basic query types. In the first instance, it org anises material that m ig ht appear in a textbook's g lossary, cha pter summaries and bibliog raphy, in a way that it can be accessed by topic. This base is then built upon by the tutor adding in and u pdating materia l as required , or as it becomes available.
I nteg ration with the com m u nications system offers a number of advantages by combin ing both individua l ised and collabo rative forms of learning support , and by p roviding a mechanism for dynamic updating of the content. Provision has been made , in its mod u la r design a nd implementation, for the incorporation of more sophisticated q ue rying and search mechanisms on a n as-needed basis.
C hapter 6 : Prototyping 1 49
6.5.5 I n d ivid ual isation
The learning com puter was conceptual ised as supporting ind ivid ualisation along fou r d imensions: sequencing, presentation, learning level, and learning su pport (4 .3. 1 ) . This section discusses how these have been addressed in the prototype.
Sequencing
Sequencing is concerned with the o rder in which parts of the course are presented to the student for study? In the learning computer prototype this feature is adaptable, i . e . t h e student ca n select a n y topic i n the course a t any time from with in the Course Explorer component. Colour-cod ing associated with each section , topic a nd key concept, as described under System Tree (6 .3. 1 ) and Self-Assessment (above), g u ides the student in their choice . This same mechanism would allow more prescri ptive sequencing (e.g. hid i ng some sections and topics until prerequisites have been successfu lly completed) although this would confl ict with the learning compute r's student-centred explo ratory e m phasis.
Presentation
Learning style, or how the content of a particu lar topic is presented to the student, is selected by the user through choosing from the different study modes supported by the course author. These are displayed in the Course Explorer for the currently-selected topic. The modular character of the Lea rning Shell means that a new mode ca n easily be defined, and learn ing components can be added or modified to support a ny desired, computer-runnable fu nctionality for that mode . The new mode will then be d isplayed for