INTEGRATING OPEN LEARNING SYSTEMS INTO VIRTUAL SPACES


INTEGRATING VIRTUAL 
SPACES INTO OPEN LEARNING 
SYSTEMS

Dr. Pete Holt & Jane Gismondi Athabasca University Athabasca, Alberta, Canada

Open Learning Systems and Computer Mediated Communications

In the last ten years there has been a dramatic shift in philosophies of education. The focus is no longer on a system in which a learner is led through a series of readings and exercises. Instead, more researchers espouse a model in which the learners and the teachers interact to create understanding and expertise. Collaboration among peers and between students and teachers is a vital aspect of this philosophy of education and learning, and there been a renewed interest in computers as a tool to facilitate human collaboration (Harasim, 1992). [In fact Baecker (1991) asserts that this new paradigm extends beyond educational technology to the entire field of computer science.] The shift towards a co-operative and collaborative view of education has occurred at the same time as another important change in educational philosophy: an emphasis on "situated learning", the movement of educational practice into realistic day-to-day settings (Brown, Collins, and Duguid, 1989). This strategy. too, is amenable to computer mediation, especially when the disciplinary areas itself uses automated tools. As these changes in the theoretical approaches to learning systems have occurred, a number of social factors have become crucial to the design of learning systems. Global restructuring has reduced both security of employment, thus making retraining a necessary factor in workers' employability, and the resources available to the traditional educational institutions once responsible for retraining. Industry, governments and students, all have pushed for more applied (i.e., "situated") education leading directly to employment (see, for example, Developing Alberta's Information Technology Industry, Stakeholder's report, 1994). It is important to note that the applied education approach need not imply very narrow training, which would itself become obsolete and thus necessitate constant re-training. Conceptualized properly, applied education can offer learners the opportunity to acquire the skills to re-educate and retrain themselves, at times and places convenient to themselves (e.g., at home or in the workplace). This model acknowledges that the workplace can make a real contribution to applied education, but also recognizes that the integration of people holding a broad education into the workplace has much to offer society. To an educator familiar with the principles of open learning, it is clear that when students and representatives of industry and governments talk about learning at the time and place of a student's convenience, they are advocating open education, and indeed, that special form of open education called "distance education" (see Race, 1994). In the past, the effectiveness of distance education approaches were limited by constraints imposed by the separation in space and time of the learners. Collaborative efforts were particularly restricted, and students ran the risk of being overwhelmed in their attempts to deal alone with new areas of endeavor. Today, computer technology encompasses many tools that provide solutions to these problems. In the remainder of this paper, we will discuss our experience with two of these tools--"virtual classrooms" and "hypertext".

First, computer technology can remove the constraints of time and distance to support an 'open learning' system which can include synchronous group activities in a "virtual classroom". (Pea and Gomez, 1992). Second, "structured hypertext" (reference) not only allows students to learn at their own pace but also gives guidance similar to an apprenticeship model of learning. (Collins and Brown, 1989). A combination of new computer technologies which facilitate collaboration and communication between learners and experts can support and enhance learning in general, and distance learning in particular. (Pea 1993)

Examples of software for real-time colloboration are "MOO's" (Multi-user object-oriented environments). MOO's have "virtual objects" which can be "built" and "manipulated" by the users, as well as communication capabilities. The most basic software for real-time group work are called, simply, "talkers". These facilities allow a group of people to communicate simultaneously within the context of a "virtual space" removing barriers of time and location without the virtual object capability of MOO's.

The first MOO's facilities were designed in 1979 in the UK. They were introduced to North America in 1991 (Curtis, P. 1992). These were initiated for role-playing/interactional games. Since that time a variety of these "text-based virtual reality environments" have evolved with the numbers (Melenbacher, Hardin, Barret and Clagget, 1994) probably in the thousands. They serve a multitude of purposes from play to education, and they vary in the degree of complexity involved in the design.

Many "Talkers" are privately run programs anyone with access to INTERNET can use. They are easily accessed using a "telnet" command and an address. A user enters, types in a name (or pseudonym) and a password and then "talks" to others. Most "talkers" are recreational, and has a theme (e.g. a space station) which is described using text and sometimes simple (ASCII) pictures. Usually there are a number of virtual "rooms" that have settings within the general theme. The "virtual space" provides a context for group communications. While a context is usually presented, users most often engage in diverse conversations quite unrelated to the "theme" or context of the "talker".

Generally users can talk publicly so all others can hear them or privately to one other user at a time. For example if one were logged on as Bob and said "hello all". The other users would see:

Bob says : hello all.

Users can also communicate privately to one user at a time, while still involved in the group conversation. One to one communication is private, and cannot be seen by others or logged.

Users can also "emote" or "do" an action in "virtual space". In a typical MOO, when user Bob types the command "emote", (uses a ; character to print the name of the user)

"; walks across the room and shakes Joel's hand" other users would see:

"Bob walks across the room and shakes Joe's hand".

The commands available and types and kinds of behavior allowed varies

tremendously across these facilities. And, because users can "do" things they cannot do in real life and "be" different ages and genders, these facilities offer a whole new challenge to social science as a discipline let alone to the field of the ergonomics of information systems.

We have found a "talker" can provide personal links, as well as academic ones, creating a "community" of learners. Such INTERNET "tools" support communication and collaboration. The "talkers" provide an easy and speedy access to peers, tutors, and teachers. They allow distance education students a greater range of both perspectives and information than they would have in a traditional distance learning setting. Collaboration in this medium consists of brainstorming, the sharing of ideas, experience, advice, and knowledge. This emerging technology has shown much potential for education. While this technology allows for a replication of the classroom in "virtual reality", this is not the vision nor the panacea for education. The classroom itself is an becoming an old metaphor from an oral tradition and should not be automatically carried over into a new media. Even in traditional universities a well-designed text has obviated the need for many aspects of the old lecture and promoted more problem-solving, seminar-like approaches by innovative lecturers. And, for some learners, the self-pacing at the place and time of their own convenience which this model presents is ideal (Race, 1994), especially for those with heavy work and home demands. Li and Mantei (1992) maintain that a great deal of collaborative work is done in the context of casual unscheduled interactions. This is true in a traditional setting, and is demonstrable in the "virtual" university setting as well.

Research into new educational philosophies, demands, and design suggest that a system of hyper-media based guided self-learning supported by asynchronous communications (Harasim, 1992) with some synchronous casual support ("virtual hallway" chats to partially compensate for the absence of "real world" casual meetings) may meet new needs best. Where we deal with domains which are subject to rapid change, a computer-based learning system combined with structured hypertext can provide rapid access to the most recent empirical and theoretical results.

CMC at Athabasca University

Athabasca University focuses on developing courses to meet the learners' needs using the most appropriate technology and delivery methods. In the past at Athabasca University we have experimented with electronic mail and computer conferencing systems in the Computer Information Systems (CIS) programme. At any one time we have about 100 students using electronic mail or computer conferencing in sporadic fashion. However, recently we have made the decision that all our CIS courses must be taken by CMS mode. Thus, we felt we needed a more comprehensive and integrated approach to electronic participation using electronic delivery of materials and more extensive interaction between tutors and students.

For the Computing and Information Systems (CIS) curriculum we feel that open learning supported by an INTERNET-based approach to CMC is the most appropriate delivery system. We felt using existing INTERNET tools we could develop as system for guided self-discovery with CMC supported collaboration. This new , more comprehensive system will meet the demands of a new communicative educational culture presented by the INTERNET. It will fit in this new era of both social dynamics and education. Our strategy is to test this system in two different courses using two different delivery modes. We want to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of this approach in different situations.

The first course we are opening is COMP482: Human Factors in Computing Systems. The ergonomics of information systems focuses on the interaction of people with information systems and related technology. It is a discipline that is rapidly increasing in breadth, depth, and complexity (Holt et al, 1995). Thus it seem a courses in this discipline is particularly appropriate for exploring innovative educational technology. This course is offered in unpaced delivery mode with rolling start dates: students can start at any time and proceed at their own pace as long as they complete the course in six months. This mode will provide a challenging test for coordinating the collaboration of students.

COMP 200: Introduction to Information Systems introduces students to

Computing Science, Computing Technology, and Information Systems. If we are going to introduce a new delivery system across the curriculum this is an appropriate starting point. Furthermore, introduction to INTERNET technology should be an integral part of the course content. We decided to offer a pilot section of COMP 200 in paced mode with a fixed start date to simplify the collaborative interactions for junior students and to provide more comprehensive peer support.

The INTERNET -based approach uses WWW readers (e.g. MOSAIC, NETSCAPE, SLIPKNOT ), electronic, asynchronous computer conferencing, and a synchronous "talker" facility to support guided access to INTERNET resources and collaborative learning in the context of the development of a real systems design. The course design is applicable as a learning system for formal education, as a tool for working professionals, as a platform for retraining, and as a testbed for ecologically valid research.

We would like to add tools such as peepholes (finding peers and friends on the network), groupdraw, groupwrite, and shared databases (eg. for bibliographies). Their usefulness will be assessed as part of the project.

Implementation of the "Talker" at Athabasca University

Once we had decided to include "talker" technology as a course component, a host of issues became apparent to us. First we had to identify the stakeholders in an educational "talker" at the University. Second, we had to consider interface issues such as the design of the virtual spaces and command structures. Third, we had to deal with a number of administrative issues encompassing details such as who is liable for student behavior and what was proper etiquette for "talker" use. Fourth, it was evident from the literature and our previous experience that there would have to be some sort of user support for students new to the talker technology. Fifth, we wanted students to feel a "ownership" of the virtual space. Sixth, since the talker was to be educational we had to consider pedagogical design. Finally we had to consider financial factors such as programming costs and connect time. The following section describes the strategies we followed in implementation in these contexts.

Stakeholders

Although MOO environments have the potential of presenting all University

Services such as Registry and Library Services (See Virtual On-line U, address, WWW page) we decided to focus initially on pedagogical needs and student support. Due to the timing of the acquisition and the course development cycle we decided to implement the talker first for informal student interaction and some tutorial support. Course development of courses integrating the talker more closely into course delivery began in parallel.

At Athabasca University, course coordinators develop courses, manage tutors, and tutor students. Tutors tutor students. The Computing Helpdesk and Computing lab provide computer support to all users of the computing facilities. Thus, the stakeholders we identified in order of importance as, 1. students, 2. tutors, 3. course coordinators, 4. Computing Helpdesk staff, and 5. the Computing Lab staff. We kept this constituencies in mind in designing and implementing the AU talker.

Designing the "Athabasca Virtual University Talker"

The main focus for including this new technology into the courses is the enhancement of learning for students. However, we are working within a very small research budget and consequently began the "talker" with public domain code. We have limited funds to pay for programming modifications.

We wanted to offer the students an educational environment which was comfortable, interesting, and easy to use. The talker includes a friendly ASCII art entry setting, a greeting upon entry, some basic "help" instructions, and hours when support is available. Once logged on, a (new) user sees a welcome message on the screen. This includes a short description of the "talker", a list of the commands to use initially to get help, or to see the map and an e-mail address for anyone requiring special attention.. Students are primed with a topic for the day and notification of any messages posted to the public bulletin board

We originally designed the AU talker with several public rooms for general conversation, several course related rooms, a registry, and other scenes associated with a regular university. The original room layout is shown in Figure 1. Students could move through the environment from room to room. We quickly found that students tended to congregate in the room of entry if there not a specific reason to move on, they wanted to be able to pick their room of entry, and when they did move they wanted to move directly to the room of their choice. At this time we modified their methods of moving so they could move directly to the room of their choice. (See Command Structure and Function below).

Students were also confused at times by rooms not serving the function denoted by their name. For example, several students attempted to "register" in our registry so we removed that room and replaced it with a room that students requested to keep things interesting.

We keep the room descriptions simple and text-based to reduce our start-up time and to minimize on-line time. A sample "room" description is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

The Common Room at Athababasca University

NEW USERS: type '.help' and '.help commands' and '.map'

Area: common

You have entered the Athabasca University commons room, that functions as a cafeteria and meeting place. Vending machines provide a number of items, such as cold pop, chocolate bars, and ice cream snacks.

There are several tables and chairs to sit at and chat. *WELCOME*

Exits are: park hallway helpdesk facilitator lounge

Check the facilitator hours if you want company

The area is set to public

There are 16 messages on the board

Current topic is: dang students with questions

Mature distance education students, many of whom have family and work commitments do not have abundant free time to familiarize themselves with a technology that is time consuming or unpleasant to learn. Unlike many of the virtual environments we did not include objects in our first environment as the initial explorations by naive users showed that too much complexity in the environment was confusing.

Command Structure and Function

We planned the "talker" to begin simply, and develop over time, with changes

remaining "user-friendly". We wanted to facilitate communications and reduce memory load for naive students. Thus in the code we selected for student to "say" anything, they simply have to type what they wanted to say. In several other types of MOO's students had to use a command to converse. In the code we chose other commands which are differentiated from conversation by having them start with a period. This requires no fumbling with shift keys, etc. No capitalization is necessary. Commands can be shortened to the shortest letter string in their initial letters that differentiated them from other commands. Students are given a basic command set. Facilitators and other administrators have more complex commands available to them. (Appendix A)

Many of the educational talkers we visited have very complicated structures, and require a great deal of time and energy before one is able to maneuver around in the "space". This is a drawback we intended to address at A.U. Our "talker", in its simplicity still manages to awe and frustrate some users initially.

In efforts to keep the system efficient yet our commands follow a consistent pattern. They all begin with a ".". For "help" a user types ".help". To see who is logged on, their location and how long they have been on, the ".who" command is used. To participate in a private conversation ".tell" is sufficient. A ".map" displays a map of the virtual campus (APPENDIX B). To "move" users type ".go" and are transported directly to the location of their choice without having to follow a time consuming path from "room" to "room". To log off the ".quit" command is used. Keeping the commands simple and consistent is imperative in order to provide the users with an immediate sense of comfort and control. It is common on the existing "talkers" that commands are listed by the hundred, and the user must try many of them in order to realize their effects.

We modified the ".help" command to organize its output by type of function (e.g. communication and movement) and added a standard format for "help" on individual commands. (Appendix C). A ".help commands" gave a listing of all available commands for the students rank. Their complexity also requires some note taking in order to remember commands. In order to eliminate this exploration, which may be a waste of valuable time, our initial command list is basic to communication and movement, and the other commands are presented in a separate list for those who wish to, or who need to use them.

Much of what can be done will develop as demand and need requires. It is possible, depending on the users, and the nature of use of the "talker" that a very complicated structure can be built in over time. We plan to use programming courses and projects courses so that students may directly participate in this development effort (Holt and Gismondi, 1995). This more complex system could remain optional to users, and run along with the simpler version. This will address the needs and wants of students more effectively. A "news" column is accessible to keep users in constant touch with new features.

Administration of the Talker

Along with the demonstrable benefits of this new technology come potential drawbacks or hazards. Management of discipline in these new spaces is evolving with experience, and is being constantly redefined. Legislation in these "spaces" is critical. Following is a summary of administrative issues concerning academic dishonesty and non-academic misconduct at Athabasca University. First, we show how student behaviour on the "talker" relates to the "real-life" situations and how real-life regulations and disciplinary measures might apply to talker behavior. As in the traditional university setting, the "talker" involves the whole educational community: the students, teachers, tutors, co-ordinators of the programmes and the computing services department. Second, we include a section explaining some of the known and potential abuses of the new "talker" technology, and examples of appropriate responses including virtual disciplinary procedures and mechanisms already in place to deal with misconduct in this new "space".

How behavioral expectations and responses relate to "real" University standards

In order to investigate administrative issues regarding student misconduct, we studied the "Codes of Conduct" - academic and non-academic at Athabasca University, The University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary, as well as the "Athabasca University Computer Usage Policy". In this document we make specific reference only to the policy at A.U.

We recommended that the calendar at Athabasca University should include a new section focusing on the university's "talker" - the particular behavioral expectations, the rules, the penalties for it's misuse, and the appeal procedures associated with it. While many of the administrative structures already in place concerning both student conduct and appeals at Athabasca University will, in many cases, apply also to the "talker" misconduct, it's unique character necessitates individual attention. The procedures for appeal in either the "real-life" or the "talker" situation may be followed in specific cases concerning plagiarism, sexual harassment, and misappropriation of, or misuse of university property.

Appendix D shows some examples of behavioral expectations and disciplinary measures at Athabasca University which relate directly to the use of the "talker". Experience has shown us that simply having restricted access to students has seemed to minimize all types of abuse.

Administrative Structure

After a thorough exploration on the INTERNET of several "MUDs" (Multi-User Domains) and "MOOs" (Mud Object Oriented), which include "talkers", it is evident that there are few incidences where abuse, verbal, sexual, threatening, or others are a problem requiring concern (Dibbel, 1993). However, it is possible and we will work to avoid such situations from the start.

Based on our explorations of INTERNET MOO's we decided up the following administrative structure to help minimize potential abuses. Computing Services maintain the "talker" at the technical/maintenance level. There is one "administrator" who has every possible command available to him or her, including shutting down the "talker" if necessary, but it will be administered for the most part by it's users - the students, some of whom will be given the responsibility of being a "facilitators"- students who have more commands available to them, and who act as aids to help new users - and the "course coordinators" and "tutors". Guidelines for the student facilitators are show in Appendix E.

Procedures to reduce/avoid abuse

The potential for abuse on the "talker" will be alleviated if users have only one login, and that it be directly connected with the user's student I.D. Multiple anonymous logins may lead to situations of misconduct. Information describing behavioral expectations will be posted upon entry to the "talker" as well as an introduction (including the purpose and goals of the "talker"), and a list of help commands, rules of conduct (a guide to manners) and a statement describing the "real" or "real-life" consequences which may occur in case of abuse or disregard. We assume that most A.U. students are directed and responsible, and, therefore we hope that misconduct concerning the "talker" is minimal or non-existent.

Following is a description of "talker" "nettiquette" which is available by typing .h manners.

A Guide to Manners

The rules are few and simple:

Respect other people
Be friendly and helpful.
No profanity or foul language in a public venue.
No harassment of any type.
No obnoxious or annoying behavior.
Do not abuse .tells or .echoes
You are the best judges of life here...report any problems to "talker" administration via e-mail.
Refer to "Definition of Student Misconduct" from the Calendar for further explanations which relate, in many cases to your actions here, also.

Should a student have difficulty dealing with an issue, it can be reported via e-mail to the administrators of the "talker". It is then up to the discretion of the administrator whether the offender be reported to the academic co-ordinator of the programme. It is not possible to have "facilitators" or "Coordinators" on-line at all times. While some students will act in these capacities, there is no way of ensuring that one will be on-line should a problem occur. In this case, an internal e-mail system would deal with the problem in a fairly immediate and intimate manner.

All students have the some sense of control concerning behavior on the "talker" by using the procedures listed above. And, all users contribute to the administration at a lower level, by behaving in accordance with guidelines, and by monitoring any abusive behavior (Appendix F).

As with any "real-life" university-related indiscretion, the offending user may suffer "real-life" consequences including exclusion from the "talker", a written warning, a probationary period, suspension from a course, and, in the worst case, expulsion from the university.

Computer related issues and security (at Athabasca University)

The "Athabasca University Computer Usage Policy", a Computing Services publication, describes the "responsibility" and "ethical behavior" expected when users avail themselves of Computing facilities. The document protects the integrity of " the computer systems against unauthorized or improper use, and...protects authorized users from the effects of unauthorized or improper usage of the system."

No student may access any computing resource at the University without prior authorization and such authorization is subject to strict conditions of confidentiality and privacy.

Sanctions are imposed on any who abuse the system, and " any documented malicious use of the computer systems(s)" ...are..."forwarded to the appropriate manager, Vice President's Office and/or Human Resources for appropriate action." (Other computer usage issues and responses are shown in Appendix B)

Attracting Students and Promoting Ownership

We employed a comphrensive and phased strategy to involve student users in the "talker". We focused on the relatively small number of students (50-100) who were already using the Athabasca University computing facilities on a regular basis. First we used group e-mail to all on-line students, and posted messages about the "talker" to their computer conference system. The first small group of student users (five or six) were excited by the potential of the talker and volunteered to spend time to help other students get started. Initially we called these volunteers "facilitators" in their talker descriptions but we found that these titles intimidated other students and we reverted to "student" in their talker descriptions but they kept administrative privileges in their repertoire of commands. We found that this approach did help to promote the "talker" as the log showed that students who sign on with nobody else on tend not to remain on.

Shortly after starting the "talker", we wrote an article announcing and describing it in the student newspaper. The student paper editor was very supportive in her article and she followed up with a visit to the "talker" and another article about students on the "talker".

In one mail-out we included comprehensive information about the talker facilities and "netiquette". Feedback from the students indicated that some felt overwhelmed by the amount of information they received. Thus, in subsequent mail-outs we provided minimal information making them aware of the help files on the "talker", the commands, and how to behave on the talker.

From our initial explorations of the INTERNET we inferred that privacy issues would be important to students, so, from the beginning we emphasized the confidentiality of private conversations and the potential to use private rooms and clear conversations.

Finally, we have regular "facilitator" meetings where facilitators can make suggestions in terms of running and developing the talker (Appendix X). At one of these meetings we took facilitators on a tour of other MOO's.

User Support

We worked from the principal that all users should have access to a "user friendly" support/help system. We also developed a comprehensive system for providing user support. For self-help we provided simple documentation via e-mail, with a "motd" at the UNIX command, with on-line "help" commands, as well as scheduled "facilitator" presence and e-mail addresses for administrators.

For students who were already active in any on-line course, we sent the same basic documentation by electronic mail. Originally we did this with a group mail to all such students but several students found that the long mail header was confusing and impersonal so we devised a system to mail students individually.

To provide initial interactive support on the talker, four project staff provided six hours of on-line time. We felt that students would be more comfortable with other students as "help" so we recruited eight to ten students as "student facilitators" who each volunteered one or two hours per week. We slotted most of these hours for evenings and weekends. Student facilitators are available to help new users, or to point user with a problem in the right direction. Student facilitators were provided with guidelines for treatment of new students and students with questions about the "talker". (Appendix F) We originally called these student helpers "facilitators" but we found that this intimidated other students so we reverted to calling them "students" although they did have a wider command set than other students. (Appendix A).

The academic co-odinators of the courses were supportive of the system and included an introduction to the talker outlining the most basic commands and how to access the on-line help in most CIS course material.

It became apparent that students often have technical problems outside the use of the "talker" itself that inhibited all their computer usage. In order to deal with these problems and to further encourage the use of the "talker", we put in place a "virtual help desk" to answer problems with hardware and software. The "staff" consists of knowledgeable CIS students who are paid for their services, and who answer students' technical questions or direct them to the correct source of help. The Athabasca University Computing Services helpdesk staff supported this endeavor.

Finally we use e-mail and computer conferencing provide an additional open and available means of communication between students and peers, and staff and students for inquiries regarding course work, technical problems, or "talker" inquiries.

Pedagogical Design

Pedagogical design is intertwined with other aspects of implementing the "talker" such as user support and interface design. Good instructional design will not be effective if the students cannot use the command structures and get technical help when they require it.

In this section we focus on issues more directly dealing to the students' learning process in the substantive areas of the courses. To this end, we envision using the talker to enable student collaboration and peer tutoring. We want students to learn to work with peers at becoming de-institutionalized learners. This approach is based primarily upon our philosophical orientation, but will have the beneficial side effect of reducing tutoring costs. The following are major premises of the learning system.

The learner should not be taught but rather, provided guidance with new technologies for learning.
Learners should be given a structure to guide them in their learning process.
Learning should be situated within the context of real projects, real tools, and
Learning should be a collaborative process which can be facilitated by computer mediated communications.
Learning should be able to occur at the time and place of the learner's choice.

The educational methodologies utilized for collaborative learning reflect both synchronous and asynchronous approaches to learning. In these, the student is an active part of a learning 'group' or 'community', yet develops understanding on an individual basis, independent of the speed/pace of the other learners in the group.

As outlined in the opening section we believe that collaboration among students is desirable and possible in spite of distance and time using CMC. Our goal is to improve access to experience and knowledge by having students participate with peers, teachers and tutors via a computer from their location. We hope to demonstrate that CMC can improve the quality and effectiveness of distance education by providing support for collaboration among the groups of learners and support new knowledge emerging from active dialogue among participants.

Course Materials and the Learning

The structures of the test-bed courses are similar. Students proceed through the courses using on-line HTML study guides. There is one major difference in materials between the two courses we are considering here. COMP 482 has an on-line HTML Guidebook introducing the student to the area of the 'ergonomics of information systems'. In COMP 200 the students also have a printed commercial text, although this will be replaced by HTML materials in the next version of the course. Also more of COMP 482's materials are on-line materials at remote sites.

Based on the interests and background of the students, the co-ordinator of Comp 482 assigns a specific focus area for which each student develops a project description and a strategy for proceeding with research. In the pilot year, the topic will be the design of computer based learning systems with a focus on computer mediated communication, computer-based learning, hypermedia, and computer mediated group work. Project work is not simply the regurgitation or replication of traditional screen designs. Students will complete a system which will be graded more in relation to the human factors aspect of its design than in its underlying technical implementation. They will use a hypermedia structured introductory guide to locate and obtain their own resource materials, develop their own proposal, and complete their own project. Collaboration and peer tutoring are a required part of the course process. Students build on skills learned in the CIS program.

The description and strategy for Comp482 projects will be posted to a computer conference for critique by the instructor and other students. Each student will be expected to contribute at least one critique (i.e. critically read and summarize another student's proposal) as part of his or her own course. Students will be required to discuss their projects with other students via electronic mail and the "talker". Group projects in this course are encouraged.

In COMP 200 students are required to collaborate on several assignments. Collaboration is facilitated by having fixed start dates and paced work. We anticipate that the virtual helpdesk will provide a critical part of the technical support that students will receive during the course.

Formative Evaluation

Social Usage

The evaluation of the talker to date has been almost entirely qualitative.

In Phase I, the talker was implemented as social support for students enrolled in

current courses and as a tutoring option (supplementing e-mail) for students in COMP455 the Expert Systems course.

The potential number of users in this situation was relatively low but there will be a rapid increase with the talker being built into course delivery for several courses. Of the potential of about 100 users about 40 tried the talker and 20 used it on a regular basis even though it was not part of the requirements for any course. This is quite remarkable given our experience with other CMC tools where students almost never participated unless they were specifically required to do so. Of those 20 regular uses over one half were recruited as student facilitators and every student volunteered at least one hour per week to facilitate.

Students have mostly been on in the evening hours and 3-4 students is the a fairly large group. Appendix H shows the results from a small sample of students who were surveyed on the usage. One of the users said they had never used the talker. One user had only used it once, and had no plans to use it again due to long distance telephone issues. Of those 13 who used it more often, almost 7 said that they had plans to increase their usage.

Students generally report that the social support is very useful (see Appendix A for comments from students). Anecdotally, the support is seen not as helpful in the speed of finishing the course but with the quality of work done and primarily as motivation for taking more courses.

Overall, students who participated had far more contact with students from their own course than traditional students (telephone tutoring) or even other CMC modes. Even more remarkably students had a great deal of cross course and even cross programme contact as a few students from other programmes discovered the talker. Three students from other programmes enrolled in computing courses as a result of their talker experiences. Students participated from all over Canada and one student telnetted in from Japan.

Tutorial Usage

Students in COMP455 tended to use the talker to raise issues with issues requiring substantive replies being followed up in electronic mail. There was a noticeable amount of informal peer tutoring. This never occurred in regular CIS courses.

Research

As part of our research programme our research group met regularly on the talker.

Our researchers are located in Athabasca, AB; Calgary, AB; and Victoria, B.C.

We also had guests from South Carolina and Arkansas to talk about similar programmes. As part of our research we took our facilitators on a tour of a MOO in Arkansas. Overall the talker is a great tool for doing research and for team building.

Helpdesk

The virtual helpdesk emerged from the talker project. It has proven very successful for providing off-hours support for the limited number of students now accessing our system. Both computing services and the research team want to expand this mode of support when we bring more students onto the system.

Administration

Experience has shown us that simply having restricted access to students has seemed to minimize all types of abuse. Basically the approach we took has been very successful in building good will and minimizing abuse.

Summary

Granted this pilot was done with a small group of students but the senior author with 15 years experience in educational technology never has seen a CMC technology embraced the way the talker was by the students who participated. The research group of 5-6 involved in CMC research also embraced the technology enthusiastically for meetings.

Our experience to date suggests educational and social issues are intertwined, and the importance of the social aspect should not be ignored or underestimated. The "talker" allows a group with similar interests and experience to participate as a group - to be a "virtual" community. Because much of the previous isolation is alleviated, students may make less mistakes, and spend less time working through a problem than they would on their own.

While the potential for educational "community building" and collaboration using the "talker" is vast, we must not diminish the importance of the social advantages. Much of learning, work, and life is based on communication - play, jokes, idle chatter, and problem solving. Bonds are made via communication. While these exist in "virtual" space, in this case, we must remember that the users are real people, and have much in common.

The inclusion of a "talker" , which is a synchronous communication system, with existing delivery modes at Athabasca University for use by teachers and learners presents users with an immediate, interactive communication environment. The "talker" makes possible, in "real time", on-line group tutoring, seminars, general talks among students and instructors, guest speakers, and provide a friendly atmosphere where students may even form personal relationships with others. Interpersonal group communication and collaboration will aid students with tangible, academic pursuits , augmenting existing course delivery modes and currently used electronic technologies. Because interactional exchange between teachers and learners and among students is vital to learning and understanding, the addition of the "talker" will fill a need which has not, as yet been available to distance education students at Athabasca University. As well as improving distance education concerning academics, this technology has some important, intangible benefits.

If you wish to visit our talker send electronic mail to Pete . Also feel free to visit our home page and obtain electronic mail addresses for any of our researchers or student facilitators.

Future Plans

In the immediate future we intend to make some revisions and to add some basic functionality to the existing code. We want to be able to delete individual messages from the bulletin boards rather than the entire list of messages. We will adjust the code so that we are able to read the boards from most recent to oldest messages. Also we hope to incorporate a split screen allowing one's typed words to remain separate from the general conversation and stay there until the thought is completed, the return key is hit, and the message becomes public. With potentially many users at one time, this is an important feature, minimizing confusion and overtyping. We want to modify the ".who" command so the names of the users appear either in alphabetical order or by "room" to make it faster to "find" someone who is logged In the longer term we want to restrict access to rooms based on student identifiers, integrate objects into the system, and integrate voice and graphics. Only users with student id's or in guest list will be able to access the "talker", and only users in a specific course can access that course unless invited. We may include a pager for holding at one screen full, and a "tap" command which will alert a user that someone wants to "talk" to them.

In a the longer term a major thrust of the talker will remain user involvement and we currently have volunteer students exploring other MOOs for further ideas regarding the "building" of our environment. We hope to integrate MOO development into a number of our CIS courses and perhaps also Masters of Distance Education courses.

REFERENCES

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Clancey, W.J. (1993) Guidon manage revisited: A socio-technical systems approach. Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 4, 1, 5-34.

Collins, A., & Brown, J. S. (1988). The computer as a tool for learning through reflection learning. In H. Mandl and A. Lesgold (Eds.), Learning Issues for Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp.1-18), NY: Springer.

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Appendix A

Output of Map Command for AU Talker

helpdesk washroom comp361

| | | |

facilitator lounge --- common room --- hallway --- comphall --- comp lab

| | | |

square --- park seminar comp455

| room

pub

Appendix B

On Levels and Commands:

Commands available to new users are:

quit who shout tell listen

look go private public invite

emote areas letmein write read

topic review help news echo

desc version wprofile rprofile dmail

rmail wmail map passwd

All commands begin with a ".", and can be abbreviated (eg. .tell=.t).

An explanation of each command can be seen by typing .help [command]

Commands available to a "facilitator" are:

tell listen quit who shout

private public ignore look go

letmein write invite emote areas

topic read wipe site help

desc version news move echo

bcast review desc dmail wmail

rmail numlines wake map users

search wprofile examine passwd rprofile

Commands available to a "Co-ordinator" are:

quit who shout tell listen

ignore look go private public

invite emote areas letmein write

read wipe site topic vis

invis kill review help bcast

news move echo desc version

wprofile rprofile users dmail rmail

wmail wake map passwd numlines

Again each is explained by typing .help [command].

Appendix C

Student Conduct at Athabasca University (from "Learning Without Limits," l994-95)

Academic Misconduct

Academic offenses are described as the:

1) - misrepresentation of material or facts for academic advantage, for self or others

2) - misrepresentation of academic status regarding admission, or

3) - cheating

4) - fraud

5) - plagiarism

6) - deceit, or any other form of academic dishonesty.

Consequences for academic misconduct include probation, appeal,

reprimand, expulsion, and others.

Non-Academic Misconduct

Definitions

Non-academic offenses attempted or committed by students include:

A) - Disruption of University Activities -- disruption of University activities including, but not limited to exam-writing, teaching, studying, research, administration, and meetings.

B) - Physical Abuse and Dangerous Activity

1) actual physical abuse or threat of physical abuse to another person,

2) damage to another person's property,

3) knowingly, and without reason, cause another person to fear physical abuse or fear damage to his/her property

4) creating a condition which unnecessarily endangers or threatens the health, safely, or well-being of other persons; or which could cause damage to property.

5) - Written and Verbal abuse -- includes the use of threatening, obscene, profane, or racist language, or language which is otherwise abusive in the circumstances, by a student, an instructor, officer, or

other employee of the University, or any other person.

C) Sexual harassment

1) written and/or verbal abuse or threats,

2) unwelcome remarks, jokes, innuendoes or taunting,

3) displaying of pornographic or other offensive or derogatory pictures,

4) practical jokes which cause awkwardness or embarrassment,

5) unwelcome invitations or requests, whether direct, explicit, or intimidating,

6) leering or other gestures,

7) unnecessary physical contact such as touching, patting, pinching, punching, or

8) physical assault

(Numbers 7 and 8 apply in so far as, such "real life" actions can be represented via print on the talker, and are as offensive.)

Penalties for Misconduct at Athabasca University

Where an admission or academic offense is found to have occurred (as outlined above), the following penalties may be imposed at the discretion of the Evaluations Officer, the appropriate Dean, the appropriate Program Director, or the Student Appeals Committee:

a) rejection of an application for admission or enrollment,

b) rejection of submitted work,

c) expulsion from the exam, the course, or the program,

d) reprimand,

e) academic probation,

f) suspension,

g) expulsion from the university,

h) legal action

Appendix D

What is considered misconduct on the "talker"

Public verbal harassment - a student using vulgar language within earshot of all users
Private verbal harassment - using personal "tells" to harass a user as an individual
Public or private sexual harassment - includes any expression of unwanted sexual attention with both males and females as its victims and perpetrators.
INTERNET "stalking" - a user who seeks out personal information about another user.

Administrative Responses

Co-ordinators/Administrators will have the power to discipline abusers of the system.

Procedures

Warning - a user is warned by a facilitator/coordinator that they are stepping beyond the rules of the MUD.
Kill removes the user from the system.

Users, can protect themselves from abuse.

Ignore command allows the user not to see any private messages.
The user can create a log file on his PC of the harassment.

Appendix E

Sample Help
.help

To talk simply type your words, and hit return and all uses will see them.

All commands are preceded by a '.' e.g. '.help'

COMMUNICATION: - type .tell <other user > message for a private conversation

.echo .emote .pemote .shout .wmail .rmail .dmail .ignore .listen

.review this is very handy for catching up on conversation

.clear clears the conversation - good for privacy

MOVEMENT: - type .go <area to move to adjoining areas

ROOMS: - .map .look .areas .private .invite .public .letmein

OTHER USERS: - .who .rprofile .wprofile .desc

HELP: - type .help for this screen

type .help commands for a list of available commands

type .help command for help on individual command

type .help manners for nettiquite

type .help times for times when other users are mostly likely here

type .help software for some sources of public domain software

.help wmail

Usage: .wmail <user <message

Sends a private message to <user, whether they are logged on or not.

INTEGRATING VIRTUAL SPACES INTO OPEN LEARNING SYSTEMS

Dr. Pete Holt & Jane Gismondi Athabasca University Athabasca, Alberta, Canada

Figure 1