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STUDING EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING PROJECTS (1975-1995)

STUDING EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING PROJECTS (1975-1995). Mary E. Hopper, Ph.D. Technology in Education Lesley University. Context, Personal Background.

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STUDING EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING PROJECTS (1975-1995)

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  1. STUDING EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING PROJECTS(1975-1995) Mary E. Hopper, Ph.D. Technology in Education Lesley University

  2. Context, Personal Background • Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine Kids try to teach a computer to do their homework (BUT find process requires more work & learning ;) Exemplifies my view of Education  Computing • Honeywell TSS System in High School 1976-1980 Paper Tape, Teletype, Phone Hook-up for Interactive Networked System of 11 High Schools, Assignments from BASIC to debugging PLATO StarTrek program. [Collection=1 Box]

  3. Official Project Description in Paper • Long-term project evolved from a qualitative research study in the early 1990s to point of transition where it is today. • Goal remains the same:Improve the viability of educational computing projects by identifying effective and sustainable strategies. • Historically, this is a relatively common goal. (Taylor, 1980; McClintock, 1986; OTA, 1988).

  4. Further Background • Ph.D. Program at Purdue University, Indiana • Illinois is next door to U. of Illinois geographically. • Started inheriting more original documentation and lore from Bitzer’s PLATO system from my program faculty. • Doctoral Advisor, Robert Lawler, worked on Logo and had extensive resources… he caught on I collected. • He pitched into waste baskets, I retrieved and saved. • Also many other projects in U.S. mid-west like MECC. [Collection=5 Boxes]

  5. Unofficial Motivation for First Study • Time to choose subject for dissertation… • I said, “why not study the projects I have already started collecting some material about?” • He said, “No, document what you learned on the project you have been working on and then go to document successful projects at MIT & Brown.”

  6. Purdue University, Freshman Engineering Educational Research and Information Systems, Founded & Directed by Bill LeBold, IEEE Fellow(Mentor with Tri-appointment in 3 Schools, EE/Psy./Ed.) • ESCAPE: Engineering Specific Career-exploration and Problem-solving Environment • NSF Funded, 5000 + screens info. system. • Ported HyperCard HyperNews/Suns, 1989-90

  7. Official Motivation for First Study • By 1990 it was clear to both of us that educational computing projects would soon be using that very quickly emerging distributed computing paradigm. • Experience on a project in a distributed computing environment in 1989-1990 led to my strong belief that new projects would encounter problems that were a function of distributed computing that would threaten their success.

  8. Samples of Tomorrow from Yesterday • Decided to explore how problems of previous educational computing initiatives became intertwined with new problems that were a function of distributed computing (Hopper, 1993). • Studied experimental educational projects using distributed computing environments that dated back to the 1970s and could be analyzed with hindsight by their participants by 1990s.

  9. Methods of “Formal” Study in Paper • Initial study took place between 1990-1993. • In-depth interviews & extensive documentation. (Essentially qualitative/ethnographic approach.) • Historical case studies that captured participant's recollections, insights and hind sights about the development of the educational projects in the earliest distributed computing environments.

  10. Pursued Multiple Perspectives • Academic Computing System Officials/Developers • Educational Software Project Directors • Educational Software Project Mangers • Educational Software Project Developers • Students/Users

  11. Brown UniversityInstitute for Research and Information Scholarship (IRIS) • Context32 (Intermedia  StorySpace  WWW) • Participants: Paul Kahn, Nicole Yankelovich, George Landow (Later contact with vanDam/Nelson) • Emphatic about key of systems design for ed. apps, no line between user and designer  strong usability. • AUX 1.1, Project being ended as I arrived in 1993. Landow’s grad student porting files to StorySpace.

  12. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAthena and Academic Computing & Aero/Astro Engineering • Athena Project, Created X-Windows & Kerberos • Funding of Ed. Projects “Let 1000 Flowers Bloom” • TODOR (Athena, BLOX) / Mechanics 2.01 (cT) • Participants: Gregory Jackson, Naomi Schmidt, Janet Daly, Anne Lavin, Larry Bucciarelli

  13. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCenter for Educational Computing Initiatives & Civil Engineering Department • AthenaMuse, Multimedia Extensions to X-Windows, not propagated by X Consortium as was planned, included advanced multimedia authoring system. Interestingly, CERN was partner in 1980s, humm… • Physical Geology Tutor (Athena, AthenaMuse) • Participants: Steve Lerman, Ben Davis, Evelyn Schlusselberg, Pat Kinnicutt

  14. Technology Critical in Data Collection & Analysis

  15. Resulted in Model Based on Analysis of Relationships

  16. [Incredibly Brief] Results • Projects were characterized by simultaneous attention to a consistent set of key factors across educational, technical & organizational contexts. • Organizational issues more critical than expected! • Continuous change and expansion of underlying system caused the need for change to survive. • End of delivery or modification caused projects to very quickly fall from unused to unusable.

  17. Results (Continued) • To insure that the projects in distributed computing environments were used, updated and expanded, authors needed to find ways to continually acquire critical resource$. • Major factor in success was degree to which project’s directors found ways to address new technical challenges within constraints of traditional academic organizational structures.

  18. Discussion • This study produced valuable advice about how to implement educational projects in distributed computing environments. • Not surprisingly, advice was also applicable to educational computing projects that began to exploit the World Wide Web as it emerged. • Much more detail in paper and even more online! [Collection=50 Boxes]

  19. Further Information Mary Hopper, Ph.D., Professor, Lesley U., 2003-Now Web: http://www.theworld.com/~mehopper Email: mhopper@mail.lesley.edu

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