Tracing dynamic behaviours in distributed learning

Tracing dynamic behaviours in distributed learning communities Fernando Ramos 1 , António Moreira1 , Arnaldo Santos 2 , Ângelo Conde 1 , Luís Neves1 , Filipe Peixinho2 , Carlos Pinto3 1

University of Aveiro, 3800 Aveiro, Portugal 2 PT Inovação SA, 3800 Aveiro, Portugal 3 University of Minho, 4800 Guimarães, Portugal

Abstract Experience and research reports agree that the timely contribution of participants, namely students and tutors, in distributed learning communities, is a key factor for the achievement of the collective and individual learning aims. The technological support required for Internet based distributed learning communities provides means to effectively trace the behaviour of each participant and analyse it according to a pre-defined time pattern reference, enabling the automated early detection of some unwanted disturbances and enabling the execution of procedures aiming at its correction. This paper presents and discusses a conceptual framework for tracing dynamic behaviour of participants in Internet based distributed learning communities, and presents work in progress related to its implementation. Key Words eLearning, distributed learning, distributed learning communities, learning objects, learning management systems Introduction

Far beyond simple tools providing a set of functionalities for human use, computer based systems can be active agents engaged in actions with humans in complex environments. In (1), Brenda Laurel extensively develops the idea that theatre is a good foundation for thinking about and designing human-computer experiences, namely because of the overlap of the two domains: representing action with multiple agents. This rationale is usually applicable to short-term interaction between computers and humans, namely in the design of interactive computer based systems. However, computer based systems are increasingly used to support activities that are meaningful not only on a short-term basis but that also apply to broader time frames. Activities within distributed learning communities are an example of such larger scope, because several hours, or even several days, may elapse between directly correlated actions. For example, a tutor may react to a student’s message just a couple of days after the initial message was issued. Experience and research reports agree that the timely contribution of participants (agents), namely students and tutors, in distributed learning communities, is a key factor for the achievement of the collective and individual learning aims. In Internet based educational systems, as most international education programs currently are, the technological infrastructure used enables tracing the dynamic behaviour of participants, providing a basis for the deployment of a corresponding quality control framework.

This paper presents results of a research project1 aiming at the understanding of what and how actions (including interactions) in distributed learning communities can be monitored in order to enable the timely identification of inappropriate situations that may put in jeopardy the community aims if no corrective reaction is pursued. Agents in distributed learning communities

Figure 1 identifies the types of agents that can be found in a distributed learning community. Although the terminology used betrays influence from the traditional academic world, it represents the main roles that can be found in a learning community: learners, tutors and technical and administrative support. These agents, or actors – to use a theater metaphor-, act in the community and interact with the other agents using some kind of technological infrastructure, typically Internet based, usually known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or, using a more updated term, a Learning Content Management System (LCMS). The LMS may also be considered as an agent in this environment, due to the fact that it also may take actions if prepared for that.

Tutor

Learner

Other learners

Support

LMS

Figure 1: Agents (or actors) in a distributed learning community.

Phases and activities in a distributed learning community

1

Research grant Ref. COM/33057/99-00 from FCT (the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology).

The life of a distributed learning community may be very complex and include many different phases. Typically, the work in setting up and running such communities include four main phases (Figure 2): design, planning, execution and evaluation, which usually unfold in time in such sequence. In the design phase the aims and characteristics of the community are identified and detailed and the resources to be used are prepared. Planning is the phase where detailed resource allocation (namely time and human resources) for a specific instance of the community is organized. The execution phase corresponds to the main active life of the community, and corresponds to the time period of active participation of learners. Finally, the applicable evaluation procedures are executed in the fourth and last phase, the evaluation phase. Appropriate management should be applied to each phase in order to guarantee that the corresponding aims are achieved, i.e. that the expected results are obtained under the available resources. Time is one of the most important shared resources in communities in general, and also in distributed learning communities, thus deserving careful management. Time delays are an important source of disturbance for the life of a distributed learning community, and may jeopardize much of the effort and expectations of the community’s members. Although the focus of this research is the time domain, this is not the only important factor to manage in order to contribute for the achievement of the goals of a specific distributed learning community. Others, such as individual and collective knowledge development within the community, are even more important, but time management has proved to be important enough to deserve special concern, namely because it is a seminal factor that decisively influences most of the other success factors.

Design

Planning

Management Execution

Evaluation

Figure 2: Typical phases in the setting up and running of a distributed learning community.

Within each phase, a set of activities can be identified (Figure 3) that, in some specific way, represents actual contributions of the community members to the group, usually as the result of a specific task. From a management point of view, only the tasks that include some form of interaction between agents in a community are relevant because

they are observable. Although the essence of the activities depends on the phase and specific task, its completion according to a specific time schedule is usually decisive to the overall life of the community. Examples of activities are the preparation of a specific learning resource in the design phase, or the first appearance of a community’s member after the starting date of the execution phase or the delay of a tutor answering a message from a learner. Careful detailing and planning of the activities within each phase leads the way to the possibility of managing each individual activity according to a pre-defined time schedule.

Phase X

Management

Figure 3: Each phase in the life of a distributed learning community may be decomposed into a set of activities.

The first concern of this research project was the identification of the typical activities usually present in the different phases. For this purpose, the distributed learning environments of the institutions engaged in the project were carefully studied, resulting in the identification of a list of over 80 different activities, organized by phase and by agent responsible for conducting the activity. Table 1 gives some examples of activities identified for the different phases and agents. Although we feel that a comprehensive list was achieved, there is no intention to present it as a final and definite proposal, because this is an emerging field and further work and other viewpoints are welcomed contributions. Table 1: Examples of observable (therefore manageable) activities within a distributed learning community.

Phase Design Planning Execution

Evaluation

Agent Tutor Support Support Learner Tutor Support Learner

Activity Provide learners’ guide Create marketing plan Make detailed chronogram Submit exercise for review Answer learner’s message Create learners’ logins Fill-in evaluation forms

Each activity is characterized by a specific set of elements, which describe the important aspects of the activity that may be useful for its effective management; we call these elements as parameters. Table 2 exemplifies some of the parameters defined. Table 2: Examples of parameters used to characterize an activity.

Parameter Responsibility

Starting date Ending date Warning communication form Warning gap

Alarm condition

Alarm communication form

Description Identification and coordinates of the agent responsible for the execution of the activity Initial time boundary for the activity Final time boundary for the activity Form (email, mobile phone, etc) used to warn, if applicable, the agent responsible for an activity that the corresponding starting date is approaching. Period of time, if applicable, to be considered before the starting date for the issuing of the warning message Definition of the evidence that, if not met on the ending date, determines the existence of an alarm situation Form (email, mobile phone, etc) used to warn, if applicable, the agent responsible for an activity that the corresponding ending date was reached but that no evidence of the completion of the activity has

Alarm procedure

been traced Identification of the procedure, if any, that applies in case of an alarm condition

Learning Management Systems provide a good environment for the implementation of the management framework under development and briefly presented here, because all the relevant interactions between community members are performed using LMS features thus easily enabling its tracing and processing. The last version of FORMARE™ 2 , the LMS developed and marketed by PT Inovação SA, a research company owned by Portugal Telecom that integrates the consortium working on this project, already incorporates some of the concepts and features conceived in the project. In (2) and (3) some further details about this reference framework and current research directions may be found.

2

http://www.formare.pt

Integration in current international standardization efforts

Many different organizations and research groups are currently working in the development and standardization of models for technology based educational systems. This work is being lead by international organizations such as the ADL-Advanced Distributed Learning initiative (4), the IMS-Instructional Management Systems consortium (5) and the IEEE-Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (6). The main objective of their work is the development of a framework of reference, models and implementation techniques aiming at the interoperability of systems and the deployment of re-usable contents for eLearning. A comprehensive overview of these and other related developments may be found in (7). One of the building blocks of the technologies under development is the concept of learning object (LO). A LO is a container of information encapsulating a specific learning topic, and includes both the learning materials and the description of the object according to a set of predefined and standardized rules. The reusable nature of a LO results from the fact that its description and presentation is done according to those standard rules, using pre-defined and well-known metadata elements. For the description of a learning object XML language is used. XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is an open standard for describing data developed by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) (8). XML uses a similar tag structure as to the one used in HTML (HyperText Markup Language). However, whereas HTML defines how elements are displayed, XML defines what those elements contain. HTML uses predefined tags, but XML allows tags to be defined by the developer of the document. Thus, virtually any data items, such as courses, contents and other elements can be described. Our proposal is that the description in XML of the management elements used in eLearning may be a good basis for the future standardization of those management elements, leading the way to the possible definition of what we may designate as management objects, subsuming in the designation the conceptual parallel already used, concerning the concept, with learning objects. One exciting possibility opened by this approach is the setup of a framework enabling the definition of self-contained management objects, incorporating target management elements (such as activities), metric definitions and the different procedures to be executed in the different specific scenarios. If presented in a well-known language, such as XML, these management objects could be imported by eLearning platforms, such as Learning Management Systems, and used according to specific needs, in a similar way as LO are supposed to be incorporated and used. BOOK 1: The SCORM Overview

SCORM BOOK TheTime SCORM3:Run Environment

BOOK 2: The SCORM Content Aggregation Model

Meta-data Dictionary

Content Packaging Content Structure Meta-data XML Binding and Best Practice

Data Model Launch, Communication API

Management Metadata and Procedures

Figure 4: Integration of the proposed management framework in SCORM (adapted from (9)).

Our current proposal is that the integration of the management framework under development in the SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) umbrella (Figure 4), promoted by ADL, should be done by adding a new “book” (Management Metadata and Procedures) to the Content Aggregation Model already defined, which would provide the basis for the declaration, for each sharable unit, of the applicable management features. Conclusions

As it happens with actors in theatre, the timely interaction among members of a distributed learning community is crucial for the achievement of the community’s aims. Furthermore, and unlike actors in a theatre play, members of a distributed learning community are usually distant from each other and do not have direct/personal contact. These assertions lead to the need for a management framework that helps control activities in Internet based distributed learning communities, which is facilitated by the use, by most communities, of technologically advanced platforms (Learning Management Systems) where all the interactions are performed. This paper presents, in brief, the basic concepts developed in a research project conducted by a consortium of business and academic institutions aiming at the definition of such a framework, that rely on the concept of observable activity as the key element for the management of Internet based distributed communities. The paper also identifies the strategy under way to articulate the results of this project with the standardization efforts being developed by several international organizations and integrated under the SCORM umbrella. References (1) Laurel, B., (1993) Computers as Theatre. Addison Wesley. (2) Ramos, F., Moreira, A. and Santos, A., (2001) Towards a Reference Framework for eLearning Management, Proceedings of DLA’2001-Distance Learning Administration Conference, University of West Georgia, GA, USA, June 6-8. (3) Ramos, F., Conde, A., Neves, L., Moreira, A., (2002) Management of eLearning Environments: Some Issues and Research Clues, Workshop on Intelligence and Technology in Educational Applications, ITEA 2002, Innsbruck, February. (4) ADL, Advanced Distributed Learning, Department of Defense, http://www.adlnet.org. (5) IMS Global Learning Consortium, http://www.imsproject.org. (6) IEEE - LTSC, Learning Technology Standardization Committee, http://ltsc.ieee.org. (7) Anido, L., et. Al., (2002) Educational Metadata and Brokerage for Learning Resources, Computers & Education, Pergamon, 38:351-374. (8) World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), XML specifications, http://www.w3.org/XML/.

Dodds, P., (2000) Plugfest 5 – State of SCORM, November (available at http://www.adlnet.org).