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"Collaborative Inquiry in Networked Communities: Lessons From the Alice Testbed" Table of Contents Background Network Science Model Scalability The Software Innovation Testbed Projects: Developing a Model What Have We Learned About Network Science? What Have We Learned About Scalability? Summary Appendix: Description of Testbed Projects Bibliography |
The fundamental innovation element that characterizes the projects in the Alice Testbed is the set of tools provided to students and teachers by the Alice Network Software. Understanding the design of the software is helpful to understanding Network Science.
Different pedagogical goals will suggest different approaches to large-scale
computer use and will require different kinds of technological and other
support. A pedagogy emphasizing the acquisition of basic skills suggests
the use of an integrated learning system in which skill practice is
individualized and sequenced. ... In contrast, a pedagogy emphasizing
apprenticeship as a means for attaining higher cognitive skills and
understanding (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989; Resnick, 1987) suggests
modeling school computer use on adult work activities. Each vision of
education includes a unique image of how computers function in the
classroom organization. (Newman, 1990, p. 10)
The Alice Network Software, often described as "tool-based software," is designed to give students tools for working with data analogous to the tools that scientists have.
The elements of this innovation are described below.
Common set of tools, available on both the Mac and PC platforms. The software has been created on both the Mac and PC/Windows platforms, enabling users to telecommunicate to other users on either platform. Each user has an identical set of tools to view others' data, graphs, maps, and written messages, without having to translate. This innovation makes the task of sharing messages (including simple formatting) and data tables among users much easieran essential element in collaboration.
Data analysis tools. In order for students to interpret data, they need tools for data analysis. The software assists students in creating multiple ways to look at data. The software is built around a data table. Students can collect data using a data table, then analyze their data by sorting the data, looking at subsets, or by examining a variety of statistics (mean, mode, maximum, minimum, etc.). Students can look at their data one record at a time in the "forms view," which is often used for entering data. A variety of graphs can be automatically generated from the data. Once created, these graphs can be manipulated (e.g., changing the maximums and minimums on each axis) and saved. Data sets which includes longitude/latitude information give student another option, that of looking at a map showing the geographical distribution of a measurement (e.g., acidity level of rain). They can organize the display and save the representation. Data tables can be imported and exported; this allows students who wish to use more sophisticated tools to analyze their data, such as spreadsheets and geographic information systems.
Word processor and e-mail. The software incorporates a simple word processor that doubles as a mail reader/writer. Students can describe their experiment, detail the steps of their data analysis, and share their findings with others in their class (by printing) or at remote locations (via e-mail). The word processor/e-mail reader allows for simple formatting (bold and italics) which assist students in articulating and organizing their ideas.
Telecommunications. Telecommunications functions have been designed to make Internet email available to schools that only have modem-access to host servers through low-bandwidth phone line connections. (As wide bandwidth connections to schools expand, the Data-Analysis Tools will be adapted to use the increasingly-available IP mail protocols.) This design is typical of large educational networks, such as TENET in Texas and NEXUS in Australia. Any terminal-type user of TENET and NEXUS is now able to use the Alice Network Software on an existing account.
The Alice Network Software's telecommunications module was intended to replace standard modem-based telecommunications software, which is poorly designed for classroom use. In typical telecommunications packages, the interface is complex and users have to understand a complex sequence of actions, including choosing the protocols by which to make file transfers. In contrast, the Alice Network Software automates telecommunications through the use of "scripts." Users place multiple files to send in an OUTBOX, addressing each one individually. They can initiate telecommunications when convenient by pressing one button and filling in a password; and then check their INBOX for mail received. In addition to automating telecommunications, the design of the system allows for an easy method of distributing updated files. When the project coordinator (or any teacher) needs to send out new data templates or address books, these items are mailed to participating classrooms as "updates" and are automatically installed when the user moves them from the INBOX.
The Alice telecommunications module enables students to exchange their data tables, maps displaying data, and graphs (i.e., their representations of the data), and their writing (i.e., their interpretations of what they have learned). The ability to telecommunicate all this information togetherfar more than wordsis an essential element of Network Science.
Data consolidation. Prior to the availability of the Alice Network Software, student collaborations were limited to sending individual e-mail messages among sites. If data were used, it was incorporated into these messages and each site would retype the data into whatever data tools there were using. The Global Lab project reported that few classes, under these circumstances, analyzed data from other sites. Using the Alice Network Software and an Alice server, data from a variety of sites can be submitted to a single database where it is combined into a single table. When students send a "retrieve" message, they receive the full set of data from all schools who have submitted. Students can retrieve information that has been collected from hundreds of sites, which enables students to have access to significant scientific data. Currently the testbed is making use of an early-version prototype for data consolidation.
Compatibility With Non-Alice Users. The software has been designed so that it can be mimicked by sites that are not using Alice Network Software, e.g., sites that do not have access to EcoNet or to an Alice-enabled Internet host, or sites which cannot run the Alice Network Software (pre-Windows PCs or Apple IIs). These sites, typically at the locations most remote from the United States such as eastern Europe and Africa, are able to participate fully with schools who have more modern computers. The Global Lab project includes sites which are not using the Alice Network Software, constituting an estimated 50% of their schools.
The interrelationships of the Internet, various hosts, Alice and non-Alice users, and the data consolidation server are shown in the diagram on the next page.
It is important to note that the Alice Network Software, in its current form, is designed to make use of technology that either is already available in many schools, or that schools are able to purchase. The key elements of this technology are a computer, modem, and telephone line. We view this strategy of terminal-host dial-up connectivity as a transitional one, emphasizing widespread availability over "cutting edge" technology. The rapid growth of standards and software on the Internet and the increasing number of schools with client-server connections to the Internet make it certain that, at some point in the future (one that is presently difficult to determine), Network Science will be best supported with data-analysis tools that are part of a communications tool designed around full Internet connectivity.