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Given by Geoffrey C. Fox at ERC Seminar at Misissippi State University on September 9 1999. Foils prepared September 13 99
Outside Index
Summary of Material
We describe the technology components that are needed to support distance education and training
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| This model will succeed because it will provide more cost effective and higher quality learning environments |
| Greater use of emerging standards such as XML will improve situation |
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Tango Interactive as Technology for Education: Current State and Futures
Abstract of Tango and Training Technology
Challenge and Opportunity in Education and Training
Why use Distance Education and Training?
Traditional Model of Instruction
Better Model of Instruction
Courses at Jackson State
Traditional Computational Science
Conventional Computational Science
Information Track of Computational Science
Information Track of Computational Science
Detailed Course Contents
Internetics and Computational Science
The Ingredients of Web Based Education
Learning and Teaching the Curricula
Role of Collaborative Objects in Education
Universal Shared Object Strategy
What does Tango Interactive Provide?
Architecture of Tango Distance Education
What is Web-based Collaboration?
Simplest Shared Object is Client Side Java Applet
Shared Simulations -- Fluid Flow and Planetary Motion
More General Shared server side Objects
Shared Form Illustrated by Shared Access to NCSA Biology Workbench showing how general server objects can be shared from web interface
Applications of Web-based Collaboration
Shared Event Model of Collaboration?
So what do we have now--TangoInteractive
Next Generation TangoInteractive
Shared Places on the Web I
SPDL Document Header
A Collection of Shared Place Components
Shared Places on the Web II
SPW and Portals
SPW as Shared Portal on the Web
Two Uses of XML in Collaboration?
Shared XML Page Architecture
Applications of Shared XML Content Pages
XML and Universal Access I
XML and Universal Access II
New Enterprise Models for Universities?
Tango Status / Futures ?
Outside Index
Summary of Material
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| Presentation at MSU Computational Fields ERC |
| Starkville Ms. Sep 9 1999 |
| Geoffrey Fox |
| Syracuse University |
| NPAC |
| 111 College Place Syracuse NY 13244 4100 |
| 3154432163 |
HTML version of Basic Foils prepared September 13 99
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We describe the technology components that are needed to support distance education and training
|
| This model will succeed because it will provide more cost effective and higher quality learning environments |
| Greater use of emerging standards such as XML will improve situation |
HTML version of Basic Foils prepared September 13 99
Full HTML Index
Pervasive Communication Infrastructure (The Internet) and powerful new software technologies and concepts
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Can enable education and training with
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| Can also change/enable businesses, research, electronic societies |
Need to implement so that
|
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New and rapidly changing Academic Curriculum suggest the use of distance education as it will allow a few experts to deliver instruction to more students and this addresses both
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| Distance Education is technically sound based on web curricula-- both synchronously and asynchronously -- today with very robust clear implementations available over next 2 years |
Both delivery mechanism and identification of knowledge nuggets (such as Internetics or computational science) that are smaller than a traditional degree suggests different approaches to certification
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| Similar arguments for distance training with relative importance of synchronous and asynchronous learning differing by customer group |
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| Professors |
| Students |
| Common Shared Books and Such Resources |
| Done separately for each class at each university |
| Often |
| Low |
| Quality |
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| Professor at AVU |
| (AnyTown Virtual University) |
| with team of authoring specialists |
| Outside |
| Students |
| (dominant clientele) |
| Common Shared Books Web based Lecture Material |
| and Similar Resources |
| Institutions focussing on particular disciplines, teach a given class |
| to Students from Universities which provide beds and mentors |
| Possible local Students |
| INTERNET |
| Classes are |
| given by |
| AVU |
| to students |
| around |
| the state |
| (world) |
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Taught using Tango since fall 97 over Internet and defense high performance network DREN twice a week from Syracuse
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| Jackson State major HBC University with many computer science graduates |
Do not compete with base courses but offer addon courses with "leading edge" material (Web Technology, modern scientific computing) which give JSU (under)graduates skills that are important in their career
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Needs guaranteed 30 (audio) to 100 (video) kilobits per second bandwidth
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| 1991 |
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| At Syracuse built around a two course sequence and associated application, computer science and math courses |
CPS615: Introduction to Computational Science
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CPS713: Case Studies in Computational Science
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| These form 2 course certificate in simulation track of computational science |
HTML version of Basic Foils prepared September 13 99
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| 1995 |
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Grew at Syracuse into 4 Core Courses offered as a certificate now called Internetics
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| CPS406(undergraduate)/606(graduate) Introduction to Web Technologies |
| CPS616 Core Web and Distributed Object Technologies |
| CPS640 Internet Infrastructure |
| CPS714 Advanced Topics and Case Studies in Internetics |
| Graduate |
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| CPS406/606: CGI, Java, Introduction to CORBA/RMI/JDBC |
| CPS616: More on CORBA/RMI/JDBC; Database discussion as necessary; Advanced Java (Servlets, Javabeans, Enterprise Javabeans, Frameworks); Security; Introduction to XML; JavaScript and Dynamic HTML; in the past VRML and Perl |
| CPS640: Network and Internet Service Architecture; Quality of Service; Multimedia Servers; Compression technology |
| CPS714: Whatever is important this semester done as a projects course; XML (for scientific information and to build PSE's); Distributed Computing using CORBA/Web; Java Grande; Advanced Security; How to build a Portal; Collaboration; Electronic Commerce; High performance Web Servers; Latest W3C Initiatives |
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Computational Science is Interdisciplinary field in between Computer Science and "large scale Scientific and Engineering simulation-based" applications
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Internetics is Interdisciplinary field between CS and Both Simulation and Information-based applications
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| Enrollment in Classic Computational Science at Syracuse has dropped from 50 to 10 (per year); enrollment in Internetics has risen from 6 to 120 per semester (95-99) |
| Current Internetics Curriculum starts with High School Java Academy;undergraduate and graduate programs, through the four course continuing education certificate |
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| Assess and install the rapidly changing hardware and software technology infrastructure |
| Design of (possibly new as exploiting new possibilities) curricula |
| Authoring of material in curricula |
| Managing the material and students response to it including quizzes, grades and administration |
| Delivery of the material in a mix of self-paced (asynchronous), traditional (synchronous) or collaborative (interactive) |
Good answers to all these components are pretty clear and these answers will match the evolution of web over next few years
|
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| So the students need to learn the material and they may need some sort of help from a teacher or mentor |
In self paced or asynchronous learning, student studies material in his or her own time and essence of this is a web site which may of course be generated from a back-end web-linked database
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In synchronous learning, teacher selects material from website and delivers it in electronic virtual class rooms
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Learning is an example of an activity which can be thought of in terms of objects (digital audio streams when you talk, books, homework, science fair exhibits) worked on alone or together -- either between students or students and teacher
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Collaboration can be synchronous as when individuals talk to each other
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| Or asynchronous when sharing is done at different times |
| I post a web page and you look at it later is a basic asynchronous sharing model while writing on a blackboard is hallowed synchronous model in teaching |
All objects can be thought of as web pages as these are rendering of a server side object
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Assume teachers, students, engineers, shoppers, salespersons, families teach, learn, collaborate, buy, sell, socialize via electronic versions of traditional human interactions combined with shared objects expressed in XML and rendered as web pages
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| Only shared event model (used in Tango) of sharing (collaboration) is capable of necessary efficiency and customization to each user |
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| Overall Management of a lecture viewed as part of a learning environment built around a Web Resource |
| Audio/Video Conferencing |
| Chat Rooms and electronic mail for synchronous and asynchronous messages |
| Shared Web Pages which can come from a database |
| Whiteboard for communicating visual material |
| Shared Java applets which can be embedded in web pages to allow interactive lesson components |
| API to interface specialized resources -- Planning Tools, GIS Systems, CAD, Visualization .. -- not necessary for training? |
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| NPAC Web Server |
| JSU Web Server |
| Java Tango Server |
| ....... |
| Share URL's |
| Audio Video |
| Conferencing Chat Rooms |
| White Boards etc. |
| Address at JSU of Curriculum Page |
| Teacher's View of Curriculum Page |
| Student's View of Curriculum Page |
| Participants at JSU |
| Teacher/Lecturer at NPAC |
| ....... |
| Java Sockets |
| HTTP |
| Java Control Clients |
| All Curricula placed on the Web |
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| Collaboration means sharing objects |
Web-based Collaboration implies use of Web to share distributed objects accessible through the Web
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| Specify Page |
| Receive Identical Page |
| Web Site |
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| Web Pages are an example where there is a single copy of an object; perhaps simpler is the replicated object model used in chat-rooms and more generally shared applets where sharing is maintaining consistent state of replicas |
| Server Shares Events |
| Java Chat Rooms (applications or applets). Share text typed by users |
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| These educational resources are |
| shared replicated client side objects |
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| Web Page Sharing is a special case of sharing server side objects -- CGI Scripts, Databases, Object Repositories etc. |
| This can be done by sharing the Web specification of these objects which can be done client side without ANY change to basic object |
| This is sharing of client side interface (proxy) to server side object |
| Specify Object |
| Collaboration Server Shares Object Specification |
| Receive Identical Specification |
| Fetch Identical Objects |
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| Shared Multiple List |
| Shared Buttons |
| Shared Text field |
| Shared Checkbox |
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Multi Player Games: Use Chat Rooms and digital VTC to establish context
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| Crisis Management: Again use general tools (including whiteboard) and add shared maps and multimedia situation reports |
Command and Control: Military, Test and Evaluation -- any real time control of complex system
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| Collaborative Computing and Engineering: Here specialized shared objects are CAD, simulation and planning tools |
| Socializing ..... |
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| So if all clients want exactly same view at all times, then the "shared event" model is a waste. |
| Might as well, just share the display produced on originating client (cf. Microsoft NetMeeting) |
| In fact, shared event typically enables each client to get the same view but instead one shares the object but has different presentation layers on each client |
| For instance, share a single XML document but apply different style sheets on each client |
| Again in command and control, basic application is a 3D map (Geographical Information System) but not so interested clients can present a simple 2D view |
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| http://www.npac.syr.edu/tango |
Largely Java system enabling collaboration between general client side objects
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API Enables sharing of events in applications
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| API Enables applications to find out about participants |
Currently ONLY deployed for Netscape version 4.5 as uses LiveConnect to connect JavaScript to Java
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So let us imagine that we can redo all of this and assume that
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| Collaboration implies sharing of electronic objects and is needed in Asynchronous (most commonly used access to Web Pages) and Synchronous modes |
| Then we can integrate concept of portal with collaboration and use XML to define portal structure (curricula pages, quizzes, glossary etc.) and also allow one to define collaborative nature of each document component (who is in charge, how to synchronize etc.) |
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| Each "Shared Place on the Web" or SPW is a set of XML and HTML documents |
An XML document defines the collaboration Structure -- who is allowed in "Shared Place"; what objects can be there; where they are stored
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| <?xml version="1.0"?> |
| <placedef> |
| <head> |
| <title>Result Presentation</title> |
| <protocol type="plain"> |
| <server>kopernik.npac.syr.edu</server> |
| <port</port> |
| </protocol> |
| </head> |
| The Header contains the title of the place. |
| It also declares how the shared place communicates with the collaboration framework. (I.e. server in Tango language) |
| The plain client/server protocol is chosen here with the collaboration server running on the machine: kopernik.npac.syr.edu on the port: 5555. |
| Other protocols such as IIOP can be used as well. |
| Initialize shared place definition |
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| <placedef> <protocol> .... <groups> .... <place_acces> ... |
| . . |
| </placedef> |
| SPDL is XML language to define collaboration |
| Web browser |
| Regular content |
| Web page |
| Shared objects |
| So Web Page is defined as a set of Nodes |
| -- You choose which nodes (and their children) |
| that you wish to share and then events are exchanged |
| maintaining state consistency |
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There is an HTML document defines the shared place itself; it instantiates particular objects and is presentation layer
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| We will re-use some existing client side Java as SP agent and control objects invoked from style sheets |
| The TangoInteractive Server can also be largely re-used |
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| There is a lot of interest in portals these days |
| We build Web-based computing environments which are portals to Supercomputers and Web-based education or portals to a virtual university |
| Merrill Lynch predicts that Enterprise Information portal market will be $15B by 2002 |
| Portals are built (by us) as a customizable set of XML components ( e.g. Run a Particular Program or display thumbnail of the next web-page in lecture) |
| SPW's can be thought of as customizable collaborative portals which define both synchronous and asynchronous shared components |
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Electronic Mail and News Updates are just "events" which can be handed to viewer objects in an SPW
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| Integration of Synchronous and Asynchronous Events is essential in "Next Generation" TangoInteractive |
| Customization is available as you can choose which objects are in your SPW and you can define customization parameters such as area for which you want weather and which sports results should be displayed |
| Such customized portals are commonplace but SPDL has the advantage that it specifies both synchronous and asynchronous portal components. |
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| We have introduced XML used to define the nature of collaboration in terms of objects, clients, policies |
| We have discussed user customization in terms of portals |
| Consider the JavaScript Shared Browser (JSSB) in TangoInteractive |
It is an example of collaborative content built around sharing events defined in Web Page
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| Here we discuss "content" Web pages and not the "Collaboration Definition" Web pages we discussed already |
| Remember that "shared event" Collaborative systems share the object and not its particular presentation layer on each client |
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| Content Server |
| Shared by next generation Tango |
| Events |
| Trapped by XML Shared Browser |
| Master |
| Nonmaster |
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| Support of Collaboration between PC client, Palmtop and high graphics devices such as CAVE's |
So in education, can support a mix of wireless palmtops and laptops in the class, with distance PC's
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Linkage of geographically distributed researchers is necessary to support collaborative computational science
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| A common XML specification of visualization is mapped according to display capabilities of client device |
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| It is essential that collaborative technologies support all users independent of their hardware and physical capabilities |
| Hardware issues are essentially illustrated by palmtop to CAVE example on previous foil |
| Suppose we wish to teach a class where some students and/or teachers have impaired sight and hearing. |
Then we need to share same object content but render it differently on each client.
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Essential to share content (as in XML JSSB) and this enables you to choose right presentation for given client
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| Concepts of XML JSSB for universal access developed with Al Gilman from Trace Center |
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| Assume that all education will be web-based |
| Assume that we need to provide web resources of equal quality for all citizens |
| This will not work if one has to translate each course from material for "regular user" to that for "user for different access capabilities" |
| Thus only chance is to define curriculum in XML and produce customized presentation layers |
One will need a powerful indexing/abstracting scheme to be able design appropriate navigation schemes for all users and clients
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| Distance Education is technically sound -- both synchronously and asynchronously -- today with very robust clear implementations available over next 2 years |
| Separate teaching mentoring and dormitory role of University |
| Teaching and grading naturally performed by centers of excellence which need at least an order of magnitude more customers than a single faculty in order to be able to justify investment in course preparation and maintenance |
| Continuing Education of growing importance and natural area to attack first -- corporate training is serious competition here and commercial deliverers have advantage? |
| Not obvious that will save large amounts of money as students will need more not less mentoring in today's information-overrich world -- quality of educational experience will become more uniform and better |
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| Tango 2 is about as good as you can do with current browsers |
| When W3C DOM fully supported and XML is well established, we can evolve Tango and Shared Browser to provide richer interactive shared Web Pages |
| Universal Access for different devices (Fully capable and impaired users) from PalmTops to PC's |
| Greater use of XML Web components to customize sharing of Web Page components and specify dynamically and flexibly sharing policy |
| Integration of asynchronous and Synchronous messaging Services (Tango drivers Pager) |
| Integration of Tango and Database backends to provide "Portals to Education" |