Subject: Re: ITR proposal
Resent-Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 12:39:03 -0500
Resent-From: Geoffrey Fox <gcf@npac.syr.edu>
Resent-To: p_gcf@npac.syr.edu
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 12:16:24 -0500
From: Nancy McCracken <njm@npac.syr.edu>
To: gcf@npac.syr.edu
CC: njm@npac.syr.edu

Geoffrey,

I am particularly interested in two aspects of this proposal:

1. Interactive Curriculum.  As I was working on the applet design for
animating parallel computing, in the back of my mind, I was thinking
that the process of the instructor specifying the animation should
give us guidance in what authoring tools might be helpful to enable
instructors to easily make such animations.  In keeping with the
wisdom of building on existing tools, I am thinking that the authoring
system should use components.  The actual authoring tool would be
state-of-the-art component design tool (where the Beanbox is an
example of a prototype).  Our authoring contribution would be in
designing a set of components (javabeans) that enable instructors to
put together animations using the component design tool.  The parallel
computing animations would be one area where we could do a prototype.
Another natural area for me would be web architecture and distributed
objects.  The lessons learned from these prototypes should give
insight into authoring animations in these and other more general
areas.  I would also like to do another more general area, perhaps
high-school mathematics.  We have someone here who has a series of
high-school math lessons that he would like illustrated with java
applets.

2. Technology for asynchronous learning.  I would like to expand from
what Mehmet is working on in tracking student use of materials and
extracting patterns for assessment to keeping more details on student
learning both for assessment and for providing assistance to students.
This is already mentioned in your proposal document as individual
learning/knowledge profiles.  I think that the issue of using these
profiles to assist students more automatically is quite important
in reducing instructor time/cost, which as we well know, is not
reduced in asynchronous learning under current technologies.  The
student profiles should also be available instantly to the instructor
to streamline the process of answering questions either asynch. or
sync.
Issues for disucssion:  What is the privacy and psychological issues
in tracking students' every move?

Got to go now,
Nancy