Experiences from CSCW in Virtual Classrooms

The rapid development of modern information and communications technologies has opened new possibilities for establishing and delivering distance learning. In addition, the new learning paradigm based on cognitive learning theories can emphasize the quality of the learning process. The open learning environment that utilizes modern communications and information technologies can be described as a virtual organization. Virtual organization is a construct that provides services to the public by examining potential clients and service providers and dynamically assigning services to the clients. This paper discusses the application of virtual organizations to virtual learning structures such as virtual classrooms and virtual universities. As an example of a virtual classroom, a hypermedia course was implemented by the Finnish Open Technical University using the computer supported collaborative software (CSCW) called Basic Support for Collaborative Work (BSCW) and the World Wide Web. Experiences from the course are presented. Two figures present a network-based learning environment and a BSCW screen. (Author/AEF) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Experiences from CSCW in Virtual Classrooms Jari Multisilta Tampere University of Technology, Dept. of Information Technology, Pori Science Park, PO Box 30, FIN-28601 Pori, Finland Phone: (+358) 2-627 2747 Fax: (+358) 2-627 2727 E-mail: [email protected] "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY G.H. Marks TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." Abstract: The rapid development of modern information and communication technologies has opened new possibilites to establish and deliver distance learning. In addition, the new learning paradigm based on cognitive learning theories can emphasise the quality of the learning process. The open learning environment that utilises modern communication and information technologies can be described to be a virtual organisation. Virtual organisation is a construct that provides services to public by examining the potential clients and service providers and dynamically assigning services to the clients. This paper discusses of virtual organisations as a sturcture for virtual learning structures, such as virtual classrooms and virtual universities. As an example of virtual classroom a hypermedia course was implemented using computer supported collaborative software (CSCW) and WWW. Finally, experiences from the course are presented. The rapid development of modern information and communication technologies has opened new possibilites to establish and deliver distance learning. In addition, the new learning paradigm based on cognitive learning theories can emphasise the quality of the learning process. The open learning environment that utilises modern communication and information technologies can be described to be a virtual organisation. Virtual organisation is a construct that provides services to public by examining the potential clients and service providers and dynamically assigning services to the clients. This paper discusses of virtual organisations as a sturcture for virtual learning structures, such as virtual classrooms and virtual universities. As an example of virtual classroom a hypermedia course was implemented using computer supported collaborative software (CSCW) and WWW. Finally, experiences from the course are presented.