Goal and Motivation

The online communication tools promise dramatic changes in the way we learn, teach, and interact with one another. The changes of a new era are already taking a place in our daily lives. We introduce our project, Rendezvous Corner (RVC), to create an advanced communication environment. Web-based learning systems aim to provide learners ways to obtain education without the presence of traditional classrooms. Web-based learning environments attempt to serve learners delivery models that seek to reduce the barriers of time and space to learning. As the field is evolving rapidly, web-based learning tools and strategies are affecting the ways we acquire knowledge. Even though much has been achieved from these endeavors and the promise of future successes is high, isolation of students from one another and the instructor has not been avoided. The lack of human interaction should be resolved to promote a fully functioning web-based learning environment. This limitation is our motivation to create our communication tool Rendezvous Corner (RVC). We believe that RVC is a step toward to an efficient and flexible web-based learning environment.

Achievements

• Implementation of the prototype of the proposed model.
  
• Our research project was awarded the second place in the category of "Recognition for Research Excellence in Physical Sciences, Computer Science, & Engineering" in SEARCH (Students Engaged in Artistic and Academic Research) Symposium held in spring, 2002.
  
• Under preparation of a technical research paper to be submitted to the Peer Review Journal in June.
  
• Lei Zhang and Jingyuan Zhang involved in this project graduated this May and will continue to work on the study in the graduate school in UMKC and Asiye Uysal will graduate this August.

Experience Gained:

The CREW project has provided us the opportunity to gain a new technological experience in a real world environment. Since this was a team activity, the true challenge was not only learning and designing a new technology, but also exercising how to collaborate effectively to manage our time and schedules. Given the situation that we were full time students with part time jobs, it was difficult to spare time from school and work for other projects. We resolved this conflict by optimizing time by having each team member fully utilize her academic forte to contribute to the project. In the beginning of the design phase, there were many technology choices we could select from. We conducted extensive research and study on each option and chose the best suitable technology for our system. The CREW project gave us the opportunity to improve our research skills and prepare for our future studies. We presented our end result at the SEARCH Symposium which contributed to our presentation skills as well. Additionally, we learned how to become more proficient technical writers by preparing our research paper for the journal. In whole, this project has made us better students, researchers, and team workers.

*For more information on our research, please go to http://www.sice.umkc.edu/~leeyu/crew.html.

Conceptual Model

RVC is a collaborative and interactive group-based learning environment for Web-based learning. The system provides a collaborative and interactive interface to support (1) group-based communication, (2) group-based project development and assessment, (3) scheduling and planning for group activities, and (4) group structure building and management.

We have created a conceptual model based on three individual models: student model, group model, and instructor model. The advantage of our model is that the learning environment is dynamically and intelligently adapted to the needs of the learner at the student, group, and instructor level. Our RVC tool, which is based on this three-model concept, also provides a dynamic mapping from student to group model, and from group to instructor model.

Student Model

To achieve effective group learning, we proposed a student model which is built on the basis of student’s thinking style, performance, and preference. Performance data is a vital part of the student model. When working in groups, some people are natural leaders while others are better in supporting roles. Some students are active participators during group discussions as others remain shy. The students’ knowledge backgrounds are different and vary in depth. Knowledge background can be used as information to create groups that have the best distribution of knowledge. Information in these areas is important for creating groups that work efficiently. Student preference details information about his/her learning interest areas. If student’s preference profile indicates that s/he prefers a certain kind of project, the intelligent portion of the learning environment will group this student with other students with similar interests. Overall, the student model is used to promote communication and participation in the learning environment.

Group Model

Once student profiles are created, they are divided into groups based on the similarities in students’ profiles. This is when the group models are created. From the student model, we can gather information about each student’s preferred role in the group (i.e. leader, supporter, coordinator, etc.) The groups then will be comprised of the appropriate members so that everyone will collaborate well together. For example, a group will have a leader and supporters. It will not consist of all leader-type students or all supporter-type students. Student profiles also provide information about the students learning styles. Depending on the information, group model chooses an interaction style. Interaction can be seen as a dialog between the system and the user, which is developed to adjust the subject of learning and its presentation based on the students' abilities. Therefore, each student learns at his/her own pace independently. This advancement provides each and every kind of learner with the optimum learning environment.

Instructor Model

This model is used to encourage cooperation, collaboration and coordination among students and groups. Each group has an instructor profile based on its group profile. Since the group members have similar student profiles, the instructor profile for them is also similar. Based on the group’s information, the instructor model will select the group projects that are most appropriate for the group. It will present guidance, reference, assessment, and control that are tailored to each particular group.

System Design and Implementation

RVC system is designed after our conceptual model with a goal to provide a dynamic, group oriented learning environment that facilitates interaction and communication. We used an Object Oriented model (UML) for the design of the proposed system and implemented the prototype using a CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) based client/server architecture and Java.

At the student level of our model, we try to maximize the learning and communication between the students by providing an environment that dynamically changes. The student model functionalities of the prototype include (1) Reference accessibility, Upload file (text and graphic), (2) Time stamp for each conversation and colorful font for distinguishing use, (3) "Find" function to search for a specific topic discussed before. The group model provides a shared environment for group communication. The groups will be comprised of the appropriate members so that everyone will collaborate well together in a timeless manner. The group model functionalities of the prototype include (1) Project and Topic oriented discussion, (2) Collaboration between participants, (3) Accessibility with place and time limit. The instructor model overseas the group and student models. It evaluates learner(s) performance. The instructor model functionalities of the prototype include (1) Trace of individual learner’s performance, (2) Assessment tool.

Conclusion and Future Work

The existing web-based learning systems have great room for improvement. Our RVC is a communications tool that will bring enhancement to the current systems. Its great advantage is the support for both synchronous and asynchronous communications for students and teachers. By allowing communication to become less restricting, RVC brings flexibility and efficiency to web-based learning. At the time of this paper, our prototype supports the desired major functionalities discussed in our model. Our next step is to test this system on one of the Internet classes at our Virtual University.

Although the initial version of the RVC is near a completion, several new improvements can be done in the future. We plan to enhance our system by adding a decision support component. This component will supply intelligence to analyze user profiles, adapt learning styles and create a virtual environment that optimizes the performance of the students. The system will keep a record of each profile for future reference. Once the student is entered the system, our decision support component will be able to track the record. Use of such system will provide a dynamic, group oriented learning environment that will facilitate interaction and communication. Finally, we will incorporate video conferencing to our system to truly create "live" learning environments. With a series of future development and testing, we hope to perfect the RVC to become a necessary tool in the web-based learning environment.