Privacy and Territoriality Issues in an Online Social Learning Portal

Following the popularity of Wikipedia, community authoring systems are increasingly in use as content sharing outlets. As such, a Web-based portal for sharing of user-generated content (e.g., course notes, quiz answers, etc.) shows prospect to be a great tool for social E-Learning. Among others, students are expected to be active contributors in such systems in order to offer and receive peer-help. However, privacy and territoriality concerns can be potential barriers to wide adoption of such technology. Understanding the preference for sharing learning content is the first step to address privacy and territoriality concerns of content providers. The authors conduct a survey among students in four university courses in order to learn their preference for sharing notes and quiz answers with three target groups: instructor, peer, and stranger (i.e., someone outside their class). The authors also examine the preference for acceptable method of sharing by inquiring about three methods: “anonymous sharing,” “pseudonymous sharing,” and “sharing with name”. They further investigate the importance of “content type,” “sharing method,” and “accessor type” on the preference for sharing. The survey also reveals respondents' self-reported reasons for controlling access to their generated learning content. The survey data indicate that even though the respondents have various levels of concerns, almost all of them are willing to share. The authors observe relationships between content type and respondents' preference over each of these parameters: accessor type, commentator type, and sharing method.

A 50+ Year Search for effective, efficient and engaging instruction

In this paper I will chronicle my 50+ year career, from my interest in making education more effective, to an epiphany about theories, and some of my published work that, for a time, gained the attention of others in the field of instructional technology. My extensive experience with computer-assisted learning covers early efforts to teach concepts to attempts to design automated authoring systems. My most recent work attempts to identify underlying principles common to most theories of instruction.The professional press publishes reports of theory, research, data, prescriptions, and opinions, but seldom do we get the back story. Where did these ideas originate? What events led to a particular theoretical or research approach? What were the challenges—personal and interpersonal—that affected a given approach, theory or research study? In this paper, in addition to identifying a few of the most notable contributions to this literature, I will provide some of the back story that contributed to my career and inspired or significantly influenced my work. I will also highlight some of the lessons learned along the way.Download the PDF and read more...

Privacy and Territoriality Issues in an Online Social Learning Portal

Following the popularity of Wikipedia, community authoring systems are increasingly in use as content sharing outlets. As such, a Web-based portal for sharing of user-generated content (e.g., course notes, quiz answers, etc.) shows prospect to be a great tool for social E-Learning. Among others, students are expected to be active contributors in such systems in order to offer and receive peer-help. However, privacy and territoriality concerns can be potential barriers to wide adoption of such technology. Understanding the preference for sharing learning content is the first step to address privacy and territoriality concerns of content providers. The authors conduct a survey among students in four university courses in order to learn their preference for sharing notes and quiz answers with three target groups: instructor, peer, and stranger (i.e., someone outside their class). The authors also examine the preference for acceptable method of sharing by inquiring about three methods: “anonymous sharing,” “pseudonymous sharing,” and “sharing with name”. They further investigate the importance of “content type,” “sharing method,” and “accessor type” on the preference for sharing. The survey also reveals respondents' self-reported reasons for controlling access to their generated learning content. The survey data indicate that even though the respondents have various levels of concerns, almost all of them are willing to share. The authors observe relationships between content type and respondents' preference over each of these parameters: accessor type, commentator type, and sharing method.

Technologiebasierte Externalisierung von Wissen/Technology-based externalization of knowledge

Der zunehmende Grad an Digitalisierung bringt für die Produktion der Zukunft weitreichende Änderungen. Neben den Auswirkungen auf die Industrie und Technik sieht sich auch der Mensch konfrontiert mit neuen Anforderungen an sich und sein soziales Umfeld. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts „Innowas“ einen Ansatz, den Lernprozess und die Reflexion vorhandenen Wissens der Mitarbeitenden durch Nutzung von multimedialen Autorensystemen zu unterstützen.   The rising significance of digitalization and globalization forces far-reaching changes on the production of the future. It not only leads to changes in industry and technology but also affects human beings as well as their social environment. As part of the research project “Innowas“, this paper describes an approach to enhance the learning capabilities of employees by authoring systems. Furthermore, the technology is used to reflect existent knowledge and broaden the knowledge base at all.