AERACKMK.docx

AERACKMK.docx

《AERACKMK.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《AERACKMK.docx（34页珍藏版）》请在冰点文库上搜索。

AERACKMK

E-slate:

A‘black-and-whitebox’approach

tocomponentcomputing

C.KynigosandM.Koutlis

UniversityofAthensandComputerTechnologyInstitute

kynigos@cti.gr,koutlis@cti.gr

PaperpresentedattheAnnualMeetingoftheAmericanEducationalResearchAssociation,

NewOrleans,2002.

Introduction

Inthispaper,wereviewthreeaspectsoftheexperienceofE-slatedevelopmentwhicharecentraltoitsdesignrationaleandhaveplayedacrucialroleinsustaininginterestandfundingsince1994.Theseare,thewaysinwhichtheusercommunitymaybeempoweredbybuildingeducationalsoftwarethroughauthoring,theadoptionofavarietyofstrategiestogenerateusercommunitiesandtheconceptualizationoftheE-slateprojectasanon-goingsequenceofbroadlydefinedmulti-organizationalprojectsfittingintotheEuropeanCommunitypolicytobringknow-howfrommemberstates,academiaandindustryclosertogether.Wesuggestthatargumentationforcomponentorientedtechnologieshasfocusedtooheavilyonitspotentiallarge-scaleeconomicsofproductionandthatabroaderviewofthistechnologyisneededtounderstandandsupportitsdevelopmentandwidespreaduse.Wediscussthesethreeaspectsofuserempowerment,sociallygroundedtheoryofuseandlong-termdevelopment,supportandservicesustainabilityascrucialforthecomponentmovementtoprogress,butalsoasitsstrengthinrelationtostandalonetechnologiesforcomputationalmedia.

Historyandprinciplesofdesignanddevelopment

Geographymeetsmathematicsandthenexpands

TwoofthethreeoriginalfoundersoftheE-slateprojectwereexpertsinG.I.S.systemslookingtodevelopsoftwareforgeographyeducation（KoutlisandHatzilakos,1996）.Thetypesoffunctionality,thesheervolumeofcontentandthetypesofrepresentationsforgeographicalinformationsystemsrequiredquiteheavydevelopmentandtechnicallycomplexpiecesofsoftware.Theideatobuildaplatformmakingitpossibletoexpandtoexploratorysoftwaretodomathematicswithandtoexplorepossiblecombinationsoffunctionalityenablinginter-subjectiveexplorationandconstructionsbroughtabouttherationaleforavarietyofcomponents,userauthoringbybuildingcomponentconfigurations,scriptabilityandreconstructibility（Kynigoset.al.,1997）.Having（just）survivedtheopen-docfiasco,theputtingofuserauthoringtothetestwasonlymadepossibletwo-threeyearsagoaftertheE-slatedesktopenvironmentbecamereasonablystableandthenumberofgenericcomponentslargeenough（around40）.So,alongwithcheapersoftwareproductionandproliferationthroughthere-usabilityangle,therationalebehindtheE-slateprojecthasbeenexplicitlytoinvestigatetheideathatbuildingcomponentconfigurationscanbecreativeandinterestingasaprocessforepistemologicalandeducationalreflectionandforlearningaboutcomponentfunctionalities.Thisisbasedona‘blackandwhitebox’,or’principleddeepstructureaccess’approachhighlightingtheideaofcomponentconnectivity.E-slateisthusdesignedasaplatformforauthoringeducationalsoftwareacrosssubjectdomainsbymeansofcreatingconfigurationsamongstasetofgenericcomponents.Theplatformisalsodesignedtobeabletohostanypieceofsoftwaredevelopedbythirdpartieswithonlyminorchangestoallowforconnectivitywithothercomponents.

Seriesofmulti-organizationalprojectssince1995

E-slatehasbeenessentiallydevelopedbytwocollaboratinggroupsmakinguseofthecontemporaryeraintheEuropeanCommunitypolicyforfundingmulti-organizationalR&Dprojectstoenhancecollaborationbetweenmemberstatesandbetweenindustryandacademia.ThisprovidedtheopportunityforrelativelylongstandingfundingallowingforlargelabordevelopmentofboththeE-slatedesktopand40genericcomponentsandthegenerationofusercommunitiesatdifferentlevelsincludingresearchondifferentaspectsofteaching,learningandauthoringwithe-slatesoftware.

ItisimportanttonotetheGreekcontext,sincetherelativelylatedevelopmentofwide-spreaduniversitybasedresearchhasresultedintheEuropeanUnionbeingbyfarthemostfrequentsourceofR&Dfunds（theequivalenttotheNSFinGreecehasbeencreatedonlyrecently）.Researchanddevelopmentprioritiesthereforeareinfluencedbyawidelydiverseculturalwebofsocietieswhichonlyinthelast30yearsorsohavemadeexplicitstridesforco-development.

E-SlatehasbeenfinancedbyaseriesofEuropeanCommunitybasedR&DprojectschanneledthroughtheEECdirectorthroughtheGreekGeneralSecretariatforR&D.Typically,thepriorityhasbeenfortheseprojectstoexplicitlysupportcollaborationbetweenavarietyoforganizations（i.e.companies,computerscienceuniversitydepartments,andenduserorganizationssuchasschoolsandeducationuniversitydepartments）insomecasesonaninternationallevel.E-SlatehasalsoreceivedfundingfromtheGreekMinistryofEducationsourceswithintheframeworkof“Odysseia”,thepolicyforintegratingnewtechnologiesinschools.Thisisimportantbecausethefundingfromthissourceisnotexclusivelyforresearch,butratherfortheimplementationofEducationalPolicy.

Twocollaboratingteamsascoredesign,developmentandusercommunitysupport

TheE-SlateprojecthassofarbeencenteredatC.T.I.andfundedbyaseriesofprojectsinvolvingcollaborationswithpartnersfromacademia,industryandschools.Onepartner,theEducationalTechnologyLabattheUniversityofAthenshashadcontinualcontributionindesign,microworlddevelopment,teachereducationanduseinschoolsfromtheoutset.ItisthusreasonabletoviewtheE-Slateprojectascarriedthroughbyawidertwo–leggedteamofdevelopersandeducationexperts.Thetechnicaldevelopmentteam,leadbyM.KoutlisatCTI,iscomprisedofmorethansixfull-timeprogrammersworkingatC.T.I.onaprojectbasis.Theeducationteam,leadbyC.Kynigos,iscomprisedofPh.D.andpost–docstudents,whotypicallyspendaround4yearsontheteam.Throughtheyears,theteamshavegonethroughdifferentphasesofclosecollaborationandmoreremoteco-operativework.Continualfeedbackandexchangeofideasandknowhowhasbeenafeatureofthisworkeitherbymeansofco-designofE-slatefunctionalitiesandcomponentsorbymeansofbetatestinganddrawingexperiencefromtheusercommunitiesinthefield.Althoughthecollaborationbeganwithemphasisonthenotionofintegrated（ratherthanfragmented）development,thebreakdownofworknecessarytocopewithitsrapidexpansion,resultedintheemergenceofthefollowingactivities（Kynigos,inpress）:

∙componentarchitecturedesignanddevelopment（desktop）

∙softwaredesignanddevelopment（components）

∙secondarydevelopmentofcomponentconfiguration（authoringwithE-slate）

∙activitydesignanddevelopment（documentedmicroworlds）

∙collaborationwithschoolsandschoolsupport

∙teachereducation

∙researchinvolvingclassroomandteacherseminarobservation,testsandinterviews

Thetechnicalgrouphavemainlyworkedinthefirsttwotypesofactivity,buthavealsohadsignificantcontributioninthethird,fourthandfifth.Theeducationgrouphaverespectivelyhadsignificantcontributiontodesigninthefirsttwoactivitiesaswellastheirworkintheothers.Thisengagementinamutuallyaccountablelargerprojectandintegrationofworkhasresultedinaconsiderabledegreeofhybridknow-howdevelopedintwodistinctorganizations（foradiscussionofthisissue,seeKynigos,inpress）.

Thisprocesshasnotbeenwithoutproblemsduetobothexternalcircumstancesandtothenatureoftheworkitself.Intheinitialstagesoftheproject,forinstance,therewereproblemswiththedevelopmentplatform“OpenDoc”,whichwasdiscontinuedinNovember97.ThisresultedingreatdifficultiesintheearlyE-Slateprojects,YDEESandIMEL,andalargelagintimeforredesignanddevelopmentinjava.Italsoresultedinlagofcommunicationbetweentheeducationteamandthedevelopmentteamsincetheformerwastiredwiththeproblemscreatedby“OpenDoc”andananti-macintoshclimateinGreeceandcautiouswithbelievingthatE-SlatewouldreappearworkingadequatelyonaWindowsO.S.Moreover,the5schoolswhereE-Slatetriedthe“OpenDoc”versionexperiencedhorrendousproblemsandtheconsequentlossofconfidencebyteachersandstudents.Thedevelopmentteamontheotherhandworkedextrahardandfocusedonre-developingtheE-SlateplatforminJava,feeling-justifiablyso-thattherewasnotimeto“waste”oncollaborations.Infact,thewholeissueaboutscriptability,whichisnowoneofthemainfeaturesofE-Slate,wasalmostabandonedsincetherewasnofundingtore-doitinJava（TheprojectnowusesDanielAzuma’sJavaTurtleTracks）.Notunlikeothers,theprojecthasthushadtodealwiththecontinuingtensionbetweenusingstateoftheartdevelopmentplatformsandproducingsoftwarethatcanoperateinreallifesituationsfromtheearlystagesofitsdevelopment.Ithasalsohadtomakechoicesbetweeninvolvingusersinlaborrealschoolssituationsandhasmainlyoptedforthelatterinordertoenhancetheunderstandingsofwhatitwouldtakeforthesoftwaretooperateasavehicleforeducationalchangeinthesystem.

Largeandcontinualexpertlabortodevelopthesystemandsustainthecoreusercommunities

Partoftherationaleforre-useenabledbycomponent-orientedarchitecturesisthatitmakesitpossibletodevelopalow-labortechnologicalsolutiontoproliferatingeducationalsoftware.Theargument,centraltotheESCOTandEoEprojects,isthatthissoftwareisproducedinanincrementallycheaperwaytakingadvantageofthegrowinglibraryofapplets