hopper, 1993 [abstract, toc, switchboard, references]

Courseware projects in advanced educational computing environments
Mary E. Hopper, Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Overview


Phase 1 - 1980s (Doctoral Thesis, 1990-93)
Courseware Projects in Advanced
Educational Computing Environments

First Expedition Question
What do viable projects look like?


Studied "samples of tomorrow" today!

Jackson, G. (1991) Conclusion Project Athena in the Evolution of Academic Computing at MIT. In C. Avril (Ed.), Windows on Athena: Vol.2: Project Athena's Curriculum Development Projects...And Beyond. Cambridge, MA: MIT.

"The Project Athena experiment embodied technological, pedagogical, and organizational questions: What does it take to design, implement, and operate a fully distributed, coherent, vendor-independent, academic computing environment for a university? How do faculty use such an environment educationally, and which of these uses prove effective? Who should manage the environment, support faculty and student users, and provide appropriate incentives and financing for academic computing to flourish? Like all experiments, Project Athena also sought to identify unrecognized issues, costs, and benefits surrounding advanced academic computing."

[See the more detailed introductory overview for further information about the general background, literature review and problem statement, of this study: Introduction Overview]

 
Methods

Formal  Ethnographic (Qualitative)

Projects

Educational computing projects in academic settings using advanced computing technology across a variety of disciplines.

ESCAPE: Engineering Career System (HyperCard, HyperNews)
Purdue, Freshman Engineering,
Engineering Research and Information Systems
Hopper, Lawler, LeBold, Putnam, Rehwinkel, Tillostson, Ward

Todor (Blox, Athena) and Mechanics Software (CT, Athena)
MIT, Academic Computing / Athena
Bucciarelli, Daly, Jackson, LaVin, Schmidt

Engineering Geology Tutor (Athena Muse 2)
MIT, Center for Educational Computing Initiatives
Kinnicutt, Davis, Lerman, Schlusselberg

Context32 (Intermedia, Eastgate's StorySpace)
Brown, Institute for Research and Information Scholarship
Landow, Kahn, Yankelovish
 
[See the more detailed overview of methodology of this study: Methods]

Results and Discussion (Models)

Triangulated data obtained through interviews and analysis of documents,
identified key factors and constructed a model of anatomy with
relationships among key contexts inherent in the terms:

Educational (Content)
Computing (Technical)
Projects (Organizational).

Projects are carried out in an educational context, they use computer
technology by definition, and they are carried out within the social
and economic structures of the organization in which they take place.


Projects were characterized by simultaneous attention to a consistent set of key factors across all three contexts.  The challenge was to maintain a balance between the contexts and manage the relationships among factors!

[For more information, see 6.1 Relationships Among Contexts of Advanced Courseware Projects.]

The factors in the organizational contexts were far more critical than had been anticipated prior to the initiation of this research. (Indicated  by placing organizational  issues at the base of the model, and representing them visually with the largest area.)

The projects consisted of complex technical environments that required regular use and maintenance to survive, so authors had to become managers of all of the complex substantive, technical and organizational aspects of projects.  Particularly because survival depended upon finding a way to regularly obtain resources for supporting continuous maintenance and delivery.


Conclusions (Pointers to Next Expedition)

Future projects viewed as  opportunities to further develop model of factors and relationships in knowledge ecologies.
 

 
[See 6.5 Implications for Research about Future Courseware Projects.]
 

 

© Mary E. Hopper | MEHopper@TheWorld.com [posted 12/04/93 | revised 04/12/13]