Rolf Schulmeister Hypermedia Learning Systems Hyper- Media
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Rolf Schulmeister Rolf Schulmeister _____________________ Hyper- media Learning Systems Hypermedia Learning Systems English version of the first edition 1995 © Schulmeister, Hamburg 2012 Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction 5 Hyperlearning – An Extreme Position 5 News Exchange 9 Restrictions and Warnings 11 CHAPTER 2 Multimedia – A Definition 13 Several Arbitrary Attempts 13 A New Definition of Multimedia Architecture 17 Multimedia Space Multimedia Objects The Learner’s Role in Multimedia Systems 26 Interactivity of Multimedia Systems 35 Structures of Multimedia Applications 42 Microworlds in Multimedia Metaphors in Multimedia Medium, Mediality, or Modality Navigation Components Classification of Software Types 56 CHAPTER 3 Theories of Learning 61 The Epistemological Theory of Cognition 61 Constructivism 63 What Does Situated Cognition Mean? Emphasizing Alternative Learning Environments Emphasizing Alternative Design Processes Pseudo Theories or Partial Theories of Learning 75 Prospect of Further Chapters 79 CHAPTER 4 CAI, CAL, CBT, CBI, PI, or what? 81 Authoring Systems and Courseware 81 The Structure of Authoring Systems 90 Courseware and Multimedia 94 2 Contents Feedback 96 Design Guidelines for Courseware 98 CHAPTER 5 Administered Learning 101 Models of Instructional Design (ID) 101 Further Development of Instruction Theory (ID2) 110 Examples from Instructional Design 113 The Methodology of Instruction 121 Deficits of Theories of Instruction 127 Restrictions in the Knowledge Domain Reducing the Educational Methods Confounding the Concept of Learning Learner Control vs. Program Control 136 Why Learner Control? Studies on Learner Control Discussion Criticism of Instructional Design from the Constructivist Point of View 146 Instructionalism’s Last Stand - From Instruction to Learning 150 Transfer as a Touchstone for Instructional Design 157 CHAPTER 6 Intelligent Tutorial Systems 159 Agents, Robots, Knowbots, Microbots, Mobots and Other Smart Dwarfs 159 Intelligent Tutoring: What is ITS? 163 Knowledge Domain or Expert Model Student Model or Diagnosis Model Tutor Model or Educational Model Interface or Communication Model Systems and Examples 173 Expert System and ITS 178 Adaptivity – Adapting to the Learner 180 Limitations and Hopes 183 Reductionism I: Knowledge Base in ITS Reductionism II: The Learner Model in ITS Reductionism III: Interaction in ITS ITS: New Wine in Old Bottles? 197 The New Position of Constructivism 199 CHAPTER 7 Caught in Petri-Nets – Hypertext and Hypermedia 205 The History of Hypertext 205 Hypermedia Learning Systems 3 Types and Functions of Hypertext System 214 Exemplary Hypertext Applications 216 INTERMEDIA: Application Examples ATHENA: Application Examples Further Examples Structural Features of Hypertext 228 Non-Linear Text Informational Units versus Contextualization Nodes and Links Graphs, Maps, and Fisheyes Browsing or Navigation Interfaces Hypertext and Intelligent Systems 245 Cognitive Plausibility of Hypertext 249 Evaluation of Hypertext (Navigation) 255 Reading Behaviour in Books and in Hypertext 262 Cooperative Learning 266 Hypertext & Monitoring 268 Passive Protocolling Active Protocolling Guidelines for Hypertext Design 271 CHAPTER 8 The Rhetoric of Electronic Books 283 Basic Features of Electronic Books 283 Structural Elements of Electronic Books 284 Examples of Electronic Books 287 Marvin Minsky: The Society of Mind 287 Stephen Hawking: A Brief History of Time Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias 294 Comparing two Sign Language Dictionaries Design Guidelines for Electronic Books 306 CHAPTER 9 The Electronic Bazaar 311 KIOSK Systems and Guided Tours: Definition 311 Digital Butlers, Travel Guides and Museum Guides 316 KIOSK Systems and Guided Tours: Examples 317 CHAPTER 10 Intellectual Aerobics 327 Interactive Cognitive Tools 327 Interactive Multimedia Learning Programs 332 4 Contents Learning Statistics with LearnSTATS Learning Geometry with Geometer’s Sketchpad Interactive Tools for Generating Objects 356 Multimedia Tools for Research 358 CHAPTER 11 Sand-Table Exercises 361 Learning in Model Worlds with Simulations 361 Examples and Utilizability 366 Evaluation of Simulations 369 Design Guidelines for Simulations 371 CHAPTER 12 In the Land of Null Hypotheses 373 Pedagogical Myths about Computer Learning 373 Historical Conditions of Evaluations 374 Methodology of Comparative Evaluations 378 Comparison of Methods and Control Design The Difficulty of Typing, and False Labels Extreme Differentiation of Variables Reliability of Test Person Statements Meta-Analyses on Computer Learning 386 Fundamental Methodological Objections 394 The Impossibility of Evaluating Multimedia 395 Pedagogical Myths Differentiation According to Learning Styles Interactivity - The Decisive Factor? Formative Evaluation as an Alternative? CHAPTER 13 A Plea for Imagination 401 The Fascination of the Feasable 401 Edutainment & Infotainment 404 BIBLIOGRAPHY AUTHOR INDEX LIST OF PROGRAMS ILLUSTRATIONS GENERAL INDEX CHAPTER 1 Introduction Hyperlearning – An Extreme Position One might of course justify the use of multimedia in schools like this: »Many a student has been frustrated by a professor who simply did not know how to teach« [Jones (1992), 2]. Should it be the aim of multimedia to replace the teacher? Should multimedia represent the perfect teacher, offer the perfect edu- cational strategy? Can multimedia do that at all? Or would such demands put an overload on multimedia? Elshout (1992) seems to have a similar direction in mind when he criticizes tra- ditional school education as follows: »It seems that formal education lets you get away with a great amount of half digested knowledge« (15). Should one of the tasks of multimedia then consist of making a contribution to avoiding half digested knowledge? One can of course criticize much about education in school and in higher edu- cation. One might also link this criticism to the conclusion that teachers and professors should get better pedagogic training, and that their teaching ability should be tested more thoroughly before anyone is appointed teacher or pro- fessor. But criticism of the status quo is no sufficient reason, at any rate, for the introduction of multimedia as a new form of teaching or new method of learn- ing. On the contrary, if one looks at some of the multimedia programs on offer today, one might be inclined to agree with Winn (1989), who comments with regard to learning programs that imitate teachers: »good teachers are presently better than machines at making decisions and at instructing« (44). Hyperlearning One could also argue as Perelman (1992) does in his book with the program- matic title »School’s Out«, who wants to shut down schools with the introduc- tion of so-called »Hyperlearning«, because they are too costly institutions (106). Perelman sees the institution school from an economical perspective, as a labour-intensive branch of industry with low productivity (98). From the point of view of modern communication and information technologies, school seems to him an archaic form of production with rising labour costs, while modern communication technology becomes more and more effective. For Perelman, it is not scientific or educational reflection that determines the exist- ence of school, but simply the dramatic drop in costs for technological prod- 6 Hypermedia Learning Systems ucts in the interplay of forces of the free market: »The time has come to insist on the real free enterprise restructuring of the education sector that will deliver lots more bang for lots fewer bucks« (114). Perelman is reacting to the importance multimedia has in his opinion: »The es- tablishment of multimedia will have as profound an impact on all future com- munications as the invention of writing had on human language« (39). Whether this assessment of multimedia as a second Gutenbergian revolution is a realis- tic one will become apparent in the course of this book. My more conservative prognosis will at all events not come to the conclusion that Perelman arrives at: »In the wake of the HL revolution, the technology called ‘school’ and the so- cial institution commonly thought of as ‘education’ will be as obsolete and ul- timately extinct as the dinosaurs« (50). Perelman coins the powerful term »hyperlearning« for the combination of mul- timedia or hypermedia and learning: »It is not a single device or process, but a universe of new technologies that both process and enhance intelligence. The hyper in hyperlearning refers not merely to the extraordinary speed and scope of new information technology, but to an unprecedented degree of connected- ness of knowledge, experience, media, and brains – both human and nonhu- man« (23). Perelman is fascinated by the attractiveness of new media for young people. He repeatedly cites examples as evidence that take up a certain amount of room in the media’s current reporting. But such experiments have not been around for very long, and such experiences are therefore not suited to support his theses. What will happen once the new technological options are a matter of everyday routine, and a generation has already grown up with them? Will stu- dents not accept them as a matter of course, just like they do reading books or watching television today? Hyperlearning is a revolution to Perelman. Not modest in the least, he extends the importance of hyperlearning to the social and political sector: »The hyper- learning revolution demands a political reformation. And that requires com- pletely new thinking about the nature of learning in a radically