EVA_pm: How XML can Scaffold Project-Based Learning Paraskevi (Vivian) SYNTETA, Daniel K. Schneider TECFA - FPSE, Univ. of Geneva May 9,

Project-Based Learning  Increases student motivation  Improves student problem- solving  Promotes meta-cognition  Promotes self-regulated self- learning  Opportunities for interdisciplinary learning  Culminates in realistic results A constructivist instructional model that organises learning around projects.  Initiating inquiry  Direct investigations  Managing time  Overcome writer’s block  Limited experience in project design  Collaboration & feedback  Project follow-up  Monitoring progress  Monitoring knowledge AdvantagesChallenges Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

Efforts to improve PBL Direct inquiry Initiate inquiry Draw conclusions Acquire & present knowledge Collaboration Overall context CSILE Learning Appropriate Goals Torp & Sage Barron et al. Cognitive & Technology Group Guzdial CaMILE PIViT Reflective learner MOST PBLSS WBILE Design Diary Team Facilitator Blumenfeld et al. Barron et al. Klein et al. EVA_pm Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

EVA_pm’s Goal overcome writer’s block direct investigations manage time knowledge on project design promote reflection initiate inquiry team management scaffold tutors role motivate… Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002 A constructivist online environment for: PBL Effectiveness (by scaffolding) Methodological competence Professional competence Social competence Meta-cognitive skills Efficiency (for students) Affordability (for tutors)

EVA_pm’s components  Instructional method  EVA_pm ML  EVA_paper ML  commNcontrol + tools  Virtual Book Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

Instructional design Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002  Testing EVA_pm Course: STAF-18 (Edutech) Level: Postgraduate (MSc) Instructional model: Project approach Format: Mixed (1w present, 4w distance) Background: Various

Development method Co-operative prototyping Evolution of commNcontrol Evolution of Virtual Book  with STAF-18 mostly Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

EVA_pm ML Markup Language for project specification & management  specification (setting goals, breaking them up into achievable objectives) scaffolding to initiate inquiry express and concretise ideas reflect on solutions by providing explanations produce a coherent research design  management (work packages, planning) structure the work for planning, communication, reflection and resourcefulness  meta-report (meta-cognitive scaffolding) reflection to engage in learning enhance learning by monitoring understanding XML as cognitive tool Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

EVA_pm ML example (merci Nico :) Resources Specification Comments Work packages Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

EVA_paper ML Markup Language for project’s final paper  about the final product (summary, intro, body, conclusions, etc.) scaffolding to writing a paper express and concretise ideas reconstruct learning meta-reflect on the result(s) by providing explanations produce a coherent research review focus on text, distract attention from decoration Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

EVA_paper ML example (merci René & Sylvain :) Abstract - Preface Main body Conclusions Introduction Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

commNcontrol & tools EVA’s web portal for the projects (for tutors, students, guests)  monitor, share & visualize information through the portal that parses XML information  motivate with peering through awareness tools  promote collaboration & scaffold interaction with tutor(s) through discussion tools & mailing lists  facilitate group editing through a versioning system (file transfer tools and file locking)  facilitate tutor’s evaluation(s) through the evaluation tools (audits & final evaluation) Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

commNcontrol ex. (merci nathalie & Yves :) Configuration according to authentication tutorstudent Mailing lists Awareness Tools Visualise complete files Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

Virtual Book EVA’s web portal for the papers  concretise students work by seeing it as a part of a virtual book  distribute results (peer benefits) through the portal that parses XML information  searchable information by being structured Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

Implementation  XML Infoset Grammars: 2 major DTD’s (as cognitive tools), 4 minor (for data storing) & 1 reused (ibtwsh6.dtd) XML files: 4 major (to structure semantics), 4 minor(to store data) XSLT: 7 stylesheets (to visualize)  Cocoon (Apache XML Project) it’s XSL processor to transform to HTML & XIncludes (to merge)  Java 8 Java servlets 2 Java classes reuse & modification of a DOMWriter import of an O’Reilly class  SAX & DOM API to parse XML files & update them Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

Testing & Evaluation  Evaluation = Prototyping (Qualitative approach) Group: 12 students STAF-2001 (mostly) Medium: Observation, monitoring, discussion, questionnaire, case-study, interviews, project evaluation, comparison between promotions, …  Evaluation of the LE (Learning Environment) general approach: good & encouraging grammar : quite mature toolset: useful & stable scripting code usability of the online interface: can be improved XML editing: remains difficult & challenging objective  Evaluation of the student learning Fairly good: Students manage to make a simple research plan  Evaluation of the tutor’s facilitation Scaffolds tutor’s role, facilitates monitoring, feedback & evaluation tasks Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

Conclusions Initial goal Design and develop the prototype of a constructivist environment and method to scaffold students projects through all it’s phases. direct investigations manage time knowledge on project design promote reflection initiate inquiry team management scaffold tutors role motivate… verify whether knowledge was acquired distribute to bigger audiences Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002

Perspectives  Interesting method needs more testing (bigger/different classes - better XML editor) interface can be improved thanks to feedback gathered  Wishing list for future versions of EVA_pm easier editing time flexible (for every promotion) better interface of commNcontrol (usability) more interaction features possibility to configure the grammars make EVA_pm a Web archive (a servlet 2.3 compatible *.war distribution) to make it completely portable Vivian (Paraskevi) SYNTETA, ICNEE ‘02, Lugano, 8-11/5/2002