zBento Enhancing Teaching, Learning, and Research Activities

zBento  Designers/Developers (PETTT)  William Washington, Interaction Designer  Aaron Louie, Information Architect  Eric Maddox, Lead Developer  Researchers (PETTT)  Janice Fournier, Research Scientist  Cara Lane, Research Scientist  Kristen Shuyler, Research Coordinator

Overview  Part I: Introduction  What is zBento?  Benefits of zBento  Part II: Research-informed Design  Part III: System Features  Part IV: Next Steps

What is zBento? zBento is an online information system with which a teacher or student:  designs templates to guide the creation of articles which include text, sound, images and video  provides access to these articles for evaluation, comment and improvement  defines categories for organizing articles in a searchable database  publishes selected articles on the Web to defined audiences and the public

Technically, what is zBento?  Information system built using open- source software, Zope  Database-driven content management system  Through-the-web access & administration

Benefits of zBento Often educational technology is designed for specific domains…  We wanted to create a tool that can be customized for multiple purposes and domains  We wanted to allow faculty to accomplish a sophisticated task--creating a database-driven web site--with little computer experience

Part II: Research- Informed Design Teaching & Learning with zBento

How it began UW Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine: The Arthritis Source

Three Prototypes:  Architecture: UW BaSiC Initiative  Law: LawforWA  English: Digital Tools for Study and Research Abroad

New opportunities for learning: zBento…  Provides a tool for students to “think with”  Supports opportunities for authentic learning  Contributes to the creation of knowledge- building communities

UW College of Architecture: BaSiC Initiative Opportunities for authentic learning

UW College of Architecture: BaSiC Initiative Opportunities for authentic learning

UW Law School, Ischool, Washington Council on Public Legal Education: LawForWa.org A tool for students to “think with”

UW Law School, Ischool, Washington Council on Public Legal Education: LawForWa.org Thinking deeply about the structure of a domain

UW English Department: Digital Tools for Study and Research Abroad Opportunities for knowledge- building communities

UW English Department: Digital Tools for Study and Research Abroad Opportunities for knowledge- building communities

Part III: zBento System Features

System Features zBento allows users to:  write articles by responding to template prompts  design templates for articles  share, review, edit, and publish articles  designate participant roles and permissions  organize articles using categories  search using multiple strategies

TemplatePublished Article System Features: Web-based articles Articles are generated using a template and responses to the template prompts

System Features: Template Builder An instructor or student can design a template

System Features: Sharing, Reviewing, Commenting, Editing, & Publishing

System Features: Customizable roles & permissions

System Features: Categories for Organization

Natural Language SearchSearch by Categories System Features: Multiple search strategies

Part III: Next Steps

What’s next for zBento?  Improve usability and debug  Document system: technical aspects, use, pedagogical use  Test in various domains  Scale up: make zBento more robust

Discussion and Questions