Title: "Ubiquitous Technology Support for CSCL"

Day: Thursday, June 2, 2005

Time: 13:30-15:00

Location: A02

Chair: Roy Pea

Panelists: Pierre Dillenbourg, Hiroaki Ogata, Mike Sharples

Abstract:
Until recently, the desktop computer was the only computational technology for supporting learning and teaching. Today, there are various mobile devices with wireless communication capabilities such as notebooks, tablet PCs, palm or pocket PCs, and cellular phones. In the next decade, we shall see a growing number of students using portable computing devices equipped with wireless communication capabilities both inside and outside classrooms. At the same time, the era of ubiquitous computing is approaching with the emergence of wireless sensor networks. We anticipate that most tangible objects, places, and persons in our daily lives may become interlinked to form a pervasive web of information, communication, interaction and knowledge. The challenge for CSCL will be apply these technologies to creating communities for learning in context.

What distinguishes humankind from other species is our ability to create and use symbolic systems and tools. While most CSCL research has assumed that computers are used as tools for or mediators of communication or interaction, what happens to CSCL research if one can interact simultaneously and unobtrusively with multiple micro-sensor embedded objects reacting to external stimuli? Will there be a paradigm research shift in the next 10 years? This panel will try to identify some possibilities for how the 'person-to-daily-physical-objects' communication affordance may extend current CSCL research based on 'person-to-person via computers' communication.

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