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Serina Croll January 23,2002 Assignment 1 Article Reviewed: Arias, E. G., Eden, H., Fischer, G., Gorman, A., & Scharff, E. (2000) "Transcending the Individual Human Mind-Creating Shared Understanding through Collaborative Design," ACM Transactions on Computer Human-Interaction, 7(1), pp. 84-113 Assignment 1 What do you find interesting about the article?I found the most interesting part of the article to be the four challenges that EDC hopes to address. The four challenges are stated as follows, directly from the article: "(...1) How can we bring a varienty of aspects (social, cultural, physical, virtual) together to supprot the creation of shared understanding [Resnick et al. 1991]? (2) How we can create coeveolutionary environments in which stakeholders change becuase they learn, and engage in end-user modification and programming [Mackay 1992]? (3) How can we create intrinsically motivating computational environments and open systems, in which stakeholders feel in control and accept the role of active contributors rather than passive consumers [Fischer 1998]? (4) How can stakeholders incrementally construct domain models that do not a priori exist but instead are socially constructed over time?..." It seems to me that the main theme underlying these 4 challenges is communication. Each of the four challenges address the issue of communication either amoung human beings or between human beings and computers. Facing and solving these four challenges would mean solving communication barriers. What do you find not interesting about the article?I enjoyed the explanation of the "most mature EDC prototype application", but it was too drawn out. The explanation of the prototype could have been shortened. It was valuable to understand how the EDC prototype was solving the 4 challenges introduced above, but there were many unnecessary details. What do you consider the main message of the article?Multiple heads are better than one, but only if they can communicate. Media can help the communication process, in turn making design and learning more efficient. Are themes discussed in the article that you would like to know more about?The theme of using inovative media to create a more effective team environment is very interesting to me. In many walks of life the key to success is being able to communicate with others and create a cohesive team environment. What did you find interesting about the EDC system?The EDC system is most interesting to me because of the way it addresses team work. The entire system is based on making collaboration through media a realistic method of creating solutions to community problems. Do you know of other papers, ideas, and systems which are closely related to the article and the EDC system?No. Sorry this is my fist article on these topics. What does the article say about design?The article talks about many different aspects of design, but one particular aspect the article touches on is software design. The article discusses how a software system cannot be completely designed before use. All software systems must be initially designed in a modifiable manner. What does the article say about learning?As with design, the article talks about many different aspects of learning. Specific to learning the article discusses how people will learn more efficiently if they take an active role in the learning process. If a person is involved in a more hands-on environment where they are active, the learning process will be more effective than in a passive learning environment. What does the article say about collaboration?Again the article talkes about many different aspects of collaboration, most imporantly how collaboration can effect both the learning and design process. The article goes on to further discuss how innovative media can support collaboration. What does the article say about innovative media support for these activities?As stated above the article talks about how innovative media support can aid in learning, design, and collaboration. Do you have any ideas how this research could/should be extended (based on your own experience and knowledge)?I believe that this research could be extended to aid teachers/administrators in designing educational curriculm at the high school level. In high school I worked on a committee of teachers, administrators, and community members trying to formulate a curriculm plan that would best suit the students and teachers. Often times in our meetings it was difficult to envision what other people were saying. Creating some type of system where teachers could communicate with the support of different media/technical devices, could eliviate many of the communication mishaps. Assignment 1
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