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This project aims to create a more patricipatory environment for learning the material assigned as homework. Students will have a web page with assigned reading (in HTML form). While reading they have the following options: 1) Add an annotation (comment) or weblink, to a section of reading (it will show up as a post-it-not or similar). The comments will be visible to everyone. 2) Ask a question about a section. These are similar to annotations but will be marked differently. 3) Answer (reply to) a question or annotation another person has posted. (Answering questions or making comments may involve a point-based insentive that will later count as extra credit). 4) Highlight phrases or sentences that they consider important. These highlights may be made visible to everyone. 5) Answer context-relevant question that a teacher has asked. The answers will likely be private, but visible to the student on the subsequent visits. All these activities will hopefully have the following advantages: • They will encourage students to ask questions or express opinions about the reading. They will also encourage students to answer questions by others. • Allowing the students to ask questions or express opinions before the lecture allows the ideas to become better shaped and the initial discussion more refined, so that during subsequent lecture a more productive discourse can be had. • The system will allow parts of the material to be re-phrased/clarified/elaborated/augmented by the participants. These clarifications will be persisted, allowing them to be easily reviewed in the future. • They will give the teacher and the classmates a feedback about what the students find challenging, interesting, about the reading. • Highlighting (by others) draws attention to important sections that may otherwise be glossed over. • They will allow student’s answers to questions (homework) to be conveniently persisted in spatial proximity with the reading they relate to. The basic concept of the project is similar to the WWW annotations paradigm (http://www.w3.org/2001/Annotea/), but is extended and refined specifically for collaborative learning.
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