Tools for the ‘e-PhD’ >>> presence, collaboration and critical thinking

Simon Buckingham ShumKnowledge Media Institutehttp://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/sbs

Knowledge Media Institute• Founded 1995, now 70+ members• “Invent the future, live there, and report back”

– Basic and applied research at the intersection of learning, collaboration, AI, the Net and multimedia

– Prototype next generation tools for collaboration, learning and knowledge negotiation for the OU to assess

– Collaborate across all org. sectors interested in distributed work and lifelong personal and organisational learning

• World leader in Web Semantics, Web Collaboration Media and Scholarly Hypermedia

What skills are we trying to instill, and how can e-PhD tools help?

Joint Research Council’s Skills Training Reqts

While some skills are easy to mentor with distance PhD students, what about these?…

(C) Research Management – to be able to:

4. use information technology appropriately for database management, recording and presenting information

(E) Communication Skills – to be able to:

2. construct coherent arguments and articulate ideas clearly to a range of audiences, formally and informally through a variety of techniques

4. effectively support the learning of others when involved in teaching, mentoring or demonstrating activities

Joint Research Council’s Skills Training Reqts

(F) Networking and Teamworking – to be able to:

1. develop and maintain co-operative networks and working relationships with supervisors, colleagues and peers, within the institution and wider research community.

2. understand one’s behaviours and impact on others when working in and contributing to the success of formal and informal teams.

3. listen, give and receive feedback and respond perceptively to others

Joint Research Council’s Skills Training Reqts

Standard PhD toolkit

• Computer• Technical support• Phone

– Conferencing• Email

– university address – Listserv/Discussion

group• Internet

• Intranet resources• Office software• Specialist research

software• Software utilities

What key activities are not supported by conventional tools?Presence and participation in:• Discussion groups• Seminars• Visitors• Demonstrations• Supervision• “Enculturation”

What key activities are not supported by conventional tools?Effective information

management and analysis:• Managing the diverse

sources of literature and ideas

• Constructing and critiquing the argumentative relations between ideas

What should ‘2nd Generation’ e-PhD Tools support?• Virtual presence in the research group

– My availability – Attendance and participation at seminars and

discussion groups– Quality supervision meetings at a distance

• Greater awareness of everyday research life– Is my supervisor available for a quick chat?– How much time does a senior scientist spend in

meetings?– What’s happening in the coffee/seminar room right

now?• Shared views of software for discussion

– ‘Over the shoulder’ discussions with peers and supervisor

What should ‘2nd Generation’ e-PhD Tools support?

Presence & Peripheral Awareness

Online Presence & Textchat• Instant

messaging embedded in the OU’s e-learning system

+

• Presence overlaid onto maps (both geographical or conceptual)

Online presence in MSG superimposed on geo-location (Google Maps)

Online Presence in Hexagon : peripheral awareness and + direct interaction

Visual trace of instant messages Voice chat

Virtual Meetings

Replaying a video conference in FlashMeeting

Diagnostics from a FlashMeeting• Automatically generated visualizations from online meetings show

relative contributions and who spoke when

Attending Seminars

KMi Seminar, 26th Sept., 2003. Attendance and participation from New York

Managing information, ideas and arguments

Compendium: A visual database of the research questions, ideas, arguments and documents in the PhD

Compendium: A visual database of the research questions, ideas, arguments and documents in the PhD

Compendium:Annotating geology data with arguments about their implications for an hypotheses (NASA distributed teams)

Copyright, 2004RIACS/NASA Ames, Open UniversitySouthampton UniversityNot to be used without permission

Critical Literature Analysis

Compendium: Mapping research concepts in a publication

Compendium:Mapping the structure of the Iraq Debate

Compendium:Mapping the structure of the Iraq Debate

Bringing it all together…

Combining two or more of these e-PhD tools

Compendium: structuring and recording supervision meetings• Supervisors (OU) meet

with a PhD student (New York)

• Voice/Video recorded via FlashMeeting, Skype or Phone

• Compendium is shared and used to “Dialogue Map” the key questions, ideas and arguments in the discussion

• All recorded, to create a digital movie of the unfolding discussion

Virtual attendees at a seminar

UKGRAD f-f/virtual workshophttp://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/e-phd/UKGRAD/OU-wkshp-Feb05.html

Knowledge Mapping

Social Presence &

Identity

Peer-to-Peer

Collaboration

All the above tools integrated in the OU’s e-learning environment

OpenLearn: Free OU materials+toolswww.open.ac.uk/openlearn

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

OpenLearn LabSpace

In summary…• Social software makes it possible for a research group to

tackle time+space barriers and keep their e-PhD students aware of, and involved in, the group’s life

• Collaboration and concept mapping tools can support:

– effective online supervision

– disciplined information management

– critical thinking

• As research becomes increasingly collaborative and online, such tools can benefit all researchers

• There is undeniably a new ‘media literacy’ to acquire: we’re showing what’s possible…

KMi e-PhD Project

http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/e-phd

OpenLearn LabSpace

http://labspace.open.ac.uk