This research is intended to identify appropriate roles for technology, assessed in part in the context of open, inquiry-oriented learning. We will *quantify the cost-effectiveness of instructional technology, looking at several web-based, intelligent systems with large user bases for empirical studies, *evaluate the impact on student's learning while using these systems, and *identify and build key component technologies that will allow others to construct cost-effective instructional applications.
Major research questions include: how can technology be used effectively, and just how effective are these uses? Are these uses cost-effective? Our group has worked with educators for a decade and has built four large web-based systems used by thousands of students. We will examine existing and on-going conversions to intelligent, web-based systems and look for economies of scale that will help to reduce development costs.
Careful evaluation studies are also key. Solid evidence is required about student learning and pedagogical effectiveness. We need to accommodate students with varied backgrounds, motivations and educational goals. Empirical evidence is necessary to confirm individual student outcomes using these systems and support continuous systems refinement based on the evidence collected. This research will include qualitative and quantitative measures as a means of providing moth meaningful, action-oriented feedback and rich documentation of the project and its accomplishments. Through careful studies of existing and emerging systems we will quantify their impact on learning effects and working with affiliates in other universities, will demonstrate that these systems will be of general use on a national scale.
Component software promises to reduce cost by encouraging software reuse. However the obvious benefits of software reuse have not been realized. In this project, we will develop reusable components for creating web-based homework, lecture and tutoring systems. We will assemble components of existing systems into larger pieces (e.g. connecting the web-based lecture system with a homework and tutoring system). This component assembly process will drive development of reusable component technologies.
