What is the potential of the Internet to support learning? To begin to answer the question, we might first explore an older technology: What is the potential of books to support learning? It seems like an absurd question because for most people “book ” is nearly synonymous with “learning. ” However, the answer is more complex than it might appear on the surface. What book? Read in what social context? All books are not the same. Are students reading Shakespeare, a geometry textbook, an astrological guide to romance, or the phone book? What reading support are they getting? Learning through reading involves more than a student and a

The task of specializing programming environments for novices begins with the recognition that programming is a hard skill to learn. The lack of student programming skill even after a year of undergraduate studies in computer science was noted and measured in the early 80’s [32] and again in this decade [20]. We know that students have problems with looping constructs [31], conditionals [8], and assembling programs out of base components [33]—and there are probably other factors, and interactions between these factors, too. What are the critical pieces? What pieces, if we “fixed ” them (made them better for novice programmers), would make programming into a more manageable, learnable skill? If we developed a language that changed how conditionals work or loops, or make it easier to integrate components, would programming become easier? That’s the issue that developers of educational programming environments are asking. Each novice programming environment (or family of environments) is attempting to answer the question, “What makes programming hard? ” Each answer to that question implies a family of environments that address the concern with a set of

One of the most important roles played by technology is connecting people and mediating their communication with one another. Building technology that mediates conversation presents a number of challenging research and design questions. Apart from the fundamental issue of what exactly gets mediated, two of the more crucial questions are how the person being mediated interacts with the mediating layer and how the receiving person experiences the mediation. This thesis is concerned with both of these questions and proposes a theoretical framework of mediated conversation by means of automated avatars. This new approach relies on a model of face-to-face conversation, and derives an architecture for implementing these features through automation. First the thesis describes the process of face-to-face conversation and what nonverbal behaviors contribute to its success. It then presents a theoretical framework that explains how a text message can be automatically analyzed in terms of its communicative function based on discourse context, and how behaviors, shown to support those same functions in face-toface conversation, can then be automatically performed by a graphical avatar in synchrony with the message delivery. An architecture, Spark, built on this framework demonstrates the approach in an actual

This article reports on the results of a study that explores the issues and challenges faced by instructors of games studies classes. Using a semi-structured protocol, we interviewed twelve professors and instructors of game studies courses. The interviews were transcribed and iteratively coded in order to refine theoretical categories, propositions and conclusions. Our results indicate that learning about games can be challenging for multiple reasons. For instance, an extensive prior videogame experience often interferes with students ’ abilities to reason critically and analytically about games. They also have difficulties articulating their experiences and observations. The medium itself also presents obstacles in access. Students must be skilled at games in order to fully experience them and technological barriers make it difficult to provide older games for students to experience. The article describes many of the solutions that instructors are adopting in order to overcome these challenges. We conclude by drawing attention to the issue that current game studies courses run the risk of limiting the diversity of people who could become game scholars.

This study examines children’s perceptions of their experiences in two science-oriented multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs), River City and Whyville. Sixth-grade students were asked how they would rate and compare different features of these environments. The children rated River City as providing greater educational benefits but preferred communicating with real people in Whyville as opposed to River City’s computer-based agents. They felt more integrated into the community in Whyville, where they enjoyed equal participation with other members, than as guests to the virtual town of River City. Finally, children rated their enjoyment at customizing their unique Whyville avatars higher than when selecting a pre-constructed avatar in River City; however, they rated both MUVEs highly when asked about seeing their avatars onscreen.

In this study, we analyzed 3.4 Gb of log file data from the participation of 475 children in a CSCL environment over a period of five years. Using scripts to divide the children's commands typed into categories, we found that girls spend significantly more time than boys communicating with others in the CSCL environment. Analyzing the children's level of programming achievement, we found that gender does not affect programming performance. Regression analysis shows that performance is correlated with prior programming experience and time on task. Boys are more likely than girls to have prior programming experience, and spend more time programming on average. We contrast these quantitative findings with our qualitative observations, and conclude that quantitative analysis has an important role to play in CSCL research. These results suggest that educators wishing to increase gender equity in technical skill should focus on strategies for fostering interest among girls.

We introduce end-user programmers as a group of persons engaged in informal Computer Science education. Results of a small-scale survey for a previously unstudied population of end-users, users of graphics manipulation software, are presented. We find that graphic designers are taking part in significant programming activities, despite little to no formal training in programming. We discuss what draws them to programming, what they know about Computer Science, and where they seek help. We also consider ways in which we might further support the Computer Science learning that takes place in end-user settings.

We analyze help-seeking strategies in two large tech support boards and observe a number of previously unreported differences between tech support boards and other types of online communities. Tech support boards are organized around technical topics and consumer products, yet the types of help people seek online are often grounded in deeply personal experiences. Family, holidays, school, and other personal contexts influence the types of help people seek online. We examine the nature of these personal contexts and offer ways of inferring need-based communities in tech support boards in order to better support users seeking technical help online.

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Little is known about how girl players navigate through virtual worlds, negotiate their identity, and challenge cultural norms and practices. We investigated over 500 players in a science-themed tween virtual world called Whyville.net with girls being the majority (68%) of its 1.5 million registered players. Using logfile data collected over a six-month long period, we identified three distinct groups: core gamers (7 % of all players), semi-core gamers (34 % of players), and peripheral gamers (59 % of players). We found that all groups participated in common practices but that core players also participated in non-traditional, transgressive practices. These included private flirting with other players and aggressive scamming of others for personal profit as well as public denials of such activities because they violated gender and social norms. Often hidden, these facets of girls ’ play indicate the value of virtual worlds as digital publics that offer youth opportunities to engage in identity exploration and border crossing.