Keynote Speakers
 

Ulrich Hoppe

University of Duisburg, Germany

H. Ulrich Hoppe holds a full professorship for Applied Computer Science and Computer Science Education  at the University of Duisburg-Essen (formerly University of Duisburg), Germany, in the Enginneering Faculty. Since July 2001 he is also a guest professor at Växjö University (Sweden) in the area of ”Collaborative and Learning Support Systems”.

With an original background in mathematics and educational technology (Master-equivalent  ”Staats­examen” in Mathematics and Physics from Marburg University, 1978; PhD in Educational Technology from Tübingen University in 1984), Ulrich Hoppe has been working for about ten years in the area of Intelligent User Interfaces and Cognitive Models in HCI (Fraunhofer Society Stuttgart, 1984-87, GMD IPSI Darm­stadt 1987-95), before he re-focused his research on Intelligent Support in Educational Systems and Distributed Collaborative Environments. He joined the University of Duisburg as a professor in 1995.

Ulrich Hoppe is a member of the Executive Committee of the Inter­national Artificial Intelligence in Education Society (AI-ED Society). Together with F. Hesse (Tübingen) and H. Mandl (Munich) he defined and proposed a research initiative on ”Net-based Knowledge Communication in Groups” which is funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG) as a specialized research programme (Schwerpunktprogramm). This initiative is devoted to further developing and studying networked media for supporting collab­orative learning and knowledge management from an interdisciplinary perspective including cognitive science, social psychology, education, and applied computer science. Taking up new developments in Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, Ulrich Hoppe has assisted Marcelo Milrad in organising a first IEEE Workshop on this theme (WMTE 2002) in Vaexjoe, Sweden, August 2002. Recently, Ulrich Hoppe has been the programme co-chair of two major international conferences: CSCL 2003 in Bergen (Norway) - together with Sten Ludvigsen (University of Oslo), and AIED 2003 in Sydney (Australia) - together with Felisa Verdejo (UNED, Madrid).

Ulrich Hoppe has been engaged in several European projects in the area of advanced computational technologies in education. In 1998, he initiated the NIMIS project on developing innovative classroom technology for early learning in the frame­work of a European programme on ”Experimental School Environ­ments”. The specialties of NIMIS are characterized by combining a computer-integrated classroom environ­ment (”room­ware”) with new interaction techniques (pen-based input, speech output) and intelligent analysis and support. Following up on NIMIS, the still ongoing EU project SEED in the programme ”School of Tomorrow” is orientated towards engaging teachers in innovative forms of using interactive media in their lessons. Currently, he is the coordinator of the EU project COLDEX (”Collaborative Learning and Distributed Experimentation”) which deals with supporting learning commuities in science and technology. The COLDEX project involves both the In addition to University of Duisburg-Essen and to Växjö, the COLDEX project involves partners from Spain, Portugal and Chile.

Abstract

Integrating Learning Processes across Boundaries of Media, Time and Group Scale

H. Ulrich Hoppe
Institute for Computer Science and Interactive Systems University of Duisburg-Essen, 47048 Duisburg, Germany
hoppe@collide.info

Integration. For a long time, computer support for learning has been justified by its potential for the acceleration and multiplication of learning activities, i.e. learning should be faster and reach more learners. Recently, we have seen integration as a theme and purpose of educational media usage of its own right. We will distinguish and elaborate on two perspectives: (1) the integration of media to support a smooth and seamless information flow in both virtual and face-to-face classroom scenarios, and (2) the use of ICT to bridge between different conditions of learning, such as individual, small group or large community activities as well as synchronous and asynchronous settings. 

Learning objects and learning scenarios. The integration of media and of group scales relies essentially on mechanisms for handling emerging learning objects in terms of production, exchange, re-use and transformation. In the spirit of constructivist, learner centred pedagogical approaches and in contrast to standardised activities around pre-fabricated learning objects or materials, we assume that “emerging learning objects” be created by learners and learning groups in partly unanticipated ways. This assumption gives rise to specific new challenges for the indexing and retrieval of such learning objects (or products). In the absence of indexing through experts, learning object descriptions have to be derived from the learning situation with minimal input from the learners themselves. This constitutes a new challenge for intelligent support techniques, namely for the dynamic recognition and modelling of learning contexts on a semantic level.

Social context and awareness. Contextualised indexing allows for an asynchronous exchange of learning objects within larger anonymous learning communities based on semantic similarities. In this sense, objects of common interest may trigger social processes in learning communities and may complement other techniques for modelling and supporting social relations such as “social network analysis”. 

Reference:
Hoppe, H.U.; Pinkwart, N.; Oelinger, M.; Zeini, S.; Verdejo, F.; Barros, B.; Mayorga, J.I. (2005). Building Bridges within Learning Communities through Ontologies and "Thematic Objects". In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL2005), Taipei (Taiwan), June 2005.