A Collaborative Educational IS Based

on WWW

Meiqi Fang ,Tieyan Li, Jinghai Rao, Xiaomeng SuInformation School,Renmin University,Beijing, China

AbstractWhat are we going to talk about?

An educational IS An educational IS based on WWWA collaborative Educational IS based on

WWW

How we organize the article?Basic principle and our consideration in

designing such an ISIllustrate a real project -SIM_EDI to

embody the basic rulesAdjustments and our final suggestions

1.IntroductionIntroduction

Basic principlesWhy the WWW?

Easier and wider accessibilityWide range of KnowledgeMotivated learning rather than

Unmotivated learning

Why collaborative?Classify the web-based

educational IS

1.1 Classification of Web_based Educational IS

1) Real time remote educational IS

similar to the traditional classroom-

based instruction mode

learning at same time different place

An example to demonstrate both the

advantage and the limitations

1.1Classification of Web_based Educational IS2)Educational IS focused on information

sharing

Currently the most widely used style Located the student at the center of the self-teach

CircleAccess at any time any place Easy participation, enormous resource and

well_organized knowledge

Give a typical example

what we can draw from this?

1.1Classification of Web_based Educational

IS3)Collaborative educational IS Constructive Theory of Education The Multi-User Dungeon(MUD) paradigm The collaborative learning model can

help positively in applied subjects To achieve the goal of a highly functional

IS, certain extra points need to be considered besides the routine ones

1.2 Our consideration in designing such an IS

To what degree your future system can simulate the real situation--Is it the more the better?

How to server both the needs of simulation and to simplifying the systemA careful designed interfaceCertain automatic roles can be developed Monitor and keep track of the participantsAs in a game, there must be proper rules

proper chose of platform and tools

In the remainder of this article, you will

see a sample of the collaborative learning environment-- SIM_EDI. It simulates the trading process around a steel factory and its partners, allowing students to be acquainted with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), commercial routine and the international trading pattern, through performing trading activities in this simulated environment.

2.Architecture of SIM_EDI

We describe the system which we have designed and tested in order to show how the above principles may be integrated with a real system

Now the detail :-)

2.1 Structure of SIM_EDI

A two-tier structure Roles within a LAN

2.2 Roles within a LAN Automa

tic roles

Student

perform

ed roles

System

manage

r

2.2.1 Student performed roles and SIM_EDI working

process Recycling

agents

Manufacturers

Wholesalers

Retailers

Transport

Agent

2.2.2 Automatic Roles Simulation

Bank--the key link of currency flow

Consumer--the source and destination of currency flow and merchandise flow

Customs--the pivotal agent in the flow of merchandise

Mailer--the key link of information flow

2.2.3 Instructor

the computer system administrator,

DBA etc. for the distributed computer

system

the referee/controller of the game that

take place within the simulation world

the instructor/guide/assessor in the

real world

2.3 SIM_EDI Management Center (SEMC)

An intermediary

Functions

2.4 Other system functions Business Management Function

– There is a mini MIS(Management Information System) in every user’s system.This MIS can manage the daily routine work and it closely integrate the “enterprise “ with market information.

System rewards and penalties– In an educational system, the instruction should mark

every student according to their performance in the game.

– Rewards should not be offered only in the form of money, credit or score, but need to be designed as a method that can stimulate students to remain assiduous.

– In SIM_EDI students will be “punished” when breaking a rule

– Use Email to exchange experiences and discuss questions.

2.5 Superiority of SIM_EDI on WWW

A much more real environment, oral negotiation can be avoided.

Use of WWW distinguishes domestic trade and foreign trade to some extent

Conveniently obtain knowledge in relevant fields through the Internet , not just a simple online help

A larger system leads to more variety , and so more amusements

When more users participates there is a wider exchange of experience

3 Conclusions and Suggestions

After analyzing the system, we list some of our conclusions and suggestions when exploiting a collaborative educational IS on WWW as follows:

Support multiple platforms to ensure the portability of the system

Simulate the real environment at the user interface, but make the internal implementation simple and easy to manage.

The game rules in the simulated environment should be independent of the simulation program.

Simulation should be flexible. Here: the instructor can adjust many types of parameter to alter the configuration.

3 Conclusions and Suggestions Taking account of the network load,

especially the transfer ate in the Internet, all data transfer should use short files to guarantee high speed

Even in an educational system, security should be considered. In order to avoid cheating, we can use authority management and log file. Here we use ftp to transfer the encrypted files.

There is no centralized management. Every part of the system can execute freely. The balance of the system depends on a set of game rules.

Further studyCollaborative educational IS based

on constructive theory will

broaden the development of CAE. Integrate IT with education theory

Further research and practice are

required in this field

Acknowledgment

Many thanks to Dr. Ken Moody for helping to clean up the English and to Huijiang Dong for collecting materials for the paper, also to the referees for their recommendations