During the week of 5/3, small groups will discuss one of the three case studies below, working together to reach as collective a response as possible. One case study is oriented toward K-12 distributed education; a second toward higher education degree programs; and the third toward adult workplace education across distance. Groups will form in class on 4/26; if you miss that class session, please contact Chris immediately so he can help you find a group.

How to Have a Discussion

The groups can discuss in one of three ways:

1) In the Tapped In MOO, at a time set by the group, you can meet in one of the meeting rooms in TI to dialogue synchronously. To keep a record of the meeting, please use a Tape Recorder. If you've experienced difficulty with the Web Browser interface to Tapped In, use the low-end text interface, and you should have no problems.

2) In Groove or NetMeeting, at a time set by the group, you can meet to dialogue synchronously. Please keep a record of the meeting.

3) You can use some other virtual synchronous medium (e.g., a graphical MOO, a chat room) to have your discussion. In this case, you need to find some way to archive your results.

No matter how you interact, please use the group time for a serious working session to see how effective the medium is with an optimal group size and a reasonable time frame. One member of each group should post the group's product to the asynchronous discussion in Blackboard,, which will help to guide our discussion in class on May 11th.

What to Discuss

For one of the case studies below, imagine that you are on a special task force charged with proposing a way to handle this situation. Please work with your group to evolve a single, shared response.

Case Study 1: K-12 Distributed Learning

A public middle school has been selected as the site of a special study, supported by the district and funded by a private foundation. The goal of this research is to use a "distributed learning" strategy for linking the school with its surrounding community, particularly families and businesses. The method for accomplishing this goal is to use six ways of interacting across distance (asynchronous web-based discussion, synchronous interaction in MOOs, groupware, telementoring, website-based archives, and audio/video teleconferencing), in addition to face-to-face interaction. Money is not a major issue -- this is a rich private foundation interested in creating a national demonstration site. However, your recommendations should be practical (e.g., the foundation might fund Web-TV for families who could not afford a subscription, but would not fund home videoconferencing terminals for the entire community--although they might fund a number of videoconferencing terminals in community centers and libraries).

The primary challenge with which your task group is charged is to select which of the six media above should be used to accomplish various types of linkages. (For example, in linking parents and teachers, should the primary medium be videoteleconferencing? a MOO? web-based discussions?). For each kind of linkage below, your group is asked to recommend which of the six media to use as the primary communications method across distance, providing a detailed rationale for the choice.

a. linking teachers and parents

b. linking community members with special expertise to students studying topics based on that expertise

c. linking teachers and business people interested in articulating the skills high school graduates should have and the role the middle school should play

d. linking students to students in other regions for collaborative learning

e. linking taxpayers, school administrators, and the school board to share ideas on how this demonstration site should evolve

f. accomplishing any other linkages you feel are important

Make whatever assumptions you think are reasonable in developing these recommendations.

Case Study 2: Higher Education

A community college has been selected as the site of a special study, supported by a private foundation. The goal of this research is to use a "distributed learning" strategy for linking the college with its surrounding community, particularly businesses. The method for accomplishing this goal is to use six ways of interacting across distance (asynchronous web-based discussion, synchronous interaction in MOOs, groupware, telementoring, website-based archives, and audio/video teleconferencing), in addition to face-to-face interaction. Money is not a major issue -- this is a rich private foundation interested in creating a national demonstration site. However, your recommendations should be practical (e.g., the foundation might fund Web-TV for students who could not afford a subscription, but would not fund home videoconferencing terminals for students--although they might fund a number of videoconferencing terminals in community centers and libraries).

The primary challenge with which your task group is charged is to select which of the six media above should be used to accomplish various types of linkages. (For example, in linking students and teachers, should the primary medium be video teleconferencing? a MOO? web-based discussions?). For each kind of linkage below, your group is asked to recommend which of the six media to use as the primary communications method across distance, providing a detailed rationale for the choice.

a) link teachers and students.

b) linking community members and business people with special expertise to students studying topics based on that expertise.

c) linking community college instructors and business people interested in articulating the skills college graduates should have and the role the community college should play

d) linking instructors to faculty at other colleges to enable joint teaching of courses offered locally at individual campuses, but taught by a national coalition of instructors

e) linking community leaders, college administrators, and the school's board to share ideas on how this demonstration site should evolve

f) accomplishing any other linkages you feel are important

Make whatever assumptions you think are reasonable in developing these recommendations.

Case Study 3: Adult Workplace Education

You are part of a team of consultants hired by a large multinational corporation. Their top management has just decided to undertake major "business process reengineering" for all aspects of the corporation's functioning. Part of this innovation process will involve massive retraining and staff development. Because of the costs in resources and time of bringing employees together for centralized instruction, corporate management is interested in accomplishing as much of this reeducation just-in-time, anyplace as is feasible. However, they also want to ensure that the instruction is highly effective so that the new operational methods are implemented efficiently and well.

The corporation is considering six ways of conducting instruction across distance (asynchronous web-based learning, synchronous interaction in MOOs, groupware, telementoring, website-based archives, and audio/video telecourses), in addition to face-to-face interaction. The primary challenge with which your team of consultants is charged is to select which of the six media above--or face-to-face instruction--should be used to accomplish various types of learning. (For example, in training employees to use new types of office applications to accomplish tasks, should the primary medium be synchronous video courses? telementoring? face-to-face interaction in labs?) For each kind of learning below, your group is asked to recommend which instructional medium is most effective and resource efficient, providing a detailed rationale for the choice.

a. training staff to use new types of office applications

b. communicating to mid-level managers a detailed understanding of the rationale underlying the business process reengineering and a comprehension of what this means for their role

c. teaching all employees about "total quality management" and how to create small groups focused on quality for their functional area in the corporation

d. instructing managers at all levels on how to handle the interpersonal dimensions of downsizing and layoffs

e. teaching product design and development engineers how to use technologies for "communication across distance and time" to reduce travel costs and increase collaborative interaction, design, and decision making

f. accomplishing any other key linkages you feel are important

Make whatever assumptions you think are reasonable in developing these recommendations.