........ published in NEWSLETTER # 53
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........ published in NEWSLETTER # 53
COLLABORATIVE DIALOGUE TECHNOLOGIES IN DISTANCE LEARNING
by Professor M.F. Verdejo, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, Madrid (Spain)
This book (NATO ASI SERIES F133) is a result of the presentation and groupwork that took place at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on `Collaborative dialogue technologies in distance learning' held in Segovia, Spain in April 1993. The title stresses the focus on conversational models of group interaction to indicate the priorities in the list of potential topics to be covered under the more generic heading of distance learning. In this sense, the choice of book title has influenced the outcome. Unlike other edited publications, the book presents work in progress with special emphasis on modelling dialogues in general and learning dialogues in particular, at a distance, via a computer network.
The volume comprises edited and refereed versions of the papers presented at the workshop, plus three additional papers which synthesize the discussions of the working groups. The introduction presents the papers and points out some of the links between them. Papers are grouped in two parts. Part I is divided into two sections, the first (chapters 1 to 4) addresses general concerns about the nature of group collaboration and distance learning both from the point of view of the supporting technologies and the educational aspects. The second section (chapters 5 to 9) includes papers presenting a range of applications involving adult distance education, concerning either students at the university level or professional training. Part two (chapters 10 to 19) covers work on models and systems to provide computer_supported collaboration for distance learning, facilitate computer mediated dialogues and study how this combination can promote efficient learning. Most of the papers focus on learning processes but other related activities such as group coordination, authoring and course production are also described.
We would like to point out that there are three main positive aspects of the book: it is a real overview of the state_of_the_art today; it presents a genuine integration of viewpoints emerging from the educationalists _ providers of training _ users of the technologies and of the scientists _ engineers _ producers of the technologies, and finally it offers a reasonable balance between the issues in fundamental research which emerge from the area. The value of the book is not in any of these aspects alone, but in the integration of all of them.
Therefore we believe that it will be useful mainly for three types of readers: decision makers who need to make speedy reference to the area (particularly facilitated by the work on the subject index); practitioners who evaluate more in depth what each issue entails (and who wish to look at the reference cited by each of the authors) and students as well as more established researchers who need ideas for further investigation. The book is not an introduction to the field, but rather a reference tool, even if a few chapters do present a quite detailed overview of the available conceptual and computational options.
Reference books: F81, F84, F89, F90, F91, F104, F105, F119, F121, F125, F128, F132, F133, F135