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Bun!!§..l2..{ .. ‘11-’31 .5 .me a ' LIBRARY 3061 Michigan State University This is to certify that the dissertation entitled THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A THEORETICALLY GROUNDED HYPERMEDIA LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: EASE HISTORY presented by BRIAN PATRICK COLLINS has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctoral degree in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology {ll Wag/44> V Major ProfeMSignature 5/ 1/09 Date MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer ---.-.—-.—-— —- PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE 5108 K:/Prolecc&Pres/ClRC/DaleDue indd ES 3551le '-. HWER‘. THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A THEORETICALLY GROUNDED HYPERMEDIA LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: EASE HISTORY By Brian Patrick Collins A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Educational Psychology and Educational Technology 2009 ‘IE DESft}.\ HYPE. I" ‘53”! u ,3" h¥w .u .. Lu ¥ t. l I ,1- .. .1 .3 ~r‘v‘ I t.“"‘ .IUl \ . ’ ~F “‘ . l v- _ ‘ . . EINQL 5.031" ., I l ‘ I," ' ._ -~.JF° 0,. . ' . M..\u. ‘A-J. ;\ , .'- ‘ ‘ ' ' IF.JF. x _ is....§“‘ v‘..1 . \ “at: . ‘ r ' 8 3.1,. ‘ a An: g . ‘ «.zgu‘ l a t \\ ,~ ‘ . v - ‘ n4 -..‘ .fl .‘Y‘fl; 0;. n lulll‘ ...‘: u ‘. ‘ -A "5 ,_~ 'VF. Z . ~.|‘k\\‘.\‘ L5c I‘I.‘ “J E ‘ "sv- .\ \\ }{ ."-. ._ ,_,. ‘ 3“, "t .t ,t_ 3 ' I ._:. ~,."t 1"" “‘ Vb"! . . ‘i. \‘a " ~ \ 'n . ‘5 L . ~ . . ‘ .zN"‘ ‘ .\l.\ ‘ I‘ ‘ ' L . ‘i‘4 -. ‘V' ‘\.. .3 V». -‘\ 0“ 4 .. -I . Y- ,1 .b- “:3.-. ...,~ ABSTRACT THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A THEORETICALLY GROUNDED HYPERMEDIA LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: EASE HISTORY By Brian Patrick Collins Learning environment design and development is essential for the field of educational technology, because it is a relatively new field compared to many disciplines of scholarly inquiry. The focus of this dissertation is on the design and development of the EASE system and the general design of EASE History, a case-based learning environment that is grounded in learning theory and designed to support nonlinear work with content related to history and civics content. EASE stands for experience acceleration support environment. It was given this name because the EASE environment’s use of new video techniques and arrangement of cases might shorten the amount of time that learners require to develop expertise, for cases are revisited in multiple contexts and examined from different perspectives. This dissertation will examine EASE History design through multiple lenses, because a rich, multi-perspectival of the account of the system will allow the value-added of each perspective to cumulatively build to a more complete picture. It will be argued that the program has clear fidelity to the underlying theoretical ideas that supported the design and development of the program and demonstrates what the theoretical ideas would look like in practice. The dissertation will also describe lessons learned about computer learning environment design from a detailed examination of the design process. 1v . “I‘ll 10 in“. ”A; .‘ mJW' “”57 ‘ Aanutu. \. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Rand Spiro, Aparna Ramchandran, Jeffrey Caulum, and the members of my committee for helping me complete this dissertation. iii Lifilflfl IYQFECIR. 5‘ In .; M- fix.“ \. t.‘T‘r- “I‘D *7. ‘ u l“ ‘ . ‘ ' .- . .\ ‘3 R v A y. ““s .‘I, ((1 . t ----- s; r11 ;/5 ,Lr ,I. rt: 'L. . 61/. 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FT‘ rr4 >.J 4" f" f'\ rm ('1‘? rr-y Ir‘rW, 4k ('17 m .1» -. /) rr‘ V " - l] .' {7' I .\ a g. - \ \' - ‘ -D»' .1- L_ \‘V‘.’ ’-. r ,1 - L/ 3 .J' I)’: r?" rr ' “7“ b—fo f?" fr” N1 {17 .1' k/' rr' '-v-t ll. .'_/‘ rr‘ 1-1—- TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 Origins of the Name ............................................................................................ 1 Overview ............................................................................................................ 1 Theoretical Origins ............................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................. 10 Hypertext ........................................................................................................... 10 Hypermedia Learning Systems ........................................................................... 12 Individual Differences and Hypermedia Learning .............................................. 15 CHAPTER 3 HYPERMEDIA LEARNING THEORIES ..................................................................... 23 Cognitive Flexibility Theory .............................................................................. 23 Reductive Bias ................................................................................................... 24 Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning ......................................................... 29 Comparing Cognitive Flexibility Theory and the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning ..................................................................................... 35 CHAPTER 4 DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNDERLYING EASE SYSTEM .............. 38 EASE Costs ....................................................................................................... 39 EASE Cases ....................................................................................................... 42 EASE Viewing Modes ....................................................................................... 45 EASE Theme Searches ....................................................................................... 48 EASE Tirneline .................................................................................................. 51 EASE Icons ....................................................................................................... 53 EASE Mindset Modeling Videos ....................................................................... 55 Online or Ofiline ................................................................................................ 59 CHAPTER 5 DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE EASE HISTORY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ..................................................................................... 61 EASE History Costs ........................................................................................... 63 EASE History Content Development ................................................................. 65 EASE History Topics and Main Menus .............................................................. 73 EASE History Cases .......................................................................................... 75 iv '/ l f T‘l (/1 r'fi r71 m L}, (/1 rT1 rra K‘ _ “has .. EDEH \ Isgasb. :Lpo:Ph s... L. l5. \h _1\E\‘_I\"\ ”.4A.\ -‘-.... ..... I'i": It ca." ..I .5 I _ '.'-\?'\~‘ F'H" ‘T( I ~'IAAL.|I .l‘ fi ,2 I I‘. .3~H~?~.. I’" ”'3" o.‘ r- -_§.q f. Uflm. J. k““ \ !\ ‘ I _ :4.,,\Chil\"; 35~ztR\I\(.p s& C... \I "u ”4“ P- ‘41:)» “u'IRQ I‘\", ‘k. I” '\ . V». (v Q . Jiifl I. I‘ll“ I V ' s l' P “A" E i\_1‘_. v- ' ‘A a .4.\ E ‘1. 33*: Y .1 1'. k.‘ H. K O "A ‘ I ‘-A 7- EASE History Case Resources ........................................................................... 76 EASE History Theme Searches .......................................................................... 85 EASE History Viewing Modes ........................................................................... 89 Weave Viewing Mode Example ......................................................................... 91 EASE History Timeline ..................................................................................... 95 Lessons Learned Designing the EASE Programs .............................................. 100 CHAPTER 6 AN EXAMINATION OF THE EASE PROGRAMS FROM THE DISCIPLINE OF DESIGN ...................................................................................................................... 107 CHAPTER 7 A HYPOTHETICAL EXPLORATION OF FREEDOM .............................................. 117 The Hypothetical Exploration of ‘Freedom’ by “Cris” ...................................... 119 Interpretation of “Cris’s” Exploration of ‘Freedom’ ......................................... 127 Going Beyond the System ................................................................................ 129 CHAPTER 8 SITUATING EASE HISTORY IN THE CONTEXT OF SIX LEARNING PROGRAMS ................................................................................... 131 Comparing Two Systems Based on Cognitive Flexibility Theory: KANE and EASE History ........................................................................... 131 Living Room Candidate ................................................................................... 134 The Valley of the Shadow ................................................................................ 138 MediaMatrix .................................................................................................... 143 Scratch ............................................................................................................. 144 Google Search .................................................................................................. 147 Collage Programs ............................................................................................. 149 CHAPTER 9 CRITIQUING EASE HISTORY AND COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY THEORY ......... 152 Problematizing Cognitive Flexibility Theory .................................................... 152 Rationale Behind Design Choices .................................................................... 155 CHAPTER 10 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 1 63 Does the Instantiation of the Underlying Theoretical Ideas Have Clear Fidelity to Those Ideas? ............................................................................... 163 The Design of a Working Computer Learning Environment Is a Kind of Data .165 Does the Program Offer Compelling Examples of How Its Design Is Matched to the Achievement of Its Design Goals? ........................................... 168 What Can Be Learned About Computer Learning Environment Design From a Detailed Examination From the Design Process? ............................. 169 Limitations ....................................................................................................... 172 Future Directions ............................................................................................. 172 JPEXDIX A 3.153 HISTUR‘I 13.39011 B CERESEN; 1 ‘ ’ Ir a .‘f.’ .‘ 5.11::l:I: , ;I"‘I\D'\C .'if?'.1C.ITIU\5 ”F.” Ar- '\t r: 3&‘51\~ Ly. APPENDIX A EASE HISTORY THEME CHARTS .......................................................................... 174 APPENDIX B ADDRESSING THE GOAL OF USAGE AND EXPERT RECEPTION OF THE SYSTEM ...................................................................................................... 177 APPENDIX C IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF A FUTURE EASE APPLICATION ........... 179 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 186 vi LIST OF TABLES l. Ill-Structured VS. Well—Structured Domains .............................................................. 25 2. EASE History Icons .................................................................................................. 77 vii q r- ‘1 1 31- l‘ ," .1 _ - lh-J-b 1A5 (.. IQ" . -‘ b- I n l ..‘».5. HI).‘, . ' . u ' n . l. ' J \"F v I....L -\‘\ s . I15 ,_I-. . .- 5.17.71: - ' m ‘ “ ‘ui II V ‘ 412,; -. . I,_..,;‘.':(JOJ‘\ .'\ l 3.. .24. \FNJI‘" -. 15.15.}: Al'wI ;.O‘_ -55.?.:‘\!‘:‘ \r ‘ . \ 1" ‘ ~ l‘lI-pn “idle: ~:Qe\y".' ‘\"y,. I D .. ‘ f k‘.\£EJ ‘ LS. '- h‘ l:,. AMH IL :\‘.l"‘ V I L."‘_.P ‘t tut-.r»( \‘ i-V. .r‘ _', i" I“ .4- ““' lt‘ I 1‘2. ‘5 '4“ "K.\ t LIST OF FIGURES l. EASE History Menu .................................................................................................. 74 2. EASE History Themes ............................................................................................... 75 3. “I Like Ike” Case ....................................................................................................... 77 4. “Angle” Mindset Modeling Video ............................................................................. 78 5 , “Bandwagon” Mindset Modeling Video .................................................................... 79 6, “Multiple Goals” Mindset Modeling Video ................................................................ 80 7, “Direct Appeal” Mindset Modeling Video ................................................................. 81 8. “Cold War Anxiety” Mindset Modeling Video .......................................................... 82 9, Election Map Artifact ................................................................................................ 85 10- Multiple Theme Search ............................................................................................ 86 11. Index Search ............................................................................................................ 87 12. Keyword Search ..................................................................................................... 87 13. Topics Search .......................................................................................................... 88 14. View Mode .............................................................................................................. 89 15- Compare Viewing Mode .......................................................................................... 90 16- Weave Viewing Mode ............................................................................................. 91 17' EA S E History Timeline ........................................................................................... 95 18' EA S E History Timeline Rollover ............................................................................. 97 19' Living Room Candidate ......................................................................................... 134 20' The Valley of the Shadow ...................................................................................... 139 2]. Med i'élI\/Iatrix .......................................................................................................... 142 viii 22. Scratch ................................................................................................................... 145 23. Google Search ....................................................................................................... 147 ix it“ |\.!\n\ 5'1"" ‘ J" [Tllr1‘ Win—u.‘ 5H|h § . w »;.l > .._.'I.“ .s -71)- }\_\‘H "-5 "as v-_ ... 4&5.»ng .I- .. H "k3 .‘xv-uw” -‘ hm,“ - 1““ fl - \. ' I ' ~ m~ 1“;\ ‘1‘ I ‘ s l '- .l I' «\L H' ‘ . ‘~l“\\.". 1" .- 1.. .~ .-. u‘f‘ :u \ . A ‘~|"\.'|‘.. \. -. :v .. ’ " II I ‘ I 1‘ ‘.‘ 9..» ._ ‘u ‘ “15‘". r ‘1 \ L... I.‘ I ' < ‘\. 'V , ‘v. H- . :I ‘7 ll' ‘ A- P \. N. . :.- ‘ ‘-.‘\I‘I‘ .. ‘ .. ‘1 .I'u "b. -| ‘ ‘4 I‘ '- I “u; _.I '~ ‘ - I “-1. o. '_ '\ CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The focus of this dissertation is on the design and development of a hypermedia learning environment based on learning theory. EASE History, a specific application of the EASE system, is an online learning environment that features over one thousand cases related to historical events, campaign advertisements, and core values. Origins of the Name The entire hypermedia system featured in this dissertation is referred to as “E A SE”. This acronym stands for “experience acceleration support environment”. “EASE History” refers to a specific implementation of the EASE system that features histox'y and civics content. The approach of this dissertation is to apply a critical mindset to the design of EASE History, including the placement of the program, and the theory that supports its design, in context, seeing how the program connects with other kinds of approaches, and examin ing the program fiom multiple perspectives. Overview The field of educational technology is relatively new compared to many discip l ines of scholarly inquiry. As a field that is still very much in development, p arad ig ms for scholarly work in the area continue to evolve, along with an ongoing Proc . . . . . es S Of calibration of the needs of the field and traditions of scholarship connected to edUCa - t 10 nal technology. Eiucarrr " -'«.;"J amt'v .“l‘_~'-§ 511.? u.\ . e 1 LJ’.""“ 3.." ”1.“,- _..-.'. 5.0.1 \ I.- . - w . ;‘ .t.‘.‘~a1 0.) i." thou-ntuJ. -\\I‘ ,—;-—..~ 3'1". ,r-r "‘ .1. in a\.-.. y '1 "11 '\ ' \ .-. «\wuu' \. .5” i...‘ - — - AM»... ’P‘" ' “i“r‘u \ut .1.J_ \I J F‘ “-"- \..\ I , . ‘Ezvvu V a“ ' v ,~I . ,I ' --~ ..1| ,. _‘ . ‘ 5 n no _. ' “ «i. ‘ .53 ‘J I H ““ Lan‘: . c . L‘. ' :4 u. l . ‘I. .\\ ’k.,\"‘ H .- 1 I“. \ .1 _ ' ~\\I=:C QL . ._ ._-' \ n. . “ .,\ l\ r _ .‘ K ,1 ‘. "\I '4 t“ v ’ l‘ "1.. a; ‘ ‘4 x M. \i-I‘". .,-. . . -". I ‘ V ‘ l ‘11. ".-. "w” .I. \ ‘5 q 1 u..'.‘> .u ‘Q t 1 All“. .,_ l 4:} 4H,. 41% L‘- ‘. :4 ‘1 ‘~ ‘ H. l Educational psychology, a related field of educational technology, has tended to privilege empirical research over computer-supported learning, but it could be argued that learning environment design and development is equally important for the field of educational technology, independent of data collection. It also could be argued that learning environment design and development results is its own kind of data, independent of the study of learning effects and that there are multiple stages of learning environment development that may stand on their own as works of scholarship for several reasons. First, the process of design is interesting in its own right. One important reason for having thorough and insightfill descriptive accounts of the design of an actual hypermedia learning system is to inform similar efforts in the fiiture. The field would benefit from knowing details of earlier development efforts. Another reason that an account of the design of an actual hypermedia learning system is that design is a proper field of study. The present dissertation is not intended as a contribution to the literature of design, except perhaps in an indirect manner. The intent of the dissertation is to provide usefil I data about a specific kind of hypermedia design and development, one that might advance knowledge about the design of hypermedia learning environments. Second, the production of an actual, working system, available to all for their Scrutiny , is a kind of educational technology data as well. It is a kind of existence proof, ShoWihg that something that can be imagined can be built. Too ofien, work in areas like artific ia 1 intelligence and educational technology consists of theoretical conjecture. Build ing a working system shows that theoretical ideas of system design can be actua 1 i2 e(1. In artificial intelligence, this is the primary form of data, and its importance is captu red by the AI slogan, “demo or die”. The working program demonstrates that a \\-r,". NH.. .n._._ .': . '\ n: ' -~~ u. mm \ '. .rw . _ -‘-- _‘ Its» ‘I 1“ \ V“=\¢‘..\ ’\o . I a. ' I---. d ‘v "\. \ J 9 It. ..,\ ‘ .‘. 31.,- Q "a tk‘ A‘ .4 '7' ._ ' \Ict-b {‘ I I ‘h "\ ,. “w“. \H‘ - L. ‘ " “‘\1.\ ' 9:\ u “ \ .‘ §‘_\. :fi .P-v.‘ H. I. " 'n ‘H _ x V v‘ _ . \‘_:~.‘. _- “s \l-“‘ l. § -\'_ u xi. ‘A \‘ K. ‘I r l3» -" .V‘ ‘ H‘. I. 4‘ -. . ‘ - .V ‘\_“ I _ a ‘ u ‘t “ ._ \ " -x. - N“ “. " s ‘\ \_\‘ ‘. ~\ \ 1‘ \\ “i _ ' ‘..4 proposed set of ideas can be actualized in a full-functioning program. The goal is even more important given the relative rarity of having large-scale, full-blown systems (rather than “toy” systems that implement a small part of what would ideally be a much larger system) of the type found in this dissertation. Third, the functioning program makes ideas expressed in the abstract concrete. Often one reads abstract and theoretical proposals in the educational technology field and is not sure what the ideas would look like in practice. The working program concretizes ideas and shows what the ideas would look like in a large-scale, fiJlly operating system of the type developed for this dissertation. Fourth, with the ideas in concretized form, it becomes possible to evaluate the face validity of the finished program. The program can be exammed to answer questions such as the following: Does the instantiation of the underlying theoretical ideas have clear fidelity to those ideas? Does the program offer compelling examples of how its design is matched to the achievement of its design goals? What can be learned about Computer learning environment design from a detailed examination of the design Proce s s ? F ifih, the development and design effort to create a working program can be Co‘np ared, contrasted, and integrated with other kinds of related activities in educational techno IOgy, For all of these reasons, it seems entirely appropriate for a dissertation in the field Ofedue at ional technology to have two primary components absent the presentation of data 0 I). e ff . . ects of use, the details of system deSIgn and development and the program ”Self ’ a S tho kinds of data that might be useful to the developing field of educational :y ' u... 3.13 Ir! J‘ ~..b..s...b “4 gL.“ b iseirzon. lifih i? 1- 'n'I-'\ln J ' \ .v .\ un..-....\‘.... u 5 bvt. .. I . y.- .. '! H r muw .‘d‘\l. 3 \. ln .."§ . la: .‘d;..:. .’ ’-.‘.'1‘ o In... .t\\.'..sh ~ . 5....» l,- l' ‘ AAAEQ.JP°7‘“" .: l ‘ '1',” l \._L,j "J' ~ ~- I.‘ 'n ’ l u“. .‘a- ..\~" H , AM ‘_'I r ‘F ~\ l'u, .‘ re . v\.\ M J P¥\. Il.l . . «\‘F . LH_‘ 5‘ “A“ .. . .‘ ’ \‘flt ' ~ \ ~‘. ‘ P‘In, -. '4', ‘s‘ 3" |d._ .' I " D- A-“‘. ~1‘\_ 1r - - k,] \t I, . 4 ‘ u n ll, i. S 0* r . "' lv '. l u“. r '\ _’l“,' .. ._ 1‘ “ technology. Because the production of a working system is arguably the greatest challenge in educational technology, the EASE system itself is the central aspect of this dissertation. In this analysis, a premium will be placed on being critical, on contesting and deconstructing assumptions, and on contextualizing work in a larger context. An effort to achieve such a critical stance is another characteristic of this dissertation. In summary, the goal of this dissertation is to provide a view of the development ofa full-fledged, functioning, large scale hypermedia learning environment as data and analysis, appropriate to the field of educational technology in all ways outlined in this section. The working program itself is as integral to the dissertation as the text, and is meant to be used in conjunction with the reading of the text. Theoretical Origins This dissertation examines design through multiple lenses, because any single lens Wil 1 be inadequate. Design is not a well understood area, and the hope is this rich, mu It i— p erspectival account of the system will allow the value-added of each perspective to cumu latively build to a more complete picture. Program design is examined from the follow in g perspectives: the Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT) perspective, the theory that Supported program design; narratives concerning the design and development of EASE and EASE History; the examination of program features from different learning p er Sp ec t ives; an overview of EASE History, a fiill-fledged, working system; examples of how EAS E History might support history and civics learning; the perspectives of five cOnteI—IT'IDorary, online programs and KANE, a previously built Cognitive Flexibility HYPe l“Ii-'Z‘edia (CFH) system; a critical lens that problematizes CFT and discusses changes 1 A.» an 4" Y F‘ nb'i unfit” v A... 5 .. _ ‘ L "3' lt‘ . lp L\...;. ‘ Mm. m . , , . 3"); 1M and _, a». . grub I . . ' ‘ -‘ a .. . '3 l ,1 v .(Lyjkrby‘ ~-- ‘ ,. ”'V” l“ .137. ~ .. ~m.. u. \ Aug ‘ 5 TV ',._,,‘. ~-\ ms... ‘J'L lip-J... “‘5. ‘0 «IA-s.” l. I J A i l ' ‘HV 1.... -".b.ru\. d L ..'. Isms-v," (“o 7"“0"; .. " ‘ 'l. x. .5 m- . ‘ J‘V' " h“ I .~~~~~~~...: 1 t i""i~- 9‘ n.._' ”T“ A m .17; .4' ““¥ U. 1" In. : u s. that might be made to the program; and a design framework from the field of design itself. It is worth noting that the emerging discipline of “design” itself is only one of the lenses applied. As Chapter 6 demonstrates, much of what a prominent fiamework from the area of design reveals is redundant with perspectives that had been applied to the program in earlier chapters in this dissertation. The literature review reflects the dissertation’s focus on the design and develOpment of a CF H system by providing an overview of relevant research from hypertext and hypermedia literature regarding the definition of related terms, an historical review of hypertext and hypermedia, a review of specific hypermedia features, hypermedia applications, and research related to hypermedia learning, with special attention to six areas of hypermedia learning research that study individual differences in order to find ways to reduce disorientation and cognitive load. They are: learning styles, advance organizers, site maps, information structure, learner control mechanisms, and mix ed media effects. Chapter 3 provides an overview of CF T, a constructivist learning theory that is designed to support learning in ill-structured domains, where general principles do not account for enough of the variability in the way knowledge has to be applied. According to the theory, learners must have experience with a large number of cases to see the differ e nt ways that conceptual knowledge is combined and applied in real world contexts. The theory also argues that new media might support nonlinear work with cases. CF T is Compared and contrasted with Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML), a le - arnln g theory that, like CFT, is designed to support hypermedia learning and the I.'I".f “i. ‘+ .\_‘.£‘.‘. Anon U n I' ‘i'tmfaA ‘ " J, u ...§U' .. l) t. .' .. ., . ' fl " b‘.‘\nL‘.‘€) 3‘s“ \.. ~ .D."‘ ”F \l‘ e -‘ . ‘V5\-Aik .\.\..”l ”i’i""“fl' .I‘v‘ ’ 'U‘--L..i\, 5 \IO 'i‘ . ‘Kl'w‘m‘ “ c.»,.__,“” n \ . , . I-‘.p_3.":- ..n J ...... ML .._\u:. ~~ .m .‘1 ‘u ‘ >~.">-\ “L‘EL n . u_\' t :i .30; 2‘ ‘ r . s. H Al \ '9 w.- ‘ n- . c. 4 . QAOT _ ’ d l P r miulie)‘ v. , . "NE A. " W'hJ .1. ~ “w. u 9.- .. .'.\»"‘ ‘n . ; “\~.\\\\\ m .\A t._ I .7 I «Y‘YJV I .._‘ I ‘ . Q. . A g ‘t. ‘vm . ‘h hi“ I.) . 5 H K \ }'-.' -‘R‘iifiu. r i “3““, 0.. 4 ~. 5- \" " '\\ '!—| \ M‘ ‘~ ‘\ x t.- ‘n ‘h. t... A .\ \.. \\ \‘I ._~ ‘4 t u ‘ - ‘5 _ i n -:“"-. , ‘i .4 ‘P ~‘. ‘5 I.‘.‘ . ._ a. . . M 3 ~.\, ~~ \ -. _ . l." - i b‘\, - -.,.\ ‘ .. . '- .‘ - ._ I". .' \IJS-I 7) construction of hypermedia systems. CTML’s approach to the design of educational hypermedia is discussed in this chapter. Chapter 4 describes the design and development of the EASE system and discusses how design decisions were made based on learning theory, the affordances of specific technologies, limits on time and financial resources, usability issues, and programmer expertise. The development of the EASE system began in spring 2003 and the program was operational in summer 2004. The EASE system is designed to support nonlinear juxtapositions of cases, hold an array of multimedia, support learning in multiple ill-structured domains, and have a database—driven design that enables non- programmers to create, maintain, and modify projects. Chapter 4 provides an overview of program features, the theoretical motivation behind program features, compares those features with other computer learning environments, and examines the features from the perspectives of multiple learning theories. Chapter 5 provides an overview of the design and development of EASE History, describing the costs, in terms of effort and financial resources, to develop EASE History, and the development of program content. Chapter 5 discusses the initial difficulties that I had securing copyrighted materials, the gathering of public domain images and videos, and the researching of the domains of advertising, civics, political science, and history that supported the development of themes and case specific content. Chapter 5 also describes the deployment of the system, including efforts to promote EASE History. This chapter discusses lessons learned from designing the EASE and EASE History programs. These lessons, related to design, include: the need to adapt to new situations, tolerate uncertainty, compare and contrast multiple programs, place programs in context, 4.1),...r‘n . COMINA . . . . _ at "ti-3y nrxnr ,' ‘- [Iliii ' |‘- -| -‘ a... f y I I -u ”I; I’)‘ "l" J t‘ “is \JV‘. ., I ."’1 , 1,1 A F'J' \ A». . -\- . l Hwy.“ ablydlg ‘1\U| n- - ' ' H ‘1'! I _..l ‘ :..L.,‘_1'JL. - s ' b "\’,)v “‘15 I5. I l‘ I -:.T"al" 3h '\' Ml , .' '\ ' F- Kw?" ill “ \..,u.~ hI ‘“ .3' ‘0- H \ " b,,\. l. I I.;' .' & .;\" nq‘, ~I ' .0 I firm-“n, '\\ \--. -. :~"”n ‘ ~ IH‘IIJ“. -llll\ ‘.-_ ~Il'y- I '" “lull lr ‘h _ ~I. .‘ 3 ~h.\ compensate for an individual program’s weaknesses by taking advantage of the strengths of other programs, and apply learning theory to program design. In order to demonstrate how the description of program use matches what is done when the program is actually used, Chapter 5 provides a tour of EASE History and an example of how one might use the Weave viewing mode to examine how music is applied in similar and different ways in campaign advertisements. Chapter 6 applies a framework from the discipline of design, outlined in The Design Way, 3 book authored by Nelson and Stolterman (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003; Stolterman, 2008), to the design of EASE programs. The authors advocate the use of a “rich set of rigorous and disciplined design methods and techniques” (Stolterman, 2008) to support the examination of program design from multiple perspectives (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003, p. 108). The authors argue that this kind of approach might support innovation in the complex world. The Nelson and Stolterman (2003) framework is one that is designed to support the examination of the complex nature of systems using the following lenses: the ability of designers to adapt to new situations, the establishment of a project as a purposefiil activity, and limits on time and financial resources that shape design decisions. Chapter 7 features a detailed hypothetical exploration of EASE History in order to simulate what a student might do when working with cases coded on ‘freedom’ in EASE History, an online hypermedia environment that is designed to support a deeper understanding of concepts by showing how the application of concepts vary across cases — and the need to place events in context and examine cases from multiple perspectives. In order to convey some of the potentialities of the system, the reader is invited on a . . » , ll ‘0’.)I‘ \' .3 I\ a ‘t‘..i.1‘w.\v'\ll V . . , , , "" 1" ”‘9 .;-- -4. .‘... ..l\ .\ . N 1 " NA .33. I’il . _ I . a J" ' 1" «A -~._\.'l_ “ \ .- ""-"nI-Ini'-‘po ‘ "II M~ .uus .u_\ n . I r X1“. Lilli: E -"_ ‘1 . "5:5 Web. I F11 VIC-3 T}. k ‘1 . "‘m ‘It "~n. I .1 , , -Du.“;\I|' I'E.“ ---...\ h ""\A- I - a -. ‘ new“ .17.“, 7“..- - i s .1, . . .|,l\ l“‘ l hypothetical exploration, or a kind of “thought experiment”, to examine the system through the lens of a more sophisticated understanding of freedom. Six learning programs are used in Chapter 8 to situate EASE History and examine the tension between what the built environment does and what other learning environments do. The six environments that are used to situate EASE History are: KANE, Living Room Candidate, The Valley of the Shadow, MediaMatrix, Scratch, and Google Search. EASE History is compared and contrasted with KANE, a previously built CFH system. This chapter argues that EASE History builds upon KANE, because it features online videos, multiple theme searches, a database, multiple viewing modes, a timeline, and mindset modeling videos. The six programs are compared and contrasted from multiple perspectives, including CFT, Cognitive Load Theory, CTML, Project Goals, and New Media perspectives. Chapter 8 also describes ways that programs might be integrated in order to take advantage of individual program strengths and compensate for program weaknesses. EASE History is critiqued as a finished product in Chapter 9. The problematization of CFT includes: CF H systems do not replace real world experience; larger versions of CFH programs are more difficult to test than smaller ones; the use of the term “case” is problematic in CFH systems, because it is often used ambiguously; and previously built CFH programs have not taken advantage of the strengths of other programs. The critique of EASE programs in Chapter 9 also includes: an explanation of the rationale behind certain content and design choices and a discussion of why some of the design choices that I made during the development of the program might not be ones that I would make today; an examination of EASE History’s use of multiple viewing miss. lCOIlS. theme scar. z-izdiscussion ofthe tc: "III. 9 n ‘ ) .‘I.*..I.€=.€.1.:Gl.'lt‘ Lleli'L l0 - Chapter 10 cxalua: 3:55:36: Does the if»: t: Lies: Eden)” Does the p: :1“: airexement ofthe r: fiffiiminl design from a :3.“th the limitarms or 3. AK ‘x3?;.itt‘d in EASE H1.- ff'T“1~ -L a V““‘AL 1 E — ‘ : ‘HL [‘SE F? L'? . ‘ :I L: modes, icons, theme searches, multiple knowledge representations, videos, and topics; and a discussion of the tension between the project goals of making CFT principles concrete and the desire to gain a wider audience for the system. Chapter 10 evaluates the face validity of the finished program from the following perspectives: Does the instantiation of the underlying theoretical ideas have clear fidelity to those ideas? Does the program offer compelling examples of how its design is matched to the achievement of the design goals? What can be learned about computer learning environment design from a detailed examination of the design process? Chapter 10 also describes the limitations of the work presented in this study, and future directions, including the development of a research program that evaluates how individuals learn when placed in EASE History and a brief description of how lessons learned from designing the EASE programs might be applied to the design of a new application. a A. o 3 - ‘\ thither .. cur. 3...:2: prondes an ox c v‘J’)” ~03 w: ... OI- .s_¢...br6:.1rdn.2 Li'icl s .3. ; “:1; ofspetific imp-c: ‘3;‘vt’h‘ o9 - ‘ .>\-1.~.A. ‘kish .‘PL iit‘L‘ 9' I ::~;z._)'1la'3- ‘1. .....nLI§ IEHJCDCC p" S . ‘I\ ,“531 s H T‘-r.'\ -. \llcd in: - ..c .1. a...” ‘IL \IL‘r’Q a. .\\ (3K1, ~ \K‘ "in... l"|§ CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Chapter 2 examines literature that informed the design of the EASE system. This chapter provides an overview of relevant research from hypertext and hypermedia literature regarding the definition of related temis, an historical review of the media, a review of specific hypermedia features, hypermedia applications, hypermedia learning research, with specific focus on six areas that examine issues related to how individual differences influence performance in hypermedia systems: learning styles, advance organizers, site maps, information structure, learner control mechanisms, and mixed media effects. Hypertext Hypertext is interconnected text in a digital format that enables users to explore content in nonlinear directions. Carlson describes hypertext as “nonlinear prose, interactive print, or dynamic text using electronic capabilities to overcome the limitations of linear, printed text” (Carlson, 1990, p. 16). Conklin describes hypertext as “a computer-based medium for thinking and communication” (Conklin, 1987, p. 32). Heller describes hypertext as “a nonlinear database with tools for selecting information from the database and presenting the information to the user” (Heller, 1990, p. 431). Vannevar Bush is credited with the idea for hypertext programs. In 1945, in an article published in the Atlantic Monthly, he proposed a mechanical device called Memex that would store associated information, including books, pictures, periodicals, newspapers, and annotations from microfilm recordings, which could “be consulted with 10 - 2221“" eed and Ila baitee gathered... frut m. 1: ii more than thi» ’18 targu2dtha: 7.3.. end. The .\leme\ more hxpene T t ' I :20 Xenon tmezz'. {I QH’] , .. 3l\\ntmn ' ‘V 'VI‘Q - y. ‘ a. 2 were or the r httnehu 1fi*“*l015Ln \ i 1 50% ”I. led'.\ C .3. ‘3C:erl‘ll\‘$ Ul llil“; ‘5 are ni‘t full‘ Lfifv a unAntT."n '"II K.“ - . I A I . h} ‘ .Avffi I} Q \. 7:13:62er : u--. '\ au,. «:3 exceeding speed and flexibility”. Bush wrote, “It is exactly as though the physical items had been gathered... from widely separated sources and bound together to form a new book It is more than this, for any item can be joined into numerous trails” (Bush, 1945, p. 107). Bush argued that the system could supplement memory thus extending the human mind. The Memex was never built but served as a driving force in the development of hypertext and hypermedia. Ted Nelson invented the term “hypertext” in 1963. Nelson defined hypertext as “non-sequential writing”. Like Vannevar Bush, Nelson argued that hypertext is free fi‘om the constraints of sequence imposed by printed materials and more closely resembles the associative nature of the mind. Nelson wrote, It (the human mind) operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It has other characteristics, of course; trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not firlly permanent, memory is transitory. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature. Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart, working separately, developed two of the earliest hypertext systems. The Xanadu project, developed by Ted Nelson in 1960, was a networked system developed to store and index all of the world's literature and other forms of public and private information and be accessible through a "non-sequential" pattern of branches going in different directions, based on association. The NLS (oN Line System) was developed by Douglas Engelbart in the mid-19603 at the Stanford Research Institute. NLS was a computer-interface that included elements such as hypertext and groupware. The goal of the project was to use computers to support nonlinear work with complex information structures. 11 Bribes t 19TH at. zetseis He mote. 1m ideal teu. : hen; able :0 sup. signifieus; II has it entrances. none 0: codes it "l‘ll'u’t‘x systems of lllt‘afiff‘. new closed. luv.- .' \\ 1:1“. mm dlltxl‘ts 1: 2‘1.“ _. I... in?» :0 Dru 1h ‘ :1 pul\_\. \(I 112'; 42‘ ' -.-e2>2r1be hon hi. IX Barthes (1970) argued for the non-hierarchical organization of text in open networks. He wrote, In this ideal text, the networks are many and interact, without any one of them being able to surpass the rest; this text is a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can reach, they are indeterrninable; the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language. Hypermedia Learning Systems With innovations in technology, hypertext environments evolved into hypermedia learning systems, which are designed to promote learning through nonlinear paths connecting video, audio, graphics, and text. Marchionini (1988) wrote that hypermedia systems “take advantage of the random access capabilities of computers to overcome the strictly sequential medium of print on paper” and extend “the nonlinear representation and access to graphics, sound, animation, and other forms of information transfer”. Others describe how hypermedia systems offer, “rich, authentic contexts that can increase engagement and help learners develop more complex views of issues” (CTGV, 1992). Heller (1990) argues that hypermedia systems support unplanned opportunities for exploration. Shin, Schallert, and Savenye (1994) emphasize the benefits of self-directed, non-sequential, dynamic hypermedia environments. Spiro & Jehng (1990) argue that different nonlinear paths enable users to explore multiple interpretations of the same topic. Features of hypermedia. Hypertext and hypermedia, hypermedia and multimedia, are often used interchangeably in literature, since nodes and nonlinear links are the basic elements of the systems (Altun, 2000; Jonassen, 1989). Marchionini describes nodes as 12 5. 122:1:cm3tton units ;gs;:_;1 '1\ lOYlZIsSCIH a; .12 text. when and. .r.. Conklin 1193-1 .1: ' sire rpm. 5 bet \I 2221 " “3" Ante-m. ltt‘ks Rog: iestmtton node, ()1 :4\'-;“P.“ I... '2 V ...-.t.1.ael‘.lt‘l‘.lfllll l . >— . I \ 1:." ll 7.) “.2 C Si, gypstcd I‘d: 3; ,‘7 ‘13.; o— , ~§ :‘u.d~\" {\I‘urg \ILA' 1 -. ‘ . \ A 9 ‘3‘ Dav? 22-5.1- ‘.“\b a 4 ‘ z. x ‘.‘\. — ' ‘~-;5\1ln In - I)!“ I}; China 2.. V I \ o3 - «m .52., ‘e tern. . ‘5‘ ‘ My 0‘ I ' \‘ I — ‘ 11"; 3"; xifl‘ ‘\ .“ll‘. 6 \ K '24,; s -\ A“ ‘ - :9 tr “the information units” such as paragraphs, images, and articles (Marchionini, 1988, p. 8). Similarly, Jonassen (1989) defines nodes as information fragments, which may include text, video and audio segments, and graphics. Conklin (1987) argues that links are the essence of hypertext as they support nonlinear paths between nodes. He describes two types of links: referential links and organizational links. Referential links connect a source in the current node to a referent in the destination node. Organizational links connect a parent node to its children in a tree fashion. Marchionini (1988) argues that links can be both explicit and implicit. Explicit links are suggested paths through linked information, while implicit links are used often as guided tours. Marchionini also describes how links “offer learners individualized access to rich intellectual environment” (Marchionini, 1988, p. 9). Xerox’s NoteCards, Apple Computers’ HyperCard, and KANE are examples of hypermedia systems developed in the 19805. NoteCards was released in 1985. It featured scrolling windows for each notecard, pre-formatted specialized notecards, and a separate browser/navigator window. HyperCard was introduced in 1987. The hypermedia program integrated a database with a graphical and customizable interface, enabling users to build local stacks of cards on a single machine. It was included free with all Macintosh machines and is credited with popularizing hypertext. The KANE (Knowledge Acquisition in Nonlinear Enviromnents) hypermedia learning environment, the first hypermedia system based on CFT, was launched in 1987 by Rand Spiro and his team at the University of Illinois. KANE content was stored on a videodisc, which was divided into twenty-five video cases that were between thirty to ninety seconds in length. Each case was coded on themes like ambition, power, fallibility, and lifelessness. Text 13 mittens and expert 21 £251,321 to support the t sci. min the film “C restricted cases. from n‘ rreriependent themes ‘ 11111“in 1111“. BM sites. 01 1:.t0rmsztwn t {\l’. tHyperTeu _\l :25: Iris and "O‘ . \I\d.i l 7. .-d ' . ._ W”; ‘~L5L [L g 1&1). '3 on “(I 1 :1. S1\)TA .i 5 \u “21111711;- -....1' 3:3 I M180 4. _ Au I 0C3:C$ \‘ f»... 533.": (7101:“ I \ 3m '21:“ I”! C :2- _ _. J\~:‘:lp -. . pd”, ta .\ ’1 I -rkw -~ _ ‘ 5pm; Iii; ". a. ‘ r~ ._ h L1\ 2» ~‘thm 1‘. ‘ -.‘— ‘ u' go" «'1'? Ash}, (r. A 1‘ :1‘ ‘ 1‘1 *l‘y‘i . “‘. . \ ‘*.~ \_ t \ w. “5‘ ‘\.' "'1 1‘1. L??- i“ ‘Jl descriptions and expert commentaries were available as case resources. The program was designed to support the understanding of the processes of literary interpretation through work with the film, “Citizen Kane”. In the hypermedia system users compared and contrasted cases from multiple perspectives, placed cases in context, and examined interdependent themes through nonlinear work in a computer environment. In 1991 Tim Berners-Lee demonstrated a World Wide Web server, which stores nodes of information that could be accessed by nonlinear hyperlinks. He developed HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language), a coding system that enables content creators to create links and created HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) that enables content to be linked together on computers across the Internet. At first the Web server hypertext editor only stored information in text format, but later included other types of media, including audio and video. Advocates of hypermedia learning argue that the systems have the potential to support more advanced learning, because they externally represent the way humans think (Fideria, 1988; Jonassen, 1986; Quillian, 1986). Studies have shown that hypermedia systems promote transfer and are more effective than traditional teaching methods (Jacobson & Spiro, 1995; Jonassen, 1996; Koehler, 2002). Participants in a literacy instruction program were randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions (Palincsar, Spiro, Collins, & Ramchandran, 2007). The researchers kept content, time on task, and assessments the same for both conditions. The only difference was that the control condition worked with content in a linear fashion, while the experimental condition worked with content in a nonlinear CFH system. Study results suggest that the experimental group demonstrated a deeper understanding of domain concepts in 14 sessments. Similarly. :; inefineital condition. 1 ‘ a- ' \ . :35: ewntro; tondttiv. Problems it uh it}: 11212:. 1991); lendss‘en. 1' new. and con-tn e ox er ‘1‘: 5 2;.22. “A mater problet‘.‘ ”1“." *1 1A ' ‘ rrmpiex. >0 does 11‘- 5 i . ' .~..4.t.1ne uide rit‘ '- :17‘1‘1" ' ‘ .152 oxerioad. tur tr 1* alone the 2“" A :‘fm-It"? .~ ' ......;.iun. the qua“ Eff-Ste“. $5... " . a. Mdbaek ahiu' 11c _ “Vie . “‘5‘ . .1511.4‘1\)n- assessments. Similarly, a Jacobson and Spiro (1995) study suggested that the experimental condition, which worked with content in a CF H system, had greater transfer than the control condition, which worked with content in a linear fashion. Problems with hypermedia use often relate to disorientation (Conklin, 1987; Heller, 1990; Jonassen, 1989; Liu, 1994; Marchionini, 1988; McDonald & Stevenson, 1999), and cognitive overload (Conklin, 1987; Jonassen, 1989; Liu, 1994). Roselli argued, “A major problem with hypertext is that, as the structure of the material becomes more complex, so does the chance of the users becoming lost and disoriented” (Roselli, 1991, 42). The wide range of choices within a hypertext program might produce cognitive overload, for users have to continually assess whether or not it is worth continuing along the current path. Marchionini (1988) identifies two causes that lead to disorientation: the quantity of information to which a user has access and the lack of physical feedback about quantity or scope. This overload may lead to conceptual disorientation. Individual Differences and Hypermedia Learning This section provides a general overview of studies that have examined how individual differences influence performance in hypermedia systems. The six research areas are: learning styles, advance organizers, site maps, information structure, learner control mechanisms, and mixed media effects. Learning styles. In order to design hypermedia systems that might better support individual differences, researchers have examined how learning styles (i.e., thinking, remembering, perceiving, problem solving) influence performance in hypermedia systems. 15 Kelb's Leannn- istiCiEFlt are mo e\.. igxrtnedia 5) stems. ln ' rcsrmidarors assimz‘. , aLI' - . 1.2 .. teem: trough dCLAC. ..'-- s; 2‘e tion to suit 6 1‘ 23502325' and aeeomm V "I. -.-.2eceme1nations of :1: ~-- CC ' .evcefT Lndii :duals are Tito studies rex i\ 11:11" ‘ , ._\ Rasmussen and 2:..1-T3I3 i ‘t muse lGBYHCIN l: I. . ." ‘55 . . 1 I'—I‘I 4 A 4_ '31.. [RBI-[$18. \\ 21:9,... I ~s£mmm ,I l.‘ SII‘LICIUI' Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and Witkin’s Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) are two examples of cognitive style tests used to evaluate work in hypermedia systems. In the LS] individuals are divided into convergers/divergers or accommodators/assimilators. According to Kolb (1984), convergers tend to solve problems through deductive reasoning, while divergers tend to rely on brainstorming and idea generation to solve problems. Assimilators tend to solve problems by inductive reasoning and accommodators through experimentation. An individual learner might utilize combinations of the four components but be more inclined toward one mode. In the GEFT individuals are described as field independent, who demonstrate reductive thinking, and field dependent, who have greater awareness of the importance of context. Two studies reviewed utilized the LSI to determine participant learning style. A study by Rasmussen and Davidson-Shivers (1998) used the LSI and found that accommodative learners scored higher when using the hierarchical structure in immediate and delayed post-tests, while assimilative learners scored higher on tests when they used a hierarchically structured system that enabled them to link nodes. To the authors of the study, the results suggest that accommodative learners may have preferred the efficiency of the hierarchically structured hypermedia system, and the assimilative learners may have preferred the ability to structure program content. A study by Kettanurak et al. (2001) used the LS] and found that modes of interaction (e. g., no interactivity, low interactivity, and high interactivity) in a hypermedia system had no significant effect on attitude, regardless of learning style with participants preferring high levels of interaction. Three studies reviewed used the GEFT to determine participant learning style. A study by Chou and Lin (1998) used the GEFT to examine the effects of cognitive style on 16 View commxe nu; )guL\u.u:- : ' :. .. 1 Emmet} 10pm). and PT‘ etching and amzude. 1:: .‘ognime map text. . grrflimng Mb site 5c. :15 minute dimll‘.1\i' Expenence ml \\ ho u; u .x materials. Front :iewz“ uncut learners 1 F :r ;{‘ 1 -. -‘ ““9 Hum .;.\::‘:0 \.\|_' . t “shim e .- «813 V \t ‘ _. {I - \ ‘L\ :..._ “ <‘n _ "UK J‘J” ‘ WC! .m‘c“ \\ 6:1“ 3 " 74's 4‘ . MD 6; (1" ‘ ‘ \ is. ‘lg: Ciprj- :df‘ - searching, cognitive map development (ability to reconstruct the relationships among hypermedia topics), and attitude. The authors found no main effect for cognitive style on searching and attitude, but field-independent participants scored significantly better on the cognitive map test. A study by Palmquist and Kim (2000) examined participants performing web site searches and found a significant effect for field dependency but saw its importance diminish as participants gained experience. Participants with little online experience and who were field dependent spent more time and visited more nodes than the field independent students with comparable online experience. A study by Jonassen and Wang (1993) found that field independent subjects generally preferred to impose their own structure on information rather than accommodate the structure that is implicit in the materials. From these findings the authors concluded that it was likely that field independent learners benefit from hypermedia that is more referential and less structured. Findings from a study by Ford and Chen (2001) seemed to point to the benefits of matching cognitive style to learning experience. In the study participants were asked to develop web pages using a hypermedia tool. Participants were either matched or mismatched to their cognitive styles. Learning benefits for subjects in the matched conditions was significantly higher as compared to those in mismatched conditions. Advance organizers. Advance organizers, in multiple forms (i.e. concept maps, spatial maps, text-based lists), are designed to help users become aware of how hypermedia systems are structured. There is evidence of their effectiveness to support learning outcomes with text (Glover & Krug, 1988; Kraiger, Salas, & Cannon-Bowers, 1995; Snapp & Glover, 1990; Townsend & Clarihew, 1989), but the effectiveness of advance organizers with hypermedia has been mixed. Dillon and Jobst offer one 17 v . . I") ‘. summon. the encm triesenzauons LOUid ta- ‘3: s: (Dillon 6'; Jul: McDonald and Si ‘.""‘! ' - \‘ ' teasers. mt .Ldmu spa :‘rgmzer 1156. u hen lcarr ‘hv $.3th The spatial my JX‘fiJn A i L'si Arr! at. as compared 13:22:: m leamir :g on ._. a- adxancc‘d cream/n m‘ ‘ " ...\. ape. Iment. .m- dd.» {1'1 .>\‘-*_)\‘ '~‘\-'\'P\fi ~ t Tifwrp‘- ‘Ldrl‘ explanation, “the endless possibilities for design within hypermedia means that such representations could take multiple forms thereby complicating any recommendation on their use” (Dillon & Jobst, 2005, p. 573). McDonald and Stevenson (1999) examined the differences between advanced organizers, including spatial, conceptual maps and text-based lists and no advance organizer use, when learners with low prior knowledge used a science hypermedia program. The spatial map seemed to support more efficient navigation in the first experiment, as compared to the other overview conditions, but there was no significant difference in learning outcomes between the overview conditions. The condition unaided by an advanced organizer performed worst on navigation and learning measures. In the second experiment, subjects without an advance organizer navigated poorly, but learned more than those in the spatial map group. According to Dillon and Jobst, “this suggests that having to form linkages and structures for oneself may encourage active processing of the text, which could enhance learning” (Dillon & Jobst, 2005, p. 574). Benefits of advanced organizers accompanying hypermedia learning environments have been reported in studies using a control group. A study by Brinkerhoff et al. (2001) found that advanced organizers did not affect post-test scores, but participants in the overview condition spent more time in the system and had a more positive attitude. A study by Yeh and Lehman (2001) examined effects of the presence or absence of an advance overview. They reported that an advanced organizer improved post-test performance. Advanced organizers for a hypermedia learning program for biology used by students with low prior knowledge of featured content showed no 18 szsirieani etleet on rssrszem or en mi. Other studies :oatrol group. A stud iii-see: eosnrtn e 81H sum-ea me use ot‘ae :rgaizers \\ ere more ' L are *r ' ism] organ/eh \L‘ .‘9 (’5 \ l).‘UC\ $335 I", Ibmplm. :Utlf, Findv T‘ _ . Q ”(‘30 ml\€d_ (‘h-Qn d" 1T“ "~;.1]'f‘~.. _‘ . momludcdm significant effect on acquiring explicit knowledge, although students who had an ecosystem overview performed better on the ecosystem posttest (Shapiro, 1999). Other studies have compared different types of advanced organizers without a control group. A study by Chou and Lin (1998) examined how cognitive style affected searching, cognitive map development, and attitude. The results of the study suggested that global maps were more supportive than local maps, but an interaction was not found between cognitive style and map type. A study by Hofinan and van Oostendorp (1999) examined the use of advanced organizers as compared to lists and found that advanced organizers were more useful in a hypermedia learning science program, although the advanced organizers seemed to not benefit less knowledgeable users. Site map structure. Hypermedia site maps represent how site content is organized within a system. Site map structures are designed to support user navigation through the system, reducing issues of disorientation that users often experience in hypermedia systems (Shapiro, 2005). Findings from research on the effectiveness of site maps to support learning goals has been mixed. Chen and Rada, in a review of studies concerning hypertext learning programs, concluded that site maps “appear to be necessary for users to dealing with large and complex information structures and to be useful to resolve the problems of disorientation and high cognitive overhead” (Chen & Rada, 1996, p. 149). Other studies have shown little or no benefit of site map use. A study by Wenger and Payne (1994) found that the availability of a site map had no significant impact on learner recall and understanding of program content, but did have an impact on more efficient navigation 19 . v V ._ ,-, 1 \ 3:331? 1118 spam. A :g-aeerrin: site map use .. '.' I ~- -- . . ' reflex] 16>: $5153.11); L‘ l :ereuere ea. ring her; 22:; at prior kmm E-q I 1 k. 5:431”: (if 'r‘ ‘ \ lalfi‘ 7"}i "'l“ *9 \ ‘ ,._.:e.1.')t.'11\IUTC 01 5‘; an meraremeal or a \5 1%,.) v ... al.“.A. 5 Inter arChIeal \ ‘9. .' Dz“. \Yif‘fiyo‘ ‘ “‘4. ‘ .ucantl}. mun . '- ... "‘1 '3 through the system. A study by Niederhauser, Reynolds, Salmen, and Skolmoski (2000) concerning site map use found minimal benefits of participant site map use. A study by Shapiro (1998) found that participants with high levels of prior knowledge were able to create representations of program content. These participants needed less assistance from the site map. The findings from the study also suggest that there were learning benefits when site map information was explicit for subjects with low levels of prior knowledge. Structure of information. Information structure describes the organization of the physical structure of hypermedia systems. For example, a system’s nodes and links can have a hierarchical or a networked arrangement. Many studies have not found a correlation between how information is structured in hypermedia learning systems and learning outcomes. A Melara (1996) study found that structure (hierarchical versus network) did not affect post-test scores, but that learners spent significantly more time using the hierarchical structure than the network structure. A Shapiro (1998) study compared learning outcomes between the linear and strictly hierarchical structures of a history hypermedia system. Subjects using hierarchical hypertext showed significantly more factual knowledge acquisition, but no significant differences on short-answer questions or the essay question. According to Shapiro (2005), the findings from the study suggest that structure is not a leading cause of learning outcome. Shapiro’s hypothesis has been supported in multiple studies (De Vries & de Jong, 1997; McDonald & Stevenson, 1996; Spruijt & Jansen, 1999). Learner control mechanisms. A review of literature by Dillon and Gabbard found that “one of its [learner control mechanism’s] greatest benefits is that the learner can 20 :raroithe learning sit. p.56 (I: 1235311 199 jfifi’lilig learners in h: 113:: and essays. 3‘ C .‘::E°rii. A study 5} Y0 Lie hjrfaermedia 5} stem llzxed medza. I t: aspen learning has rcpt-KrDIlIon & Jtrl‘st. 13:33:: IS limited. A s: Eereits u hen inflimzat And On screen. m 39933} imp-clued 1c. ‘l""‘~. iii-4‘“??? . II “anallon [h the. , 5J3. ‘\ ‘31 iha . , n Pro\ 1&1 2: $13366. A LCOrdmu h 5.3: praw . "“‘CSSIno 3‘ \\ l l l ' .. l: “CIR +1 3‘ “0m . a k 1 r- v , ' : “1:11:33 ‘ sh pref: .14 1 “‘4 L1 ‘El‘fl‘n ‘. f, . L.WIEd‘Ye 1‘» ‘ ULin t »‘->';,;tnk 31H “‘ Cf». x“ -. mpi‘t: ~1‘T"rr g. n? . Alma} 0‘.- er - \ L1” control the learning situation and this factor was deemed generally significant” (Dillon & Gabbard, 1998, p. 576). Findings from a study by Jacobson et al. (1996) suggest that providing learners in hypermedia systems with control improved learning on short answer and essays, as compared to learners with no control over movement through content. A study by Yeh and Lehman (2001) found that participants who had control in the hypermedia system had higher scores on recall tasks. Mixed media. The use of well-organized mixed media (text, photos, video, audio) to support learning has been described as “the greatest promise of hypermedia learning tools” (Dillon & Jobst, 2005, p. 575), but empirical research on the effects of hypermedia learning is limited. A study by Kalyuga et al. (1999) suggested that there were learning benefits when information accompanying the diagram was read aloud instead of being presented on screen, while the presentation of information both visually and aurally negatively impacted learning. A Mayer and Moreno (1998) study demonstrated that concurrent narration that paired spoken words to an animation sequence was more beneficial than providing students with explanatory text matched to the animation sequence. According to the authors, the effect might be due to the added load of text on visual processing, while audio takes advantage of the learner’s dual processing capacity. Findings from a Kalyuga et al. (1998) study showed that study participants with low prior knowledge preferred diagrams with text, while more participants with higher levels of prior knowledge found diagrams with text explanations to be redundant. Gains in experience and competency impacted learner preferences and learning benefits of one type of material over another (Kalyuga et al., 2000). (Note that the multiple representations discussed here are different from the multiple conceptual representations 21 t'Cfl. CFT takes no >1 age for ettlplO}‘ll‘::l m Some haxe call-e king. Jensen 1 19‘- :iersta'iti integrate. a? Irene; that can support 3.3735115 an example 0 :' ineztee' daring tra\ erm‘, .9222: et al.. 200:; Ht Fl 3"- $0 -. .111 sumo 0f 1’ -.._\ \d‘ . In the d’C\\r in CFT. CFT takes no stand on the combination of text and visual information. CFT does argue for employing multiple overarching conceptual perspectives.) Some have called for the teaching of new strategies to support hypermedia learning. Jonassen (1989) argues that effective learners need meta-cognitive strategies to understand, integrate, and synthesize information. Liu (1994) calls for a new type of literacy that can support effective learning in hypermedia environments. Hypermedia literacy is an example of an area of scholarship that studies ways to help learners remain oriented during traversals through hypermedia systems that feature ill-structured content (Daniels et al., 2002; Horton, 2000; Lee & Hsu, 2002; Piacciano, 2001), and develop the ability to create mental models of the networked content. Learning is complex, as it is comprised of multiple, interconnected factors. The research is clear that individual differences exist among learners. These differences should be considered when designing hypermedia systems. Further research is needed on how individual differences influence performance in hypermedia systems, in order to find ways to better manage complexity by reducing learner disorientation and cognitive load in hypermedia systems. Ideas from literature informed the design of the EASE system in a general way, but also, in some of its specifics. For example, the evolution of hypermedia systems is reflected, in the description of how, EASE History builds upon, and improves on, previous CFH systems. The need to limit disorientation and cognitive overload by providing feedback about the quantity or scope of materials, as discussed above, is reflected in the design of the search history feature. 22 One ofthe most iii} a'e ad hoe. drix en 1 tearrdizgl). Chapter 3 :ecrses. Cognime Ho Learns; {CTMLI iDi'i'. CFT is a constr Etna-.1 “- A 3.-.,» rs: alreadx e‘ :~ ‘. “riftii‘i'fi ’1 mg in ill-~ 1 A 1‘] \L c 1 . - h .. 1“ 0‘ i ..:e \ grub}! I' 1:3": J ‘5”) . ‘ “1. sf renee \\ ”h d -a. lemon ltd" , xx .i‘.‘ Q‘jI‘ ‘ t f ‘ d Lien. 19“ CHAPTER 3 HYPERMEDIA LEARNING THEORIES One of the most frequent criticisms of systems in educational technology is that they are ad hoc, driven by the power of the technology rather than guided by theory. Accordingly, Chapter 3 examines two of the most prominent hypermedia learning theories, Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT) and the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) (Dillon, 2005, p. 570). an_itive Flexibility Theory CF T is a constructivist learning theory that “emphasizes an adaptively creative response to new situations, rather than the more mechanical following of routinized schemes that already exist in memory” (Spiro et al., 2003). The theory is designed to support learning in ill-structured domains where general principles do not account for enough of the variability in the way knowledge has to be applied. Instead, learners must have experience with a large number of real world cases to see the different ways that conceptual knowledge is combined and applied in real world contexts. CFT argues that the random access capabilities of computers might best promote this kind of nonlinear and multi—perspectival learning (Spiro et al. 1988; Spiro & Jehng, 1990; Spiro, Collins, & Ramchandran, 2006; Spiro, Collins, & Ramchandran, 2007). CFT had its origin in the mid-19805, a time when Schema Theory was the dominant model of learning (Spiro, Vispoel, Schmitz, Samarapungavan, & Boerger, 1987; Spiro, Coulson, Feltovich, & Anderson, 1988). Schema theory (e.g., Ausubel, 1968; Bartlett, 1932; Bransford, 1977; Minsky, 1975) is “an approach that placed a 23 premium on using . :riarstridzsg and 11233:": the prob tiara for ex er} s «- _. ,- .1 -..L\’).l'1.113f€ a; be :fiovuva-Q «K ' l l" ‘ I ........= lll 1,113.1“.3 %\‘Vi\'; " I . kLLaLIJQ i g :3‘ Swhyo.‘ 1‘ ! -mur .“.. anu rc“ 'u. “‘ 1 "K “.J‘ 'i U: yrkpment (‘1 D‘.“ '0 ~ '3. ‘1‘." q‘ ' "‘ 51114311011 5:, _ “‘4. , ire} ( 53‘, er] I}? 0‘. first, 0‘ Crrcl ‘4) 0\ er» .el DJ... 0 C. j 0 " "tile » h di‘r‘l’t‘j .\:‘ premium on using organized packets of knowledge in memory as a basis for understanding and applying knowledge” (Spiro et al., 2003). Spiro and Myers (1984) noted that the problem with Schema Theory was that one could not have a pre-stored schema for every situation because most domains of knowledge are made up of events or cases that are at best irregularly related to each other. While Schema Theory was designed to support procedural knowledge application, CFT was designed to support learning in complex domains. Reductive Bias According to CFT, when faced with complexity, people have a natural tendency to simplify and rely on preconceived notions. This tendency to simplify interferes with the development of complex understanding and the ability to apply knowledge to a wide variety of situations (Spiro et al., 2003; Spiro et al., 1992). According to Spiro (1988), there are seven types of oversimplification: l. Oversimplification of complex and irregular structure. 2. Overreliance on a single basis for mental representation. 3. Overreliance on top down processing. 4. Context independent conceptual representation. 5. Overreliance on precompiled knowledge structures. 6. Rigid compartmentalization of knowledge components. According to CFT, problems in ill-structured domains require more than just the procedural application of prepackaged schema. These domains require a more flexible and adaptive approach to problems, but learners, in general, have difficulty transferring learning from one context to new contexts. Problems in well-structured domains, on the 24 cite: hand. hat e \\ ei'. deter problem is di‘ 3,125 that ill-st. aetu *m. that male t uncenszies o t: 82170 et. 31 19V. 1. There e l3“ 5 l" donut? ‘ C~ ‘7‘ . -. k|11\£}l ‘ v —‘ . k :‘1\‘ “K 'L "' - ,“'.\. V ‘ fats“; A '\ ‘\ ‘A 'i 2‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ “is *4. «.1; :3 ‘ \z‘:’\ v _ \k‘ i» other hand, have well-defined initial states, goals, and. constraints. An example of a well- defined problem is an algebraic equation that has one correct answer. Simon (1973) argues that ill-structured problems include the social, political, economic, and scientific problems that make up everyday life. Table I. Ill-Structured vs. Well-Structured Domains Characteristics of ill-structured domains Characteristics of a well-structured domain (Spiro et. al 1987, 1988) 1. There can be no unifying 1. There can be unifying laws in laws in ill-structured well-structured domains because domains because phenomena phenomena are predictable. are unpredictable. 2. Conceptual meanings change 2. Conceptual meanings do not across uses. change across uses. 3. Knowledge is web-like not 3. Knowledge is hierarchical. hierarchical. 4. Concepts are interdependent. 4. Concepts are not interdependent. 5. Conceptual variability and 5. Single best cases of knowledge multiple representations of representations support knowledge support understanding. understanding. 6. Many cases are needed. 6. Relatively few cases are needed. The presence of any of these six characteristics indicates ill-structured knowledge. There is recognition that domains may possess both ill-structured and well-structured aspects (Spiro, 1987; Voss 1987). CFT is intended to support learning in ill-structured domains by changing “the underlying worldviews (e. g., epistemological beliefs, habits of mind) that an individual employs when approaching the acquisition and use of knowledge,” (Spiro et al., 2003) “towards those more compatible with complexity and flexibility” (F eltovich, Spiro, & Coulson, 1989; Mishra, Spiro, & Feltovich, 1996; Spiro et al., 1996). CFT attempts to 25 {Stil‘dl early elo sure b1. 307033 contexts in order gagWSpro et al.. ZUHF rineipal tenets . CFH: Beaming €11\lr't‘!" Ctneep tual \ aria i‘:.§;;t.tr err use. so ll i~ arearpfied in real it Urid it? the deeropme"t LI 0‘. Q sill-’1'? ' ‘ \,. Q 0i rLdl-\\ ti} l; \l i ' . .-ppo.'ted u hen lea'r \ A I re“ . r_. or tontexts tC'ar combat early closure by placing a “premium on illustrating the variable uses of concepts across contexts in order to prepare people to better apply conceptual knowledge on their own” (Spiro et al., 2003). Principal tenets of CFT and its applications to Cognitive Flexibility Hypermedia (CFH) learning environments include: Conceptual variability and context awareness. Ill-structured concepts are defined through their use, so it is essential that learners see multiple examples of how concepts are applied in real world situations. Early closure, which is all too common, “interferes with the development of complex understanding and the ability to apply knowledge to a wide variety of real-world contexts” (Spiro et al., 2003). Research suggests that transfer is supported when learners are given opportunities to practice knowledge application in a variety of contexts (Carraher & Schliemann, 2002; Gagné, Briggs, & Wager, 1992; Greeno, 1997; Lave, 1988). This active integration of new knowledge into well—organized web-like knowledge structures stands in contrast to rote learning (Bransford et al., 2000; Seixas, 2001; Steams, 1993, 1998; Wineburg, 2001). Multiple representations of domain knowledge. There is no single best way to represent knowledge in ill-structured domains, so it is important to use multiple schemata and mental models. “Knowledge that has to be used in many ways has to be represented in many ways” (Spiro et al., 2003, p. 6). According to Spiro et al. (2003), the use of multiple thematic perspectives is necessary in ill-structured domains because it is designed to combat early closure and reveal the complexity of real world cases. KnowledgLiS interconnected. CF T argues that conceptual knowledge should be organized in a multitude of different chapter headings and juxtaposed with a number of 26 tzferent cases. In teaet- iratem routes ot or; . 50:15:1me one returns '. if‘erenr set ot‘perspee'. gaapaseu to x at} its; 0'. Chi ln order it ..~:-.‘a:es it or}; it ith ma' ifg‘xte plan of action 1 xi Cl C Fl and in this .- ‘~‘ ”9'0 ‘ . _.......e and make er “Arr-.1; ‘— > ~ ‘ ..... \ "-' I .aes that have t it: “Hi -~l “5 L CI dl.‘ :1, ll!”- i \\;P‘,_... J. ‘dnqt‘nk \Y‘x t u rem'h F7 p} (/ fig — ‘. in“? L!" kip-$15, different cases. In teaching and learning, the learner proceeds from case to case following different routes of organization on successive traversals of the knowledge landscape. Sometimes one returns to the same case, but coming from a different direction, bringing a different set of perspectives. Thus different facets of each case are highlighted when juxtaposed to varying other cases thus promoting transferable knowledge. C_35§§. In order to prepare individuals for real world complexity and variety, CFT advocates work with many real world cases when general principles do not provide an adequate plan of action (see the introduction of for a discussion of how the word “case” is used in CFT and in this dissertation). In order to accelerate the acquisition of that experience and make complexity more manageable, CFT advocates the use of dense, real world cases that have the basic features of complexity but are smaller and easier to work with (Spiro et al., 2003). There are four components that characterize CF T cases. 1. Cases have the basic features of complexity but are in a more cognitively tractable form (mame because they span a chronologically short period of time). For example, cases can feature video clips sometimes as short as seven seconds in length. 2. Cases have attached to them resources such as descriptions of context and themes, explanations of how cases are connected, analysis from multiple perspectives, and reminders to not rush to early conclusions. 3. Cases are linked to form an interconnected knowledge network that better reflects the complex world. Linking cases and thematic perspectives support more 27 complex and ‘1‘ Kelli. “NS ) :‘a prepare learner CFT and its ta ta: exerts. themes. a: irectéon. and that net linear learning. C‘. Ijrirztxemilitar} sir g ‘a'n "' ' "' us.-. “as luuml lt' c--‘ ,i _... :urnan hear: 1‘. I "‘ ' .. t~ - ' ‘ 1th.: b tne tirstt aged to supprt‘. 3 IT". ‘ h ' u A1111 I: e fiim. it “H Latte case .\S {TU P: 43565. . “lie-1 pots er. 1 ‘33 3'sa‘i35i’e EN ‘ fl” tom ‘ ‘ xi. 7‘: ' 99H complex and deeper understanding of the domain (Jacobson, Maouri, Mishra, & Kolar, 1995). 4. Cases feature real world events because they are more authentic and better prepare learners to apply knowledge in real-world settings. CFT and its case-based hypermedia applications, CFH systems, embrace the idea that events, themes, and ideas are interconnected and learning does not proceed in one direction, and that new media, computers being one example, support linear and nonlinear learning. CFH systems have been created for medicine, biology, history, literature, military strategy, and teacher preparation. Cardioworld Explorer, 3 CF H system, was found to support medical students in their understandings of the complexities of the human heart (Spiro, 1988). Knowledge Acquisition in Nonlinear Environments (KANE) is the first example of a CF H system. The program, launched in 1987, was designed to support the understanding of the processes of literary interpretation through work with the film, “Citizen Kane”. The hypermedia system was designed to help users examine cases from multiple perspectives, place cases in context, compare and contrast cases, and see how themes are interdependent through nonlinear work in a computer environment. A “Citizen Kane” videodisc was divided into twenty—five video cases that were between thirty to ninety seconds in length. Each case was coded on themes like ambition, power, fallibility, and lifelessness. Text descriptions and expert commentaries were available as case resources. Research findings have suggested that the KANE system supported the learning of complex structures of the film “Citizen Kane” (Spiro & J ehng, 1990). 28 CIT argues for ttfctirttent through non'. [7111 proposes a dilii“ management of Ct": This section des. regs it 1th a diseu-sioti (.3. \e'.':‘i-‘\ .: that support the Coenrrzte Load . 33:51“ ...\L. 0.11 \\ origin.) Fun! : a'l\| v-i rt." tCrandler 5; Sit -' ......3: Lu 1' T‘ ~ .. ‘ t: tapaeit} to : 5’ . I ‘ Aha“ ; ‘i 7‘. ~n. “'3 fl» pl’i‘mlSc I‘M .. rul\ rTJ'JS 10rd]- ) 1: arm men ' a ‘14 ' - ‘ Cm \3‘ MA ~., ‘7 -t ‘EIC‘ ‘) Tuptn 1 Ld {liq w“ ha llelelk 2‘C\ ii 1.3? p Pu .177“ , .. u .Iifl‘c‘," ‘ CFT argues for the development of critical habits of mind and deep understanding of content through nonlinear work. in case-based hypermedia environments, while the CTML proposes a different approach to the effective design of educational hypermedia, the management of cognitive load through control over presentation and pacing. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning This section describes the CTML, a hypermedia learning theory. The section begins with a discussion about Cognitive Load Theory and Dual Coding Theory, two theories that support the CTML. Mive Load Theory. Cognitive load is the total amount of mental activity imposed on working memory in an instance of time (Sweller, 1994). Cognitive Load Theory (Chandler & Sweller, 1991; Sweller, 1988, 1994) states that working memory is limited in its capacity to selectively attend to and process incoming sensory data. It is based on the premise that people have a limited working memory (Miller, 1956) and an enormous long-term memory (Chase & Simon, 1973). The theory is based on the deGroot’s (1965) analysis of chess grand masters who were consistently able to defeat more novice players with relatively little cognitive effort. The study suggested that the commitment of board configurations and scenarios to long-term memory prepared the grand masters to respond to situations. This finding was supported in 3 Simon and Chase (1973) that estimated that chess masters require from 50,000 to 100,000 hours of practice to reach that level of expertise and rely on a knowledge base containing some 50,000 familiar chess patterns to guide their selection of moves. The researchers concluded fi‘om the study that information stored in long—term memory was what constituted “expertise” (Sweller, 2005a, p. 20). 29 According to (1. tontease axailal‘ilit} ' . I"; been found to hat e l. Intrinsic 10.: and is deteni interrelated. J -. Ettraneoux 1, design. It is l (I) Gennane liq- Prot'idtng n li‘amt‘ng \h.\l According to Cognitive Load theorists, a major function of effective instruction is to increase availability in working memory by reducing cognitive load. Cognitive load has been found to have three components: 1. Intrinsic load reflects the level of complexity of the information to be learned and is determined by the interactivity of elements. When concepts are highly interrelated, the intrinsic load imposes a heavy cognitive load. 2. Extraneous load is caused by the inappropriate elements of instructional design. It is lessened when focus is placed on schema construction and the development of automaticity. 3. Gerrnane load relates to the effective cognitive load that supports learning of new schema construction and automaticity (Paas & Van Merrienboer, 1994). Providing multiple examples increases cognitive load but is likely to support learning so is germane. Appropriate instructional designs can reduce extraneous load, free working memory and increase germane cognitive load (Sweller, 1990), so the effects of extraneous load have implications for the design of instruction. These effects are: split attention effect, redundancy effect, and modality effect. 1. Split-Attention effect. The split-attention effect (Sweller, 1990) occurs when attention must be split between multiple sources of information causing a higher cognitive load on working memory and impeding learning. This effect can be diminished by more closely integrating textual pieces to eliminate the unnecessary load factor. For example, the placement of text adjacent to an illustration produces less cognitive load for the learner, since less effort is involved in the integration of 30 pictures and tex or screen l.\lore J . Redundancy ctr-t issutiticient to st information ((11. raterials increm capacity “1111 tn: Ar; assumption \ Carat “ “‘*‘ tor meL‘SSlT’“ ..... 1“-“ .' ‘ ‘ ‘\ .naanets. pictures and text when they are placed physically close to each other on the page or screen (Moreno & Mayer, 1999). 2. Redundancy effect. The redundancy effect occurs when one source of instruction is sufficient to support learning, rather than having redundant sources of information (Chandler & Sweller, 1991). The removal of redundant instructional materials increases available working memory for the process of learning. 3. Modality effect. The modality effect produces increased working memory capacity with the addition of audio narration to a visual presentation in order to support the integration of multiple sources of information (Tindall-Ford, Chandler & Sweller, 1991). An assumption of Cognitive Load Theory is that humans possess separate channels for processing visual and auditory information. Dual Coding Theory describes these channels. Dual Coding Theory. According to Dual Coding Theory, humans process verbal and non-verbal information through two independent, but connected, channels (Paivio, 1986. 1990) so words that denote concrete objects can be dual encoded into memory in terms of verbal and non-verbal attributes thus mitigating new information overload of either system. The channels are connected as verbal stimuli activate visual representations, and visual stimuli precipitate verbal representations (Childress, 1995). The two cognitive channels, each with equal weight, have different functions; the verbal subsystem processes and stores linguistic information whereas the visual subsystem processes and stores images and pictorial information. Multiple studies have found benefits of imagery on learning and retention (Pavlio, 1971). In a study by Schnorr 31 ne' .tzlirtson ( W191 “~ :2 .ered to about 4‘ r‘ \later 1199-. " perspeettte that are res: ‘.~ processed and encode channels. Because Patti-o. item. The Urination that both c': seasflél‘al trame 01‘ t: J'J‘ ‘ ‘~-‘ » , momentum is 1 RT x‘a. I995) Cog‘utu e Lo fl ’ “.115th ‘ .u..u;: phk'tkfl‘s d.- ‘3-;;' - . .-... dist] \ l “ ‘ sua‘ t TC :H-3- 7 ._,.)e_‘t:§.’t Hsi’ ODS are S s and Atkinson (1969) items learned by imagery were recalled at more than 80% accuracy, compared to about 40% by rote learning. Mayer (1997, 2001) outlines three cognitive assumptions from the dual coding perspective that are responsible for multimedia learning. The first assumption is that text is processed and encoded in verbal channels and pictures are processed in both verbal and visual channels. Because of the double encoding, pictures may be more memorable than text (Paivio, 1986). The second assumption is that there are limits to the amount of information that both channels can process (Baddeley, 1992). The third assumption is that meaningful learning occurs when learners integrate both words and pictures to form a meaningful frame of reference (Reimann, 2003; Wittrock, 1989), enabling content held in long-term memory is to be more easily brought into working memory (Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995). Cognitive Load Theory and Dual Coding Theory form the basis for the CTML. Multimedia is the presentation of text (including spoken and written text) and pictures (including photos, animation or video). Multimedia learning is the ability to learn from verbal and visual representations used to present instruction (Mayer, 2003). Verbal representations are spoken and written text, and visual representations are static and dynamic pictures. Examples of multimedia instruction include: online learning, computer-based training, and hypermedia environments. The CTML is based on the assumption that humans possess visual and verbal information processing systems (Mayer, 1997) and that in multimedia learning learners engage in the following three processes: selection of incoming verbal information that yields a text base and is applied to incoming visual information to yield an image base; 32 he organization of the nine image base to er aerial and Visual haset‘ There are four r V ‘ ‘l" 7‘, artisan} print ip .c. i. i. .e ot‘ttto modes 01 reg‘ ESIeIo. 199'1. Corresg‘ airtime in order to I Ll\ “y l l' 3.4". sledge in at least [\K representations ar rp D (I; C (b set.“ t I: to the narration S‘F—I" w‘ - .t students \tho 1 (:7 r ' " ~ it! 1111151 3110?» l ?‘ .‘i‘m‘St’! I ‘ -l\ll‘.<‘ trans.t *r .. - presented or t the organization of the word base to create a verbal model of the system and organization of the image base to create a visual model of the system; the integration of events in verbal and visual based models. There are four principles related to the CTML: multiple representation principle, contiguity principle, individual differences principle, and coherence principle. Multiple representationfiprinciple. The multiple representation principle is to make use of two modes of representation rather than one in explaining a concept (Mayer & Moreno, 1997). Corresponding words and pictures must be in working memory at the same time in order to facilitate the construction of referential links between them. Coding knowledge in at least two different forms of coherent and meaningful visual representations are necessary in order to integrate information into existing knowledge structures (Mayer & Moreno, 1997). Two examples illustrate the multiple representation principle. Students who listened to a narration explaining how a bicycle tire pump works while also viewing a corresponding animation generated 50% more useful solutions to subsequent problem- solving transfer questions than did students who viewed the animation before or after listening to the narration (Mayer & Anderson, 1991, 1992; Mayer & Sims, 1994). Similarly, students who read a text explaining how tire pumps work that included captioned illustrations placed near the text generated about 75% more useful solutions on problem-solving transfer questions than did students who read the same text and illustrations presented on separate pages (Mayer, 1989; Mayer, Steinhoff, Bower, & Mars, 1995). Other researchers have found similar patterns (Chandler & Sweller, 1991; 33 Pars 5; \‘an Merrienb. ifooper. 1991"! t, f. ‘ Cornteurtx r32. xpresented contiuuuu' £5_‘«.-‘122;‘GI€\I and mm. a. rages. on the othe i w ..._...es h} rmkir‘. a '\I H 4a: ‘nii? 1.» i ‘ s, ..t-a..entitin et‘tect ii'TféTN‘a-‘i‘jino ' .-._ 111-11 ~ -V )- ‘ ‘1 Th .- - [.16 C0:t:tv‘ “‘ t 0“ 4.. ‘5 .‘J - m ‘0 2'“) (“rate [1‘ lgk": 4‘; \‘t_\ an "‘ ‘ \‘tl‘l’ea MA \ — ‘ 5htiuM fl ~‘_ dk‘k‘l «is, . ed A ”i" rh “1 ..~ ““l's‘ria‘x t Paas & Van Merrienboer, 1994; Sweller & Chandler, 1994; Sweller, Chandler, Tierney, & Cooper, 1990). Contiggity principle. The contiguity principle states that text and graphics should be presented contiguously rather than separately (Mayer & Moreno, 1997), since disjointed text and images put stress on working memory. Contiguous placement of text and images, on the other hand, enables learners to construct more coherent knowledge structures by making visual connections. Cognitive load theorists have described this as the split-attention effect (Chandler & Sweller, 1991; Sweller, 2002). Placing text next to corresponding images is an example of how design can support learning (Clark & Mayer, 2003). The contiguity principle is supported by Baddeley’s theory of visual and auditory working memory subcomponents, which states that the capacity of working memory can be increased by the integration of auditory and visual working memory. Individual differences principle. Multimedia effects, contiguity effects, and split- attention effects depend on individual differences. For example, learners with less prior knowledge tend to demonstrate stronger multimedia effects and contiguity effects than learners with more prior knowledge (Mayer & Gallini, 1991; Mayer, Steinhoff, Bower, & Mars, 1995). According to the CTML, this may be due to the ability of more advanced learners to generate their own mental images. Coherence principle. The coherence principle argues that few unrelated words and pictures should accompany a multimedia explanation and understanding may not be achieved with materials that distract learner attention (Mayer, 2001; Mayer & Moreno, 2003). For example, students who read a passage explaining the science content with corresponding illustrations generated 50% more useful solutions on a transfer test than 34 he stdents it no It :aterals (Harp as; . s.‘ L . ‘ 5:113; ettect has 5 iS'tei‘e' 1901 1. 15A. This section “sctneories mien: t CH and ’he ‘t 37"" occurs- tt In M: § m ‘, ‘ .' Q '13} ' L . g. . es stand it. I‘ .V . ~., A mg: Impcdt‘s «‘1 ‘\ IC‘H‘a'I “ ., l . . dihlgq i“;‘,:lt‘ (ta-'3? 4. .Lcrbqind] _ {trim . - L1,. “it 1111:}. ‘.~. did students who read the same information with extraneous details inserted in the materials (Harp & Mayer, 1997; Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, & Tapangco, 1996). A similar effect has been found in other studies (Bobis, Sweller, & Cooper, 1993; Chandler & Sweller, 1991). Comparing Cognitive Flexibility Theory and the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning This section compares and contrasts CFT and the CTML and describes how the two theories might complement one another. CFT and the CTML are constructivist theories, as they both argue that meaningful learning occurs when learners actively develop their own knowledge representations. The two theories stand in opposition to rote learning, arguing that the transmission of knowledge impedes learning. CFT and the CTML share the goal of promoting transfer while acknowledging the difficulty of such action. CF T argues that transfer is difficult because most domains of knowledge are ill-structured and require more than just the procedural application of prepackaged schema, but a more flexible and adaptive approach to knowledge construction. The CTML argues that complex materials, limits on working memory, and instructional design may limit the learner’s ability to transfer knowledge to new situations. CFT argues that the ability to represent knowledge in different ways supports a deeper understanding of domain knowledge. CF T advocates work with mindset modeling videos that integrate video, audio, and special learning effects. The use of multiple knowledge representations is supported by CTML, which argues that meaningfial learning 35 ..—~vv~' '\ "JT 0“,“) ‘\;.\. ‘Psznn . ‘5...»Au‘u - ' I I m .e: '9 ~' —\ H ‘ ‘1 DL.\|.\‘ 1:: '1: " u'- . .1; 33.) HT “I. ‘ “..‘ «was»... " \\ V .,,_. 1"‘r 1 L s "‘ 1.1: r»- ._,‘ 9.“ ‘ i":lll-\h« ~L; # . ‘|.‘ C. ‘ ‘K ,. ii“ :1 5 .‘vu. . v N _ ‘ a s‘\»4 -;.‘_'- c‘ 4?. ‘. fl \ '> “‘1 ‘. occurs when learners integrate both words and pictures to form a frame of reference (Reimann, 2003; Wittrock, 1989). CFT describes certain habits of mind, including context awareness and a multi- perspectival approach to content that might support the construction of flexible knowledge structures. CFT takes a holistic approach, as the theory informs the integration of tools that support work with multiple cases. CTML, on the other hand, is more reductive in its approach, for it looks at smaller parts to understand the whole, placing emphasis on the development of specific features and the arrangement objects. For example, CTML focuses on specific elements of instructional design, including how the placement of pictures and text and the connection of elements, such as nodes and links, might reduce cognitive load. CTML’s focus on specific features might support the design and testing of specific features in CFH systems, like multiple viewing windows and the timeline, and the arrangement of objects in the interface. CFT argues that for the development of flexible knowledge structures it is necessary to introduce complexity from the start, so that an oversimplified mindset will not be established, but to do so in way that it is manageable, so learners will not become overwhelmed. More cases and thematic perspectives might minimize bias and support the development of more open, flexible knowledge structures, but will increase cognitive load. An example of how CF H systems are designed to make learning more cognitively manageable is its use of small, dense segments of cases that are complex, allowing for the same case to be examined from multiple perspectives and placed in context. Smaller cases are more manageable. The development of an open, flexible mindset and the overlearning of cases might enable learners to more quickly work with cases in a 36 .. i‘ \.‘~«'t‘ - ””30 ii 5‘- m.” 1‘ ‘5 U r . . :Qtfilailtlll. "O 1. Jet: 9'3“?" v . ”A" - -. qr .‘-....‘ \ptg“ J T“; - .3 ‘ 3 '1 a ..\5L cognitively flexible manner, and might support the theory’s goal of experience acceleration. CTML argues for the management of cognitive load through control over presentation, including pacing and arrangement of instructional material. The theory offers specific principles that describe how instructional designers can decrease cognitive load. These principles might support the CFT’s goal of building more supportive hypermedia learning environments. 37 i-~ J- .3 " 1? Us»; ‘f‘lsL; “.\-_h ..'l - ~4HM ‘1] “""~9... hi-&;.;:‘Alndl (. . § l‘kar“ "a.” J ~v- . e.‘ ‘17-: J" 5‘. 1’ “ CHAPTER 4 DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNDERLYING EASE SYSTEM Chapter 4, and the one that follows, presents the most detailed description of the program itself. The fully developed and usable learning environment is a kind of “data” in its own right. Educational technology is a relatively new field, and it is not clear how the development of working systems should be credited. There are clues from related areas, however. For example, in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the single most important act a researcher does is build a working system, “demo or die” is a motto in A1. Their reasoning is that it’s easy to develop conjectures of how a system might be built but the proof is in the demonstration of the working system itself that is data in A1. A major published paper or dissertation in AI will essentially present a description of the working program, along with screenshots and an account of why and how it was built. In educational technology, the context is similar. First, as in Al, the development of these systems requires large amounts of time. In the case of EASE History it was almost two years. More important, the need to show that theoretical principles can be instantiated in an actual, full blown working system, the heart of “program as data” argument in A1, applies equally in educational technology. Therefore, the program discussed in this chapter and the next is a major component of the dissertation. EASE History is a specific application of the EASE system, a learning environment based on Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT) and the approach to the design of hypermedia learning environments articulated in that theory (Spiro, et al., 2003; Spiro et al., 1988/2001; Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1991; Spiro & Jehng, 1990). EASE project goals included the creation of a learning environment that would enable 38 2535510 335‘. -v V1,)“ .. ;\ “ca 01 ‘1‘1 Farm-1 1_ -,..l. “1» r ‘ v 'E'V‘J a" msfib \ at r' l' (‘7 r}, {/J n,,' 1.. "\k 0 L users to easily search and compare cases, hold an array of multimedia, support learning in a variety of disciplines, and have a database-driven design that would enable non- programmers to create, maintain, and modify projects. EASE stands for Experience Acceleration Support Environment. It was given this name because the EASE environment’s use of new video techniques and arrangement of cases might shorten the amount of time that learners require to develop expertise, for cases are revisited in multiple contexts and examined from different perspectives and once video cases become overleamed learners are able to work with overleamed cases at an accelerated rate. EASE Costs It is difficult to determine how much time and money went in to the creation of the EASE project. For example, I, as a graduate student, was being paid to work on the project and to study. This would not have been the case if the project had employed a fiall—time designer. This section attempts to give the reader some sense of what a budget proposal would entail if one were to replicate the project or do a variation of the project. The development of the EASE system was supported by a Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology grant from 2002 to 2004, and an Interagency Education Research Initiative grant from 2003 to 2005. The design of the EASE shell began in the winter of 2003. In 2002 the team focused on video editing and case construction. The Interagency Education Research Initiative (IERI) grant supported the design and development of the EASE system and Teaching Text Making Meaning (TTMM), an EASE application that is designed to support the instruction of two reading comprehension programs. The EASE system and the EASE History and TTMM 39 !.~:“v r' r 71‘ 4p ‘.\Hn.h .1} ll . n-"an- "‘ * §‘§~L.1A dirk; "Tl" \\ -. - bsdbii ~L‘)t.‘ o'— ”>‘. . -~‘u‘~l_‘n\ ~“' _\Dyi “.3 ‘hf‘~— S"- - - .1, d)“ applications were operational in the summer of 2004. The development of the EASE system and the TTMM application cost approximately $400,000 in total (~ $265,000 in direct costs, ~ $135,000 in indirect costs). The EASE design team included: the Principal Investigator (P1), a Michigan State University (MSU) professor of educational psychology. The PI’s role was to advise and consult on the design of the system. He was given release time from teaching and time to work on the project during summers; two half-time (20 hrs/week) research assistants (RAs), a doctoral student in MSU’s educational technology program (the writer), and a Flash programmer, who was seeking her master’s degree in MSU’s communication arts program (approximately $72,000 in total costs for the two RAs; ~ $64,000 in fringe costs); an unpaid programming consultant; an HTML and JAVA pro grammer; and an SQL programmer. These latter two pro grammers served as consultants on the project, with a small portion of their salaries being paid for out of the IERI grant (~ $15,000 for the two prograrmners). The following hardware was used to develop the EASE system (approximate costs follow description of hardware): OThree G3 Mac’s were used during the first year of the project to edit video (~ $3,500/each); 0Two GS Mac’s were used between 2003 and 2005. The G5 computers were used to edit videos and do Flash programming. The GS computers were more powerfial than the G3 models and better supported video editing (~ $3,500/each); 40 0Extra RAM was purchased for the G3 and GS models in order to boost performance (~ $600); 0A video-editing deck was used to convert VHS cassettes to Digital Video (DV) tape, a necessary step before importing video into Final Cut Pro. The video deck had been purchased by a previous grant; ODV tapes were used to store video (~ $500); 0A PC desktop computer was purchased to host the project. It was later decided that the project would be placed on MSU’s College of Education servers (~ $2000); 0A Flash communication server was used to host Flash videos. MSU’s School of Education provided free access to the school’s Flash communication server; 0External hard drives were used to back up files (e. g., video, audio, text) (~ $1000) Since technology changes so quickly, money was set aside in the budget to pay for software updates. The following software tools were used to develop the EASE OFIash, a programming tool, was used to create the EASE interface, including its video player. Two versions of Flash were purchased since the software was updated during the development of the EASE system (approx: $300/each); OFinal Cut Pro, a video-editing tool, was used to edit video cases and create mindset modeling videos. Two versions of Final Cut Pro were purchased 41 w" a.L. 1 . l ..- V .i.‘ ‘ 2 ‘ . .,-. AHL. l ‘ W 1‘ ‘Ju. -u-t since the software was updated during the development of the EASE system (~ $800/each); 0Sorenson Squeeze, a video compression tool, was used to resize and compress videos. Two versions of Sorenson Squeeze were purchased since the software was updated during the development of the EASE system (~ $200/each). This section discusses the theoretical rationale and design of features used across EASE applications. These features are: cases, multiple viewing windows, theme searches, icons, and timeline. The discussion begins with cases for they are central to the understanding of the design of the EASE system. EASE Cases Cases feature short videos, sometimes less than ten seconds, and are coded on multiple themes, connected to related cases, and have multiple resources, including descriptive text, interviews, and artifacts. Theme searches retrieve multiple cases and display search results in a timeline. Cases can be viewed in three different viewing modes, the single-window viewing mode, the two-window viewing mode, and the four- window viewing mode. @gnitive Flexibility Theory’s theoretical rationale for cases. CFT advocates the use of dense cases that are cognitively manageable but still maintain the basic features of complexity, including interconnectedness and context-dependency. CFT contends that in order to develop more open and widely knowledge structures learners should examine multiple cases to see how concepts are applied differently across cases, view cases from multiple thematic perspectives to see the multi-faceted nature of cases, and place events 42 m “(“73 '1 ,_. sh.“ '- L)“‘,V“ £0.11“.hh 1 1. 43.- . n 1.1m. .‘L'. .. “(u-{1’3 sn.‘ 5 ...5\‘.\ t- .- atfii ”a” ‘n1 . ‘21 l 1‘; ~"btc g ..-_-I I" ~. ....‘~ ,4, 6‘. .20". us) "“3. .,}\. L \- ‘~\ ‘V A" x r v- _ . .‘J fh‘kx “- “N. s- —’ ._ ‘§ ‘ 4 ‘ “1 1‘“ _ 3 ~ g 5“ "—..~ti"~ .' , ~L I ‘ ‘ n - -D A .r - ‘ , o \ in context to understand how cases are similar and different (F eltovich et al., 1989; Feltovich, Coulson, & Spiro, 2001; Spiro et al., 1988; Spiro, Feltovich, Coulson, & Anderson, 1989). Compare with other learning theories. From the Cognitive Load Theory perspective, one of the strengths of CFH systems is that they strive to make complexity more manageable, since working memory is limited in its capacity to selectively attend to and process incoming sensory data (Chandler & Sweller, 1991; Sweller, 1988, 1994). From the CTML perspective, cases make use of two modes of representation rather than one in explaining a concept thus demonstrating the multimedia principle. Also from the CTML perspective, the display of contiguous case videos and case descriptions in the one and two-window viewing modes demonstrates the contiguity principle, but hidden descriptions in the four-window viewing mode may place stress on working memory because the information is not contiguous. This perspective also may view short case descriptions as a demonstration of the coherence principle because the concise descriptions that accompany the digital images feature relevant information. The ability to place events in context enables experts to overcome limits of working memory by retrieving applicable knowledge for a given situation (Glaser, 1992; Simon, 1980). Cases and design implications. From the CFH perspective, it was necessary to design a system that featured short video cases. From the usability perspective, it was important that video cases play seamlessly and instantaneously within the interface not pop-up outside of it and not be downloadable. Flash, a software programming tool, was chosen because the platform: used compressed video files that play quickly and are difficult for users to save onto their 43 r. A wmn t'. ... I'D r1 '4. J “Y" ETSAKLQ 3 "e‘l.“'7”.~ H.0— _.ru .PJ'H 1" I vayraa. a.” ,, o -OSrl - A-o "._ . -)\cl“" ..~ |—-“_I >‘L computers; enabled Flash videos to play seamlessly inside any browser (something that HTML, a programming tool that the design team explored could not support), and across platforms; and was well established, well supported, and was ubiquitous for most web users had the Flash Player installed on their computers. The latter was important because it was anticipated that EASE applications might use videos that had restrictions placed on them, in terms of use. Also contributing to the decision to use Flash was that a member of the EASE team was a Flash programmer and the project had access to MSU’s Macromedia Flash Communications Server and could use it as EASE’s server-based platform. The EASE system’s database, which enables non-programmers to create, maintain, and modify projects, has a case-centered approach. Each project in the EASE database has its own set of cases, resources, and themes. Each case has digital media associated with it, including a video that is visible in viewing mode windows and small thumbnail images that represent cases in the timeline. Each case has its own text description, theme-codings, and resources, including interviews, artifacts, and links to related project cases. Other information that is related to each case includes: case title, event date, video timings, and the title background color that appears on the thumbnail image in the timeline. There are multiple examples of video being used in education, business, and commerce. Jasper Woodbury Problem Solving Series is an example of an education project that features multiple video cases. The program’s focus is on mathematical problem finding and problem solving. IVAN (Interactive Video Access Neighborhood) is an example of a tool that enables users to feature, segment, and assign resources to video 44 cases. Charles Ruggiero, a member of the EASE team, developed the system for MSU’s Teacher Education program. Videos are not edited inside the EASE system. I used Final Cut Pro, a well- established multimedia editing tool, to edit videos and Sorenson Squeeze to compress videos. EASE Viewig Modes The EASE system has three viewing modes: the four-window viewing mode, the two-window viewing mode, and the one-window viewing mode. Cognitive Flexibility Theory’s theoretical rationale for viewing modes. According to CFT, the physical arrangement of placing cases side by side is designed to support across case comparisons, for it might increase the number of possible connections that can be more easily noticed and facilitate the development of more advanced understanding by supporting work with multiple cases. Other learning theories. EASE’s multiple window viewing modes are designed to help users compare and contrast cases. Contrasting cases can support the conditionalizing of knowledge- the learner’s understanding of when, where, and why to use new knowledge (see, e.g., Bransford & Schwartz, 1999; Gagne & Gibson, 1947; Garner, 1974; Gibson & Gibson, 1955). Neutstadt and May (1986) argue that seeing a variety of cases that illustrate a particular concept helps learners see that concepts are sort of similar and sort of different from each other. From the Cognitive Load perspective, work with complex, interconnected cases in multiple viewing modes may impose a heavy cognitive load on users and produce a split attention effect because learner attention is divided between multiple sources of information causing an increased cognitive load on working 45 an" "IV “MS .- 1‘s a ‘ l wash. .. .14» u -0 l 5'. .11.- - rq... _ -. _ e..\ - . < C. .J\ I» .y , memory. From the CTML perspective, work in single and two-window viewing modes might be supported by the contiguity principle for text and graphics are presented contiguously rather than separately. Design of viewing modes. Early iterations of the EASE interface featured a single, 640x480 pixels video window. During the first year of the development of the EASE system it was decided that the interface would need to simultaneously display four viewing windows. This decision had a ripple effect on design decisions, primarily due to limitations on available space in the interface. For example, because of limited space in the four-window viewing mode, case descriptions and case videos would not be visible at the same time in the interface, unlike in the one and two-window viewing modes, which have space available below the videos for the text description box. In order to see descriptive text related to cases in the four-window viewing mode, a link, the “Open Description” button, appears in the right hand corner of the viewing window when a case is placed inside the window. Users click on the “Open Description” button to see text descriptions and click on the button again to see the video. The addition of the four-window viewing mode had positive and negative impacts on the system. The four-window viewing mode is designed to enable users to compare and contrast cases, but the mode requires users to take extra steps to access case-related information. Opening and closing the drop down case description boxes might limit the use of information designed to support case comparisons. The use of a drop down text description box supported the goal of creating a seamless learning environment where work was done inside the interface, not in multiple pop-up windows, but the drop down 46 o; n 13 .c‘.. tax ‘3' 1|". b'w.\.. i! ._—.-r ......k ~~.:r~ ~- ‘ib‘\.. P'1.. ,_ .J‘t_‘\ . 1. re- ~".‘ I “L ~, .,I ' .1,- «r 5 ‘h " n. \- —A .H‘ l “_ - ...c .‘f h .1 . t text description box covered the video meaning that users would have to close the text description box before playing the video. The decision to simultaneously display four video windows had a ripple effect on other design decisions as well, including video size, the placement of icons, the design of the timeline, and theme searches. Impacts related to the design of the four-window viewing mode are discussed later in this section. From the usability perspective, it was important to have an interface that supported seamless work with cases. There were six design decisions related to viewing modes that supported the overall goal of seamless work inside the interface. First, videos do not pop-up outside of the interface, they appear inside the Flash player. Second, switching back and forth between viewing modes occurs inside the interface. Third, cases that appear in the timeline remain unchanged when users move between viewing modes, so users do not have to perform theme searches again. Fourth, cases remain inside viewing windows when a switch is made to another viewing mode. For example, video 661,, cases in windows and “2” remain when users switch back and forth between the two and four-window viewing modes. Finally, the design and placement of icons support easy movement back and forth between viewing modes. Three viewing mode buttons appear in the upper right hand corner of the interface when searched items are displayed in the timeline. Buttons related to the three main topics are placed above theme menus in the upper left hand corner of the interface. The four-window viewing mode icon features four boxes, the two-window viewing mode icon features two boxes, and the one-window viewing mode icon features one box. The title of the project is placed in between the 47 1"2" u —okh. \ A ...\ .‘ topics and viewing mode buttons in order to indicate to users, along with the icon design and titles, that the buttons serve different purposes. The design of the EASE system began with a one—window viewing mode then underwent changes after the decision to feature four videos simultaneously in the interface. The two-window viewing mode was the last viewing mode to be added. From the usability perspective, it was thought that users might find the two-video viewing mode more cognitively manageable, as compared to the four-window viewing mode. Cinpare with other computer learning environments. The one-window viewing mode is the most common way to display video on the web. BBC, CNN, and ESPN websites feature single-window viewing modes. The ability to open multiple QuickTime movies and place them side by side on a computer screen inspired the creation of the four-window viewing mode. EASE Theme Searches There are multiple ways to search on cases in the EASE system. These include: single and combinatorial theme searches performed through theme menus, an advanced theme search page, a keyword search, and an index page. 1. Single theme searches can be performed through the main theme menus and in the advanced theme search page. Themes that appear in theme menus have sub- themes. Themes can be featured in more than one theme menu. 2. Multiple theme searches enable users to do combination searches within and across project topics. These searches can be done in the advanced theme search page. 48 KBY“ 0rd LJ-J iia‘sfa iikl'Z'g 011i :erches efficien Lie technologies ASP is c I 4 ~4\ a“. ettetrnl dat is sent to an ASl 7772521011 llllt" at Jr‘tere'it tee - Grace tha fe. Sen 3. Keyword searches enable users to search on case text descriptions. Keyword searches can be done on the home page and in the advanced theme search page. 4. The index enables users to search on specific cases. All cases available in the project are listed in the index, and can be organized in alphabetical order or by other criteria. Theme searches and design. Single theme searches are done efficiently inside Flash, taking only a few seconds to retrieve cases. The ability to perform multiple theme searches efficiently required the use of multiple technologies. This section describes how the technologies are connected and the rationale behind the selection of technologies. ASP is connected to the SQL database because Flash cannot connect directly to an external database. When a request for content is made in the Flash front end a request is sent to an ASP page where information is returned. Flash processes and converts this information into what is visible on the front end of the EASE application. The use of different programming tools enabled the project to take advantage of the affordances of the different technologies. For example, Flash was used to design a user-friendly interface that featured video but was not the right tool to be used to deve10p an advanced search function that occurs on the back end. In this case Javascript better supported this goal. In the EASE system ASP, SQL, Javascript, and Flash are connected in order to support project goals. The blending of different technologies also took advantage of the different kinds of expertise held by EASE developers. Apama Ramchandran had expertise in Flash, Charlie Ruggiero in ASP and Javascript, and Laurence Bates in SQL. anitive Flexibility Theogj’s theoretical rationale for theme searches. According to CFT, there are no single best cases of knowledge representations to support 49 nierstanding 01 csrtepts hate be here: to prepare ire-Lg". theme s .If-stractured do i633 OF. ‘T‘ Uilt i-‘V‘Wrfi. o -l J'\'.“‘ic .0 A Ci; \“‘- ‘L‘ H... g 4‘ If) my);— :1 ..\.§ “1” ”‘ Cur ‘Q P ‘” Aj‘efio 1 ‘5._ , .q .0‘ \a understanding of concepts in ill-structured domains. Instead, learners need to see how concepts have been applied in similar and different ways across multiple cases in order to better to prepare for real world knowledge application. The retrieval of multiple cases through theme searches is intended to support this goal. CFT also argues that concepts in ill-structured domains are interconnected and that the understanding of one concept often relies on the understanding of another. Multiple theme searches, in particular, are designed to help users see how themes are intertwined for search results produce cases that have been coded on shared themes. CFT maintains that the use of a decentralized theme structure, as opposed to a hierarchical theme structure, better reflects the web-like nature of ill-structured domains. The use of sub-themes and the appearance of the same theme in multiple menus are examples of how EASE theme menus employ a non- hierarchical structure. Compare with other learning theories. According to multiple studies (Bransford et al., 2000; Chi, Glaser, & Farr, 1988) experts are able to flexibly retrieve relevant domain knowledge and strategies with minimal cognitive effort. From the Cognitive Load perspective, a heavy load is placed on the learner when concepts are highly interrelated but might be germane since they are conceptually related and are likely to support new schema construction and automaticity. From the CTML perspective, EASE theme searches might demonstrate the multiple representation principle because they return cases with corresponding words and pictures. Compare with other computer learning environments. Many online learning environments enable users to search on single themes. For example, The Smithsonian American Art Museum enables its users to search on single topics related. to artist, 50 smart. and med to test ord seart l . - ‘ ), 1.‘ Cttmllcflitd 35:0 Searched :pantrons. Re ”“13 r;a n, ‘ ”5‘“ LV'N61AL .t' 3" ‘ .. .rm [huntbnd] ‘ae ease appears rage. It the Us: Qde thfi “1.. A an, Dc\‘|YI " 'KL‘ \‘\‘L‘\d \— l.’ . a.) a»; \ '3 I" U: r‘... “‘31 .7“ century, and medium. The Smithsonian American Art Museum also enables its users to do keyword searches. Google Search is an example of a search engine with a more complicated algorithm that is designed to support more complex searches. EASE Timeline Searched items are displayed in a scrollable two-columned timeline in EASE applications. Representative images of cases are arranged in chronological order with more recent cases at the top of the timeline and older cases at the bottom. If the user rolls over a thumbnail image in the timeline, then a comment box with a short description of the case appears to the right of the thumbnail image and two boxes appear on top of the image. If the user rolls over the small image and clicks on “I”, then that case is placed inside the “1” viewing window. Two boxes appear when users are working in the two- window viewing mode and four boxes appear when users are in the four-window viewing mode. DLsigp of the timeline. In early versions of the EASE interface the titles of searched cases were displayed in alphabetical order in a single column. The decision to include a four—window viewing mode led the design team to reevaluate how the system displayed searched items. The re-assessment of this feature led the team to conclude that displaying only cases titles would not provide enough information for users. After a period of research and development, I decided that representative thumbnail images should appear in a two-columned scrollable timeline with more recent cases appearing at the top of the timeline and older cases at the bottom. I selected the two-columned timeline because I thought it was an efficient use of space and was visually striking. One of the problems of the two-columned timeline was that thumbnail images would have to 51 b55065- Pod-‘- additional in forn' tired to topics An issue are .‘e ur-“ tndt‘V -oie. A ease \\ tiera search. A rude but not is :niement 3 dr. tagged across 15 SW2“)! 1m Cy infers. each ilzozail “TIA“. ia-L \ 1' ““17 ‘ we “dc: be 50x38 pixels, making many of the thumbnail images look similar. I decided that additional information would be provided through thumbnail images, including colors related to topics, case titles, and comment boxes with short descriptions. An issue the design team faced was how to place retrieved cases inside the two and four-window viewing modes. The project had started with a one-window viewing mode. A case was placed in the window by clicking on the theme name that appeared after a search. A one-click solution was still possible with the single-window viewing mode but not with the two and four-window viewing modes. The team attempted to implement a drag and drop feature but this proved unworkable because cases could not be dragged across quadrants “I” and “3” and dropped into quadrants “2” and “4”. After time was spent investigating the drag and drop function, I decided that small boxes with numbers, each representing a viewing window, would appear on top of timeline thumbnail images when users were working with cases in the two and four-window viewing modes. Qggnitive Flexibility Theory’s theoretical raticmale for the timeline. One of the goals of CFT is to make work with multiple cases manageable in a nonlinear environment. The EASE timeline is designed to help users hold a large number of relevant cases in their cognitive workspace, something novice learners might not normally be able to do. Another CFT goal is to fight conceptual oversimplification of complex concepts. The EASE timeline combats early closure by showing all cases that have been coded on a particular thematic concept. Timeline. the intersection of EASE and EASE History. The reassessment of how searched cases would be displayed in the EASE interface took place at the time when I 52 ins designing a t samples of time Inngoonrandi an". searched t i egzemantezr rirns.Forse :asinzle cot“, - H . .~. — \ ‘ 133 .3411} USCG, fled.‘ c..W...CdIe. Th: ('1‘! was designing a timeline for EASE History. During the design process I searched for examples of timelines on the web. The Living Room Candidate (http:// livingroomcandidate.orgO is a website that features presidential campaign commercials with searched videos displayed in multiple columns. For searches on election year, representative images are arranged by presidential candidate and displayed in separate columns. For searches on commercial type and issue, representative images are returned in a single column with older cases at the top and more recent cases at the bottom. I also examined timelines created by Second Story Interactive Studios, and the Smithsonian Institute. The team used ideas from other sites and adapted them to create something new. From its research of Second Story timelines, the team added a scroll bar to the timeline. The team used the multi-columned approach implemented by the Living Room Candidate. The idea to have representative images in the timeline was gotten from Second Story timelines and fiom the Living Room Candidate. Other learning theories. The timeline organizes cases in chronological order. Well-organized domain knowledge has been shown to support problem understanding and problem solving (e.g., Glaser & Chi, 1988). From the Cognitive Load perspective, the timeline may demonstrate the germane load principle because the retrieval of multiple cases is well organized and likely to support learning. EASE Icons Icons appear on top of a video case after the case has been placed inside a viewing mode. Each icon signifies the type of content or action that is available through it. The Back icon appears after a video has been replaced in the viewing window, while the other icons appear only when related content is available. When users roll over an icon, titles of S3 related cases and r then a \‘ldi’O ens he netting u ind It. There are ti l. The Back 3;) E? ('14 K“ F. ’3? is learn it H related cases and resources appear below the icon in the form of a drop down menu. When a video case title is clicked on in the drop down menu, it replaces the case inside the viewing window. Information available through the Artifacts icon appears in a pop-up box. There are five icons designed for use in EASE applications: 1. The Back icon enables users to move one step back to the previous video in the system. An icon with an arrow pointed to the left signifies its action. 2. The Audio icon lists audio resources such as interviews and commentaries. An icon with a microphone signifies the availability of audio content. 3. The Video icon with an image of a filmstrip notifies users of the availability of mindset modeling videos. 4. The Related Cases icon lists related project cases. An icon with two overlapping video boxes signifies the availability of Related Cases content. 5. The Artifacts icon alerts users to the availability of case-related resources, like graphs, transcripts, and links to articles and other websites. An icon with a treasure box signifies the availability of artifacts. Design and icons. At first it was proposed that an icon would appear on a video when a resource was available and the icon would disappear when the resource was no longer relevant. This proved difficult to implement, so the team decided that icons would be placed on video cases inside the viewing window and would appear throughout the video. The drawback of this decision is that even if a resource was thought to be only relevant during the first five seconds of the video the icon would appear throughout the entire video. The decision to place icons on the video instead of above or below the viewing window was made because of the limited space left by the four-window viewing 54 nee. There \\ a: BL’ZdL‘“ 111 the 0. are . In order arise in all three a}: easalt' be \ is A. i‘ ‘In T .. ‘ oilfpfml Alix“. _.‘.’L‘1'.'hI‘I€S nonln' 4 ghllq . k . ‘ km 1'0. if j mode. There was space to place icons next to the case title that appears below the video window in the one and two-window viewing modes but not in the four-window viewing mode. In order to better support the goal of design consistency, icons were placed on the video in all three viewing modes. I decided that materials designated as artifacts (i.e., maps, transcripts, graphics) would appear in pop-up windows, because the artifacts could not easily be viewed inside the 320x240 pixels viewing windows. _C_ognitive Flexibility Theopy’s theoretical gtionale for icons. CFT argues that conceptual knowledge cannot be isolated into separate mental compartments. The theory promotes nonlinear movement through networked knowledge systems in order to support the goal of transferable knowledge. Icons support the traversal of interconnected knowledge by linking program content in a user friendly manner. Other learning theories. Research findings suggest that experts possess a great deal of interconnected domain knowledge. From the Cognitive Load perspective, one of the strengths of EASE icons is that they are designed to link related cases and resources. EASE Mindset Modeling Videos Mindset modeling videos are short videos that use innovative video presentation formats, including narration, quick editing, video effects, and strategies to open and deepen perception of the complexity of cases and accelerate the process of knowledge acquisition in a cognitively tractable manner. The videos remind users of several issues: the need to open perception, the need to look closely at a wide variety of cases, and the power of revisiting cases from multiple perspectives. Different effects, which are often used in combination and with narration and text, are featured in mindset modeling videos. They include: 55 l. [’J Dissonance thinlting ant and “it dept should he \1 contingent" the lightntr -‘v \.a 01‘early (“1. Sound. - Conceprul a“‘ Dissonance effects. The dissonance effects are designed to disrupt reductive thinking and get people to develop a habit of saying, “wait, it’s not that simple” and “it depends”. The learner needs to move towards a realization that judgment should be withheld—that there must be an understanding of context and contingency. Dissonance is created with a series of special effects. They include the lightning effect, the x-ray effect, the shattered screen effect, the shaking screen effect, and audio effects, such as thunder and other loud noises. Oftentimes the effects are used in combination. For example, learners are warned of the traps of early closure by having the screen disintegrate and hearing a sharp piercing sound. Conceptual variability effect. The conceptual variability effect is designed to show learners how concepts are used and tailored to context. In a mindset modeling video, for example, video is shown of how a concept has been applied to a specific case then followed by a series of short clips, sometimes three seconds in length, from overleamed cases where the concept is applied in different ways. Viewing concepts of multiple illustrations is intended to challenge formed assumptions and remind learners of their tendency to become complacent when they embrace single answers and simple definitions. Spotlight effect. Different colors of physical light are used in order to cast a scene in a different light. Colored spotlights are designed to demonstrate how actions and words can be interpreted in many different ways. The quick crisscrossing of domain knowledge occurs when different colored spotlights simultaneously appear on screen. Colored spotlights, when accompanied with the slow motion 56 -‘-—- . X313.“ effect. efi‘ect. offer a hate missed. into a black .2 that there is if trnny Slllldllt accompanie Dbl ious. . Color “35th. Multiple then: llllt’fCOllllCL‘lCi . \lusic etfect. the etent as a . luttaposition 1"". J Wu)“ W‘dCiln ----- the NO 3T1tl t C (it ‘31 g\ effect, offer a way to redirect the gaze of learners showing them what they might have missed. X-ray effect. The application of the x-ray effect, a video effect that turns video into a black and white image resembling an x-ray, is intended to remind people that there is usually more to a situation than what appears on the surface and that many situations cannot be defined after a single viewing. The x-ray effect is accompanied by text and narration describing connections that might not be obvious. Color washes. Colors wash across the screen when themes are active in the video. Multiple theme washes can be applied at the same time to Show how themes are interconnected. Music effect. Music can be applied to video to express mood. For example, a mindset modeling video might feature festive music when a perspective identifies the event as a positive occurrence. Juxtapositions. Cases can be placed side by side in mindset modeling videos. This arrangement is designed to model how cases can be compared and contrasted in the two and four-window viewing modes. Cognitive Flexibility Theory’s theoretical rationale for mindset modeling videos. Mindset modeling videos are designed to open perception and help learners look for multiplicity and interconnectedness. The use of short videos, with effects such as music, spotlights, and slow motion are designed to reduce cognitive overload so subject matter does not become “confusing and discouraging” (Spiro, et al., 2003). According to CFT, simplistic thinking, which mindset modeling videos are designed to combat, interferes S7 nit the det elopme': teal-tofu conteus ~ :5 meaningful [NHL 8131on et al.. 191‘ rciehng \ideos t e . g 1: example ofhott' tl Smartz t 1999 ,1 TCM refit-elp dratx atten’. Li“ contrasts that i from the (‘t tentet modeling \ ’r—w ...~..a.l-Ford. Cha ‘a _; .rztne Cognitue "pb. n‘A‘. -165 m len (.7? h §L \ :fnf‘ " .roftmtion tit”: with the development of complex understanding and flexible knowledge application to real-world contexts situations (Spiro et al., 2003; Spiro et al., 1992). Other learning theories. The ability of experts to notice more and identify features and meaningful patterns of information has been found in multiple studies (e. g., Bransford et al., 1988; Sabers et al., 1991). The arrangement of related cases in mindset modeling videos (e.g., juxtaposing cases and demonstrations of conceptual variability) is an example of how the videos might support deep learning. According to Bransford and Schwartz (1999) research suggests that the methods of selection and arrangement of cases can help draw attention to connections among cases that are not transparent or establish case contrasts that illustrate surprising differences and similarities. From the Cognitive Load and Dual Coding perspective, one of the strengths of mindset modeling videos is that they take advantage of both verbal and visual channels (Tindall-Ford, Chandler, & Sweller, 1991). A weakness of the mindset modeling videos, from the Cognitive Load perspective, is that they are too long, sometimes more than two minutes in length. Video brevity is an acknowledgment that there are limits to the amount of information that both channels can process (Baddeley, 1992). Design and mindset modeling. Since mindset modeling videos are created in F inal Cut Pro, the only design decision related to the videos was how to access them. It was decided that mindset modeling videos would be available through the “Video” icon. Other learning environments and tools. The spotlight effect was used in the CFH system KANE and was intended to help users notice more and see how multiple themes could be applied to the same case. Video and audio effects available in Final Cut Pro supported the development of additional mindset modeling videos. For example, 58 combining Final CL 15mg ell‘ect Use; might effect the : matted ox erlay xx , There u 35 a \ arm stand-alone D (Wt-1.; u\ ..\ _ um» A are kLlnL‘Cm\ combining Final Cut Pro’s visual lightning effect and audio of thunder created the lightning effect used in mindset modeling videos. Because Final Cut Pro did not have a spotlight effect the team created one by combining two Final Cut Pro video effects, a darkened overlay with colored light. Online or Offline There was a question as to whether EASE applications would be presented online or as a stand-alone DVD-option. The stand-alone DVD was an attractive option because there were concerns that users would have limited bandwidth, less powerful computers, or interrupted Internet service. The ubiquity of DVD players in homes and classrooms also made DVDs an attractive option. There were major problems with using a stand- alone DVD-option, though. First, there would be limitations in regards to theme searches. The DVD-option would support single theme searches but not multiple theme searches since a DVD would not be able to access the project’s main server. Second, limited storage meant that a DVD would be able to store less video than an online program, thus limiting the number of video cases that could be featured in a project. Third, new DVDs would have to be created and distributed when the program was updated, a much slower process than updating an online program. There were costs and benefits associated with placing EASE programs online. A limitation of an online system was that some users would have slow Internet connections and own older computers so the use of the program would be impeded. There were also worries that it might be more difficult to obtain permission to use video, specifically classroom videos, if the content was presented on online. There were many benefits of having online programs, including the ability to have multiple theme searches, more 59 sail} updatable prt' :Etsut accessing the izghethandmdth w. are online projecb Arroteeted. In the emf ail-times than st; zisze D\'D-opm,n. , 113.5 on a case-byt- Lessom lear: k unpter 3 easily updatable programs, and the ability to reach a wider audience. As far as concerns about accessing the system online, it was thought that more powerful computers and higher bandwidth would become the norm in the near future. It was also decided that some online projects might have restrictions on video use so would need to be password protected. In the end, a consensus developed that online applications had more affordances than stand-alone applications, but some projects would need to use the stand- alone DVD-option, so the decision to present EASE programs online or offline would be made on a case-by-case basis. Lessons learned from designing the EASE programs are described at end of Chapter 5. 6O Char: :‘ezelepment. tiered as a k EASE 371.yv;e\wn‘l€:‘.t [ “ ukAA C“ ‘ 5- prefld; 37‘7‘2;3 K . d .4? h‘:n IéDU CHAPTER 5 DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE EASE HISTORY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Chapter 5, as in the previous chapter, uses a narrative lens to describe the design, development, and deployment of EASE History. The full-fledged learning environment is offered as a kind of “data” in its own right. EASE History, 3 specific application of the EASE system, is an online learning environment that features over one thousand cases related to its three organizing topics: historical events, campaign advertisements, and core values. These three organizing topics support one another for they enable users to see historical events through the prism of US. presidential campaign advertisements, better understand the complexities of campaign issues and their historical context by looking at historical events, and explore the meanings of core values by examining how these values have been applied in a variety of real world cases. Three viewing modes, simple and advanced theme searches, and case resources such as interviews, descriptive text, artifacts, related cases, and mindset modeling videos, support work with cases. The EASE History project had multiple goals. These included: helping people develop a critical mindset and learn difficult content in an online, nonlinear, case-based, theory-based environment that featured new media; supporting learning in multiple environments, including inside the classroom and outside; supporting independent and group work; supporting learning across multiple grades; and reaching a large, global audience. 61 EASE HlSlt‘ attired because . .rierstanding of dt this necessitating at :If-stmctured dorm :rlec'ge. For em :“ccs and llISIOI'} 1;- name the idea of sneept is recaltbr: ..... ‘32’5- - "Pbdra\ ‘ ‘ 3 ' - ‘~ 3r«ldtms t. a- “ i 3PPT0priatQ1‘ h Th3 dCVelu ' Ppilk‘dtj .. ”dilated dUm' it Ci} E‘XSE in Iert ....4ttt:tn ofthe \ ‘ .' .__.~ he 301,14 P1 .; -~ .W Tied; Y] SSW: .;. ‘L'."‘ \.’i:1"‘ rill-3n! f ‘ ‘ dm: A EASE History features content from civics and history. The two domains are ill- structured because conceptual meanings within these domains change over time, and the understanding of domain knowledge depends on the understanding of other concepts, thus necessitating an awareness of the web-like nature of the domain. Understanding in ill-structured domains requires conceptual variability and multiple representations of knowledge. For example, in order to understand ‘freedom,’ a concept that is featured in civics and history learning, one must look at a number of cases where it has been applied because the idea of freedom has changed over time, and an individual’s meaning of the concept is recalibrated with each case. EASE History is designed to support content learning and the development of certain dispositions by demonstrating a wide variety of patterns of use of civics and historical concepts in an educationally friendly manner that prepares students to see the kinds of contextual circumstances in which the concept is either appropriately, or inappropriately, employed. The development of EASE History began in the spring of 2003. EASE History is a specific application of the EASE system, which was designed to support learning across ill-structured domains. The development of EASE History required only minor additions to the EASE interface, and so I present the EASE History application as a kind of validation of the success of the design of the EASE system. From the start of development I planned that EASE History would go online before the 2004 presidential election and seek a global audience. The program was launched in September 2004 but new content continues to be added. I led the design, development, and deployment of the EASE History project. 62 TheE i-mer E A Cardin“. . - tineEASE 5T . b 3“. l$u teEASE ilfi‘iili‘i‘l map , "furnd‘ ~‘.tbo’l~5"l 5'“ u '4. V L" x: ‘ i“-L.\\L V p Q ,1 Ai\ » -L . ‘1 «0.1.; L s‘.xb\\re ~14“ “ ' - “rm-dbl 1i. - 1 .lfifit‘VO - _.«\h1,4‘- : O ”4-. P . ¢ '- x'» ' -—3 ‘§ 5 “Hi-1‘“ >L‘i _‘\ - e ‘3 \q ‘ i _‘_‘ '- Q L“ H — t., \ . I ‘.“_V N".‘l— ‘_ - A: LA\\ ‘ WP “ i“ .. . gk‘ \\ ‘- ~. ,1 EASE History Costs The EASE History project was unfimded. I spent approximately 20 hrs/week designing EASE History features and content, outside of the 20 hrs/week that I worked on the EASE system. The EASE project’s Flash programmer volunteered her time to create EASE History’s Flash interface, home page, and supported the development of election maps and the tour. The EASE project’s JAVA and HTML programmer volunteered his time to connect the Flash interface to the database, and build the advanced theme search and index pages. The EASE project’s database programmer volunteered his time to place EASE History on an MSU School of Education server and maintain it. The Principal Investigator (PI) for the EASE project acted as an unpaid consultant on the EASE History project, supporting content development. An MSU graduate student was hired to upload content to the database prior to the launch of the EASE History. The P1 paid the student’s salary, approximately $1,500, out of his own pocket. Over the course of the project, I purchased presidential campaign advertisement video collections, historical documentaries, books that supported the development of EASE History content, DV tapes, external hard drives, and VHS tapes that were used to record campaign commercials off television. These costs came to about $1000. EASE lab equipment was used to develop EASE History. This hardware included: two GS Mac’s to edit videos and do the Flash programming, a video-editing deck to convert VHS cassettes to DV tapes, a PC desktop computer to upload content to the database; and a Flash communication server to host the videos. As with the EASE project, Michigan State University’s School of Education provided the EASE History project with flee access to the Flash communication server. EASE History also used 63 entire patch. Strersort Sque The EA l~lerzttg tTT.\ frees. the E. series. \‘tdeos EASE Histor} itsigzed ts ith ‘I'Siitn necau ' I j“lfl.‘v ‘ .-LL.,,E 101' [1" . :LCL' t't‘ )9 ‘- k we“. 55703?- D1411 Us. D-I ‘. “an; \ I ~ 13}: .53; ..‘ .\ - ‘1‘: Ya AK EA“ ‘\- .1 , “Be ’15 . ~ 1 ‘i ,d . I"K A“ K ', . “ , ~‘ h._ 0‘ ' ‘ :~‘C ‘3: ~;r“\- .\_:L,. software purchased for the EASE project, including Final Cut Pro, Flash, Fireworks, and Sorenson Squeeze. The EASE design team did not have content for the Teaching Text Making Meaning (TTMM) project between summer 2003 and winter 2004, so, in order to test features, the EASE database and the Flash interface was populated with EASE History themes, videos, and resources. The timeline is an example of a point when the design of EASE History and the design of EASE intersected. The timeline feature was originally designed with EASE History in mind but was integrated into the design of the EASE system, because I thought it could support learning in multiple domains. If I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I would have sought funding for the EASE History project at the beginning stages of development. I asked too much of others, in terms of their time and money, during the development of EASE History. During the summer of 2004, for example, the team produced the Teaching Text Making Meaning (TTMM) project, which was funded by an Interagency Education Research Initiative grant, and the EASE History project. This meant that the team had to work extra hours each week. Project funding might have relieved some pressure on the team, meant more time to design program content, and provided time to develop a research program. EASE History is online (http://www.easehistory.org/) and not password protected. I made this decision after examining the costs and benefits of online and offline content delivery. An online system would have enabled the program to include more cases, multiple theme searches, be more easily updated, and reach a global audience, as compared to an offline or online program that was password-protected. A password- 64 protected program feature copsright p neared the goal L 521:: passtt'ord-p: I: .t passttord pron :tetected would en. mere} might suppo AI {HST [ h; t century L' .S t extremes. l “as t --tes‘trtcted 0n 1..., A A L \ 3551’s? L‘d‘PWICct-t protected program that was only used on campus would have enabled the project to feature copyright protected videos but this type of program would have negatively impacted the goal of reaching a global audience. I decided that the affordances of an online password-protected program, one that would reach a global audience, as compared to a password protected site, were greater, since an online program that was not password protected would enable more people, including designers, educators, and students, to develop a deeper understanding of how a hypermedia environment based on learning theory might support learning in civics and history. EASE History Content Development At first I had wanted to create an EASE application that featured footage from 20th century US. history documentaries produced by US. television broadcasting companies. I was unable to secure rights to use footage from the documentaries in an unrestricted online environment, so I revisited the option of having a system that was password-protected. An online, password-protected program, only used on campus, would enable the project to feature copyright protected videos, such as ones featured in the commercial broadcast history documentaries, but this would negatively impact the goal of gaining a large audience, so after exploring multiple possibilities, including pre- 1923 topics (e.g., American Revolution, Civil War), I decided that the program would feature US. presidential campaign television commercials and public domain content produced by employees of US. government agencies. There were multiple reasons for selecting presidential campaign commercials and historical events. First, there were only a limited number of documentaries that featured full-length presidential campaign advertisements and there were few websites featuring 65 fese nut: lJiS. that’h rightsh themselves. .i; rmt'sston to u ubII.u. gear at a large :m at \\ eh: Ruth I then; .7533? concep iced tn cont; ample. n‘nnj 333235. S0 Ii 5 figs-Id tit. Fm .‘ezclzne tor tl these materials, so the public had difficulty accessing these materials. Second, I thought that the rights holders, including presidential libraries and some the candidates themselves, might be more likely than a commercial broadcasting company to grant permission to use the videos in an online learning environment created by a non-profit group at a large university. Third, I found many historical images and videos in the public domain at websites like the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and NASA. Fourth, I thought campaign advertisements might support understanding of civics and history concepts if treated as cases in a CFH learning environment, where they could be placed in context and linked to other campaign advertisements and historical events. For example, many of the campaign advertisements made specific reference to real world events, so the linking of the historical and campaign advertisement domains seemed like a good fit. Finally, campaign advertisements were chosen because I thought that having a deadline for the launch, the fall of 2004, would provide motivation to complete the project and the release of the project before the election would draw attention to it. The use of core democratic values themes was the last topic to be included in EASE History. The core democratic values topic was chosen because at the time Michigan students were having difficulties with a core democratic values task in the social studies section of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) exam. To complete this task, students were given information about a public policy issue and asked to write a persuasive letter in which they support their stand with a core democratic value. I thought that a CFH environment could be designed to support the understanding of complex concepts like freedom, for example, and prepare learners to use that concept in the great variety of contexts in which it occurs. The addition of the core democratic 66 nines tct‘IC 59 '~ 0" 3 ‘ ‘ rise neenunt c .4 ...~1~.-‘ Tamika: \dl Ghllllll': 1",...t. , BI.A1\.HIL Iflln I test {941an . y .‘ . 534.1. .the C o ,i“l".7 ‘ \ .- o. 9 .a.\“.“dr: bldL‘ :3 p51 .IHS)IOI G“? 4 ~ .‘xaleg‘ perl I] {I'H‘CIKL‘CS a :nzfllfigL {‘31 “ti-[ed C l"; a - -_ 5 L0 Q‘:‘\\.h To fit :Vt ‘ ~.,.} . ““kdl Hd'» ~15: ul-lh‘rv ”My! ‘4l\ _ 1"; ]\;“n F C. values topic seemed like a natural next step, since many core democratic values themes, like freedom, common good, and patriotism, appeared in the theme-codings of US. presidential campaign advertisements and historical events cases. Gaining permission from rights holders to use campaign advertisements was more difficult than I expected. I spent four months attempting to search for the rights holders of the campaign advertisements but had no success. In September 2003 I asked Michael Seadle, the Copyright Librarian and Head of the Digital and Multimedia Center at Michigan State University, for his help securing permissions to use campaign advertisements in the project. Over the next year he and his team were able to locate and get permissions from campaign advertisement rights holders. Seadle and his group secured permissions from presidential libraries, presidential campaigns, national political committees, and from the candidates themselves. Their expertise enabled the search for copyrighted content to expand to historical footage produced by video production houses. Seadle and his group secured permission from WhiteStar productions, for example, to use footage from their documentaries about the Republican and Democratic Parties and Martin Luther King, Jr. in EASE History. The agreement signed by rights holders grants permission for EASE History to use the material online on the condition that users are not able to download the videos. To support the creation of EASE History content I read widely in the domains of political advertising, civics, political science, and history, finding themes that are used in the domains and content related to specific cases. Books included “Interpretations of American History”, edited by Couvares et al., “Thinking in Time” by Neustadt and May, and “The American Age” by Lefeber, “The Story of Freedom” by Foner, and “Video 67 lhhetortcs: Ielc\ :eteec'nes 0t co 1 1 process ted to a 1..., r - . j LLECLJC’ .l)l 5\ DA h In a coding ~: -. t,‘ t - ‘-‘~— mitlrpfi iii! 37" Ji; ’ . 7‘ ‘-~ 5":2L them; Q03}; ,. :s. tolere $3211th A tr Rhetorics: Televised Advertising in American Politics” by Nelson and Boynton. Theme categories of codes emerged firom this research and from the cases themselves. This process led to a set of themes and sub-themes by which the user could search on. The theme list evolved over time as more cases were added and more research was done. With a coding scheme in place, albeit one that was still emerging, each case was coded on multiple themes. For example, a case about the 1987 memorial AIDS quilt was coded on eight themes: 19805 events, health, protests, Reagan administration, social, social protests, tolerance, and unity. EASE History themes are identified in the appendix. (See Appendix A to see a list of EASE History themes.) EASE History identifies the author or source of case materials. For example, the “Mother” case identifies the photographer as Dorothea Lange, and the owner of the original print as the Library of Congress. This information is included in the text description box. The “Evaluating Sources” activity, which appears in the Learning Guide, scaffolds the assessment of source credibility. In the activity learners rate the credibility of six cases and explain their ratings. The “Evaluating Sources” activity is embedded in many of the learning guide activities that are designed to help learners compare and contrast cases. Excel spreadsheets were used to organize content related to cases. Information was organized under database categories, including: case title, color coding, digital file, long description, short description, theme codings, image and video credit, event date, links to related cases, sources, and links to articles. Videos. Final Cut Pro was used to edit videos. Many of the campaign advertisements and historical events videos came from long documentaries or collections 68 ." so they had to be broken up into smaller cases. Some videos had watermarks and titles, so in order to not infringe on copyrights, I removed the overlays using the video editing software. After editing the videos, I gave each case a title and exported the files as FLVs. I also selected representative still images for each case. These images appear in the viewing window before the video plays and in the timeline as thumbnail images. These images were resized in Fireworks and exported as jpg files. It took multiple trials before settling on compression video settings in Sorenson Squeeze that would produce compressed, high quality videos. These compression video settings were applied to videos used in TTMM, another EASE application. The quality of video used in EASE History varied from case to case. I spent a great deal of time trying to improve the audio and sharpen many of the low quality videos in Final Cut Pro. This became a higher priority after seeing that programs like ESPN, CNN, Living Room Candidate, and BBC, were featuring high quality and well-edited videos. Many of the campaign advertisements were fiom older documentaries, while others were recorded off television. Some of the US. presidential campaign advertisements were of high quality, like the Gerald R. Ford 1976 commercials and the George W. Bush and John Kerry 2004 advertisements. The quality of the historical events videos, like that of the campaign advertisements, varied from case to case. For example, much of the footage from NASA videos and WhiteStar documentaries were of high quality. Other videos, like the Universal and Kinogram newsreel videos, were of lesser quality. The interviews that I did with Ken Dirkin were of high quality since they were shot in high definition video. 69 . b EASE History cases feature videos and still images. The addition of still images did not require changes to the database for it recognized jpg files. The addition of still images did require the addition of an icon so that users could see the larger images in a pop-up window and download them. Many of the still images used in EASE History were compressed in Sorenson Squeeze in three different sizes, a small 50x38 pixels image for the timeline, a medium size 320x240 pixels image for the video window, and a larger image that could be accessed through the project’s Image icon. The larger images were kept under 640x480 pixels so case descriptions and images would be visible on screen. Hundreds of images were resized in Fireworks so that they would not appear stretched in the timeline, in the viewing windows, and in the larger image pop-up box. Development of resources. Campaign advertisements are not often featured in social studies classrooms and are not easily found online, so special attention was given to the development of program resources. Case resources, such as election maps, candidate profiles, election issues, and election polling data are available through campaign advertisements. As a former social studies teacher, I developed these resources in order to help learners place events in context and see how cases are connected. For example, George W. Bush’s candidate profile includes information about the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, his background, and key points in his administration. “Comparing Historical Cases” and “Comparing Campaign Ads Cases”, two lesson plans in the learning guide, feature case comparison charts that are designed to scaffold work in EASE History. Mindset modeling videos, such as ones that define WWII and examine its causes, are examples of content that I designed with more novice learners in mind. 70 is The creation of resources took place over the course of project development. These resources included: case resources, learning resources, glossary, tour, and an FAQ. 1. Case resources, including interviews, election maps, mindset modeling videos, case connections, were matched and linked with related cases. For example, clips were excerpted from a series of interviews that I did with Ken Dirkin about program related content and from historical documentaries that featured interviews with academics, politicians, and social leaders. Other case resources, including links to external programs, mindset modeling videos, and election maps are discussed in greater detail later in this chapter. 2. Thirty-one lesson plans related to history, campaign advertisement analysis, and core democratic values content were designed to support the use of EASE History in classrooms. 3. A glossary was created to explain EASE History themes. The glossary was intended to support classroom activities featured in the learning guide. For example, an activity asks learners to use Thesaurus entries for “experience” to illustrate how campaign advertisements use the concept in similar and different ways. The glossary includes dictionary and thesaurus entries related to core democratic values and to campaign advertisements concepts. Dictionary entries were drawn from multiple sources. Thesaurus entries were drawn from Rodale, J. I. The Synonym Finder and Roget's New Millennium Thesaurus. 4. The Flash tour was created to provide an overview of the program and was designed to help users to become informed about EASE History features. 71 5. The Frequently Asked Questions section was created to answer commonly asked questions about technical issues related to the system and the project’s theoretical underpinnings. For example, EASE History’s port number is provided because it was anticipated that some users would need to open firewall ports in order to use the Flash application. Over the course of the project I did informal usability testing of EASE History. In these informal sessions, often very brief, I would ask friends and colleagues for their comments on specific features and content and for their suggestions on how to improve the program. From these sessions I learned that more scaffolding was needed to support the understanding of cases. These informal sessions also supported the design of the more general EASE system for I was able to give feedback to EASE designers on how people reacted to specific features. The Living Room Candidate updated its site features and content in July of 2004. The updated site featured high quality videos and content and many of their themes and videos overlapped with EASE History. After comparing and contrasting Living Room Candidate and EASE History I realized that the launch of Living Room Candidate would negatively impact my goal of obtaining a large audience for EASE History. At this point, I readjusted my goals and began placing less emphasis on campaign advertisements in EASE History and placing more emphasis on the idea that EASE History is a hypermedia system that is supported by learning theory. The majority of cases were entered into the EASE database in July of 2004. The project was launched in September 2004. With the help of Victor Inzunza at Michigan State University, I prepared and sent out a press release to announce the release of the 72 project. I spent fall 2004 and winter 2005 promoting EASE History. I contacted newspapers, magazines, design experts, state educational departments, local teachers, museums, media personalities, website reviewers, bloggers (e. g., education, design, technology, political), and international and domestic newspapers and magazines. I also entered EASE History into multiple design competitions. (See Appendix B for a discussion about how the goal of usage and expert reception of the system were addressed.) This section describes how EASE features are showcased in EASE History. Features discussed in this section include: EASE History’s cases, three organizing topics, timeline, resources, advanced theme searches, mindset modeling videos, and three viewing modes. (Note: This section refers to cases, themes, theme-codings, resources, and search results in the current version of EASE History. EASE History is continually being updated, so references might not refer to the current site.) EASE History Topics and Main Menus There are three main organizing topics in EASE History: Historical Events, Campaign Ads, and Core Values. The Historical Events topic includes historical cases from 1900 to the present. The Campaign Ads topic includes US. presidential campaign advertisements from 1952 to the present. The Core Values topic retrieves cases fiom U.S. historical events and presidential campaign advertisements from 1900 to the present day. Each organizing topic has its own menu, and each menu has its own themes and sub—themes. 73 EASE HISTORY "'*°'°'"__ “we" inflating? ANIIHIHNC I'_IllllAYIf"N . r: 'lh.‘ ItC-I .uluv “M: —_m- H‘ -- M “‘W‘-‘7 J"? mmnam “murmurs on ell-12w!“ "Mananv nEASI loot . . "mummdcm vmwumhowm 'um'rx'n 29m nMWanflm uh“ MM been not“ ads. Am “cam in: rtufir onkatflston. . a . LWMLM Figure 1. EASE History Menu The three main topics are designed to support each other to achieve the overall learning goal of deep understanding of the complex domains. In EASE History users learn about US. history through the prism of US. presidential campaign advertisements, better understand the complexities of campaign issues and their historical context by looking at historical events, and explore the meanings of core values by examining how these values have been applied in both historical events and campaign advertisements. 74 a-mm_aaga.ut§195!_-- - - .‘ulx H-wtu c I"I II . nusmmoamnousnuco‘ m. | . mo“ wmmm-Imm-mm ‘ C m I-I'Ol mumum.wnmwm “up. mud-tub cyan-Mud TI 1mm on: ”'00 ' xmmummwmm 9“." m “Mountain-wow fig” tantamount. Inf-anus ; Figure 2. EASE History Themes EASE Histog Cases “1 Like Ike”, a one-minute video clip, is an example of an EASE History case. It has a short case description, and is linked to multiple resources, including related cases, election maps, and candidate biographies. The case is coded on the following themes: Election Year: 1952; Candidate: Eisenhower; Party Affiliation: Republican; Positive/Negative Ad: Positive; Election Winner/Loser: Winner; Ad Types: Bandwagon, Humor, Music; Positive Presidential Leadership Attributes: Likeable, Plain folk; Negative Presidential Leadership Attributes: Out of Touch; Core Values: Common Good, and Patriotism. EASE History currently features one hundred and forty-five themes. Some thematic—codings are straightforward and others are less so. Straightforward themes 75 include: election year, candidate, winner, and party affiliation. Examples of straightforward theme-codings from the “I Like Ike” case are Eisenhower, Republican, winner, and 1952 election. Music is an example of a more straightforward theme but even it has its exceptions. For example, The “Revolving 88” case, a Vice-President George H.W. Bush campaign advertisement from the 1988 election, has been coded on music because it has a low, but sustained humming sound that produces a certain mood. Freedom, consensus, and progress are examples of themes that are not straightforward. Deciding on whether themes, such as freedom and consensus, are applied to cases is more of an interpretive process. The linkage of cases is another example of an interpretive process. Since theme creation and application is an iterative process, theme- codings are continually revisited. EASE History Case Resources Cases in EASE History have their own set of resources. Resources, available through icons, include: interviews, related links, links to external websites, mindset modeling videos, and artifacts. Resources are designed to help learners place events in context, view events from multiple perspectives, and reveal relationships between the historical events, campaign advertisements, and core democratic values topics. For purposes of this discussion I will continue looking at the “I Like Ike” case. 76 19SZDDE: Everyone is jumping on the Eisenhower ire] bandwagon. This entertaining Eisenhower ad was “is created by a team from Disney. There is a hint of l negativity as a Democrat is shown heading off in l the other direction. Why run this ad? Many ' Americans were concerned about electing Eisenhower, a professional soldier. Adding music to i the ad makes the slogan even more memorable. I L' . I Like Ike Themes: 1952, bandwagon, common good, Eisenhower, likeable, music, out of touch, Figure 3. “I Like Ike” Case Table 2. EASE History Icons TI] The Back The The The The The icon steps Interviews Mindset Related Image Artifacts back to icon lists Modeling Cases icon icon lists the resources such icon lists icon lists provides a artifacts previous as interviews video related link to the such as video. and resources cases. fiJll sized electoral commentaries. such as image maps, learning candidate sequences. profiles, images, articles and external URL’s. 77 Interviews. Through the Interviews icon users can access multimedia clips of interviews with educators, political commentators, historians, and politicians who hold different perspectives. Hearing multiple perspectives may be unsettling at first but with time the learner might understand the limitations of applying single perspectives and analogies. There is one interview available through the “I Like Ike” case. In it I talk about how the campaign advertisement features the bandwagon effect. Mindset modeling videos. Mindset modeling videos use video and audio effects to model critical habits of mind. Mindset modeling videos are available through the Mindset Modeling icon. Mindset modeling videos focus on several topics related to campaign advertisements and the Cold War. Campaign advertisement mindset modeling videos examine presidential leadership attributes, the bandwagon effect, and camera angles. Cold War mindset modeling videos focus on Cold War fears, rhetoric in Cold War campaign advertisements and speeches, direct and indirect confrontations during the Cold War, détente, WWII conferences at Yalta and Potsdam, and the US. and Soviet space programs. Five examples of mindset modeling videos are described in this section. Figure 4. “Angle” Mindset Modeling Video 78 1.“Angle”, a mindset modeling video, is designed to support the understanding of the “above the people” effect in campaign advertisements. The beginning of the video segment leads viewers to think that the low camera angle is responsible for the “above the people” effect. When, supposedly, everything has been figured out, the narrator says, “Wait, things aren’t so simple”. The added complexity is that the camera angle is not solely responsible for the “above the people” effect and that looking down is also responsible for the effect. The spotlight effect is used to highlight the candidate looking down. In order to demonstrate conceptual variability short clips from three campaign advertisements show the “above the people” effect when the candidates are looking down and the camera is at eye level. The “Angle” learning segment is one minute and forty seconds long and is available through multiple cases, including the 1952 General Eisenhower campaign advertisement, “Ike Speaks”. Figure 5. “Bandwagon” Mindset Modeling Video 79 2.Bandwagon effect. This mindset modeling video is designed to support the understanding of the “bandwagon effect”. The video begins by showing a short clip from “I Like Ike” and then through narration, text, and video size resizing explains how “I Like Ike” illustrates the stages of the bandwagon effect and the bandwagon’s multiplying effect. A spotlight effect highlights a Stevenson supporter riding in the opposite direction of Eisenhower’s supporters. This action is spotlighted because it adds to the “bandwagon effect” and is something that users might have missed. The mindset modeling video shows the final stage of the “bandwagon effect”, when everyone is on board and then, in order to demonstrate how the concept can be applied in similar and different ways, shows three short clips of candidates with large crowds. Nqimn Recognition Likeabtlttv x;- e 1%”.- ;.‘v‘. .g ”Hit“: goat t.7+;~"~"‘=-‘ ' H't‘ very (ill? “ Figure 6. “Multiple Goals” Mindset Modeling Video 3.Multiple goals. This mindset modeling video is designed to show how critical habits of mind might support case comparisons. The video compares “I Like Ike” and “Kennedy 60” from the multiple goals, name recognition, bandwagon, music, and 80 likeability perspectives. The video uses titles to show how multiple themes are active at the same time. For example, bandwagon and music are two themes that are shown to be active at the same time in the two campaign advertisements. After demonstrating how the campaign advertisements are similar, the screen shatters. This is intended to alert learners that things aren’t so simple and that cases are similar and different. The campaign advertisements are placed in context and spotlights, juxtapositions, text, and narration are used to explain how the two advertisements are different from the main goals perspective. 1 rink tltjltllll llw. iztitw ill slow 1114 it: ,. Figure 7. “Direct Appeal” Mindset Modeling Video 4.Direct appeal. This mindset modeling video describes the “direct appeal” effect when candidates look directly into the camera. Slow motion is used to show how Eisenhower shifted to a direct appeal in “Ike Speaks”. Three short clips that show presidential candidates looking directly at the camera follow the Eisenhower campaign advertisement. 81 Cold War Bomb shelter Figure 8. “Cold War Anxiety” Mindset Modeling Video 5.Cold War Anxiety: This mindset modeling video pieces together a series of conceptual variability segments related to Cold War anxiety. The first conceptual variability segment includes examples of how Cold War tensions played out on the world stage. It includes short clips fiom cases related to the Marshall Plan, HUAC, and political rhetoric. The second segment provides examples of how the Cold War led to anxiety in the US. It includes clips of atomic bomb tests, the use of a warning system, bomb drills, and fallout shelters. The final segment is a series of Cold War presidential campaign advertisements drawn fiom six elections. The campaign advertisements in this mindset modeling video demonstrate periods of high tension and détente during the Cold War. Related cases. The Related Cases icon links the case to related historical events and campaign advertisements. Related cases are designed to support context awareness, multi—perspectival learning, conceptual understanding, and relationships between historical events and campaign advertisements. “I Like lke” has seven related cases. 82 Three illustrations of how related cases are designed to support the understanding of “I Like Ike” are “Ike Runs”, “Jeep 44”, and “Luv Gov 52”. 1.“Ike Runs” is an example of a related case that is designed to support context awareness by letting users know that there were questions as to whether General Eisenhower would run as a Republican or Democratic in the 1952 presidential election. 2.“Jeep 44” is an example of a related case that connects historical events and campaign advertisements. The “Jeep 44” case, a meeting between President Roosevelt and General Eisenhower during WWII, is designed to help users understand that Eisenhower was a military leader. The juxtaposition of “Jeep 44” and “I Like Ike” might spur learners to compare and contrast Eisenhower the military leader to Eisenhower the politician. 3.“Luv Gov 52” is an example of a related case that is designed to promote conceptual understanding of themes that “Luv Gov 52” and “I Like Ike” share: 1952 election, 1950’s decade, Humor, and Music. Each related case has its own set of resources, so users are able to choose their own routes through the system. These associated links enable users to freely explore the environment in an active, meaningful way. Routes that users take will depend on the question and on user interest. This more natural way of learning is designed to offer users more opportunities to encounter cases at different times, a process that is intended to support multi-perspectival learning. 83 Back Arrow. The Back Arrow allows users to retrace their steps within EASE History. The ability to retrace one’s steps is intended to limit the ‘where was I again’ problem, something that users might experience. Artifacts. Through the Artifacts icon users can view candidate profiles, electoral maps, Annenberg Fact Check article summaries, election results, and links to related websites. Links to related websites are important since EASE History is not a comprehensive program. EASE History relies heavily on sites such as BBC, NPR, PBS and F actCheck.org because they are reliable, non-commercial, and frequently updated. Artifacts appear in pop-up boxes, while interviews, learning segments, and related clips appear inside the interface. The “52 Election Map” is an example of an artifact. By rolling over the artifact icon on “I Like Ike” and then clicking on “52 Election Map” users are able to see that Eisenhower easily defeated Stevenson in the 1952 election. Candidate profiles are also available through the artifacts icon. These profiles feature biographical material and a list of the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate going into an election. Eisenhower’s 1952 candidate profile is designed to help users see how “I Like Ike” highlighted Eisenhower’s strengths, military heroism and patriotism, and compensated for his weaknesses, including issues related to likeability. The Image icon is available when cases feature a still image. A larger still image appears in a pop-up window when the Image icon is clicked on. For example, “Lumber 19” is a case from 1919 that features a photo of two African-American women working at a lumberde during World War I. The photo has been reduced to 320x240 pixels to fit inside the viewing window. Clicking on the Image icon enables users to see a larger 84 463x600 image. Users can download the larger image onto their desktops by moving the cursor over the image and clicking “save as”. Election Year: 1952 Alaska and Hawaitweie not Admned to the Union iil1959 Candldlte Electoral Vote Popular Vote States I Dwight D Escnhower [R] 442 33.778.953r551s) 39 I Adlai Stevenson [D] 89 27,314,992 (44.4%) 9 Voter Turnout 61.6% Figure 9. Election Map Artifact EASE Histog Theme Searches There are many different ways to search for cases in EASE History. In addition to single-theme searches that can be performed through the three main menus, there are four advanced theme searches: single theme searches, multiple theme searches, keyword searches, an index search, and a topics search. 1.Single themes can be performed using the Historical Events, Campaign Ads, and Core Values main menus. The Campaign Ads main menu, for example, has fourteen themes and sixty-eight sub-themes. Themes available through the Campaign Ads main menu include: Candidate, Year, Presidential Leadership Attributes, Ad Types, and Ad Issues. 85 2.The Multiple Theme Search page lists all EASE History themes and enables users to search on single and multiple themes. Users might use the feature to refine their searches. For example, a user might begin a search for campaign advertisements that feature the bandwagon effect and music by searching on “Music”. This search would return seventy-six cases. A search on “Music” and “Bandwagon” using the Multiple Theme Search page, on the other band, would return eight cases that have been coded on both themes. This is a much more cognitively manageable set of clips to begin seeing how these two themes are related. tum“... -._.2...., ”‘fifl EASE Hrsronv anaex Search | W I oasuoomlgcs Campaign Ad Themes (2001) (Attack) You: H 90mm: U [.7 200‘ Ad lhemes: L] F 200° ta Allack [_ 13:: '— Bandwagon f- Character l‘ 1988 .— |_ 1984 Evidence '_ I— Fear [— 1930 I— quer on the Pulse 19 6 [— Fllp Flopping I'— 1972 [- Humor 1' 1968 ,— I- 1964 Musuc [— Plain Fair 1‘ 1960 r- P rofile l" 1955 l" , , [_ 1952 Target ads .1. I— Testimonial W“ U Pregnant imam-p Ammu- [3 Election Miners/Losers U Hm CM ‘- Wnncmioem: Ll Political Parties: [:1 Isms: [3] History Themes Figure 10. Multiple Theme Search 3.The Clip Index lists all available cases in EASE History. The current Clip Index contains over twelve hundred cases. 86 g . .1) ‘v‘ 3. nil} (I ll "1“ Q {sinner twifil‘m EASE Hrsronv 1...... . Them Search I 55m Search I Classroom—41$l - 2004 2 9M 1964 mm “'1 ['7 Across I- Mransas [— Betler [— Ad run 05 '- Ailanlrii' - ‘ (Across) (Agenda) 9 Agenda F Mad< 17 Calrlomla F Beloved P m 04 Fm mm“, 0,, (my P Blowtng [- Beller Oll '— Defense '— Booth F Dalila , l- m 58" - 02) (file 76) l7 Compllca‘le F Cannot F Erosion P Bury You F in Lao-ii F mu (Eli-p 53) I- Comlaion '7 Change 57 Family [— Castro F Cam MB . (”mun“) (3‘1” F County F Cllnlon F Inflation F Cost Feline-dos F m5 ' m” ‘c‘l‘f‘m‘u’ F D '— DIner [7 Job l— Daisy ’7 PM FM! . ngfiéfle) F Double F Economic F Light F Destroy F mos ~ F wail (Country) (pm. F Fadory F Gulf War F Mao two F Drafl F fluid F Q52 57) (Fallujah) F For F Hope F Policy F East F mos F mm ‘-‘ (Fanny) (Job) '- Hands '— Loopholes F Sit Down '— Heallhcare F Lana“, [.7 M57 _ (Spnuh) F Heaiin F Map 929 F State F Holline F on oir F Dodson ‘ r. 2 I— lngmulty '— New Dems '— Yyrants F Ice Cream '- Iq: M r M5! 4.,- Fintei FPay Fuaom Flaws EDI! ' F Issues F Plain Talk 1:13 F March F 0‘06 F mszrr . '— Jobso4 I— Read Lips I- W“ 76 I— New '- gro ”F E“ i. i Lifetime F Reduce Iwanla 76 '— Nominauun F PM“ F M 59 H.904. rem 9”" I" ” rm“ r: F‘ Mom I- Transmon [— Care 76 '- Reaozn F' Pfliflt F '— Neany [— Trust '- Crime 76 F Spanlsh '- Rmog F H . F Never Frwewe [— 0"“ 76 F Speech .F Rag, F ‘ '51~~ , F No Lima F two Dots l' 8mm F Weapon F W F F Optimist F warm 5:377: 1060 F aim i" F230?“ FE Frannn FAWeek Fm: .4” i”? " , F Prim-filo: 5“: '— FI'D 75 F 8'3““ F Tun-aim F Inna-ad Figure 11. Index Search 4.The Keyword Search enables users to search on text in case text description boxes. For example, a search on “Eisenhower” using the keyword search returns 84 cases from the Campaign Ads and Historical Events topics. f: ’m'mnj EASE Hisrom ‘ item—“— (:uglmo “Therm—Searchluassmnlw "L “ wonu war , ,. “‘ 'Wodtl War. AND search or none war one and war. OR sear-11 of 'World War will relnm dips that have 'Wodd' OR War " 1’" Dani'- F A: F am Ike ingmg | Your l Lamina 9,, a, l Glgilr“ l FAQ: I my I 29m 1 £92m h | Figure 12. Keyword Search 87 5.The Topics Page includes themes that are commonly studied in US. History classrooms. These themes include: Communities, Cold War, Immigration, Social Movements, Transportation, and War. The Topics Page is designed to support usability and usage goals. It was added at the request of California educators who thought that a topics page might support classroom learning by making common topics used in classrooms more easily accessible. 2 """'""W .’-—_‘"‘\ .""‘_"\ r—7— 2:]- new titan Dress; .- can?) EAS E HISTO RY r: "-1-? -:-1- -.. "" - ,r - -~. -.-.. -. mm "- . "- -' vte—I-anmr- 2- .""."T' ,_ F . . . GrimmEggs“----w---___ _--_.,____ ll Theme Search I Clijundex Search | Keyword Search Communities Social Movements Bu_raj Antt-wa_r_ __l\_‘lovement §gourban le Rights Movement Urban abet Movement Women's Movement Culture Transportation W Cultural Icons Azmlanes Fashion QE §non§ Youth War Mmmem Cold War K:rean War Immigration Vietnam Vit’ar Migration WW I \FIFV’VI Ii Sciencefhchnology Other Health Radio Great Depressmn Sgace Programs Great SOCiety Telephfltg New Deal Televrsron The year 1968 Poliltcal Campaigns w Figure 13. Topics Search 88 EASE History Viewing Modes EASE History offers users three viewing modes: the View, Compare, and Weave. The naming of the one, two, and four-window viewing modes, as View, Compare, and Weave, is specific to EASE History. 1. The View mode is the more traditional interface of the three modes. This one- window viewing mode is designed to help learners focus on a single case. For example, if users wanted to focus on the persuasive techniques in one campaign advertisement, then they might feel more comfortable using the View mode. .77” A -‘ EASE Hieronv IQ IE1 IE] , Lita-Elva“ E9341? \195230E: Everyone is Jumpi n9 on the Eisenhower f ‘bandwaoon. This entertaining Eisenhower ad was ll icreated by a team from Disney. There is a hint of l‘ ineqatiwty as a Democrat is shown heading off in ll the other direaion. Why run "“5 ed? Many ‘Amencans were concerned about electing (Eisenhower, a professmnal Soldlef. Adding musu: to ithe ad makes the slogan even more memora . i ‘I Like Ike Themes: 1952, bandwagon, comm ‘ lgood. Eisenhower, likeabte. mu5ic, out of touch, i ; LOFT-”'95” 2114 nl' mm.» mafia Figure 14. View Mode 2. The Compare viewing mode enables learners to place two videos side by side This physical arrangement of cases is designed to support across case comparisons by assuming some of the cognitive load and increasing the number of possible connections 89 that can be more easily noticed. For example, users can compare how “I Like Ike” and “Stevenson”, two campaign advertisements from the 1952 election, highlighted candidate strengths and hid candidate weaknesses. The Compare viewing mode is EASE History’s default viewing mode, because I thought that users might be initially too overwhelmed by the Weave interface. m Elise Huston? @Q fill figs! "TU M91 i ,. -..-._...~ i Like lie 5m I9SZDDE: Everyone is jumping on the Eisenhower Tl WSZAS: This 1952 Stevenson ad argues that a and wagon This entertaining Eisenhower ad was . “ Civilian president namely Stevenson, may have a hater chance of keeping the peace. Remember I created by a team from Disney. There is a hint of i inegatwity as a Democrat is shown heading off in ii Eisenhower was a military careenst and some in the i l l l the mher direction. Why run this ad" Many 'il public worried about a general as presudent Americans were concerned about electing H iStevenson and' crvrl ian son Is a clever rhyme. but ‘EIMHMVIU a WOfQSSIOMI soldier. Adding musrc to H lEisenhower's' I like Ike' is even bette. ,the ad makes the slogan even more memorable | ”Themes: 1952, attack. Democrat, expe rienoe, I Like Ike Themes: 1952, bandwagon, common inexperienced, Ion, music, negative, one of us. poor Igood, Eisenhower, likeable, must, out of touch, i Ijudqment Stevenson l ' , , 7 s- cmiigh 200‘. All ngm ran-wad Figure 15. Compare Viewing Mode 3. The Weave viewing mode is designed to support across case comparisons. In this mode users work with four cases at the same time, thus raising the number of possible connections that can be more easily noticed. I developed learning activities specifically for the Weave viewing mode. The four-part story activity, for example, asks users to demonstrate their understanding of a concept like Cold War by weaving together 90 an essay about the concept. This activity is included in the Learning Guide, which is available through the main navigation bar. #54.“an 1°35; “33°. Enseljisronvt f: ea: #5; WignMsHenu I Show SOJIOYI aim” lLlIre ill lap 52' 0299 Description damn-r. 1952 v.5. Tun-A oi oi mmgrv Ines All . 9H; raze'kéd Figure 16. Weave Viewing Mode Weave Viewing Mode Example The following section includes an example of how the Weave viewing mode might support the understanding of how music is used in campaign advertisements, specifically how the application of music depends on context. The four cases featured in this example are “I Like Ike”, “Kennedy 60”, “Spring 84”, and “Remember 88”. “I Like Ike” is placed in viewing window “1”, “Kennedy 60” in viewing window “2”, “Spring 84” in viewing window “3”, and “Remember 88” is placed in viewing window “4”. 91 Comparing and contrasting “I Like Ike” and “Kennedy 60”. These two campaign advertisements are similar from the bandwagon-music perspective. Both campaign advertisements feature upbeat music that is intended to support the bandwagon effect. “I Like Ike” demonstrates the bandwagon effect by showing a parade that attracts a greater following. Similarly, in “Kennedy 60” the bandwagon effect is demonstrated with photos of young and old supporters, some featured on signs similar to those that Eisenhower supporters carry in “I Like Ike”. Both “1 Like Ike” and “Kennedy 60” songs repeat the candidate’s name but the music used in each campaign advertisement supports different goals. The music in “Kennedy 60” supports the goal of increased name recognition, awareness of candidate biography, his stand on issues, and his connections to former Democratic leaders like Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman. The goal of “I Like Ike” is not to describe the candidate’s accomplishments and biography. These were the main goals of “Abilene 52”, an Eisenhower campaign advertisement also from the 1952 election. Rather the music in “I Like Ike” supports the goal of making Eisenhower more likeable, because in 1952 Eisenhower was well known as a military man but new to domestic politics. Comparing and contrasting ”I Like Ike “Kennedy 60 and “Spring 84 The music in all three campaign advertisements might be described as positive but the music used in “Spring 84”, unlike the music in the other two advertisements, is in the background and without lyrics. In “Spring 84” the music is meant to support the narrator’s words of optimism and his calm tone. The goal of “Spring 84”, and the other campaign advertisements in President Reagan’s “Morning in America” series, was to describe the public’s optimism about its future in 1984. The US. had emerged from a 92 recession in 1983, so the intent of the Reagan commercial was to reassure the public that the economy had turned the comer. Music was used in different ways in “I Like Ike”, “Kennedy 60” and “Spring 64”, because they had different goals. The music used in “I Like lke” supported the advertisement’s goal of making the candidate more likeable, while the music in “Kennedy 60” promoted the name recognition of the candidate. The “Spring 84” commercial had a different goal. Unlike Senator Kennedy in 1960, President Reagan was a known quantity in politics by 1984. He was elected US. president in 1980, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, and served as governor of California in 1966 and 1970. Likeability was not a problem for Reagan like it was for Eisenhower in 1952. Reagan was telegenic and had worked in movies. “Spring 84” was more like Eisenhower’s “Taxi 56”, a 1956 campaign advertisement that featured Eisenhower, the incumbent candidate. Both “Spring 84” and “Taxi 56” featured calm music that was intended to support the narrator’s description of an optimistic nation, one that should stay the course and re-elect the incumbent. “Remember 881a negative advertisement. The Republican National Committees’ “Remember 88” campaign commercial is a negative advertisement, unlike the other three “positive” campaign advertisements that I have described in this exercise. “Remember 88” featured a song called “I Remember You”. Its music and lyrics were intended to remind the public of the troubled times of 1978 when Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, was president. A series of negative images accompanied the song: gas lines, unemployment lines, OPEC ministers, and President Carter. These images were included in the advertisement to remind viewers of the oil crisis and economic downturn that occurred 93 during Carter’s time in office. In a reminder of the need to place events in context, “I Remember You” was shot in black in white in order to reinforce the negative aspects of Carter’s presidency, while “I Like Ike was shot in black and white because few US. households had color television in 1952. Looking again at the other three campaign advertisements from the negative advertisement perspective there are examples of how even “positive advertisements” can feature attacks on the other candidate. “I Like Ike”, for example, featured a Democrat riding in the opposite direction of Eisenhower’s supporters. This was meant to illustrate how the Democrat was out of step with the rest of the country. In “Kennedy 60”, the call for a “fresh new point of view” might have been an attack on Nixon’s two terms as Eisenhower’s vice-president. In “Spring 84” the narrator said that people no longer think that the job of the presidency is too much for one person. This might have been an attack on President Carter who some thought was overwhelmed by the job. This Weave example is designed to demonstrate how the viewing mode might support the understanding of how different main goals require different kinds of music by crisscrossing multiple elections through the examination of cases from multiple thematic perspectives, placing cases in context, and making connections between cases. This example was also designed to show how the Weave viewing mode might support the understanding of concepts like likeability, name recognition, negative advertisements, and positive advertisements through work with multiple cases where the concepts have been applied in similar and different ways, and seeing how these themes are intertwined with music and with other themes. 94 EASE Histog Timeline Users can perform a single theme search through any of the three main menus. If users click on “Music”, a sub-theme of “Ad Types”, in the Campaign Ads menu, fifty- five advertisements coded on music appears in the EASE History timeline. The two campaign advertisements at the top of the EASE History timeline are 2004 advertisements from the President Bush and Senator Kerry campaigns. At the bottom of the queue are advertisements fiom the 1952 presidential campaign. - :g-swem'mjifijggnggflisrqnv E" f}; 5- (mjfinfi- 7 sm— suuéuuqiy , ‘ 1 2 ‘ !|! hw-dpm-mmwunnu ii Tommi-I-ulo—fiamhm .. l I i, u‘. , manna-nu . made-manu- i Ln ~ ~ ' ' a ‘ ‘- i i EMU ll ' j I 2 I Figure 17. EASE History Timeline 95 All searched items are returned in the scrollable EASE History timeline that is located on the left hand side of the interface. The EASE History timeline is designed to scaffold learning by: Reducing the learner’s cognitive load. The EASE History timeline is designed to help learners work with a large number of cases, and in effect help them hold relevant cases in their cognitive workspace, something novice learners would not normally be able to do. The timeline uses visual cues such as colors, titles, memorable images, and comment boxes to help users quickly identify cases. For example, information related to the “I Like Ike” thumbnail image, includes: the title of the advertisement, the year the advertisement was produced, a short description, a memorable image from the video, and a red title to signal to users that General Eisenhower was a Republican. Fighting conceptual oversimplification of complex concepts. The EASE History Timeline is designed to combat early closure by showing all cases that have been coded on a particular thematic concept. For example, a search on “Cold War” returns one hundred and eight cases. The examination of multiple cases coded on “Cold War” is designed to help users understand that the Cold War included a competitive space race (e.g., Sputnik, Gagarin orbits the earth, Apollo 1 l moon landing), conflict (e.g., Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War), and periods of cooperation (e. g., Nixon’s Visit to China, Helsinki Accords, IMF Treaty). flacflgevents in context. The timeline is designed to help learners place events in context, for users see events that preceded and followed a specific event. In order to develop a deeper understanding the 1992 election, for example, learners might search on “Bush GWH administration” and examine events that may have influenced the 1992 96 election. Some events that the user might look at include: a Bush-Yeltsin press conference, the Los Angeles riots, and Ross Perot’s candidacy. Rolling over the small image of “I Like Ike” in the EASE History timeline reveals a comment box with a short description of the case and two boxes that lay atop the image. (Two boxes appear when the user is in the Compare viewing mode. Four boxes appear when the user is in the Weave viewing mode.) If the user rolls over the small image of “I Like Ike”, a 1952 Eisenhower campaign advertisement, and clicks on ‘61” “1” then that video case will be placed inside the clip window. Figure 18. EASE History Timeline Rollover A complete set of CFT principles were able to be applied in EASE History, a full— fledged computer learning environment. CFT argues that nonlinear, case-based environments can be designed to combat reductive thinking and support an open-minded, pragmatic approach to work in ill-structured domains. CFT tenets instantiated in EASE History are: the use of a case-based hypermedia program, interconnected domain 97 l l i W, 34‘. thwi‘isL- 5 refr‘” n M33 to If.) ‘ ‘ie' L-ii‘dnfi l \rir‘ ,l I M ‘. LAAAH :Tl-‘~b<.' .~I MUM“ 1K1, 2w. '. naval. "‘"1 ,. , U; ...I Rhee- ‘ v _~J I' nulg.‘ “ 1h 24.1.0 " I 2| "‘l . ' “~. \ i knowledge, the need to combat reductive thinking, the need to see how concepts vary across contexts, and the need to represent domain knowledge in multiple ways. Case-based hypermedia program CFT argues that learning in ill-structured domains is supported by work in case-based hypermedia environments. EASE History is an online case-based hypermedia system. Its cases are designed to make learning in ill- structured domains more manageable and accelerate the process of knowledge acquisition. Cases feature short videos that are intended to be more manageable in size and have resources that are designed to support the understanding of the event. Resources include case descriptions, interviews, links to related cases, links to other programs, and mindset modeling videos. Cases retrieved from theme searches are organized in a timeline that provides visual cues and organizes cases in chronological order to support work with multiple cases across time and regions. The Compare and Weave viewing modes are designed to help learners hold relevant cases in their cognitive workspace (a shared goal of the timeline), something novice learners might not normally be able to do. Mindset modeling videos are designed to demonstrate and promote a critical mindset through short, dense videos. Knowledge is interconnected. CFT argues that knowledge in ill-structured domains is web-like, not hierarchical (Spiro et al., 1987, 1988). EASE History’s use of main topics, theme searches, and case-related icons are three examples of how knowledge is interconnected in the program. First, the integration of EASE History’s three main topics, US. presidential campaign advertisements, Historical Events, and Core Democratic Values, is designed to help users crisscross three domains in a nonlinear fashion, revealing relationships between the three domains. Second, the web-like nature 98 of knowledge is demonstrated by themes, such as freedom and conflict that appear in multiple theme menus. Third, the advanced “Theme Search” is designed to help learners see how multiple examples of cases coded on the same set of themes are interconnected. Lastly, mindset modeling videos are designed to support knowledge connections. For example, “Multiple Goals”, a mindset modeling video, is designed to demonstrate how multiple goals, name recognition, bandwagon, music, and likeability perspectives are interconnected. Combat reductive thinking. Mindset modeling videos, theme searches, viewing modes, and the learning guide are examples of EASE History features that are designed to combat reductive thinking. EASE History mindset modeling videos are designed to demonstrate flexible thinking by using innovative video presentation formats, including narration, quick editing, video effects, and strategies to open and deepen perception of the complexity of cases. The dissonance effect, which is featured in the mindset modeling video “Angle”, is designed disrupt reductive thinking and help learners think about context. Theme searches, including single and multiple theme searches, keyword searches, an index search, and a topics search, retrieve multiple cases. The retrieval of multiple cases is designed to open up perception for learners see that the concept has been applied in similar and different ways across multiple cases. The juxtaposition of cases, which CFT argues highlights different facets of each case (Spiro, et al., 2003) and opens perception, is supported by the two and four-window viewing modes that enable users to place cases side by side. Multiple representations of domainflwledge. CF T argues that each case is complex and cannot be explained by a single thematic perspective and that conceptual 99 themes are interdependent. EASE History is designed to support the examination of cases through multiple perspectives by coding cases on multiple themes, which are visible in the case description boxes. Conceptual variability and context awareness. CF T argues that ill-structured concepts are defined through their use, so it is essential that learners see multiple examples of how concepts are applied in real world situations. Three EASE History features that are designed to help learners see how concepts vary across contexts are: theme searches that retrieve multiple cases, mindset modeling videos, and viewing modes. In order to fight conceptual oversimplification of complex concepts, EASE History theme searches return all cases that have been coded on a particular thematic concept. This is designed to enable users to see how the application of concepts varies from case to case. For example, a search on ‘freedom’ retrieves sixty-eight cases from multiple decades. The conceptual variability effect in the “Bandwagon” mindset modeling video is designed to show learners how the final stage of the bandwagon effect is used and tailored to contexts. The physical arrangement of cases in the Compare and Weave viewing modes is designed to support across case comparisons in EASE History, for the modes assume some of the cognitive load and increase the number of possible connections that can be more easily noticed, facilitating the development of more advanced understanding of thematic concepts and cases. Lessons Learned Designing EASE and EASE History Design goals and pedagogical goals converged in this project. The ability to adapt to new situations, tolerate uncertainty, compare and contrast multiple programs, place programs in context, compensate for an individual program’s weaknesses by taking 100 advantage of the strengths of other programs, and apply learning theory, a mindset which is used to support learning in the program also supported the design of the EASE programs. This section describes lessons that I learned designing EASE and EASE History. These lessons include the need for designers to: Adapt to new situations. EASE program designers were challenged to constantly adapt to the changing design landscape. Their ability to adapt to new situations might have supported the design of the EASE programs. As examples, an awareness that technology changes over time led the team to budget for purchase of future software updates; the design team had to adapt to software updates (e. g., Flash, Final Cut Pro, Sorenson Squeeze) over the course of the project. Updated software enabled the designers to work with content in new ways, but required that EASE designers develop new skills to use the updated software; as the programmer’s skills grew, the design team was able to explore more possible design options, which led to the development of features, such as the Search History, the timeline, sub-themes in the main menus, and more advanced theme searches. The inclusion of new features often required the team to make changes to the interface (i.e., rearrange elements, delete elements). The design team was given the task of creating a program that could be easily adapted to support learning across ill-structured domains, so the team created elements, such as icons that appeared atop of the videos, that could be renamed and hold different kinds of content. The ability to upload general video content to the database was intended to enable future EASE applications to incorporate advances in digital video editing. The addition of the four- window viewing mode to EASE History, which placed demands on space, led the design 101 group to create a two-columned timeline and information drop down boxes in the four- window viewing mode. The following are examples of how 1 adapted to meet the challenges of new situations when designing EASE History: after failing to secure rights to licensed videos I discussed options with the MSU Library’s copyright team, explored other kinds of content that might be featured in EASE History, including pre-20th century topics, and decided that EASE History would feature campaign advertisements and public domain content from US. government agencies; the inclusion of new cases required me to think adaptively, for new cases required the generation of new themes, since theme-coding categories emerged from the cases themselves; and after the launch of an updated Living Room Candidate website in July of 2004 I was forced to reevaluate EASE History’s goal of gaining a large, global audience, since the Living Room Candidate site featured high quality videos and content that overlapped with EASE History. Tolerate uncertainty. Often in design there is not a clear right answer, but a decision must be made. A toleration of uncertainty is necessary if a team is to approach each situation with an open mindset, explore multiple design possibilities, examine costs and benefits, and balance multiple project goals. The following examples demonstrate the need to act in the face of uncertainty in the design of the EASE programs. The team wrestled with the costs and benefits of Flash as the program interface, including the benefit of having a Flash video player that could be embedded in an interface and the cost of how content inside Flash could not be found by search engines; the team had to weigh the costs and benefits of having online and offline programs; and the difficult decision to develop programs using Flash was made after exploring the costs and benefits of content 102 delivery platforms, including how users would be accessing the program, an examination of current computer usage, and expectations of more powerful computers and increased bandwidth; the decision to have boxes on top of thumbnail images in the two and four viewing mode timeline was made after exploring a drag and drop option. The following demonstrate the need to act in the face of uncertainty in the design of EASE History: the decision to feature campaign advertisements and public domain materials was made after exploring other content options, including pro-20th century U.S. topics; decisions to apply less straightforward themes, such as freedom and consensus, to cases was an interpretive process, so judgments had to be made on a case by case basis; and the difficult decision to feature the two-window viewing mode as the default viewing mode in EASE History was an attempt to balance the goal of making CFT principles visible, for users could switch to the four-window viewing mode from the two-window viewing mode, with the goal of increasing traffic to the site, which I thought the two— window viewing mode could better support because users might find the mode more cognitively manageable. Cme and contrast multiple programs. The examination of multiple programs can be argued to have helped EASE designers develop a deeper understanding of how concepts, like “new media” and “content organization”, are used in similar and different ways across multiple programs, and then reassemble ideas obtained from this research to design features that fit the needs of specific projects. The EASE timeline was designed after examining timelines from multiple online programs and then adapting them to fit the needs of the EASE system. The examination of CFH systems, including KANE, provided a road map for the development of EASE features and the how content is 103 organized in the site. The need to connect Flash to the database led the team to compare multiple programs (e.g., Flash, ASP, JAVA) to see how the technologies might complement one another. After I examined multiple sites, including the BBC, ESPN, CNN, and the Living Room Candidate from the new media perspective, I had a heightened awareness of the need to feature clear, well-edited videos in EASE History, because low quality, poorly edited videos did not reflect how video was being used on the web. After the launch of an updated Living Room Candidate website in July 2004, I compared and contrasted EASE History with Living Room Candidate and determined that were clear differences between the two programs and that I should place more emphasis on EASE History being a hypermedia system that is supported by learning theory. The similarities and differences of the two programs are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 7. Place programs in context. An argument can be made that placing programs in context supported the design process, for it enabled the team to think about how and where the program would be used. As mentioned before, the decision to produce online and offline EASE applications was made after considering the limitations of current bandwidth and computer and the expectations of more powerfiil computers and higher bandwidth in the future that might enable more programs to be placed online without limiting program use. In the case of EASE History, the examination of context enabled me to think more deeply about user characteristics, including where the program would be used (e. g., inside and outside classrooms), how the program might be used (e.g., in large groups, small groups, by individuals), and who would be using the program (e. g. novice and more advanced learners). Since campaign advertisements are not often 104 featured in social studies classrooms, I designed EASE History resources that might be used to support classroom teaching (e.g., learning activities, candidate biographies, and mindset modeling videos). Compflsate for an individual program’s weagesses by taking advantage of the strengths of other program_s_. Because of constraints on time and financial resources, EASE and EASE History could not do everything. Therefore an attempt was made to integrate multiple programs in order to compensate for an individual program’s weaknesses by taking advantage of the strengths of other programs. For example, EASE does not include video editing and compression tools but instead takes advantage of professional tools, like Final Cut Pro and Sorenson Squeeze. EASE does not include blogs or forums. I thought that again, because of constraints on time and financial resources, it would be better to link EASE applications to blogging and forum tools. EASE History is not comprehensive in terms of content. The program does not include all major events that might appear in a 20th century to present U.S. social studies textbook. Instead of attempting to build a comprehensive program, I linked EASE History cases to related information featured in sites, like BBC, CNN, and NPR, so that EASE History users might develop a deeper understanding of cases and an awareness of how knowledge is connected. Apply learning theogl to program design. The deliberate effort to apply learning theory to the design of the EASE programs can be argued to have supported the overall design of the EASE programs in the following ways. The adoption of an open mindset (e.g. tolerance for uncertainty, comparing and contrasting programs), which CFT advocates, may have supported the design team’s ability to adapt to new situations. The 105 theory, and other previously built CF H systems, provided a road map for understanding how knowledge is organized in a CFH system. Overall, design was supported by the application of learning theory, but the learning theory may have negatively impacted gains of overall users. For example, the four-window viewing mode, a mode supported by CFT, might have negatively affected the number of site users, since the mode might have introduced too much complexity and meant that features that might have expanded the program’s audience had to be resized or deleted. 106 CHAPTER 6 AN EXAMINATION OF THE EASE PROGRAMS FROM THE DISCIPLINE OF DESIGN The previous chapters have examined the design of the EASE and EASE History systems through multiple lenses, including: the Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT) perspective, the theory that supports the two systems; previously built Cognitive Flexibility Hypermedia (CF H) systems; the contesting of CFT; narratives concerning the design of the two systems; the examination of features from different learning perspectives; an overview of EASE History, a firlI-fledged, working system; specific worked examples of how EASE History might support learning in history and civics learning; the perspectives of multiple, contemporary learning programs. Chapter 6 adds another conceptual lens, fi'om the field of design itself, in order to develop a deeper understanding of the design of the EASE programs. There are many different design frameworks that I could have used to examine the two EASE systems (e.g., TPACK (Mishra & Koehler, 2006); Principle-based Instructional Design Model (Hong, Scardamalia, Messina, & Teo, 2008); Cultural- oriented Instructional Design Model (Lin & Kinzer, 2003); the Problem-based instructional Design Model (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). I decided not to examine the EASE systems through the TPACK (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) lens, because I thought that its categories, including the need to identify ill-structured domains and use real world cases to support the teaching of design, were too similar to the CFT lens that I had previously applied to the design of the two systems. For example, Mishra & Koehler write that when teaching design “students should engage in challenging problems that reflect real-world 107 complexity. The problems should be authentic and ill-structured; that is, they should not have one predetermined, foregone solution but rather be open to multiple interpretations and multiple right answers” (Mishra & Koehler, 2006, p. 33). .For this analysis I selected a design framework outlined in The Design Way, a book authored by Nelson and Stolterman (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003). The authors argue that design is a human activity, something that people are continually doing. In the prelude to “The Design Way”, the authors state, “To come up with an idea, and to give form, structure and function to the idea, is at the core of design as human activity" (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003, p. l). The authors advocate the use of a “rich set of rigorous and disciplined design methods and techniques” (Stolterman, 2008, pp. 55-65) to support the examination of program design from multiple perspectives (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003, p. 108). The authors argue that this kind of approach might support innovation in the complex world. There are three reasons why I decided to use a design framework proposed in The Design Way. First, the authors treat design as complex, arguing that in order to understand a system one needs to examine the relationships of elements within the system and the system’s relationship with other systems. Second, the authors feature coherent subsets of design principles. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the approach of the authors is becoming one of the more favored approaches in the learning sciences. For example, John Bransford, one of the most important learning theorists in the past thirty years, endorses and makes use of the approach to design that is presented in The Design Way (Bransford, Slowinski, Vye, & Mosborg, 2008). 108 The authors propose multiple design frameworks in The Design Way. The fi'amework that I have chosen for this exercise is one that examines how the complex nature of systems, the ability of designers to adapt to new situations, the establishment of a project as a purposeful activity, and limits on time and financial resources shape design dec isions. Nelson and Stolterman (2003) advocate the examination of systems through combined categories (e.g., one might examine the tensions between limits on resources and the ability of designers to think in adaptive, creative ways when designing features for a complex system) for these combinations might enable one to draw out relationships, identify patterns (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003, p. 108), and see “how design situations are complex, rich and replete with tensions and contradictions” (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003, p- 1 02). In this analysis I will use the following categories, sometimes in combination, to describe tensions and contradictions involved the design decisions related to the EASE pro grams. These categories are: the complex nature of the EASE systems which have mull: iple, interconnected elements; the ability of designers to adapt to changing situations; how limits on time and financial resources impacted design decisions; the design of the EAS E projects as purposeful activities which used design to solve problems. EASE systems are complex. Complexity is “a distinctive attribute arising as a c()Ilsequence of the dynamic interactivity of relationships” (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003, p- 73 )- The EASE systems are complex, because they have multiple, interconnected e lelTlents. In EASE systems, for example, the retrieval of cases and case resources depend on the integration of four tools: ASP, SQL, Javascript, and Flash. In EASE History users 1‘1 Search on themes from across the domains of history, political ads, and core 109 democratic values. For example, users can search on cases that have been coded on ‘fi'eedom,’ a core democratic value theme, and ‘economy’, a history theme. Designing complex systems means that designers must consider how to “explore, extract, recognize, and chose useful information from all of these potential sources” (e. g., new information, wants and needs, limitations, opportunities) (Stolterman, 2008, pp. 35- 5 5 ), or in other words, think adaptively when making design decisions. EASE and EASE H istory designers faced design complexity. Its designers had to approach each design dec ision with an open mindset, examine trade-offs, and balance multiple project goals in a constantly changing environment. Trade-offs involving the EASE system were discussed in detail in Chapter 5. Those trade-offs included: the EASE design team’s decision to create online and offline programs; the decision to include a four-window View ing mode, which supported CFT goals but required changes to other parts of the system, and the decision to use a Flash interface. Trade-offs involving the EASE History Program were discussed in Chapter 5 of this dissertation. There were trade-offs involving the decision to use Flash in EASE History, a decision which meant that video content cou 1d not be downloaded, satisfying the requests of copyright holders, but also meaning that cases would not appear in. Google searches, thus meaning that site usage might be r1egélt ively impacted. There were trade-offs with the decision to not build a comprehensive system. The decision to not build a comprehensive site, one that did not he lllde more cases and case resources and resources related to all strands as identified by the National Center for History in the Schools, involved trade-offs. The inclusion of more c . . ages, case resources, and resources related to the hlstory strands might have supported a 110 deeper understanding of content, but these benefits were outweighed by the need to meet deadlines and develop features such as mindset modeling videos and the timeline feature. Adapting. Designers need to be able to think adaptively when designing complex systems because project demands are constantly shifting. There were multiple examples 0 f how the designers of EASE and EASE History adapted to meet the changing demands of the project. These adaptations were examined in fuller detail in the previous section on the design of complex systems and in Chapter 5. The following are examples of adaptation related to the design of program features: the addition of the four-window viewing mode, the need to adapt previously built CFH programs to reflect changes in “new media”, including more powerful computers, higher bandwidth, and the ability to play videos online; my decision to alter the focus of the EASE History project to one that won ld feature public domain images and presidential campaign commercials due to my inab i lity to secure rights to historical documentaries; the application of thematic Perspectives to EASE History cases. Purposefiil activity. The EASE projects were purposeful activities, since they Were established to solve problems. These problems included: how to design a CF H pro gram that would support learning in multiple, ill-structured domains; how to create a database that would enable the system to support advanced searches and be easily LlF’(i€1teable; how to develop an interface that would feature videos. Sometimes design activities complemented one another. For example, the (ice is ion to create a database supported the goal of creating a nonlinear learning environment, for it offered users another way to work with content (i.e., the ability to s . . . . e"arch on multiple themes and see how themes are connected). The rnclusron of a vrdeo Ill presentation tool enabled the project to present short dense videos online, including mindset modeling videos, which are designed to support the CFT goals of using new media to make complexity more manageable. The addition of a video presentation tool, which enabled the presentation of different content, and the construction of a database, which accommodated different kinds of content, both supported the creation of an open learning environment that was not domain specific. But oftentimes there were tensions between the activities. For example, because of limits on time and financial resources, EASE project goals were not given equal weight. This meant that features were, in a way, competing against each other. For example, the creation of an online video presentation tool and a database, two goals established by program designers, were given a higher priority, as compared to the creation of a feature that would enable the public to edit and upload new content. This feature was given a low priority because l felt that its costs, in terms of time and financial resources, were too high. Another example of how limits on resources impacted design Was the decision to give the database and the development of a video presentation tool a higher priority than the development of a site map. A site map would have provided EAS E users with an overview of how site content was organized, but like the user content ed it ing feature, the site map feature was given a lower priority because of limits on time and financial resources. The EASE and EASE History systems shared many of the same goals: make Complexity manageable, support nonlinear movement through the environment, present 0 - . nlll'le Videos, and employ a database to support advanced searches and make content more easily updateable. EASE History had an additional goal, to capture a large, global 112 audience. The inclusion of the four-window viewing mode is an example of the tensions between CFT goals and overall site usage goals. The four-window viewing mode is designed to increase the number of case comparisons exponentially, a goal supported by CF T, but the decision to include this feature might have negatively impacted gains of overall users, because the feature introduces too much complexity and might overwhelm users. I decided to include the one-window viewing mode in the program, because I thought that it would prove to be more popular than either the two or the four-window viewing mode, even though I understood that from the CFT perspective multiple viewing modes might better support across case comparisons. Limits. According to Stolterman, designers need to address “the desires and needs at hand, while taking into account the limited time and resources at hand” (Stolterman, 200 8, pp. 35-55). Limits on time and resources impacted the creative explorations of EAS E and EASE History designers. I was encouraged by the project’s Principal Investigator to be expansive in my approach to the design of the EASE program but also recognize that time and resources were limited, so priorities had to be set and creative exp lorations had to be limited in duration. The development of an online video lpresentation tool and theme searches were given a high priority, while the development 0 f features like a site map and the ability for the public to upload and edit content were giVen a low priority, and would not be included in the EASE system. Limited time and resources might have negatively impacted the design of certain f . . . . . e‘E‘tlll‘es. For example, because of limits on time and resources the deSIgners were given a ho” period of time to desrgn the icons that appear on top of cases 1n the v1ew1ng w ‘ . III(Lows. The icons do not do enough to alert users to the types of case resources 113 available through the cases, and this is perhaps due to the fact that design decisions related to this feature were hurried. More time on the design of icons might have produced icons that would have better supported nonlinear movement through the environment. Because of limits on time and resources, priorities were established in the design 0 f EASE History. For example, the design of the timeline was given a high priority. I spent about a week exploring different options regarding the construction of a timeline, examined other online programs that featured timelines, sketched out multiple design options and decided, since there were limits in terms of time and resources, to add a two- co lu mned timeline to the interface. I argued that the decision was justified, since the time line fit within the interface and supported the project goal of making complexity more manageable for it returned searched cases in chronological order. The development 0f EASE History case descriptions, case resources, and the video editing were given a lower priority, as compared to the design of the database, timeline, and video presentation t0C) 1. For example, 1 would have liked to have linked more cases, included more cases re lat ed to energy and environmental topics, created more mindset modeling videos, and deVe loped more resources, such as artifacts and learning activities, but because of time and fmancial constraints 1 was unable to do so, even though more detailed case ClesCriptions and more resources might have better supported the CFT goal of making learning more manageable. Many of the categories from the Nelson and Stolterman fi'amework, (e. g., cot1'1131ex systems, adaptivity, and limits) were redundant with categories that were Cles(tribed at the end of Chapter 5. For example, the ability to analyze the costs and 114 benefits of decisions related to online and ofiline program presentations, the ability to adapt previous CFH environments to fit the “new media” landscape and change the focus of EASE History content, are examples that I had written about earlier in this dissertation. Limits on design, in terms of time and resources, including the prioritizing of design features and content and the decision to integrate other programs rather than build a comprehensive program, were described in Chapters 4 and 5. There was some value added of The Design Way framework, however. The application of the purposeful activity lens was a perspective that I had not thought to use to examine the EASE programs. This lens enabled me to look more closely at the prioritization of design activities and see how project goals complemented each other, like how the database and the presentation of online video supported the creation of an Open, non-domain specific learning environment. Most importantly, there was value added when the themes were combined and the framework’s focus on the tensions and Contradictions between the categories. For example, The Design Way framework illu minated the tensions between elements, such as limits and creativity, in terms of how hUrried decisions related to the design of icons might have negatively impacted access to case resources and impeded nonlinear movement in the system. The inclusion of the one and four-window viewing modes illustrated the contradictions between EASE History goals of making CFT principles visible and gaining a large audience. The use of Flash is an example of how EASE History goals stood in contradiction, for the inability of eMt€1Tlal search engines to locate information in Flash might have diminished the goal of Increasing site usage. There was much that was non-redundant with my earlier treatment 115 of design, so I believe this validates the application of the Nelson and Stolterman framework to the design of the EASE programs. 116 CHAPTER 7 A HYPOTHETICAL EXPLORATION OF FREEDOM In order to see how EASE History might deepen understanding about how ‘ fi‘eedom’ is applied across multiple cases, this hypothetical exploration examines how the concept unfolds through work with historical events and campaign advertisements cases. Describing a complex hypermedia system on paper is a challenge because to really experience the system would require the reader to access and spend time exploring the system. In order to convey some of the potentialities of the system, in this chapter I will invite the reader on a hypothetical exploration, or a kind of “thought experiment”, to examine the system through the lens of a more sophisticated understanding of freedom. Th is exploration does not prove the validity of the system but is designed to illustrate possibilities. One of the goals of learning in ill-structured domains, and thus of Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT) and EASE History, is to convey complexity -to show how c30n<>epts vary across contexts, how concepts are interdependent, and how knowledge is Web. like. So in order to understand a complex, ill-structured concept like ‘freedom’ one ““1311 look at a number of cases where it has been applied because the idea of freedom changes over time and an individual’s meaning of the concept is recalibrated with each Case- Most US. citizens think about freedom in abstract terms. For example, they might ay that they live in a free country where they are allowed to express their OplIllOI‘lS in 117 public. This hypothetical exploration of EASE History will attempt to demonstrate the different kinds of understandings of freedom, a concept that is featured in EASE History, and one that was previously discussed in this dissertation. One definition of liberty includes personal freedom, political freedom, and economic freedom as sub-themes (Classroom Help, n.d.): 0 Personal Freedom - the right to think and act without government control. 0 Political Freedom - the right to participate in the political process. 0 Economic Freedom - the right to buy, sell, and trade private property and the right to employment without government interference. For this hypothetical exploration I imagine that I am a student named Cris, someone who has viewed EASE History mindset videos and has developed a critical mindset of opening perception. Cris will work with a large number of cases coded on freedom, place the cases in context, and see how the same concept is applied in different ways across multiple cases. Whatever Cris notices in this traversal of ‘freedom’ and whatever this system helps to illuminate, someone will analyze it in a different way but that is the point. There is nothing in this system that is definitive. The point is to see how concepts can be viewed from different perspectives, so learners can gain a more expansive use of concepts and a greater awareness of subtlety and nuance. One could find more sophisticated treatments of ‘fi'eedom’ (including from Eric Foner’s “Story of Freedom” and George Lakoff’s “Whose Freedom”, for example), but EASE History offers illustrations in context and practice in the tailoring of meaning across historical events and campaign advertisement cases. 118 The purpose of this detailed hypothetical exploration is designed as a thought experiment to simulate what a student might do when working with cases coded on freedom in the EASE History system and demonstrate the face validity of the system, so that an argument can be made that descriptions of program use match what is done when the program is actually used -that users work with multiple, interconnected cases in an online hypermedia environment that is designed to support a deeper understanding of concepts by showing how the application of concepts vary across cases. The next eleven pages will take the reader on one path through the system that would take about approximately forty-five minutes in practice. The Hypothetical Exploration of ‘Freedom’ by “Cris” To begin this exercise, Cris rolled over the “Core Democratic Values” theme in the Core Democratic Values theme menu. This action revealed seventeen themes. Cris clicked on the “freedom” theme button, an action that retrieved sixty-eight cases, drawn from the historical events and campaign advertisements topics, coded on the theme. The cases appeared in the two-columned timeline in chronological order. Cris placed “Inked”, an historical event, denoted by the green title bar visible on the thumbnail image, in 6991,, window and “Across”, a Democratic campaign commercial, signified by the blue title bar visible on the thumbnail image that appears in the timeline, in window “2” of the Compare viewing mode. The “Inked” case featured an image of a group of Iraqi citizens holding up their inked fingers after voting in the January 2005 election. After examining the photograph and reading the case description, Cris observed: 119 From the case description I learned that the Shia Party won the majority of assembly seats, Kurdish parties came in second, and most Sunnis did not participate in the election. In the example of “Inked”, free elections are an example of political freedom, but in this case Sunnis did not participate in the election, and perhaps their non-participation was due to fears of violence or done to protest the elections. The “Across” case was a thirty-second Senator John Kerry advertisement from the 2004 election. In the ad Senator Kerry talked about how strong military alliances can help people live free from the fear of terror. After viewing the commercial, Cris commented: Senator Kerry argued, in the “Across” case that freedom must be defended and can be weakened with fragile alliances. Freedom from fear is addressed in both “Inked” and “Across” cases. In “Inked” the Sunnis might not have participated in the election because they feared violence. In “Across” Senator Kerry addressed the fears of terrorism in the US. and said that measures needed to be taken to help US. citizens live free fiom fear. Both cases also addressed the political dimensions of freedom. The “Inked” case linked freedom to voting, while the “Across” case connected the protection of fieedom to strong military alliances. In both cases freedom had to be earned- through active participation in elections in the case of “Inked” and the defeat of terrorists in the case of “Across”. Cris rolled over the Related Cases icon atop “Across” and clicked on a link to “Complicate”, a thirty-second President George W. Bush advertisement fi‘om the 2004 election. In the commercial viewers are warned that Senator Kerry wanted to mandate national health insurance, an initiative that President Bush opposed. In order to find out more information about President Bush and Senator Kerry’s stands on the issue, Cris rolled over the Artifacts icon on top of “Complicate” and clicked on the first link, titled “Election 2004 issues from CNN”. The CNN website opened up in a new window. At the CNN site, Cris clicked on the “Health Care” button, spent a few minutes reading the information, and said: President Bush argued for the maintenance of the current system rather than the creation of a new government-based system, while Senator Kerry supported a 120 program that enabled people to participate in a national health insurance system. Both President Bush and Senator Kerry connected freedom and health care but did so in different ways. In “Complicate”, President Bush argued against a government-supported health care system because it would mean that higher taxes and government mandates would curtail economic and personal freedoms. In “Across”, Senator Kerry argued for national health care from economic and personal freedoms perspectives, the same concepts President Bush used to argue against the program. Senator Kerry argued that a national health care program was needed, because it would increase the quality of life for people and enable people to live free from wants, as they would be able to seek out treatment for illnesses without suffering financial collapse. According to Senator Kerry, the trade off between limits on economic and political freedoms (higher taxes and government interference) and expansion of personal and economic freedoms (national health care system) was worth doing. To President Bush it was not. In these two cases political, economic, and personal freedoms intersect with other conceptual themes, including poverty, quality of life, taxes, government mandates, limited government, and health care plans. EASE History enabled Cris to search on themes, such as poverty, life, common good, taxes, government, economy, and health, and explore how they are interrelated, but for the purposes of this exercise, seeing how freedom varies across multiple cases, Cris did not pursue these paths at the time. Cris returned to the “Across” case, rolled over its Related Cases icon, and clicked on “Patriot Act”, a case that featured an image of President Bush signing the Patriot Act into law on October 26, 2001. The “Patriot Act” case featured only a brief description of the event, so Cris sought out more information about the case by rolling over the case’s Artifacts icon and clicking on a link to an NPR story about how the 2004 candidates talked about the Patriot Act. Cris listened to the NPR story and commented: From the NPR story I learned that the two candidates had different reactions to the Patriot Act, but both candidates used freedom to argue their different positions. Both candidates agreed that fieedom and national security should be protected. President Bush argued that the Patriot Act was a necessary and effective tool to combat terrorism and protect freedoms, such as personal freedoms, like life, freedom from fear, and the pursuit of happiness. Bush argued that the act curtailed some civil liberties but was a necessary trade-off since the country was at war. Senator Kerry argued that some parts of the Patriot Act had 121 created an imbalance between the protection of civil liberties and national security, so the act needed to be amended in order to restore balance. Cris switched to the Weave viewing mode and brought “Tested”, a thirty-second President Bush advertisement from the 2004 election, into window “3”. After watching the advertisement, Cris said: In "Tested” President Bush argued that freedom, faith, families, and sacrifice have held the US. together since 9/11. By connecting freedom to faith, families, and sacrifice, President Bush argued that freedom is a core value, not just a core democratic value, and one that requires protection. Next Cris placed “Not Tell”, a one-minute twenty second video from January 27, 1993, in window “4” of the Weave viewing mode. In the video, newly elected US. President Clinton announced his "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which stated that as long as military personnel hide their sexual orientation they can serve in the military. A complete ban on homosexuals serving in the military had preceded the new policy, so "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was seen by many as an action that redefined freedom, for the policy’s goal was to end discrimination based on sexual orientation in the military. After watching the video, Cris observed: In this case freedom was gained but it was partial freedom, because the new military policy did not allow military personnel to discuss their private lives. This violated freedom of speech and freedom of expression. From this case I learned that executive actions can expand freedom and that freedom is not a fixed idea, for the definition of freedom and its application changes over time. Cris placed “CORE”, a fifteen second video case from the spring of 1964, in window “1”. The case featured students from civil rights organizations during the Freedom Summer, a civil rights campaign to register black voters. The narrator described the goal of the freedom movement--to end segregation and racism through non-violent actions. After viewing the video, Cris commented: 122 From this case, I learned that social action is sometimes required to protect and secure freedoms, such as voting rights that are national law. In “CORE”, like in the “Not Tell” case, there was an expansion of the definition of freedom and its application, but in the case of “Not Tell” it concerned sexual orientation and an executive order, and in “CORE” it concerned race and social action. In both cases there was resistance to the expansion of freedom. Cris placed “Jackson”, a twenty-one second video from 1964, in window “2”. The video showed the Jackson, Mississippi police being outfitted with gas masks and shotguns in preparation for the arrival of civil rights protesters arrived. After watching the video clip, Cris said, “From this case I learned that freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and voting rights, could be challenged by the state, in this case with violence”. Cris placed “Dream”, a forty-four second video excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered in Washington DC on August 28, 1963, in window “3”. In the clip, Reverend King described a time when children would be judged by their character not the color of their skin and invoked an “old Negro hymnal” about freedom. In order to place the event in context, Cris rolled over the Artifacts icon and clicked on the link to a BBC article about Reverend King’s speech. After reading the BBC article, Cris said: From the BBC article I learned that King, a reverend, addressed civil rights protesters at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, as part of the movement to fight for racial equality. I also learned that Reverend King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 and had been arrested numerous times, suffered harassment, and had violence directed towards him. Freedom, in the “Dream” case, is an example of how the concept is chameleon- like, for the case takes on the colors of the specific context. “Dream”, for example, included freedom of speech for Reverend King delivered his speech to an audience, freedom of assembly for about 250,000 people gathered in Washington DC. and listened to the speech, and freedom of religion, because Reverend King, a pastor, was able to speak to the crowd. In the speech, Reverend King used multiple examples to describe the long struggle for freedom, including an old hymnal, inequalities in 1963, and a fiiture when children will be not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character. Reverend King described 123 the struggle for freedom as a collective struggle, a struggle that has expanded over the years and one that requires religions to work together in order to achieve freedom, equality (of the races), and common good (fieedom for one group means freedom for all groups). Next Cris clicked on “DC March” and placed the case in window “4”. The case featured a photograph of civil rights protesters at the march on Washington DC, where Reverend King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. After looking at the image, Cris observed, “The image reinforces the idea that the civil rights movement was a collective struggle. People of different ages and races are visible in the photograph”. Cris rolled over the Related Cases icon situated atop the “DC March” case and clicked on “Poverty”, a 1964 President Johnson campaign commercial. In the nineteen- second commercial the narrator described the President’s war on poverty and creation of the Great Society, a set of government programs to end poverty and racial inequalities. After watching the “Poverty” advertisement, Cris commented: Freedom has social, economic, and political dimensions in the “Poverty” case. In terms of the social dimensions, the case called for the expansion of freedoms for groups who were discriminated against. In terms of economics, the case argued that people should live flee from wants. The political dimension of freedom in this commercial was that President Johnson argued that government could break the cycle of poverty through the creation of civil rights, education, jobs, and health care programs. Cris placed “Pills”, a 1963 case about the approval of the birth control pill by the FDA, in window “2”. After looking at the image and reading the case description, Cris rolled over the Artifacts icon, clicked on “Pills”, and then clicked on the link to a PBS website about the history of the pill. Alter spending time reading content on the PBS site, Cris said: From the PBS website I learned that thirty US. states had anti-birth control laws which prohibited or restricted the sale, advertisement, and clinical studies of contraceptive devices in the 19505. I also learned that the supporters of the pill 124 argued that restrictions on the pill was an example of government interference for it limited economic freedoms, as pregnancies limited time in the workplace, and personal fleedoms, as it restricted the pursuit of happiness. Pharmaceutical companies lobbied (which is a political fleedom) the government to have the economic fleedom to produce, market, and test the product. The expansion of fleedom through a political act was similar to cases that I viewed before, like the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the implementation of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. It’s also like the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, and was something that we studied last year in my social studies class. Cris placed “Berlin 89”, a fifteen-second video case flom November 9, 1989, in window “1”. The case was about the fall of the Berlin Wall, a wall that had been erected by the East German government in 1961 to prevent its citizens flom leaving the country. After watching the video, Cris observed: To many the wall represented oppression, a negative instantiation of political, economic, and personal fleedom, for it prevented movement back and forth between East and West Germany. After the destruction of the Berlin Wall, it became a symbol of freedom, for Berlin was once again unified. Cris placed “Hirano 45”, an historical events case flom 1945, in window “4”. This case featured a photograph of the Hirano family at the Colorado River Relocation Center in Poston, Arizona. During WWII, President Roosevelt’s Civilian Executive Order 9066 forced Japanese-Americans to relocate to internment camps because of national security concerns. The order was enacted after Pearl Harbor. In the photo a mother held a flamed photo of her son, a member of the US. military. After examining the photo, Cris commented: Men in the internment camps gained freedom flom the camps when they joined the US. military. Like “Dream”, “CORE”, and “Inked”, the expansion of fleedom often requires sacrifice. The Civilian Executive Order 9066, featured in the “Hirano 45” case, is similar to the “Patriot Act” case, in that both were enacted after the US. was attacked. The Civilian Executive Order 9066 was enacted after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, while the Patriot Act was enacted after the attacks on the Twin Towers. In both cases the US. government argued that it was necessary to restrict civil liberties fleedoms so national security and lives could be 125 protected during wartime. “Hirano 45” and “Patriot Act” are two examples of how fleedoms may ebb. In the case of “Hirano 45” the family enjoyed personal, political, and economic fleedoms before the executive order and saw these rights diminished after the order was implemented. The “Patriot Act” curtailed fleedoms, too. The two cases are different. Executive Order 9066, for example, targeted specific communities, while the Patriot Act targeted the general population. Cris placed “Four Freedoms”, a case about the four fleedoms addressed by President Roosevelt in his annual address to the US. Congress on January 6, 1941, in window “3”. The Four Freedoms described by President Roosevelt were fleedom of speech and expression, fleedom of worship, fleedom flom fear, and fleedom flom want. After looking at the photo, Cris commented: Freedom flom want resonated with the public in 1941 because the Great Depression had affected a large portion of the general public. January 1941 was also a time when many countries in the world were at war. Roosevelt’s call to defend the core fleedoms might have been an attempt to prepare the country for war. Freedom is often used to argue for government action and inaction. In the cases about the war on terror and flom what I’ve learned about WWI, fleedom is often invoked at times of war to gain support for government actions. The “Four Freedoms” case, like “Poverty” and “Across”, argued that government actions benefited the public good. “Complicated” and advertisements flom Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, countered that economic security and personal fleedoms could be gained (or maintained) by government non-interference in the flee market. Note: Not all the cases of ‘fleedom’ retrieved in the theme search were useful in this particular exploration. For example, Cris glided over many of the cases, including “At Stake”, “Autonomy”, and “Transition” because they did not seem relevant for this exploration. Cris placed “Autos 58”, a thirteen-second video case about car culture in the US, “1., in window . The video illustrated US. car culture with images of automobiles on open roads and in traffic. After watching the video, Cris said: 126 From this case I learned that cars, and the roads they traveled, supported fleedom of movement, which in turn supported a more flexible economic workforce and national security. Road networks and cars enabled workers to move flom areas of low employment to areas of high employment. President Eisenhower argued that the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 was an important component of a national defense system, for it enabled weapons to be transported across the country and supported the evacuation of cities in case of attacks. Cris placed “Sufflage”, a case about sufflagettes picketing the White House in January 1917, in window “1”. After examining the photo, Cris commented: The US. sufflagettes were active in securing women's right to vote through non- violent protests, similar in nature to the civil rights movement cases, like “CORE”, “Dream”, and “DC March”. Interpretation of “Cris’s” Exploration of ‘Freedom’ This hypothetical exploration was designed to demonstrate the potential of EASE History, including moving flom everyday fleedom to more sophisticated understandings of the concept through work with twenty-seven cases, flom the domains of historical events and campaign advertisements, across eight decades. (This example was a traversal of the fleedom landscape but with EASE History one is able to do this with other concepts.) This section describes how EASE History might have helped Cris go beyond a more simple definition and perhaps supported a deeper, more complex understanding of fleedom, including how fleedom has been redefined over the years, the examination of trade-offs, connections with other themes, and how the dimensions of fleedom are intertwined. The following examples describe how Cris might have moved flom an everyday understanding of fleedom to a more sophisticated understanding of ‘fleedom’ through work with twenty-seven cases coded on the concept. Dimensions of fleedom described by Cris in the hypothetical exploration are: 127 The definition of fleedom chages across uses. Freedoms (economic, personal, political) have been gained (“Don’t Tell”, “Berlin 89”, “Pills”, “Sufflage”, “CORE”) through elections (“Suffrage” and “Inked”), protests (“CORE”, “Dream”, “DC March”, “Sufflage”), legislative acts (Civil Rights Act of 1964, “Patriot Act”), executive orders (“Don’t Tell” and “Hirano 45”), and have receded during times of war (“Patriot Act” and “Hirano 45”). Freedoms have been contested. The expansions of personal, economic, political fleedoms have often been contested (“CORE”, “Dream”, and “DC March”, “Don’t Tell”, “Jackson”, “Pills”, and “Sufflage”). There are cometing definitions of fleedom. For example, in “Complicate”, President Bush argued against a govemment-supported health care system because it would mean that higher taxes and government mandates would curtail economic and personal fleedoms. In “Across”, Senator Kerry argued for national health care flom economic and personal fleedoms perspectives. Freedoms often involve trade-offs with other core democratic values. For example, the two presidential candidates in the 2004 election agreed that there were tradeoffs involved in the Patriot Act between national security and personal freedoms but argued over what was gained and lost. A similar debate, in regards to trade offs, about a national health care system occurred in the 2004 campaign. Elements of fleedom. includingpolitical, personal and economic fleedoms are not independent. but are intertwined. In “Dream”, for example, Martin Luther King Jr. argued that economic, political, and personal gains for Aflican-Americans was the 128 correct moral action and would support the common good. “Pill”, for example, demonstrated how the dimensions of fleedom are intertwined. Pharmaceutical companies successfully lobbied (political fleedom) the government to not restrict the production, testing, and marketing of the pill (economic fleedom). The govemment’s policy reversal expanded the personal fleedoms of women. Freedoms are connected to multiple themes. For example, in the case of “Dream” fleedom was connected to themes like common good, the pursuit of happiness, equality, economic and social mobility, and poverty. Going Beyond the System Work in EASE History is designed to prepare users to go beyond the system. An example of this is “fleedom sightings”, an activation of new concepts applied to a case after examination of family resemblances across the features of past cases. For example, EASE History users might view cases that have not been coded on fleedom and start to notice that the cases could be coded on the concept. Examples of fleedom sightings related to EASE History cases that are currently not coded on fleedom, include: “Ingenuity”: This Senator Kerry advertisement flom the 2004 campaign argued that ending the country’s reliance on oil would increase economic fleedom and protect national security. W: Political fleedoms enabled the press to pursue the Watergate story. This pursuit, and subsequent hearings, led to President Nixon’s resignation. 129 “Press 58”: This video case, which features a President Eisenhower news conference, illustrates political fleedom as the media is able to ask the president questions. In a firture EASE system I would like to enable users to generate their own theme- codings and cases, so the system might be tailored to fit the needs of individual learners. 130 CHAPTER 8 SITUATING EASE HISTORY IN THE CONTEXT OF SIX LEARNING PROGRAMS In order to examine the design of a working learning environment flom multiple perspectives, which is the goal of this dissertation, Chapter 8 examines EASE History flom the perspective of KANE, a previously built Cognitive Flexibility Hypermedia (CFH) system, and from the perspectives of five contemporary programs: Living Room Candidate, The Valley of the Shadow, MediaMatrix, Scratch, and Google Search. Comparing Two Systems Based on Cognitive Flexibility Theog: KANE and EASE History This section compares EASE History with KANE, instead of a program like Flexible Learning in the Periodic System (FLiPS), because FLiPS is designed for a well- structured domain, chemistry (Mishra & Yadav, 2006). The FLiPS program presents alternative versions of the periodic table of the elements. This program emphasizes the Cognitive Flexibility (CFT) principle of multiple conceptual representations. The FLiPS system also teaches the context in which each of those possible representations is most useful, because each representational schema puts elements next to each other on a different principled basis. However, regardless of the way the elements are represented their properties stay the same. For example, hydrogen will always have the same number of electrons in the different representations. In ill-structured domains, on the other hand, like literary interpretation (KANE) and civics and history (EASE History) individual concepts have far less of a determinant meaning so one consequence of that, is that a learning environment to teach ill-structured domain concepts has to present a far larger 131 number of examples to demonstrate a greater conceptual variability. Building a system to accommodate this greater reliance on coordinating a large number of examples leads to substantial differences in design requirements flom those of well-structured domains, like chemistry (FLiPS). KANE and EASE History, two CFH systems, are designed to promote more open and flexible knowledge structures through nonlinear work with content flom ill- structured domains. The two programs are designed to help learners see how concepts are applied differently across multiple and interconnected real world cases. KANE themes are drawn flom the literary criticism domain, while EASE History’s themes are drawn flom the historical, political advertising, and core democratic values domains. Both projects feature short video cases that are designed to make complexity more manageable. KANE, a stand-alone program, was launched in 1987. EASE History developers, as compared to their KANE counterparts, had more powerful computers, video-editing software, and powerful bandwidth to work with. EASE History used these technology advances to build on KANE features and to develop new features that are designed to support the traversal of knowledge in ill- structured domains. EASE History improves upon KANE because it is online, offers multiple ways to search on cases, has multiple viewing modes, features mindset modeling videos, and organizes searched cases in a timeline. These advances are described in this section and further elaborated on in sections devoted to EASE History and the general EASE system. EASE History improves upon KANE in the following aspects: 132 . Online program. KANE is a stand-alone program while EASE History is online. More powerfirl computers, widespread Internet use, and increased bandwidth meant that EASE History, a program that features hundreds of videos, could be placed online. This advance meant that EASE History could reach a global audience, link to other content on the web, and be more easily updatable. Dense, short videos. KANE uses videos that are thirty to ninety seconds in length. EASE History features videos that are shorter, sometimes seven seconds in length. Short, dense clips enable users to work with more cases and better reflects how video is used in contemporary film, television, and advertising. . Multiple ways to search on cases. KANE enables users to search on single themes, while EASE History enables users to search on single and multiple themes. Combination theme searches are designed to help users see how themes are connected in context of use. Other EASE History theme searches enable users to search on keywords, case titles, and topics. . Multiple viewing modes. EASE History has multiple viewing modes as compared to KAN E’s single viewing mode. EASE History’s two-window viewing mode and four-window viewing modes are designed to support across case comparisons for they enable users to place cases side by side. Mindset modeling videos. EASE History’s mindset modeling videos are designed to demonstrate flexible thinking by using innovative video presentation formats, including narration, quick editing, and video effects. User-friendly professional video production tools, like Final Cut Pro, enable EASE History’s content developers to apply sound and visual effects to mindset modeling videos. 133 6. Timeline. EASE History search results are organized in a two-columned timeline. Cases are organized in chronological order with more recent cases at the top of the queue. This arrangement, along with available case information, is designed to support quicker identification of cases, enabling users to move more easily through the nonlinear learning environment. The Living Room Candidate was chosen because its content overlaps with EASE History's but its main goal, the exhibition of content, is different than EASE History's goal of supporting learning in ill-structured domains. The Valley of the Shadow was chosen because it is a highly praised history website and one that shares many of EASE History's goals. MediaMatrix was chosen because it is designed to help users to gather and organize digital files flom the web. Scratch was chosen because it is designed to support the use of multimedia in the production of animations and video. Google Search was chosen because I wanted to think about how EASE History might support the development of strategies and domain knowledge that might support work in Google Search. The Living Room Candidate The Living Room Candidate (http://livingroomcandidate.org/index.php) is an online exhibition that features presidential campaign advertisements from 1952 to 2008. The site enables users to search on twenty-six topics related to election year, commercial type, and issues. Many of the commercials are coded on multiple themes. President Johnson’s “Daisy” advertisement, for example, is coded on 1964, Fear, and Children, so the commercial appears in three different theme searches. Theme search results, represented by thumbnail images of advertisements, are displayed in columns on the right 134 side of the page. For searches on election year, the winner’s advertisements appear in the column furthest to the left, the advertisements of the candidate who came in second are in a separate column just to the right of the winner’s commercials, and advertisements of the candidate who came in third are in the column furthest to the right. Searches on themes that cut across election years, like commercial type and issues, are displayed in chronological order in a single column, with the oldest commercials at the top. When the advertisement’s thumbnail image is clicked on, the video is placed in a single video player. Resources, including historical background, commentaries, transcripts, and election results, accompany the videos. Links to related commercials appear in a drop- down menu below each commercial in the video window. 2004 BUSH vs. KERRY non mm Safer. Stronger 103103-2004, Bush) LllllilE‘JG ROOM CANDIDATE "(Slounn cannon COMMERCIALS 1952-2004 REPUBLICAI DUIOCIA‘I 1}“ 4,."- fi- mm in Muir-u. 's it" [am A 1992 OVERVIEW D 19% The U S military operation In llaq-Ils rationale. 1!: «mm rnnu-m Mann-1 and Il‘ rfllaltnnshm tn nlnhnl Figure 19. The Living Room Candidate 135 The Living Room Candidate was created by the American Museum of the Moving Image, a museum dedicated to the study of film, television, and digital media. Originally, the presidential election commercials were presented on eleven television- viewing stations in a gallery exhibit at the museum in Astoria, New York. The museum created the Living Room Candidate online exhibit in 2000 and updated the site before the 2004 and 2008 US. presidential elections. From the CFT perspective, one of the strengths of the Living Room Candidate is that its campaign advertisements are coded on multiple themes. The site recognizes that advertisements are complex and cannot be defined by a single theme. One of the weaknesses of the Living Room Candidate is that it features only twenty-six themes. EASE History has coded its cases on almost three hundred themes. More theme-codings mean that users will have more opportunities to see cases in multiple contexts and develop a deeper understanding of the domain. One of the strengths of the Living Room Candidate is that it places advertisements in context and surrounds them with resources. From this perspective, one of the weaknesses of the Living Room Candidate and EASE History is that they do not explain how cases are related. From the CFT perspective, EASE History’s multiple viewing windows better support case comparisons than the Living Room Candidate’s single viewing window. One of the weaknesses of the Living Room Candidate, as compared to EASE History, is that the site focuses on a single domain, presidential campaign commercials. EASE History, on the other hand, integrates the presidential campaign advertisements, historical events, and core democratic values domains. 136 Site features are different because the two projects have different goals. The goal of the Living Room Candidate is to exhibit presidential campaign commercials so a single viewing window and a limited number of themes are sufficient to help users access the content. The goal of EASE History, on the other hand, is to promote the deeper understanding of concepts and concretize CFT principles through features, such as multiple viewing windows, advanced theme searches, case resources, and multiple theme-codings. From the new media perspective, one of the strengths of the Living Room Candidate is that it displays high quality video. This stands in contrast to many of the advertisements in EASE History that are of a lesser quality. Another strength of the Living Room Candidate flom this perspective is that it has a theme called “web ads”, which returns commercials that were exclusively shown on the Internet during the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns. This is evidence of the project’s heightened awareness of new media. From the new media perspective, a weakness of both the Living Room Candidate and EASE History is that they feature small videos. Increased bandwidth now supports the display and viewing of larger videos online. A weakness of the Living Room Candidate is that the videos seem to take on a secondary role in the site, with text, in the form of theme menus and commercial descriptions taking on a co—equal, if not primary role. EASE History’s two and four-window viewing modes, on the other hand, place video cases in the foreflont, with text, especially in the four-window viewing mode relegated to the background. Another weakness of both the Living Room Candidate and EASE History from the new media perspective is that they do not allow users to download their videos thus preventing users flom creating new works flom featured 137 content. The Living Room Candidate has stated that it does not want users to rework the content, while EASE History is not able to make content downloadable because of agreements with rights holders. From the Cognitive Load perspective, one of the Living Room Candidate’s strengths is that it has a limited number of themes and cases, so users are not overwhelmed. For example, a theme search on commercials coded on “Corruption” in the site returns seven advertisements. EASE History, on the other hand, might overwhelm users with too much complexity. For example, a search on “Cold War” in EASE History returns one hundred and eight cases. The way that the Living Room Candidate and EASE History display searched cases, in organized columns, is designed to support work with cases, so learners do not have to hold all relevant cases in their cognitive workspace. Instead users can work with specific cases and cycle new cases into viewing windows. From the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) perspective, one of the Living Room Candidate’s strengths is that videos and associated text appear next to each other in the middle of the page and in the columns that display searched items. Similarly, this arrangement of video and text might be considered a strength of EASE History’s single and two window-viewing modes. One of the weaknesses of EASE History’s four- window viewing mode is that videos and their case descriptions are not contiguous. This arrangement places heavy demands on cognitive load. The Valley of the Shadow The Valley of the Shadow (http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/) is a digital social history project that compares two nearby communities who were on opposite sides during the US. Civil War. An extensive digital archive of primary documents, including letters, 138 diaries, memoirs, census records, church records, battle reports, newspapers, and speeches, enables users to examine different aspects of lives in the two communities flom multiple perspectives. According to Edward L. Ayers, “the material it [Valley of the Shadow] presents is common and in isolation flom other material, not particularly meaningful. Put in context, however, newspaper articles take on drama and power; personal letters and diaries evoke tears and laughter and even census entries and military records can bring chills” (Ayers, 2004, p. 18). The site has suggestions for paper topics for middle and high school classrooms. The War Years M 1859 to Spring 1861 Spring 1861 to Spring 1865 Spring was to Fall 1870 Figure 20. The Valley of the Shadow Edward L. Ayers, a professor of history at the University of Virginia, proposed The Valley of the Shadow project in 1991. The project was originally conceived as a book, and it was thought that text would be used to describe and connect the stories of the two communities. Ayers soon decided that computers could better support the linking of resources and more easily reveal historical patterns, as compared to written text. The 139 project scanned thousands of images and documents. Many items had to be transcribed by hand because they were unable to be scanned. In 1993 Ayers and. his team decided that the project should be put online so that it could reach a wider audience, be more easily updated, and feature a large archive. The first online version of The Valley of the Shadow was launched in 1993 and used HTML as its programming language. Because of limited bandwidth many objects in the online version were slow to load, so a CD-ROM version of the project was created for distribution. The Valley of the Shadow has won awards flom the American Historical Association, Merlot, and Gettysburg College. Comparing Valley of the Shadow. Living Room Candidate, and EASE Histogz flom multiple perspectives. From the Cognitive Load perspective, all three projects assume some of the user’s cognitive load, but they attempt to accomplish this goal in different ways. The Valley of the Shadow and the Living Room Candidate attempt to make content manageable by focusing on specific topics. The Valley of the Shadow focuses on two communities over a twelve-year period, while the Living Room Candidate focuses on television presidential campaign advertisements. EASE History, on the other hand, features content flom eleven decades of US. history and flom multiple domains. The expansive scope of the EASE History project fits with its goal of supporting conceptual understanding by demonstrating how concepts have been applied in similar and different ways across the 20th century to the present. From the CTML perspective, all three projects make use of two modes of representation for corresponding words and pictures are presented contiguously. For example, an image titled “Fortifications of Manassas” in The Valley of the Shadow is positioned to the left of short descriptive text about the image on the same web page. This 140 use of short descriptive text associated with an image demonstrates CTML’s coherence principle, for relevant words and pictures will support the instructional goal. Examples of how the coherence principle was demonstrated in the Living Room Candidate and EASE History were provided in the previous section. From the CFT perspective, all three programs are similar in that they feature conceptual themes from ill-structured domains. The Valley of Shadow features themes from the historical domain. The Living Room candidate themes are flom the political advertising domain. EASE History themes are drawn flom historical, political advertising, and core democratic values domains. All three programs enable users to see how concepts vary across multiple cases. The Valley of the Shadow is designed to help learners develop a deeper understanding of themes related to occupation, gender, and the US. Civil War. In EASE History users see how themes such as fleedom and common good are applied in similar and different ways across multiple cases. Similarly, in the Living Room Candidate users see how concepts like fear and corruption vary in how they are applied in multiple examples. From the CFT perspective, the use of non-hierarchical theme organization is a strength of all three systems, for it reflects how knowledge is organized in ill-structured domains and it is intended to support the development of more flexible knowledge structures. For example, The Valley of the Shadow’s navigation tool enables users to begin their search on any of the twenty-three themes displayed on the floor plan. In EASE History, themes such as fleedom and stability appear in multiple theme menus. Another strength of all three programs flom the CFT perspective is that they place events in context. The Valley of the Shadow enables users to examine newspaper articles and editorials from Augusta County and Franklin County in order to 141 understand the debates about slavery and secession. EASE History and the Living Room Candidate’s use of case descriptions are designed to help user’s place events in context. From the content developer’s perspective, The Valley of the Shadow project had a more difficult task, as compared to The Living Room Candidate and EASE History, of preparing content for its website. The Valley of the Shadow project developers had to scan thousands of documents, including letters and photographs before they were able to place the content online. EASE History, on the other hand, was able to obtain digitized materials from online archives and from video documentaries. However, EASE History had to seek permission flom the rights holders before non-public domain content could be featured online. Many of the rights holders gave EASE History permission to use the videos on the condition that the videos would not be downloadable. These agreements impacted the design of the system. One of the reasons that EASE History uses Flash is so users are unable to download video content. The Valley of the Shadow did not have this problem because they were working with content that was in the public domain. From the technology developer’s perspective, The Valley of the Shadow, the Living Room Candidate, and EASE History use databases to support theme searches and uploading of new content. These tools launch the appropriate MediaMatrix editor to your browser. Here are :_Urr"'.5 on how to load them to your browser. 9} W Fir-d Scurd Flr'd "rt-Gel.) .. ,7 -—- J, Arie; Tc‘ at. View TIEE I . 1 ‘1‘ r Fir-d Irv-ace Figure 21. MediaMatrix 142 MediaMatrix MediaMatrix (http://www.matrix.msu.edu/~mmatrix/) is an online learning tool that enables users to capture online digital content, and edit, annotate, and organize the segments inside the MediaMatrix program. Users install MediaMatrix tools as bookmarks before capturing online media content. A feature enables users to annotate text media segments and then find captured segments by searching on the text. Users can produce multimedia presentations with the segmented media using templates available at the MediaMatrix website. MediaMatrix was launched in 2005 by MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online (http://matrix.msu.edu), one of the foremost efforts in using new technologies that are designed to support social science learning. The Center places emphasis on providing access to well organized, easy to search digital media archives. MATRIX has produced digital library collections, portals, and networking websites. Comparing MediaMatrix, The Valley of the SlfidOW. Living Room Candidate. and EASE History flom multiple perspectives. From the new media perspective, a strength of the MediaMatrix program is that it takes advantage of the richness of the web for its users are able to capture, annotate, and organize online video, audio, and text. From the new media perspective a weakness of MediaMatrix is that it is unable to capture Flash videos, which are featured in EASE History. From the Cognitive Load perspective, a weakness of the MediaMatrix program is that it enables its users to crisscross the entire web. The ability to access the entire web might overwhelm most learners, though one of the program’s strengths is that it enables 143 users to create smaller segments flom longer text, video, and audio found online. Creating short, dense segments makes complexity more manageable and is similar to the use of short video cases in EASE History. From the design perspective, MediaMatrix is a shell or an empty container, meaning that users can upload multiple types of media and create different presentations using imported content. For example, users can bring in multiple types of media to create presentations about social justice or climate change. The EASE system is also a shell-like program, for it accommodates multiple types of media and content flom multiple domains. EASE History and TTMM, a literacy instruction program, are specific applications of EASE system. From the learner control perspective, one of the strengths of MediaMatrix is that its users can gather, edit, and organize online content and produce multimedia presentations. The Valley of the Shadow, EASE History, and The Living Room Candidate programs do not allow users to upload content, but a strength of the three programs flom the learner control perspective, is that they enable users to choose their own routes through the programs. .Sstfigh Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu/) is a digital toolkit for children. The program enables users to integrate images, sound, and audio and produce animations and video games through the stacking of action blocks. Scratch projects can feature pro-built objects available in Scratch, objects created by the users in the Scratch paint editor, or objects downloaded from the web. Users can share their projects on the Scratch website and e- mail links to others. 144 re" :"r .r' - . . ’i , -fir ”.‘3’ a .=-__ " V 1 "77 *Tm’ E l a." » .' I 5' l -‘ i l . i I? {1.1501} “I ‘rl 1"; g t: hxwvwr'mwinn