Описание книги:

Translating Euclid reports on an effort to transform geometry for students from a stylus-and-clay-tablet corpus of historical theorems to a stimulating computer-supported collaborative-learning inquiry experience.

The origin of geometry was a turning point in the pre-history of informatics, literacy, and rational thought. Yet, this triumph of human intellect became ossified through historic layers of systematization, beginning with Euclid’s organization of the Elements of geometry. Often taught by memorization of procedures, theorems, and proofs, geometry in schooling rarely conveys its underlying intellectual excitement. The recent development of dynamic-geometry software offers an opportunity to translate the study of geometry into a contemporary vernacular. However, this involves transformations along multiple dimensions of the conceptual and practical context of learning.

Translating Euclid steps through the multiple challenges involved in redesigning geometry education to take advantage of computer support. Networked computers portend an interactive approach to exploring dynamic geometry as well as broadened prospects for collaboration. The proposed conception of geometry emphasizes the central role of the construction of dependencies as a design activity, integrating human creation and mathematical discovery to form a human-centered approach to mathematics.

This book chronicles an iterative effort to adapt technology, theory, pedagogy and practice to support this vision of collaborative dynamic geometry and to evolve the approach through on-going cycles of trial with students and refinement of resources. It thereby provides a case study of a design-based research effort in computer-supported collaborative learning from a human-centered informatics perspective.

Описание книги:

Large surface computing devices (wall-mounted or tabletop) with touch interfaces and their application to collaborative data analysis, an increasingly important and prevalent activity, is the primary topic of this book. Our goals are to outline the fundamentals of surface computing (a still maturing technology), review relevant work on collaborative data analysis, describe frameworks for understanding collaborative processes, and provide a better understanding of the opportunities for research and development. We describe surfaces as display technologies with which people can interact directly, and emphasize how interaction design changes when designing for large surfaces. We review efforts to use large displays, surfaces or mixed display environments to enable collaborative analytic activity. Collaborative analysis is important in many domains, but to provide concrete examples and a specific focus, we frequently consider analysis work in the security domain, and in particular the challenges security personnel face in securing networks from attackers, and intelligence analysts encounter when analyzing intelligence data. Both of these activities are becoming increasingly collaborative endeavors, and there are huge opportunities for improving collaboration by leveraging surface computing. This work highlights for interaction designers and software developers the particular challenges and opportunities presented by interaction with surfaces. We have reviewed hundreds of recent research papers, and report on advancements in the fields of surface-enabled collaborative analytic work, interactive techniques for surface technologies, and useful theory that can provide direction to interaction design work. We also offer insight into issues that arise when developing applications for multi-touch surfaces derived from our own experiences creating collaborative applications. We present these insights at a level appropriate for all members of the software design and development team.

Table of Contents: List of Figures / Acknowledgments / Figure Credits / Purpose and Direction / Surface Technologies and Collaborative Analysis Systems / Interacting with Surface Technologies / Collaborative Work Enabled by Surfaces / The Theory and the Design of Surface Applications / The Development of Surface Applications / Concluding Comments / Bibliography / Authors' Biographies

Описание книги:

Digital technology has become a defining characteristic of modern life. Almost everyone uses it, we all rely on it, and many of us own a multitude of devices. What is more, we all expect to be able to use these technologies «straight out the box.» This lecture discusses how we are able to do this without apparent problems.

We are able to use digital technology because we have learned to cope with it. «To cope» is used in philosophy to mean «absorbed engagement,» that is, we use our smart phones and tablet computers with little or no conscious effort. In human-computer interaction this kind of use is more often described as intuitive. While this, of course, is testament to improved design, our interest in this lecture is in the human side of these interactions. We cope with technology because we are familiar with it.

We define familiarity as the readiness to engage with technology which arises from being repeatedly exposed to it—often from birth. This exposure involves the frequent use of it and seeing people all around us using it every day. Digital technology has become as common a feature of our everyday lives as the motor car, TV, credit card, cutlery, or a dozen other things which we also use without conscious deliberation. We will argue that we cope with digital technology in the same way as we do these other technologies by means of this everyday familiarity. But this is only half of the story. We also regularly support or scaffold our use of technology. These scaffolding activities are described as «epistemic actions» which we adopt to make it easier for us to accomplish our goals. With digital technology these epistemic actions include appropriating it to more closer meet our needs.

In summary, coping is a situated, embodied, and distributed description of how we use digital technology.

Table of Contents: Introduction / Familiarity / Coping / Epistemic Scaffolding / Coping in Context / Bibliography / Author Biography