EXPLORING CYBERLEARNING WITH WIRELESS GRIDS

Abstract

This paper introduces wireless grids and discusses its potential impact on cyberlearning by presenting specifications and features under consideration as well as a roadmap which guides our current work. Mechanisms for cyberlearning environments need to be devised to support peer-to-peer communication, in addition to human-computer communication, where human users and software agents coexist and interact. Wireless technologies are resulting in escalating transformations of the educational world. The question is; how are wireless technologies affecting the learning environment and pedagogy? We propose the exploration of wireless grids technologies to find answers. Much of the literature describes wireless technologies as a tool; they do not control learning, nor do students program them. This is where wireless grids technologies are poised to include this missing dimension. That is improving the process of interaction, negotiation and collaboration so that students have an active and constructive role in the learning process. Wireless grids are an emerging technology that enables ad hoc sharing of resources on edge devices (such as mobile Internet devices, laptops and mobile phones). The technology was initially conceived, architected, demonstrated and evaluated under a prior exploratory National Science Foundation (NSF), Partnership for Innovation (PFI) grant (\#0227879). In this paper we describe the current project that is being undertaken under the NSF PFI grant (\#0917973). It is an interdisciplinary Electrical Engineering and Information Management senior capstone course that will be taught jointly among Syracuse University, Virginia Tech and Tufts University. Students from each of the campuses will be able to remotely deploy experiments on the network at the other campus and be actively involved in designing their own personal wireless grid or ``gridlet{''}. Our study is guided by research that focuses on the sociological implications of pervasive communication tools on many aspects of cyberlearning. We hypothesize that cyberlearning through wireless grids has the potential for supporting constructive and collaborative learning by helping students find and organize information in context, construct their understandings, communicate those understandings to others and build and design applications together to meet their specific needs.