WorldWideWhiteboard

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WorldWideWhiteboard is a Web-based online collaboration and conferencing tool designed for use in distance education. The WorldWideWhiteboard domain, trademark, and technology are owned and developed by Link-Systems International, Inc. (LSI), a privately held distance-learning software corporation in Tampa, Florida. The WorldWideWhiteboard went live in 1996[1] under the name "NetTutor," although the LSI NetTutor online tutoring service is technically just one implementation of the WorldWideWhiteboard product. Version 3.8 of the WorldWideWhiteboard is in use not only in the current NetTutor online tutoring service, but also in on-campus online tutoring programs, online courses, and collaborative learning environments in the U.S. and around the world. As a Java applet, it can be run on Windows, Mac, and Linux and runs without downloading software. LSI maintains the application and leases both hosted and unhosted access to it. LSI operations — tutoring, product development, online content services, management, and technical support — are housed in the company's Tampa offices.[2]

History

Link-Systems International was launched in 1995 with the goal of making academic resources available on the Web. The company was incorporated in the State of Florida on February 27, 1996. The "Net Tutor" product — both the interactive whiteboard application and the tutoring service — constituted the firm's first product and service. LSI began to lease the WorldWideWhiteboard under the NetTutor label in the following year.[3]

Offering Web access to a shared, real-time environment with subject-specific tool bars, the WorldWideWhiteboard has been adopted for as a support for special features accompanying the sale of new text-books for publishers such as McGraw-Hill,[4] John Wiley and Sons, Pearson, Cengage Learning,[5] and Bedford, Freeman and Worth. Campuses and educational programs adopted the WorldWideWhiteboard as an online environment for giving classes, holding faculty office hours, and holding meetings online.

Breadth of use

The WorldWideWhiteboard product was apparently the first successful web collaboration tool in wide use in education. Online whiteboards generally can accommodate a theoretically unlimited number of participants and an instructor in a synchronous, i.e., live interactive session. The WorldWideWhiteboard allows for both audio and up to four video streams, as well as numerous asynchronous modes of interaction.

  • Early research into the WorldWideWhiteboard or NetTutor includes that of educators eager to employ technology in their own teaching. A study at Hampton University in 1999 concluded that the WorldWideWhiteboard could effectively support such activities as online office hours.[6]
  • A virtual whiteboard must provide drawing and symbol-placement tools adequate to the discussion of subjects both by faculty and unskilled learners. A study at Stony Brook University comparing the WorldWideWhiteboard with tools available in Blackboard concluded in 2004 that "[d]espite some flaws, according to our research NetTutor remains the only workable math-friendly e-learning communication system."[7]
  • The WorldWideWhiteboard supported the online tutoring programs of individual universities, such as at Utah Valley State College, in a study describing its use as "[o]ne of the earliest synchronous models for math tutoring]".[8]
  • The WorldWideWhiteboard was used to coordinate education across multiple campuses occurred at the University of Idaho, in a study beginning in 2005[9] — showing increasing acceptance of Web-based online tutoring in the university setting.

Certain of these studies have been cited widely, mainly because of the seminal role of the WorldWideWhiteboard as an educational Web-conferencing tool. (See, for instance, Reushle and Loch in "Conducting a Trial Web Conferencing Software."[10] and the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Quality Enhancement Plan for 2007[11])

This research suggests that all the forms of expression — including video and audio interaction — available on the WorldWideWhiteboard can be successfully used in the classroom.

Other questions raised by scholars include:

  • How comfortable is the average learner with the technology of the WorldWideWhiteboard?[6][9]
  • Does the conversation with an online educator — even a "live" one — fully synthesize the give and take of the classroom environment?[7][8]

While these questions, educators agree, are not fully decided, more recent study suggests that the student-centered dialog possible on the WorldWideWhiteboard encourages learner persistence and success.

How it works

Learners and educators usually log into a WorldWideWhiteboard site through a campus interface for an online tutoring program or online course. The site may be hosted either by the school or by LSI. As an example, the WorldWideWhiteboard is fully assimilated into a learning center is the Center for Math Excellence at the University of Phoenix, where a student with access to the center engages the campus tutor in live discussion on the WorldWideWhiteboard.

Many universities implement the WorldWideWhiteboard through a link in the school's virtual learning environment (VLE). Web portals, learning management systems like Blackboard,[12] Moodle, or Sakai are examples of VLEs. Since only registered students have access to the VLE, no further sign-on is required. This allows the institution reasonable security in granting access to the WorldWideWhiteboard for any type of online communication.

Schools may choose to allow only certain students to log in. Schools can also arrange for the WorldWideWhiteboard to appear differently to different sets of students.

Learners log in as "participants" and the educator—teacher or tutor—logs in as the "leader." Upon logging in, the user sees a dashboard displaying icons representing WorldWideWhiteboard centers for different learning activities. Most activities involve the use of a Java applet with a whiteboard, chat-line, menu bar, and toolbar. If enabled, a listing of participants, icons enabling audio and video enabling, and a side-bar holding up to four live video feeds.

Online communication occurs in either a one-to-many, one-to-one, or many-to-many format. For each of these, there are educational functions served by the WorldWideWhiteboard that are synchronous (taking place in real time, or interactive) and asynchronous (taking place in steps, with the learner's portion completed, then the educator's portion, etc.).

One-to-many activities

Synchronous

The WorldsWideWhiteboard Live Classroom is its primary one-to-many environment. In this activity, the leader opens a virtual classroom, into which any number of participants can then enter. A Java applet runs, pushing the image of text and graphics input by leader or participant to a whiteboard-like interface on the computer of each user. Audio communication is also available, along with up to four streaming video feeds. The leader has control over who can supply input, whether in the form of whiteboard entries, chat-line text, or audio or video information. Also, the session can continue onto a new page. When it does so, the leader can "turn" the page so that all users see the same image at the same time. Meanwhile, all participants can send private messages to one or more of the other participants.

The leader may also post Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents directly on the interface. In this usage, multiple pages of the documents automatically generate additional pages to the classroom session.

Asynchronous

The leader can post work sheets containing problems or a general question to all users who have access to the WorldWideWhiteboard. Participants then fill out the worksheet, and the leader can review their responses later. Finally, the leader can post grades for worksheet responses to an online gradebook. The leader can set up alerts, or specialized notifications when student performance falls below certain levels.

One-to-one activities

Synchronous

A virtual tutoring center or faculty office environment provides the synchronous one-on-one feature of the WorldWideWhiteboard. The leader logs in and this allows participants to "line up" to see the leader. The leader, usually a tutor, views and accepts learner questions, engages in one-on-one sessions on the whiteboard interface, and can preserve past sessions for future student use.

Asynchronous

A participant can enter a question to be addressed by a tutor or teacher later.

A student can submit a paper to be reviewed and edited later by a leader—again, either a tutor or faculty member.

Participants can review archives preserved from past sessions. A leader can edit, delete, and organize archived material.

Many-to-many, asynchronous

A bulletin-board-like activity allows any user or leader to leave entries visible to all users. A leader can edit or delete these entries.

Degree of customization

The technology of the WorldWideWhiteboard is not geared to a particular pedagogic or andragogic approach. Its set of activities can therefore be used by any educator for online communication. This also means that questions about how the WorldWideWhiteboard is set up are matters for the institution to decide. LSI has no consultancy component, so that, while figures about usage of the WorldWideWhiteboard can be used to demonstrate how a school's Quality Enhancement Program is working, it is up to the user to create the documentation for this or any other accreditation-related measures.[13]

However, each features of the WorldWideWhiteboard can be customized for use in different institutions and for different subjects. The appearance of the dashboard, symbols displayed on the whiteboard interface can be customized, as well. As an example, fractions and graphing tools may appear on an Algebra class whiteboard, while there may be integral signs as well on the toolbar for a Calculus course.

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.link-systems.com/PGF9ej9CiqIAAHB9YTs_orig/
  2. ↑ http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=8420042
  3. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/bwplus/teched/digest29.htm
  4. ↑ http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/classware/ala.do?isbn=0073534978&alaid=ala_1650212
  5. ↑ http://www.cengage.com/enterprise/partners.html
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Verma, A. K., "Using 'NetTutor' for Conducting Online Interactive Office Hours." Proceedings of the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics. 12(017). Retrieved March 7, 2011 from http://archives.math.utk.edu/ICTCM/VOL12/C017/paper.pdf
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Smith, G. and Klein, W. (2004), "Diagrams and math notation in e-learning." International Journal of Mathematics Education in Science and Technology. 35(5) pp. 681-695.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Turrentine, P. and MacDonald, L. (2006) "Tutoring Online: Increasing Effectiveness with Best Practices." National Association for Developmental Education Digest. 2(2), Fall 2006. Retrieved March 15, 2011 from http://lacmsig.pbworks.com/f/tutoring%20online.pdf, p. 4
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Thomas, D., Li, Q., Knott, L., and Li, Z., (2006) "The Structure of Student Dialogue in Web-Assisted Mathematics Courses." Journal of Educational Technology Systems, (2007-2008). 36(4). pp. 415-431. Retrieved March 1, 2011 from http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Paper/13612573.
  10. ↑ Resuchle, S. & Loch, B. (2008). "Conducting a Trial Web Conferencing Software." Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education. 9(3). July, 2008. 19–28. Retrieved May 20, 2011 from http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde31/pdf/Volume9Number3.pdf
  11. ↑ Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (2007). "Quality Enhancement Plan: A Formula for Success in College Mathematics." Retrieved May 20, 2011 from http://www.abac.edu/IR/files_fromQEP/Final_QEP/ABAC_QEP_April_2007_htm.htm
  12. ↑ http://www.blackboard.com/Partnerships/Extensions/Extension-Details.aspx?ExtensionID=32564
  13. ↑ "Accreditor Eyes Course Outsourcing," April 10, 2009, Insider Higher Education. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/10/accredit.

See also

References

  • Collison, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind, S. & Tinker, R. (2000). Facilitating online learning: Effective strategies for moderators. Atwood Publishing, Madison.
  • Hewitt, Beth L. (2010). The online writing conference: a guide for teachers and tutors. Boynton/Cook Heinemann, Portsmouth, NJ.
  • Jacques, D., and Salmon, G (2007) Learning in Groups: A Handbook for on and off line environments, Routledge, London and New York.
  • Kersaint, G., Barber, J., Dogbey, J. and Kephart, D. (2011) "The Effect of Access to an Online Tutorial Service on College Algebra Student Outcomes." Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning. 19(1), February, 2011.

External references

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