The platform
The design of the STOCHASMOS web-based environment includes a learning environment that students can use to engage and reflect on their inquiry, as well as an authoring system teachers or other instructional designers can use to author their own web-based learning environments with integrated reflective supports.
Learning Environment
The STOCHASMOS platform is comprised of two main environments: the Inquiry Environment and the Reflective WorkSpace environment. Two other spaces (represented as tabs), the Workspace Sharing, and the Forum, were designed to facilitate students’ asynchronous collaboration.
OMNIPRESENT TOOLS
Data Capture tool (accessible from the two main areas): This tool offers students the capability of identifying and easily capturing segments of their data which are then automatically transported to the WorkSpace, where students can organize them in pages created from templates.
Notebook tool: This tool offers students the capability of taking notes during their investigations. It is accessible from both the Inquiry Environment and the WorkSpace.
Chat tool: Students can synchronously collaborate via chat tool.
INQUIRY ENVIRONMENT TOOLS
Students have access to the content of their inquiry investigation through the Inquiry environment. This environment is organized in tabs, can include multimodal information (text, images, sound, video) and uses such other tools as the glossary, the hints, and the graph tool.
Glossary: Teachers can add glossary definitions according to the age group and cognitive needs of their students; these definitions are not global and will only appear in the specific inquiry environment.
Hints: Teachers can add hints on demand for each page in the inquiry environment. Multiple hints per page can be added and customized.
Graph tool: A graph generation tool is embedded in the Inquiry Environment, which allows students to automatically create graphs using data that were prepared and loaded by the teacher in advance. The graph tool can be used to insert multiple graphs in different places in each inquiry environment.
STOCHASMOS REFLECTIVE WORKSPACE TOOLS
The Workspace is a separate area in which students can organize data from the investigation area, externalize their thinking about their investigation either by responding in free text or by responding to teacher-designed prompts, and link data documented in template pages as evidence in support of their explanations.
Template pages: The template pages are spaces that the designers of a specific learning environment can customize with articulation prompts and data-storage areas.
Image Browser: It shows thumbnails of the data captured by the students. Each of these thumbnails can be dragged and dropped into the data boxes on the right-hand side of each template.
Annotation Toolbox: Students are capable of adding notes to their pages in order to explain their data.
Forum: Students can asynchronously collaborate via the forum.
WorkSpace sharing: Students can receive and give feedback to their collaborating peers.
Authoring Tool
Teachers can create one or more learning environments or adapt existing environments designed by others.
Hints: Teachers can add hints on demand for each page in the inquiry environment. Multiple hints per page can be added and customized.
Graph Tool: Teachers can prepare and load data in order for students to automatically create graphs using these data. The graph tool can be used to insert multiple graphs in different places in each inquiry environment.
Glossary: Teachers can add glossary definitions according to the age group and cognitive needs of their students; these definitions are not global and will only appear in the specific inquiry environment.
History Log: Teachers can view this inquiry environment's history log for all of their students. The history log can be exported as a Microsoft Excel file.
TEMPLATES
Teachers can customize or create new templates for the WorkSpace in order to help students organise their work and reflect upon it.
ADD GROUP
Teachers can create groups, assign members to and create passwords for each group.
REVIEW
Through this tool teachers can give asynchronous feedback to their students’ WorkSpace pages by using annotation tools from the workspace toolbox. They can also view collaborating groups’ chat log and give synchronous feedback to groups of students while a chat is in progress.
PARTNERSHIP
This tool enables teachers to search for others planning to use the STOCHASMOS platform with their students and see their shared enactment details; following this, teachers can invite other teachers to collaborate during the enactment.
GROUP PAIRING
Teachers can pair their students/groups with other students/groups. They can pair students within their class, but they can also pair their students with students in another class, with which they are collaborating.
FORUM
Teachers can setup new topics for the forum or view entries of an existing forum.
Platform it works on: IBM-compatible machines or machines running a Windows emulator. The platform runs on Windows XP or Vista, and is compatible only with Internet Explorer 6 and on.