This section is largely based on course-assignment work of two TECFA STAF students: Virtual Education Environment:the case of EON by Eric Berthoud and Analyse d'une activité pédagogique dans un MOO by Patrick Jermann
TECFA has a special relation to EON in several ways. When
D.S.
decided
to introduce MOO-technology in our unit he became interested in EONs
constructivist approach
towards virtual educational environments and its progressive ``chamber system''.
Furthermore, TECFA was very lucky to able to recruit xymox as its first ``wizard''.
The goals of the EON Virtual Educational Environment can be found by typing 'help goals' in the EON MOO:
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>help goals
1. Create an environment where students can learn and receive college
credit through self paced study. Such an environment:
a. Is social, supporting collaborative learning (e.g., synchronous
communication)
b. Teaches learners how to use it without requiring separate "manuals"
or "instructions" external to the environment.
c. Allows learners to prepare and share cognitive maps of what they've
learned.
d. Is not a closed system. That is, provides collaborative access
to all Internet resources within the environment itself.
e. Is as schema-friendly as possible. That is, the methods of
interaction seem familiar to the learner.
f. Supports a variety of interface technology: vt100 (e.g., lynx),
gui (e.g., mosaic) and potentially interface virtual reality
g. Allows for extension of the environment. That is, learners may
democratically add to and modify Internet resources.
h. Makes learning fun.
For information on the theoretical basis (constructivism) for Eon, type:
help theory
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This clearly indicates a tendency also observed in some educational
technology to move away from producing ``teaching systems'' towards producing
``learning environments'' centered on exploration and ``active doing''.