ACE publications : Published 1991 - Copyright Pergamon Press plc. All rights reserved.

HyperCourseware

Douglas Siviter, Keith Brown.
Department of Computing and Mathematics,
Polytechnic of the South Bank,
Borough Rd., London SE1 0AA, England.

Abstract

HyperCourseware is a conceptual framework for developing computer-based flexible-learning material. This paper summarises the main principles on which HyperCourseware is based and discusses software tools which have been developed for authors and end-users to manage and manipulate HyperCourseware. The main motivation which underpins the work is a desire to see the educational potential of hyper systems further exploited by the widespread availability of powerful yet easy-to-use tools for HyperCourseware management.

Keywords

HyperCourseware, Courseware Management Systems, Course Browser, Computer Based Education, Computer Assisted Learning, Object Oriented Design, HyperCard.
Because this paper includes a discussion of the role of Contents Pages, the Contents outlined below are (unusually) referred to as Figure 1.
Figure 1. A typical example of a contents page.

Contents

1. Introduction

 Within any Computer Based Education System (CBES) there is embodied some educational subject matter. Crudely, this is some representation of concepts, knowledge, skills, etc, the stuff to be explored, learned, taught, or whatever. This subject matter is referred to as courseware.

The term hyper systems is used to refer to the ever increasing list of software products which provide some combination of hypertext and software development capabilities. Example products include HyperCard™. Supercard™, Linkway™, Guide™, Toolbook™, Plus™, etc.

1.1 Hyper systems for computer assisted education

The educational potential of hyper systems is increasingly being recognised by many developers of computer based education systems. Hyper systems are used by educational authors as preferred development systems because they provide much higher level facilities than traditional programming languages, and provide much more flexibility than educational authoring tools, many of which are unbearably over-prescriptive. However, most hyper systems were not designed specifically for educational use and therefore need considerable enhancement if they are to function well as large-scale courseware authoring tools. The required enhancements include appropriate conceptual frameworks and the tools to support such frameworks.

HyperCourseware is an example of a conceptual framework which exploits hyper systems for developing large-scale, computer-based, flexible-learning courses. It is described in Section 3.

1.2 The need for HyperCourseware Management Systems

Users encounter many difficulties while trying to exploit hyper systems [1 - 3]. Users can be baffled by fundamental issues like "where am I?" "where else is there to go?" "where have I already been?" "where should I go next?" "how can I get there?" and by more ambitious issues like "how can I modify this resource?". HyperCourseware is potentially subject to all the same difficulties. To combat these difficulties, authors and end-users need powerful yet easy-to-use tools for managing and manipulating HyperCourseware. The distinction between author and end-user is frequently blurred. The terms manage and manipulate are used to refer to the interleaved activities which authors might perform such as constructing, structuring, editing, viewing, and navigating courses, and building tours through those courses. End-users of HyperCourseware need tools which facilitate viewing, navigation, touring and guided exploration. A HyperCourseware Management System (HMS) is an integrated collection of such tools. Section 4 describes a HyperCourseware Management System developed at South Bank polytechnic. Ideally, systems like this should be as widely available as word processors so that a real craft can emerge in HyperCourseware development.

2. An educational context for HyperCourseware

 A project at South Bank Polytechnic was set up to develop a Computer Based Education System (CBES) which exploits HyperCourseware to teach about distributed computer systems. The project's aims can be summarised as :- This paper is concerned with the first of these aims and describes some of the theoretical and practical issues involved in developing tools for the management and manipulation of HyperCourseware. The paper is necessarily brief; a more detailed account is available in [4]. The distributed systems courseware is briefly discussed to illustrate an application of the system.

2.1 Examples of using HyperCourseware

 Several information technology courses within South Bank polytechnic include modules which teach about distributed systems. The distributed systems courseware, mentioned above, is not explicitly bound to any of these course modules; it is a separate evolving resource which is already broader than any of these course modules. Some of the course modules selectively exploit the currently developed courseware to supplement traditional teaching methods. Such uses provide formative evaluation which influences further modifications and refinements to the courseware resource. Various open-learning courses could be formulated from different subsets of the overall courseware; example packages are currently being formulated for distribution outside of the polytechnic.

The distributed systems courseware is just one example of exploiting the general-purpose HyperCourseware Management System (HMS). Other courseware currently being developed includes a multimedia course and a flexible-learning package for careers education and guidance. An interesting example, which accompanies the HMS, is a stand-alone course for teaching authors how to develop HyperCourseware using the system.

2.2 A Summary of educational requirements

HyperCourseware was defined to meet various educational requirements. This section summarises just the higher level ones. Specific requirements for the HyperCourseware Management System are outlined in Section 4.

2.2.1 Flexible learning

HyperCourseware is an attempt to provide a conceptual framework for developing large-scale, flexible-learning courses. Flexible-learning courses are, by definition, to be used in a variety of ways, e.g., as stand-alone open-learning packages or used by lecturers guiding groups of students.

2.2.2 Adaptability

Adaptibility is regarded as a fundamental property of HyperCourseware. Large flexible-learning courses are difficult to develop and always need updating. Even if a team of authors are convinced that they have specified and implemented a useful courseware resource, the next educationalist who tries to exploit the courseware will almost certainly want to change some aspects. There is also an obvious educational potential for systems which provide students with the means to adapt material.

2.2.3 Structure, modularity, and access

There are clear benefits to be derived from appropriate structuring of any resource and it is essential that this structuring coincides with flexible access to any section of the resource, i.e., users should always have the means to access whichever section they choose without being obliged to follow pre-determined routes through the resource.

2.2.4 Guidance

It is not sufficient to supply well structured courseware resources and then just hope that users will intuitively exploit the resource in some meaningful manner. Guidance at various levels is required to accompany the subject matter.

2.2.5 Integration with other resources

HyperCourseware can accommodate and integrate many computer assisted learning packages which are produced using applications, programming languages, educational authoring systems and more recently hyper systems. HyperCourseware is also completely amenable to multimedia approaches.

2.2.6 Exploiting hyper systems

Exploiting hyper systems can be regarded as an aim and/or a strategy. This requirement simply recognises that the most viable route to satisfying all of the above requirements is to exploit the many powerful qualities of hyper systems; especially the adaptability, the presentation facilities, and the software development facilities.

3. HyperCourseware principles

 This section describes a workable definition of HyperCourseware upon which a variety of HyperCourseware Management Systems could be developed.

3.1. A viable definition of HyperCourseware

 In defining HyperCourseware, an attempt has been made to define an adaptable generic structure for courses, so that authors can develop courseware using whatever specific structure they desire. A compromise is required; the definition needs to be sufficiently specific to enable the development and use of authoring tools, but not so specific that it restricts authors' styles or is incompatible with currently available hyper systems such as HyperCard. A preliminary definition of HyperCourseware is: This is obviously a somewhat loose definition. The rest of this section will clarify the definition and show that it achieves the compromise mentioned above. An author's responsibility is to use this loosely defined structure as a basis for developing coherent HyperCourseware. Authors need to determine what constitutes a coherent collection of related topics for a particular piece of courseware, and what constitutes a coherent collection of related educational activities for each topic in a course. This definition is then extended to incorporate the ideas of tours and guided exploration. These ideas can sometimes be regarded as integral parts of the HyperCourseware or can be regarded as ways of using the HyperCourseware. Tours and guided exploration are familiar ideas found within many software packages (especially adventure games). They are also discussed in hypertext literature, e.g., [5].

3.2. Structural aspects of HyperCourseware

 There are very real benefits to be derived from the appropriate structuring of any hyperspace. Well structured domains are easier to assimilate and navigate than chaotic domains. The definition of HyperCourseware must remain flexible with respect to structure since different subjects will benefit from different approaches to structuring, and different authors will hold different opinions on how best to structure various subjects. HyperCourseware therefore needs to have a powerful, flexible approach to the structuring of the collection of topics and to the structuring of the collections of educational activities for any topic.

3.2.1. Topics as collections of educational activities

 Consider first a single topic within a piece of HyperCourseware; a topic is a collection of educational activities. As examples, the educational activities for one topic might include some traditional ideas such as stating the objectives of the topic and the pre-requisite knowledge a user should have before embarking upon the topic; providing presentations, resources, assignments, sample solutions, assessments, etc. A "where next?" activity could be included which contributes to the idea of guided exploration through a collection of topics. An educational activity can be composed of any combination of primitive activities, e.g., read a piece of text, look at a picture, listen to a sound, look at an animation (computer based or video based), play with a computer based interactive device (e.g., simulation), or even follow some instructions to perform an assignment away from the computer. This definition of an educational activity is therefore completely amenable to exploiting multimedia applications.

As a guideline only, within HyperCourseware the number of educational activities devoted to any single topic should be small. The rationale being that too many activities for a topic is usually an indicator that the topic is too large, and would probably benefit from being decomposed into several smaller sub-topics. This makes it totally feasible to use a flat structure for the collection of educational activities for a single topic. The flat structure can then be presented to a user as a simple map view, i.e., an activities map (see Figure 2).


Figure 2.
Figure 2. A Topic's HomeGround and Activities Map
The Activities Map for a Topic named 'Communication Systems' currently visible over the HomeGround for the Topic.


Within any educational activity, e.g., a presentation, the structure is totally the responsibility of an author and can be as simple or as complex as desired. One approach is to keep the structure of an educational activity deliberately simple, typically a linear excursion through primitive activities with occasional sub-excursions, non of which depart significantly from the particular educational activity being pursued and none of which perform any radical navigational steps such as changing topic. Excursions are intended to feel like temporary journeys away from, and usually back to, the topic homeground. Orientation for the user is thus supported by always knowing which topic is currently being investigated.

3.2.2. Courses as hierarchical networks of topics

If a piece of courseware consists of just a few topics with no structuring then a simple navigational metaphor can be used, i.e., just provide a simple map of the collection of topics. This, however, does not readily scale up to courseware of any significant size, and it does not readily lend itself to displaying structured collections of topics. Imagine a course containing dozens of topics, each containing several sub-topics, which themselves contain several sub-topics; the inadequacies of a simple map view become immediately apparent.

Figure 3. illustrates the way in which collections of topics can be structured in HyperCourseware. Figure 3. shows only a very small example; most real courses would be too large to draw in this illustrative manner.


Figure 3.
Figure 3. Generic HyperCourseware


The example course structure in Figure 3. has three main topics, i.e, 1, 2, and 3. Topics would ordinarily be named, but numbering is more useful for this illustration. Topic 2 is shown as having three sub-topics, i.e., 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3. Topics 2.1 and 2.3 are also shown as having sub-topics. This is a traditional structuring approach. The same principle was illustrated in a contrived manner with the contents page of this paper (see Figure 1). You are currently reading Section 3.2.2. and you can see where this section fits into the rest of the paper by referring to the contents page. Structuring in this hierarchical manner is a traditional concept which HyperCourseware must facilitate.

Also in Figure 3. is an illustration of a network approach to structuring the collection of topics. There are many arcs connecting topics, e.g., 1 to 2, 2.1 to 2.3, 2.3.2 to 3, etc. Each of these arcs indicates that an explicit link has been made between two topics. It is not necessary to anticipate exactly why authors would want to explicitly link topics but it is obviously essential that this facility should be supported within HyperCourseware.

Given the structuring and linking facilities which must be supported in HyperCourseware, it is appropriate to employ a hierarchical network of topics as the underlying data structure. This gives HyperCourseware the capability of structuring topics and linking topics but does not imply that authors must extensively exploit both these features simultaneously. In simple cases a course can still be a small, flat, unlinked collection of topics.

4. HyperCourseware management tools

 For any significant example of HyperCourseware the underlying data structure is probably going to be very complex and will easily provide endless opportunities for becoming "lost in hyperspace". High level tools are therefore required which provide users with the means to view and manipulate useful abstractions of the structure. This section discusses some of the main functional requirements for these tools and outlines how the requirements have been addressed within the HMS developed at South Bank. The discussion focuses on a main component of South Bank's HMS called the Course Browser.

4.1. Main facilities

4.1.1 Integration with Macintosh and HyperCard

 The tools for managing and manipulating HyperCourseware need to look and feel like typical Macintosh applications but must simultaneously run as though layered on top of HyperCard. This has been implemented using a toggling menu bar so that either HyperCard's menu bar is visible, or the Browser's menu bar is visible. While the Browser's menu bar is selected HyperCard is effectively in the background providing an operational platform upon which a new collection of facilities is layered. The new facilities offered to the user are oriented towards HyperCourseware manipulation, e.g., Open Course, Open Tour, Show Contents, New Topic, Delete Activity, etc.

4.1.2 Selectable levels of user access

 There are three categories of user ranging from authors, who have access to all facilities, to readers who have limited scope to refashion the courseware. All courses can be updated and customised in Author Mode. The following description of requirements and facilities focuses on Author Mode and in all cases the Reader Mode can be assumed to use exactly the same tools but with selectively restricted options.

4.1.3 HyperCourseware manipulation

 An integrated set of tools is required for creating, manipulating, viewing and navigating the collections of topics within a course and the collections of educational activities within each topic. Viewing and navigating are fundamental activities for both authors and readers; they underpin the creation of and interaction with the courseware structure. The highest levels of viewing and navigating are essentially unrestricted browsing and unrestricted access to any sections of the courseware. In addition to this unrestricted browsing, facilities are required which support Tours and Guided Exploration.

4.1.4 Creating and editing educational activities

 The educational activities which comprise a topic are implemented as either HyperCard stacks or Macintosh applications (e.g., animations, simulations). Hence the tools for developing the activities are not necessarily part of the HyperCourseware Management System; an activity can be developed externally from the HMS and imported into a topic. However, because HyperCard underpins the HMS it is permanently available within the HMS as a main option for developing activities.

4.1.5 Viewing and navigation facilities

 There is no single tool or facility which will satisfy all authors' and readers' viewing and navigation requirements for all courses. Rather than try to define one major tool it is preferable to incorporate a variety of integrated tools which provide multiple views of the HyperCourseware. Hence a tool which is conceptually similar to a contents page may be desirable for a particular course, or simply preferred by a particular user, whereas an alphabetical index of topics may be preferred in some other circumstances. Typically a suite of viewing tools provides the flexibility to switch approaches for whatever reason. A map-oriented view is a popular idea which provides a further alternative to a contents page or an index. A map tool is a device which generates explicit maps of the courseware. The maps can be used directly for navigation or can be customised to represent some other navigation metaphor. So, for example the nodes in a map, representing topics in a course, could be redrawn as rooms in a house if this was felt to be appropriate.

In South Bank's HMS, topic navigation is supported by tools such as the Contents View, Index View, Map Views, Links View, etc. The complete set of tools has it's own internal management system which ensures that each of the currently visible views is updated whenever a user changes topic. The tools always reflect the user's current position within the course. The same tools are also used to construct and edit collections of topics. See Figures 4 and 5 for examples of navigation tools which provide multiple views of a course.


Figure 4.
Figure 4. Contents View
A Contents View of a simple course. The open topic is currently Classical Music which has four neighbouring topics and four sub-topics. The Path button is a pop-up menu which in this case indicates that Classical Music is a sub-topic of Types of Music, which in turn is a sub-topic of the top level, i.e., Music Course. A user can navigate through the topics hierarchy by selecting a neighbouring-topic, a sub-topic, or a parent-topic from the path.


Figure 5.
Figure 5. Index View
An Index View allows users to select from an alphabetical list of all the topics in the course. Selecting a topic immediately navigates to that topic's homeground.


4.1.6 Orientation facilities

A particularly important requirement for the HMS is that it helps users to avoid becoming lost in hyperspace. In combination with the viewing and navigation facilities, orientation is additionally supported by the provision of landmarks, called HomeGrounds. Each topic possesses a unique HomeGround which is displayed (behind any currently visible tools) whenever the user changes topic. (See Figure 5.)

4.1.7 Tours and guided exploration

 In addition to tools for building the courseware, authors have facilities to build predetermined tours of courseware which users can then follow. A tour is a facility to be exploited by any user who does not yet have the confidence to explore the subject area in a self directed fashion. Authors can also use linking and where next? facilities to contribute to guided explorations of courseware. Guided exploration is for users with sufficient confidence to determine their own branching through the courseware. A particularly important requirement is that users have the facilities and the flexibility to either follow tours or conduct their own explorations of the courseware while being free to adopt or ignore the guidance offered by authors.

4.2. User interface

 An inevitable complexity in this project derived from the fact that there are many levels of interaction with HyperCourseware, ranging from courseware management at the author level through to performing some educational assignment at the user level. For the styles of the user interface, in the context of this project it was better to exploit existing popular styles rather than invent obscure new approaches. A variety of existing styles were possible influences, for example the traditional Macintosh application interface, the various interfaces adopted by people developing material in HyperCard, and Smalltalk 80™ [6].

The main challenges in user interface design were how to be consistent across the whole range of facilities, how to adhere as closely as possible to the Macintosh interface guidelines [7], and how, when appropriate, to develop innovative interface ideas which extend the interface design within the spirit of such guidelines. A further constraint was that since HyperCard's existing functionality needed to be available to users from within the HMS, the HMS user interface needed to extend, but blend in with HyperCard's existing user interface.

4.3. Course Browser development

From the outset it was intended that Browser development would use prototyping and incremental development, and be object-oriented in nature. The development started with a speculative prototyping phase, which involved producing many series of diagrams of user walkthroughs. These helped to determine the basic functions and user interface which authors and readers would desire.

An object oriented approach to Browser design resulted in the formation of managers, each manager object being commited to certain functional areas in much the same way as the Macintosh toolbox is sub-divided into managers. The paradigm which influenced the design of the navigation tools is the Model/View/Controller (MVC) concept from Smalltalk 80™ [6]. Every course has an underlying Model which is accessed and manipulated by a set of View/Controller devices e.g., a Contents View.

5. Conclusions

 The project, reported in this paper, set out to provide a workable definition of HyperCourseware and to produce tools for the management and manipulation of HyperCourseware; in creating the Course Browser these aims have been essentially satisfied. The Course Browser represents our first implementation of a HyperCourseware Management System; it is a useful extension to the educational potential of HyperCard and provides authors with the facilities to develop and repeatedly adapt large well structured courses.

6. Acknowledgements

 The project, reported in this paper, has funding from the Learning Technologies Unit which is part of the Training, Enterprise and Education Directorate within the U.K. Government's Department of Employment.

7. References
  1. Nielsen, J., Hypertext. Communications of the ACM. 33, 3, 297-310 (March 1990).
  2. McAleese, R., Navigation and Browsing in Hypertext. In: Hypertext theory into practice (Edited by McAleese R.) pp. 6-44. Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd, Oxford, England (1989).
  3. Canter, D., Rivers, R., Storrs, G., Characterising user navigation through complex data structures. Behaviour and Information Technology. 4, 2, 93-102 (1985).
  4. Siviter, D., Brown, K., HyperCourseware Management Systems: Course Browser. Department of Computing and Mathematics, Polytechnic of the South Bank. Borough Rd, London SE1 0AA, U.K. (1991).
  5. Hammond, N., Allinson, L., Travels around a learning support environment. In: CHI 1988 Conference Proceedings: Human Factors in Computer Systems, (Washington DC May 88) (Edited by Soloway, E. et al), ACM Press: New York, 269-273 (1988)
  6. Goldberg, A., Smalltalk-80. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, Mass. (1983).
  7. Apple Computer, Inc. Human Interface Guidelines; HyperCard Stack Design Guidelines. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass. (1987; 1989).
ACE publications : Published 1991 - Copyright Pergamon Press plc. All rights reserved.