Skip to main content



Tech Report HCIL-99-11

Plaisant, C., Rose, A., Rubloff, G., Salter, R., Shneiderman, B. (May 1999)
The Design of History Mechanisms and Their Use in Collaborative Educational Simulations
Proc. of the Computer Support for Collaborative Learning, CSCL' 99, Palo Alto, CA, 348-359. [Published Version]
HCIL-99-11, CS-TR-4027, UMIACS-TR-99-34, ISR-TR-99-74

Reviewing past events has been useful in many domains. Videotapes and flight data recorders provide invaluable technological help to sports coaches or aviation engineers. Similarly, providing learners with a readable recording of their actions may help them monitor their behavior, reflect on their progress, and experiment with revisions of their experiences. It may also facilitate active collaboration among dispersed learning communities. Learning histories can help students and professionals make more effective use of digital library searching, word processing tasks, computer assisted design tools, electronic performance support systems, and web navigation.

This paper describes the design space and discusses the challenges of implementing learning histories. It presents guidelines for creating effective implementations, and the design tradeoffs between sparse and dense history records. The paper also presents a first implementation of learning histories for a simulation-based engineering learning environment called SimPLE (Simulated Processes in a Learning Environment) for the case of a semiconductor fabrication module, and reports on early user evaluation of learning histories implemented within SimPLE.

Keywords: HCI, scaffolding, simulation


[HTML [Video]


Nora Project Screenshot

When You're Hot, You're Hot -- And the Computer Knows It
Read article

Tech Reports
Video Reports
Annual Symposium

News
Seminars + Events
Calendar
HCIL Seminar Series
Annual Symposium
HCIL Service Grants
Events Archives
Awards
Job Openings
For the Press
HCIL Overview
Collaborators
Collaborating Groups + People
Academic Visitors
Become a Member
Our Lighter Side
HCIL Store
Give the HCIL a Hand
HCIL T-shirts for Sale
Join our Mailing List
Contact Us
Visit Us
HCIL Memories Page
Faculty/ Staff
Students
Ph.D. Alumni
Past Members
Research Areas
Communities
Design Process
Digital Libraries
Education
Physical Devices
Public Access
Visualization
Research Histories
Faculty Listed by Research
Project Highlights
Project Screenshots
Online Tech Reports
Video Reports
Books
Products
Presentations
Studying HCI
Graduate Studies in HCI
Visiting Scholars
Class Websites
Sponsor our Research
Sponsor our Annual Symposium
Active Sponsorship
Industrial Visitors