Group Support Systems for Innovative Information Science Education
Carina de Villiers, Alan S. Abrahams
Information technology is being used increasingly often in information science education in an attempt to make learning processes more efficient and more effective. Group Support Systems (GSS) are a special example ofthis. A GSS enables students and teachers to maintain multiple communication channels during the lesson activities and so design a cooperative learning process. A number a/practical examples have shown that this changes not only the role ofthe teacher but that it stimulates and motivates students to workon the teaching material. On the basis ofcognitive learning theories there are good indications that the use ofGSS makes learning activities more effective.
Gert-Jan de Vreede is an associate professor at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of Delft University ofTechnology in the Netherlands. He received his PhD in systems engineering from the same university. His main research interests include the application of collaborative technologies to facilitate organizational design activities, and the adoption and diffusion ofGSS in different social-cultural environments. At his faculty, he is responsible for the GSS research program. He has published in Journal of Decision Systems, Journal of Creativity and Innovation Management, Holland Management Review, Journal 0/ Management Information Systems, Group Decision and Negotiation, and Journal ofSimulation Practice and Theory.
Robert 0. Briggs is researchcoordinator atthe Center for the Management ofInformation at the University ofArizona and director ofproduct management at Ventana Corporation. As a researcher he has published more than 50 scholarly works on the theoretical foundations for using collaborative technology to enhance group productivity, group creativity, and group satisfaction. As director ofproduct management at Ventana Corporation, Dr. Briggs applies research findings from the laboratory and the field to the development ofnew collaborative technologies, processes, and working environments. As director of product management for VentanaCorporation Dr. Briggs oversees thefuture evolution of collaborative software products.
Eric L. Santanen is a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona. He has been a co-chair for the Technology Supported Learning Minitrack at the Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences for the past 3 years. His primary research interest deals with developing techniques and technology which can help individuals and groups generatemore creativesolutions to complex problems which confront them. This work is based upon foundations of human cognition. Other collaboration research interests include using Group Support Systems to support distributed, asynchronousprocessmodeling andelicitationofinformation system requirements.
Return to the Table of Contents