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Establishing Distributed Learning Communities (DLCs) using the Internet
Kevin C. Facemyer
Virtual Professional Development School
College of Education
Washington State University, USA
KCFacemyer@wsu.edu
Gary Brown
Center for Teaching and Learning
Washington State University, USA.
browng@mail.wsu.edu
Nils Peterson
Virtual Professional Development School
College of Education
Washington State University, USA.
Nils_Peterson@wsu.edu
This short paper highlights recent developments at Washington State University (WSU) in
establishing and building Distributed Learning Communities (DLCs) utilizing the Internet; the different styles
of Internet use: Presentation, Interactive or Generative and how each contributes to generation of communities;
and an analysis of new virtual leadership strategies for the Internet.
In March 1995 the WSU Virtual Professional Development School (vPDS) invited the world's P-12
students and teachers to participate in world’s first Virtual Science and Mathematics Fair (vSMF) hosted on
the Internet (This year’s Science Forum is at: http://www.vpds.wsu.edu/sciforum ). Students were asked to
formulate a question (pose a hypothesis) and research it. "Does music affect mice's ability to learn a maze?", or
"Is there a difference in confections created with generic versus name-brand ingredients?" were the types of
question students asked and then answered. The students investigated formally constructed hypotheses, not by
library or reference methodologies, but by running mice through mazes or baking treats and having human
volunteers taste test and indicate preferences. Some of these investigations were done collaborativly at a
distance using the Internet to share data and discusisions. These results were presented in a virtual poster
session. Students and the public were invited to review and discuss the results with the student scientists. The
resulting DLC allowed students to understand that science is conducted not by individuals or even local teams,
but by teams of varying backgrounds, philosophies and theoretical frameworks distributed around the world.
The vSMF participants’ use of the Internet to gather and share data, to make presentations and have
discussions has brought young P-12 student-scientists very close to participating in the critical features of
science as a global enterprise. The features of hypothesizing, investigating, presenting and defending their
work were all enhanced by the use of the Internet to establish the "virtual conference center.” This empirical
research in a collaborative setting, some using distant research collaborations, is very similar to the research
and presentation methodologies of professional scientists in several different fields.
For instance, the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has begun to broadcast over the
Internet sound and video from the control room of its Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor. These results and ensuing
discussions have participants from around the globe. (Butler, 1996) Several other types of distant experiment
and control, such as high voltage electron microscopy, radioastronomy and automated protein modeling are
made possible to remote users by the Internet. That children have discovered similar types of protocols based
on the Internet's ability to aid in communication and control, suggests that these are more advanced modes of
investigation and collaboration than were previously possible without the Internet. The DLCs arose in response
to need rather than edict, and for a purpose similar to professional scientists (generation of knolwedge). This
suggests that DLCs will become an increasingly common work environment as these children grow up and and
become professional users ot the Internet.
As students mature and continue to use the Internet in advanced ways, they will use the Internet in a
varieties of ways. We describe the distribution of the Internet’s use. Three points of use along this continuum
are: Presentation, Interaction, and Generation--or PIG.