Extending record and playback technologies to support cooperative learning

We have long-term experience with developing and employing multimedia materials for on-campus and distance education. We also are assessing the efficacy of cooperative learning where groups of learners explore, with guidance from an instructor, the learning environment and construct models of meaning based on their shared learning experiences. Our core technologies capture and store classroom events, but are record-and-playback technologies focused on delivering content to individual learners. We describe an extension of our technology, Cooperative learning in MANIC (CLIMANIC), which allows groups of learners and teachers to collaborate and communicate. We describe our current assessment of CLIMANIC and future plans for more extensive evaluation.