DLI-Phase 2: Digital Libraries for Children

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

AbstractIIS-9909086Druin, Allison University of Maryland$0 - 24 mos. (Award totally funded by Division of Undergraduate Education in the amount of $408,437 - 24 mos.) DLI Phase 2: Digital Libraries for Children This project examines the accessibility of digital resources for young children. It considers the different ways that children access, explore, and organize digital learning materials. An interdisciplinary team at the University of Maryland is collaborating with elementary school teachers and children (ages 5-10) to develop a children's digital library environment containing text, image, audio, and video resources on animals. The effort is supported by materials from the Discovery Channel and the U.S. Department of Interior's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Although the demonstration testbed focuses on the content area of animals, the technologies being built and evaluated are not restricted to that use. This is a research project with seven goals: 1) to understand the unique needs of children in learning environments; 2) to develop new visualization techniques for use in children's digital libraries; 3) to develop new collaboration tools for multiple co-located users of digital libraries; 4) to develop new presentation tools for digital library users; 5) to understand the impact of a digital library environment can have on children as researchers and learners; 6) to create support materials and inservice training opportunities for teachers to develop engagement activities that make use of a digital library environment; and 7) to formulate and evaluate new research methods for developing children's digital library technologies. The research is human-centered and is concerned about querying, browsing, organization and presentation. In each of these four areas, the issues of information visualization, collaboration technologies, and impact on children's learning experiences are being considered. Throughout the research process, diverse points of view and a wide range of experience are being incorporated into the evaluation protocols. The outcomes of this research will be important new advances in digital library design, technologies, and practices for children and a suite of educational tools that can be broadly used in the primary school setting.