Knowledge Construction and Sharing in Quorum

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report on a continuing research effort aimed at the design and development of large-scale international computer network connecting schools in at least ten countries throughout Latin America. Toward this end, the University of West Florida and IBM Latin America have initiated a joint partnership called "Quorum: Collaboration without Boundaries." The project is large and multifaceted. In addition to providing physical connectivity, it includes teacher training and development of the curriculum material and building advanced software tools necessary to support student collaboration across classrooms and countries. This paper is focused on Project Quorum's support for collaboration at the knowledge level across classrooms and continents. Introduction As part of Project Quorum, we are developing a system (provisionally called Pangea) to empower students to collaborate in the construction and sharing of models of their beliefs about specific domains..