Implementing the Learning Web

The implementation of a system to support a learning web (Norrie and Gaines, 1995) involves the coordinated support of a wide range of knowledge processes in a learning community. These include the discourse processes among members of the community, the dissemination of knowledge through documents and multimedia resources, the elicitation, sharing and comparison of conceptual structures, and the exploration of the consequences of knowledge through simulation and application. Currently the Internet provides excellent tools supporting discourse such as email list servers, and supporting multimedia resource dissemination through World Wide Web (web) servers and browsers. Mediator, a prototype learning web implementation, involves integrating these existing tools with new ones supporting the collaborative modeling of conceptual structures through questionnaires, concept maps and repertory grids. This article describes the Mediator architecture and its implementation on the web, and describes and exemplifies the use of existing facilities and the additional tools.