Constructing GKMS-Based e-Learning Community

Weihua Jiang^1,2，Yaya Chen³，Hongwei Luo¹

¹Dept. of Educational Information Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai200062, China

²Science College, Tibet University Lhasa850000, China

³Shanghai Society Science College, Shanghai200235, China

E-MAIL: whjiang555@163.com, voiceyaya@163.com, angelahong@163.com

Abstract:

Combining the ideas of general knowledge management system and the technology of Wide World Web, a perfect women’s studies knowledge system can be established. Thus, by choosing, classifying and managing correlative knowledge, online academic resource for women’s studies are able to be accumulated, spread and shared, by which women’s studies e-Learning community can be rapidly constructed.

Keywords:

Women’s Studies; GKMS; e-Learning Community

1.         Introduction

In the 21^st century, social gender and women’s studies have been important domains. The thought of women’s studies permeates through other disciplines, and women’s studies have gradually become a popular topic. More and more scholars are engaged in relative research and expect to establish a systematic network platform so as to collect, issue and communicate academic opinions and information. Owing to this situation, mature information technologies and management ideas are introduced into the construction of web-based women’s studies e-Learning community in order to implement systematic academic resource and collaborative knowledge management.

Women’s studies e-Learning community [1] is a new learning organization belonging to the social aggregation of Web concepts, in which women’s studies are regarded as members’ common interest. Those members including scholars, experts, tutors, tutees and Web visitors, have individual differences on gender, features and knowledge levels, and can help each other. According to social constructivism, e-Learning is a series of learning constructing processes embracing knowledge and value all together.

Nowadays, Web-based knowledge management systems supply largely convenience for knowledge owner’s self expression and communication with other knowledge visitors. Feminist online () is just a general knowledge management system [2] combined with system engineering and intelligent tool. To achieve this purpose, we developed an online women’s studies knowledge management system. For the convenience of writing，it can be abbreviated to GKMS.

GKMS can carry out knowledge self-generalized, that is, the system exchanges information and resources from environment, and meanwhile, continuously absorbs knowledge outside and renews knowledge inside. GKMS integrates some modern technology means such as network, multimedia, providing a convenient interactive platform and learning environment for women’s studies e-Learning.

2.         Organization of e-Learning community on knowledge co-construction

To minimize management complexity and visitation risk, GKMS has been set up corresponding access-controls, which are embodied by various authorized identities to browse, log on or manage, that means Roles-Based online access-control.

2.1．Grade for system users

Figure1. Member Identity and Relationship on GKMS-Based e-Learning Community

 “User” is an abstract concept extracted from system operators, every level of users own property depiction and operation qualification. There are six types of users: system user, column user, big genus user, small genus user, auditing user and register. Apart from Register, other users are inner members of system.

2.2．Responsibility for system management

In the respect of management, above-mentioned users all are administrators with different competences according to their different node positions. System administrator is in charge of the multitude of management of system functions. Big genus administrator can manage articles under his competence. Small genus administrator can edit articles under his competence. Register can add articles to every node but can’t delete or shift any article. Super administrator has possession of the top competence, can manage full system functions, and take responsibility for power allocation and knowledge management. Additionally, auditing administrator can add, modify, audit, edit every node article and manage small-genus node，column administrator can manage all columns and all node articles.

In the era of knowledge economy, society features are materialized in both of knowledge creation and management. Knowledge is resource, so is management. Explicit knowledge such as literature data, forum script, conference information, can be coded, shared, and obtained expediently. Nevertheless, implicit knowledge imbedded in brain deeply (instinct and value viewpoint) can’t be expressed in focus such as individual sentiment, task know-how, research experience, etc. And that knowledge creation of GKMS comes into being after the blending of explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge through women’s studies knowledge community constructing.

3.         Situation of e-Learning community on knowledge access

As a groupware, GKMS is an integrated software system of feminist knowledge management [3], knowledge delivery center, communication platform and collaborative learning tools. GKMS is composed of knowledge portal, knowledge depository and system platform to construct learning environment for women’s studies knowledge community.

3. 1．Knowledge portal of GKMS

While all knowledge is deposited into knowledge depository, then the portal is required for someone’s acquisition of knowledge resource, that is, knowledge portal. Knowledge portal of GKMS exhibits ample individual interface design and various flexible push manners.

Ample individual interfaces are designed. First, both designs of CI (corporate identity) and VI (visual identity) for knowledge portal are decent and vivid as well, not only adapting to the academic atmosphere for women’s studies field, but also considering the optimization of ongoing system emotional design, so as to make GKMS a website that members loved to see and hear. Second, starting from topic of women’s studies, the column design of knowledge portal is emphasized on delaminating and enriching women’s studies themes, to suit more web-audience meaningful learning in GKMS. Third, knowledge portal provides many individual services such as user logon, members’ document management, communication online address and knowledge promulgation. Those individual customized function can be served for diverse personal fancy.

So-called various flexible push manners are accordingly some intelligent technology support when members upload structured documents, which are divided into four kinds as recommend news, top heading, scrolling picture and suspending screens. First, recommend news clue to hotspot topic with striking picture to enlarge this information capacity. Second, top heading lists important academic dissertations, literature data and conference information to attract knowledge users’ attention. Third, scrolling pictures place emphasis on knowledge contents with pictures to arouse ordinary visitors’ concern. Fourth, suspending screens show the latest article titles to remind readers. Those diversified push approaches contributed to women’s studies members’ finding the data requested. For example, the push codes for the scrolling picture auto-creating into knowledge portal are described in the following:

<tr>

<td width="79" align="right" class="unnamed2" valign="middle" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">homepage pictures: </td>

<td width="680" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">  

<input name="PicUrl" type="text" id="PicUrl" size="30" maxlength="200" style="background-color:ffffff;border: 1 double" value="<%=trim(rs("picname"))%>">

used in display of homepage picture article or choosing among upload pictures directly: <select name="PicList" id="PicList" onChange="PicUrl.value=this.value;">

<option selected value=" <%=rs("picname")%> "><%=trim(rs("picname"))%></option>

<option>no appointing homepage pictures</option>

<%

set rss=server.createobject("adodb.recordset")

sqls="select * from "& db_Attach_Table &" where NewsID=" & NewsID

rss.open sqls,conn,1,3

do while not rss.eof

if right(rss("filename"),3)="jpg" or right(rss("filename"),3)="bmp" or right(rss("filename"),3)="png" or right(rss("filename"),3)="gif" or right(rss("filename"),3)="swf"

then

response.write "<option value='" & rss("filename") & "'>" & rss("filename") & "</option>"

end if

RSs.MoveNext

Loop

rss.close

set rss=nothing%>

</select>

</td>

</tr>

Above codes imply that, when a picture is added into a webpage, the picture inter-linkage will be auto-added from “used in display of homepage picture article or choosing among upload pictures directly” item. Homepage (knowledge portal) is auto-created by codes. When codes are created, it is judged whether there is a picture or not from “used in display of homepage picture article” item. If there is, this picture will be auto-transferred to display in the homepage.

3.2．Knowledge depository of GKMS

As a special information depository, knowledge depository is a knowledge coding tool, where there are meta-data involved in correlative context and experience. Though many people use knowledge depository instead of data depository and information depository, in fact, it is more complex than others. Knowledge depository includes more entities, it not only stores knowledge entry (ID), but also stores related affair, knowledge using record and origin clue, etc. [4]

As a rule, knowledge depository gathers a variety of information, resources, experiences and prepared schemata for knowledge usage of decision-making. To accelerate implicit knowledge (experience, sentiment and views) integrated and explicated, thousands of information and data are classified through the method of module identity, maximized arithmetic and intelligent technology. Knowledge depository speeds up knowledge creating by supporting service in cooperation and availably avoids the vast cost of re-acquiring knowledge. Combining with intelligent expert system and friendly knowledge interface, knowledge depository would be a useful tool to achieve knowledge renewed and created conveniently.

The column design of GKMS is a method of knowledge classification for managing by the levels, to be easy to access, to delaminate and enrich female theme. The system is divided into twelve columns as follows: Academic Garden, News, Scholar Column, Special Action, Lesbian, Queer Culture, Information Exchange, Hot Discussion, Closest Heart, Marginal Topic, Daily Life and About Us.

Academic Garden: unfolding academic feminist knowledge, it is a column in which topics are social gender and female discipline, as well as relevant resources. News: emphasizing particularly on entertainment news about female knowledge, it is a column which benefits for general browser to know new information on gender. Scholar Column: many scholars are invited to this column that is a vital workplace for them to self-create system innovative knowledge. Special Action: this column is set up some activity to conduct the attention of social life and gender group. Lesbian: with the topic of lesbian, it is a column to explore existing gender and its format or trait. Queer Culture: there are objects based on queer crowd, of which culture are pooled and integrated. Information Exchange: with the clues of dynamic messages, relevant conference, forum and solicit articles would be issued. Hot Discussion: each states his own views on gender, everyone delivers self-opinion. Different viewpoints can renew their thoughts and new knowledge will be brought out. Closest Heart: to impact inner-heart world, to anatomy gender psychology, to unveil emotional puzzle and life difficult matters. Marginal Topic: to support the disadvantaged female group, to listen their faint voice, to understand their survival trouble and help to solute these social problems. Daily Life: with the topic of female by-talk, to express real life tale about common families. About Us: to introduce system tenet and management group, to promulgate user operation guide and correlative statement.

In addition, knowledge column are classified according to knowledge attribute, there are six categories as follows: Academic Garden, Scholar Column and Hot Discussion belong to the category of academic resource; News and Information Exchange belong to the news information; Special Action and Marginal Topic belong to the category of social commonwealth; Lesbian and Queer Culture belong to the category of queer groups; Closest Heart and Daily Life belong to the category of life experience; About Us belong to the category of sysop.

3.3．System platform of GKMS

GKMS is based on web technology and constructed by B/S three layers for the client end use browser accessing and managing system. GKMS is tested under the condition of Windows2000+SP3、Access2000 and IE5.5, in which XML is utilized to describe structured information and to store knowledge, XSL or CSS is cooperated to offer multi-present ways in order to realize the applicability of system from one platform to another, simultaneously to sustain its extensibility and convenience of knowledge circulating and ubiquitous learning.

Figure2 Content Framework in GKMS

RDF (Resource Description Framework), semantic technology to support the search function of GKMS, has already come to maturity. In general, XML allow users to add freewill format content into web document under the circumstance that they don’t explain its implication presented by RDF. There are some triads, each triad is just like subject, verb and object in a sentence, and can be depicted by the label of XML. In RDF, the declaration of document usually is one thing (person, webpage or other things) toward some value (another person, another webpage) provided with some properties (for example, “be a big genus”, “be a picture”). This configuration is used naturally to describe great numbers of data, it seems to be used in links on the webpage, of which subject and object are identified by universal resource identifier（URI）, so is a verb. And that URL (Uniform Resource Locators) seems to be a prevailing URI. In this way, if only everyone defines a URI, just as defines a new concept or a new verb. Semantic technology is adopted in GKMS. Thus, the members of women’s studies knowledge community may intelligently search inner-system knowledge according to the keywords such as heading, content and author, etc.

4.         GKMS comparing with other e-Learning groupware technology on women’s studies

Known as a virtual world, Web supplies abstract activity by constructing imitated situation. There are more advantage on network groupware, yet some of which lack of fresh interaction based on real situation. Therefore, it is very important to design online based on Web. So far, there are lots of network product for interaction between server and client such as Wiki, Blog and BBS. Comparing with those product, GKMS can possess of special usage.

4.1．GKMS vs. Blog

As a coming alternative, Blog integrates some advantage of other network technology. In terms of interactive function, Blog emphasizes on individual expression of private experience and self-thinking. Nowadays, Blog had been opened out groupblog function. Comparing with GKMS, Blog is weak in management of community and interaction, in which there are limited to local uploads, as well as in which there appear lax in discipline and lack of research topic.

4.2．GKMS vs. Wiki

As a hypertext system, Wiki supports cooperative writing for community. Wiki fits to a kind of “All about something” network, which of target is integrality and authority. Wiki can achieve the function of knowledge management partly. Comparing with GKMS, and seems  not enough on security. For example, Wiki adopts the principle of face to public and extracts a number of participants, as well as brings out lots of inevitable risk on decreasing content reliability. In addition, it is a vital default for Wiki that there is lose of individuation.

4.3．GKMS vs. BBS

BBS supplies website where public and private opinions are converged, which has the feature of community discourse, and can enhance the plan of group-shared knowledge and benefits for creating new ideas by collision among difference thoughts. Comparing with GKMS, BBS have more issued information which appear at will and non-original, and have chaos organization on information resources. In addition, it is a significant absent for BBS that only editioner can clear up resources and other original user can’t participate in.

It is a standing out character of GKMS to insist knowledge value, which lead to structure order of inner information resources, and result in port doorsill rising directly. Comparing with Blog and Wiki and BBS, the level of design and management of GKMS trends complication and intellectualized, which stress criterion on users’ operation, all of those bring on mass workload for administration, however, which appear more rarity for knowledge browser to grasp at shotcut and convenient information resources on women’s studies.

5.         GKMS motivating on e-Learning community of knowledge requirement for women’s studies

Besides the group accumulation and individual access to women’s studies knowledge, other main tasks of GKMS are themes of online learning, knowledge promulgation and gender education on women’s studies.

On the one hand, GKMS spreads women’s studies knowledge online, and stressfully appeal to female personal benefit. On the other hand, GKMS provides theory foundation and life materials for the study of literature, history, law, etc. Actually, aforementioned common visions are capable of affording mind focus and spirit energy for women’s studies learning community.

The credit relationship of women’s studies learning community is based on long-term cooperation and pure-hearted intercourse where members have a sense of affiliation and safety. In this co-learning situation, they undertake more social obligation, thus they are willing to reduce difference for one common target.

Users enlist under GKMS acquired through online logging on, and GKMS can boost knowledge creator (scholar, expert, teacher and student) to upload and share individual experience and academic production in order to carry out inter-subjective alteration in women’s studies’ learning community.

In fact, it is the most difficult that people throw themselves into GKMS and respond for website instantly, erecting common vision of women’s studies learning community, driving the relationship of confidence and cooperation in inner-community and strengthening the social interaction of GKMS, all of these sociality factors contribute greatly to women’s studies community online learning.

6.         Conclusions

Along with the emergence of knowledge economy and the penetration of constructivism theory, people ceaselessly try to understand the essence and the form of self-learning. Making use of internet and depending on the information integration of supply chain [5], the academic resources (learning stream, information stream and knowledge stream) of GKMS could be co-established to maximize the share and innovation of knowledge depository for women’s studies learning community in the various activities of learning, education and research in China. Aforementioned ideas are able to achieve its activity field informatization, and used for reference to transit special knowledge from artificial management to digital management.

Acknowledgements

This paper is supported by Mr. Bo Sun, who provides individual human resources and technology maintenance. And thanks for Mr. Haiming Hu checking grammar on final paper.

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