Self organised learning environments

CoFIND

CoFIND is a technology underlying a number of applications designed to assist the development of self-organised network-based learning environments.

Looking for a working version?

http://ltsn.cofind.net/ is a CoFIND devoted to the learning of computer science.

http://dev.cofind.net is nearly the latest research version - not necessarily working perfectly!

http://edtech.it.bton.ac.uk/cfdev2/ is the latest research version. No promises about whether it works at all, but almost the most interesting one available

http://jondron.cofind.net is my own CoFIND site. Absolutely the most recent version, it is slightly customised for my own use. Though you will not be allowed to add anything, rating is still possible and just moving through the site will change its behaviour for everyone.

Note:  CoFIND systems require you to log in, though later versions do give some anonymous access. All of the versions listed here allow you to self-register. Passwords are hidden and CoFIND uses MD5 encoding to conceal them internally. However, to be safe it would be wise to avoid using passwords that you wish to remain secure.

Looking for the source code?

The current CoFIND was developed for the LTSN-ICS. This is a complete rewrite of the CoFIND system in PHP and MySQL with only structural similarities to the original ASP/Access version. The functionality is still a bit limited, but this is a much more powerful, scalable and open system than the original. Get the source code here (or contact jon@cofind.net for a more up to date version with greater functionality) A more recent and fully-featured version is available here

Classic versions

http://edtech.it.bton.ac.uk/cofind4a/ was the final ASP-based version of CoFIND. In some ways more interesting than the current version, but much flakier.

http://edtech.it.bton.ac.uk/mscisassignment/resource/getemail.asp was the first version of the system. Looking back, it had some interesting features that were lost in later versions.

Looking for papers and further information?

My PhD, Achieving self-organisation in network-based learning environments, 2002 (PDF)

Termites in the Schoolhouse: Stigmergy and Transactional Distance in an E-learning Environment (from Ed-Media 2004)

The Blog and the Borg - a collective approach to e-learning (from E-Learn 2003)

Evaluating assessment using n-dimensional filtering (from E-Learn 2002)

CoFIND-sharing to learn (poster from LTSN-ICS 2002)

Footpaths in the Stuff Swamp (from WebNet 2001)

Getting out of the Stuff Swamp Alive (from UKAIS 2001)

Paper for WebNet 2000 (Steps towards a self-organised learning environment)

Short paper for WebNet 2000 (Collaboratively discovering what makes a website good)

ISKO 6 paper- Darwin among the Indices

Poster paper for WWW9, Towards a self-organising learning environment

My award-winning paper for WebNet 99  CoFIND- an Experiment in N-Dimensional Collaborative Filtering

Powerpoint presentations

Termites in the Schoolhouse (Ed-Media 2004)

Evaluating assessment using n dimensional filtering (eLearn 2002)

Footpaths in the stuff swamp (Webnet 2001)

CoFIND- steps towards a self-organising learning environment  (WebNet 2000)

Website Evaluation System- Collaboratively Discovering what makes a Website Good (2000)

Presentation (Powerpoint) used in ISKO6 (2000)

May 99 presentation about my research interests

Old systems (may not all be working)

Previous development version of CoFIND -  full of a mixture of mostly useless data, this is a good place to get the hang of how to use the full-blown system

CoFIND in support of a network management module

CoFIND for the collaborative discovery of the qualities of web pages - cut-down version used to rate web pages according to user-entered criteria for a level 2 module in HCI

CoFIND as a platform for a conventionally taught module -used to provide support for a level 2 module in network technologies. File upload and topic addition disabled.

Use of CoFIND 1 for MSc Information Systems, 1999 - the first ever version. It is likely that you won't get to see much as the qualities had a tendency to die after periods of inactivity.

 

Dwellings

Dwellings (formerly known as Epimethea, formerly The Pavement) is a new system based partly on lessons learnt from CoFIND and partly on a theoretical approach derived from Jane Jacobs's "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." Like CoFIND it is a collaborative resource database which makes use of social navigation to guide and influence its inhabitants. Unlike CoFIND it is essentially a communication space where users interact in (almost) real-time. It aims to fill the spaces between websites: like real pavements, it provides routes between websites where people can meet others, chat, admire the view and so on.

Dwellings

Version of Dwellings including (self-referentially) a presentation about Dwellings (from the University of Brighton's Learning and Teaching Conference, 2004)

Presentations and papers

Note: Dwellings (AKA The Pavement and Epimethea) is also mentioned in several of the more recent papers in the CoFIND section of this page

Sidewalks on the Information Superhighway (presentation to University of Arizona, November 2003)

Older systems

Protoype of Epimethea

Prototype of The Pavement - note that this requires a screen resolution of at least 1024 pixels across and (ideally) Mozilla or other Gecko-derived browsers, although it will also mostly work with Internet Explorer 6. Opera is not supported, nor are older web browsers. Although it will work at lower resolutions it will not necessarily be a very pleasant experience.

The Site Market

The Site Market is a system based on self-organising principles (primarily stigmergy and evolution) which operates as a market economy. Like CoFIND and Dwellings, it is a recommender system for websites. It attempts to make use of the desire of users to achieve success for their "market stalls" which contain their lists of websites. Combining social navigation (stigmergy) and evolutionary principles (reproduction with variation and natural selection) it encourages the development of good groups of websites. A protoype of the Site Market is available here.