State of Learnstream.page

From Feb 17, 2011. 

Although we've had some difficulties defining Learnstream, at some point in time I may have said that Learnstream is a way to integrate original video and text sources with a spaced-repetition system.

But that isn't really a reason for people to use it.

There is a reason for people to use spaced-repetition systems: they are very effective at helping people memorize things. Specifically easily stated facts. My hope with Learnstream was that the extra power of document integration would extend the power of SRS beyond the usual cases of simple facts. But this still has not be conclusively demonstrated.

There have been some cool ways that we've seen Learnstream used in the analysis course, and this gives us hope. We've seen lots of people who want to type out answers themselves, and interaction between students in clarifying issues. On the other hand, people haven't used SRS religiously as it's intended, and features like voting are mostly neglected. So we have a lot to learn from our users.

On the other end of the spectrum, the goal is not to make something that simply appeals to the most people (after all, how many people will line up to study?) but, because it is a social site, to build something that at least attracts a critical number of users.

## Defining a new mission

Our new mission needs to be stated in terms of the way people use it to learn -- though it may require some shifts in the way people are used to learning and working.  More generally, I propose that there are two options:

1. Find some pedagogical practice that is integrable with Learnstream, in its current state or otherwise, and integrate it.
2. Work under the assumption that optimal online learning will involve a fundamental shift in learning. This is hugely ambitious and will require a lot of thinking and testing with real people. Then it will require convincing and training people (though we presumably will already have the tool to train them =)

The way we use SRS seems to be hinting at a possibility of #2. But we may want to consider #1. One way to achieve this, I believe, is by incorporating multi-user chat, which will better allow us to emulate many kinds of live classroom experiences. But that is for a later email.

## Using new strategies

The art of software development has been extensively studied, and, as it turns out, we haven't rediscovered all of it ourselves.

I've been looking into extreme programming methods, and I would be very much inclined to employ these, especially if work were to continue over the summer. Thanks to using Pivotal Tracker, we already have a few things right, but there would still be some major shifts.

One of the biggest issues, which ties into the user experience point I’m making, is that extreme programming demands on-site customers who are directing the project at every moment. For the most part we are our own customers, which doesn't really work. 

I'd also argue that even if Prof. Su or an analysis student were willing to play the role, that this real analysis course isn't really ideal for the purposes of Learnstream. The students have a huge time and mental investment in the homework, which we aren't able to leverage at all with the site. 

## The direction now

Currently, two issues are complicating what we do with the project.

1. We'll be showing it to Bill Gates on March 10.  
2. Whatever is going on for the summer.
 
A great situation would be if we can work on the AP Physics course with other people developing the course specifically for the site who could be the “customer.” Alternately, it could be that some other new course is being developed or at least renovated, and we could convince the instructor to act as our customer over the rest of the semester and the summer.

I’d say that up to March 10, which is in exactly three weeks, we should do the most we can to make the current site outwardly good. I would hope this is enough development to give the analysis students a reasonably good experience for the rest of the semester. After that, we can consider possible major shifts and talk to department chairs about whether there is any new course activity.