Changes between Version 4 and Version 5 of BoltIntro

Timestamp:

Oct 3, 2007, 9:32:13 AM (18 years ago)

Author:

davea

Comment:

--

BoltIntro

@@ -3 +3 @@
 [[T(DesignDocument)]]
 
-Bolt is a software infrastructure for creating web-based training courses.
+Bolt is a software infrastructure for creating web-based training courses,
+and is designed to meet the needs of:
+
+ * Skill aggregation project, in which volunteers must be trained to perform various tasks;
+ * Volunteer computing, in which educating participants can increase their enthusiasm and commitment.
+
+These areas have properties that are much different from those of formal education:
+
+ * Churn: constant turnover, thousands of new students per day
+ * Wide geographical distribution
+ * Wide age distribution
+ * Motivation: most volunteers have a pre-existing interest in the topic, and are motivated by acknowledgement (e.g. being marked as an "expert" on the project web site)
+
+== What Bolt does ==
+
 Using Bolt, you can
 
@@ -29 +43 @@
  * Bolt offers micro-analytic tools that let you compare a set of alternative lessons, identifying those which are uniformly better, or are better for a particular demographic subgroup.
 
+[[Image(http://boinc.berkeley.edu/images/minard_napoleon.jpg)]]
+
 == Creating exercises ==
 
 == Course documents ==
+
+== The bigger picture ==
+
+Bolt's primary goal is to serve the needs of volunteer computing and skill aggregation projects.
+However, we believe that it can also become a tool for research in education and cognitive science,
+for a variety of reasons:
+
+ * Experiments can be deployed with large sample sizes.
+ * Experiments can be deployed immediately, with no dependence on the academic calendar.  Significant results are available in days rather than months or years.
+ * The student population varies widely in age, language, and education level.
+ * The student population is self-selecting for interest in the topic area, and has diverse learning goals.
+ * Experiments are not limited by standards or syllabi.
+ * Experiments can be conducted without dependence on educational institutions or teachers.