Using Groupware to Enhance Teaching and Learning in Undergraduate Economics

Computer-assisted instruction has been around for some time, but only in the last few years have economists begun using the tools of local area networks and the Internet for teaching purposes. Instructors have used Gopher, electronic mail, and list-servs or newsgroups for disseminating information about their courses and have even held rudimentary electronic discussions outside of the classroom.' But more recent technologies such as groupware hold greater promise. Groupware is a generic term for network-based software designed to facilitate group activities such as discussions, debates, joint papers, or team projects. Groupware combines elements of Web pages, electronic bulletin boards, and discussion lists to create a shared hypermedia environment in which multiple users can read and edit each other's files synchronously or asynchronously. The market leader is Lotus NOTES, although a variety of other products are available.2 Originally intended to enhance business decisionmaking processes, this class of software has potential for classroom use as well.3 Imagine a discussion of a topic that takes place, not in a classroom on a given day but rather electronically over days or even weeks, where participants have the time and opportunity to reflect and explore the various issues. Use of software does not preclude face-toface classroom meetings, but it certainly goes beyond them. In addition to traditional text materials, participants may draw on electronic documents supplied by the instructor or available from the Internet. Over the course of the discussion, participants literally construct a reusable base of knowledge. The theoretical justification for using groupware comes from the active learning paradigm known as constructivism. Using traditional pedagogy, an instructor might present a lecture, that is, the refined product of his own research, whereas a constructivist would provide an environment in which students construct their own understanding of the source materials (e.g., a class discussion). A constructivist might ask students to read from a bibliography of sources instead of a textbook. Although a lecturer is likely to deliver a better product, in the sense of a more knowledgeable interpretation of the literature, proponents of constructivism argue that students are likely to learn more from the process of digging through the materials. Jonassen et al. (1995, 16) explain, "knowledge construction occurs when stu