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Web search as an interactive learning environment for graduation projects.

Article Excerpt
This paper presents a novel concept--a Web search environment as an interactive learning environment for graduation projects. The paper addresses the question of an appropriate learning environment for writing graduation projects in universities: Can it be defined? What should it be? How should it look? How and when should it be used? The premise presented is that one of the best learning environments for writing original, high academic level graduation projects already exists and is widely used--the Web search capability and its environment. A survey of this subject and its analysis is presented.

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INTRODUCTION

This paper presents a novel concept, another view of a Web search--the use of Web search as an interactive learning environment (ILE) for writing an academic graduation project (GP). Writing GPs is a compulsory task for students receiving a bachelor's degree in Israeli and in most other universities and colleges. Students must write several mini-projects or seminar papers to earn their degree (the number of projects varies from two to six). The project or seminar paper should be an original paper based on current research and development in the area of the student's choice (or more correctly the area of interest to the instructor (Zviel-Girshin, 2003)).

One of the questions that is of immense importance for achieving the educational goals of writing a GP is "Can a good learning environment be designed for such a project?"

This paper analyzes the process of writing GPs in the past, present, and future. It claims that one of the best and omnipresent learning environments for this purpose is Web search engines and the Web browser environment.

THE PAST

Mini-projects or seminar courses are academic courses taken mostly during the student's last year in a university or college. An instructor or a team of instructors selects subjects and proposes subjects about which students might write. The aim is research, self-study, and a deeper understanding of the subjects. Instructors usually recommend some relevant articles and books for initial reading. At the end of the term, each student writes an original GP of relatively high academic level. The project should present the selected subject, explaining the problems, solutions, and innovations in that area of research. In case of a mini-project in computer science or engineering, students sometimes develop applications such as software, hardware, or electronic circuitry.

During the term students are encouraged to find more materials related to the selected subject and enrich their own knowledge of it. In the past, before the World Wide Web, information retrieval usually took place in the library. The knowledge of the librarian and library catalogs were used. According to statistical data, the search and information retrieval took from 2-3 days to 2-3 weeks (Zviel-Girshin, 2003).

In the past, the information retrieval process was library-centered. The library database was the basic and commonly used tool for data retrieval. Databases were not necessarily computerized and most used different formats of information encoding, labeling, and classification. Consequently, students had to study special...

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