The use of streamed audio means that long conversations can be listened to, scanned and tagged without users having to download large files. The Portfolio The Portfolio allows users to collate their work, and also share and comment on other people's work within their on-line community. It provides each user with a list of work items that have been submitted to the system within their user group. Work items currently can be answers to on-line course exercises, recorded audio conversations or personal notes. Users can select different views of their portfolio by choosing items that they have created themselves, produced as part of a group, or which have been made public by tutors or other group members.
Tutors can also view their students' portfolios and store comments against particular work items.
The database All functions provided by the RISE platform are directly controlled by a back-end Oracle TM database. It is possible to define a number of such communities which are entirely independent of each other. Our evaluation has raised issues related to the optimum number of people on such a course, the role of tutors in such an environment, the learning curve for novice users and techniques for scheduling on-line meetings. A second, larger trial is planned to start in early 1997. We are exploring the possibility of using the platform for a number of applications in education and training and for more general communication.