First Workshop, Oeiras, Portugal, Nov 29-30, 1996

David Pearce

Compulog Net held its first workshop and planning meeting to discuss the introduction of a European-wide distributed graduate programme in Computational Logic in Oeiras near Lisbon on November 29-30, 1996. The meeting attracted 16 participants, including network representatives from different countries, experts in the fields of distance-teaching and multimedia in education, and representatives from the network's nodes. The workshop comprised technical presentations from invited speakers and other participants, as well as planning and discussion sessions.

The first day was given over largely to technical issues connected with mutimedia and the internet. Manuel Hermenegildo (UPM) discussed some of the challenges and opportunites for applying computational logic on the world wide web, describing and demonstrating libraries and tools currently being developed at the Madrid node. This was followed by a presentation by Tamara Sumner and John Domingue of the UK's Open University (OU) and its Knowledge Media Institute (Kmi). They described general trends, policies and services at the OU and gave demos of some of the multimedia software currently used and under development at the Kmi. This included the Kmi Stadium, a virtual WWW stadium where visitors can listen to guest lectures, put questions, and enter into discussion with other listeners around the world; the ISVL, a web-based interactive environment and support tool for teaching Prolog; and the Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JiME), a hypertext journal offering the reader various interactive and discussion facilities. Aside from its technical expertise, the OU has a genuinely worldwide presence, with 140 000 students, 300 study centres, and 4000 exam venues in 90 countries. It can license course materials and provide internationally recognised validation of courses and degree programmes.

Antonio Natali (Bologna) described distance-teaching programmes linking Bologna with smaller regional towns, like Cesena, as well as the Italian Nettuno project, a collaboration between different universities to develop shared courses with multimedia support tools. In particular, Bologna is using ISDN-videoconferencing for one-to-one tutorials with Cesena within its Computer Science programme. Wolfgang Nejdl (Hannover) demonstrated web-based support for teaching a CS introduction course at the University of Hannover. The WWW is used for presenting course materials, posting exercises and answers, and for discussion and newsgroups. 60-70% of students take the course directly from home.

All particpants involved in distance-teaching stressed the importance of asynchronous communication, allowing students to work through course material and interact with tutors and other students at any time of their choice.

Presentations on Day 2 focused on the possible content of a computational logic programme and on various aspects of distributed teaching. Matthias Baaz described the CL degree at the Technical University Vienna, a five-year programme that has been in place since 1991. Jan van Eijck (CWI, Amsterdam) discussed the Dutch Graduate School in Logic, a distributed PhD programme involving five different main partner institutes and several associates. Alexandre Cerveira's presentation of the Portugese "Open University" was then followed by brief overviews of the programmes, activities and the needs of the remaining universities represented: Dresden, Uppsala, Leeds, Saarbruecken and Lisbon (Universidade Nova).

Discussion and Planning

Several sessions were devoted to a general discussion of the aims, scope, possible content and steps to implementation of Compulog Net graduate programmes, and a list of recommendations and an action plan was endorsed.

PhD Programme

It was suggested that at the PhD level the network should (continue to) support cooperation between nodes by encouraging mobility of doctoral students and joint thesis supervision. However, since many European countries impose no formal coursework requirements on their PhD students, it would be impractical to try to instigate a Compulog Net doctoral degree. Rather it should be encouraged that courses developed within a Masters programme be recommended to doctoral students by their supervisors or their host institutions and be formally recognised by those institutions having PhD coursework.

Masters Programme

It was agreed that the network should focus primarily on Masters-level courses and work towards creating an internationally recognised one-year Masters Programme in Computational Logic, pitched at roughly the level of the British MSc. This could proceed in two main steps.

(1) Modules corresponding to around 120 study hours (equivalent roughly to 2 hrs/week of lectures over a 13-14 week semester) should be developed for each of the core areas of computational logic and specialised extensions and/or applications of it.

The modules should be designed for distance-teaching and include multmedia support tools, especially involving the WWW.

Individual modules could be recognised by institutions within the network so that students taking an existing degree programme (at whatever appropriate level) could take one or more modules as an accredited part of their studies, similar to the pattern currently used within Erasmus/Socrates programmes. If necessary, ECTS (the now widely-used European Community Course Credit Transfer System) could be used to award credits.

Modules could fall within two (or more) "study tracks": eg. material aimed at the needs of typical university Masters and Diploma programmes; material of a more applied kind, of special interest to industry. Modules of either kind could be taken individually by industrial users.

Once a module has been developed and recognised, it should be made available for study immediately.

For each module there should be very clearly defined prerequisites, aims and benefits stated.

The network should send out a Call to which nodes should respond tendering for all or part of a module design. Some titles and guidelines for standard materials/modules may be provided, but in general nodes may propose additional or modified modules.

The network will set-up a review body and procedure in order to evaluate proposals, select promising ones, and encourage internode cooperation.

(2) Once a sufficiently comprehensive selection of approved modules is in place, a Compulog Net Masters Degree in Computational Logic should be set-up. The degree would be awarded on the basis of successful completion of a predesignated selection/number of modules and a written Masters thesis or practical project, supervised by one of the participating institutions. The degree would correspond roughly to one year of full-time study and research.

The programme can be supplemented by a summer school, eg. the European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information, to which the network already contributes, and possibly even virtual summer schools for less mobile participants.

Individual modules, as well as the Masters degree as a whole, require official recognition by (one or more) authorised educational institutions. The network should investigate the possibility of using the UK's Open University Validation Services for the appropriate accreditation (and/or similar services elsewhere).

The network will seek appropriate support and funding from the European Commision for developing, implementing and operating the planned programme.

Remarks

Pitching modules at the level(s) of the British MSc seems to provide the greatest flexibility. They can be used at graduate level in those countries, like Britain and Ireland, having a Bachelor's degree, and as advanced, fourth or fifth year, courses in other systems, like the Italian "Laurea" or the German "Diplom".

The network's Masters Degree is not intended to substitute for an existing degree in those countries having a single 5-6 year study programme (and would not be recognised as an "equivalent"). However, just as individual modules might offerinteresting material for use within such a programme, the Masters as a whole may still have appeal as a highly focussed course of study and would be likely to offer an enrichment to existing Computer Science, AI, Logic or Cognitive Science programmes.

The Masters programme, and its individual modules, will have added appeal through "quality", based on the network's vast human expertise and technical resources.

The range of topics covered should be wide, providing appeal to universities that are locally only able to cover parts of the CL curriculum. There are several advantages to making the modules based on distance-teaching. Primarily, it avoids the need for student mobility and therefore special accompanying programmes to support this. Consequently, it will have greater appeal for part-time students, persons from industry, students of existing programmes, the less mobile, etc. It allows materials to be used and re-used at any time, providing appropriate tutorial and examination facilities are available. It promotes cooperation between teachers in setting-up and maintaining modules, which then exist and can be used independent of those teachers' availability at a particular time and place; this may help to improve quality. The use of multimedia support and distance-teaching allows for new technologies and tools to be employed and for increased visibility - again improving quality and quality-control.

At present it is left open whether a student enrolling in the full degree programme may only do so if also enrolled at a participating educational institution, or whether 'external' students can be accepted. The set-up should allow for either case.

Summary and Justification

The programme as a whole

- should provide a service to the scientific community

- and to the European industry,

- should stimulate cooperation between the nodes,

- should increase the visibility of the network,

- promote computational logic,

- and provide more coherence and "identity" to the network.

In summary, the programme should contribute to several EU-supported goals:

- developing multimedia information and communication environments

- enhancing distance-teaching methods and instruments

- increasing European integration in higher education

- improving skills and training in industry

- enhancing the information society