KNOW – Knowledge Network and Online Whiteboard

KNOW originates from a cooperation between two departments (D-GESS and D-ARCH) and ties together their different predominant modes of thoughts. That is, KNOW combines the production of propositional Knowledge (which is typical for philosophy) with visual-spatial strategies (as typical for architecture); and it does so on the basis of a browser-based online whiteboard including various publishing interfaces. The aim of the project is to create a simple as well as powerful tool for collaborative work in large groups. Different media such as texts, pictures, and thumbsketches can be placed directly and freely on the whiteboard by using the drag+drop function. Moreover, media can be scaled, grouped, described, and commented on.
KNOW can be used as a supportive tool for the classroom as well as a means for asynchronous and spatially distributed work (private study).
KNOW is particularly suited for embedding MOOCs and TORQUEs and for putting those into a wider framework of interactive usage and reflection.
There will be a printing interface which allows for a quick transformation of newly synthesized online knowledge into a physical output. Here printed matter from handouts to small booklets will be generated in a graphically appealing way. Additional interfaces will allow for selective publications on social media.
KNOW is coded as an Electron App (https://electron.atom.io/) and will be agnostic with respect to systems software. The functionality and graphical appearance of KNOW is deliberately simple because the focus is on establishing connections and on critical reflection in an interdisciplinary and collaborative framework. The SiP course «Philosophical Reflections on Digital Methods in Architecture», held by Norman Sieroka und Hannes Mayer, functions as a case study in which KNOW is currently tested and refined with the help of about 40 students.

• Transparent user activity: Any activity is always visible to all participants. In this way, KNOW promotes collaborative and critical student participation at the content level.
• User-friendliness: Robustness and easy handling of the web application.
• Transferability / scalability: KNOW is suitable for both in-class and remote teaching or hybrid forms with small to very large groups.

KNOW enables collaborative, interactive work for small as well as very large groups live in any browser using a wide range of media formats (text, images). The process of knowledge production itself is made visible and can be converted into a digital or physical product at any time via the direct publishing interface (print-on-demand).

KNOW can and should be constantly measured according to the current demands of teachers (in different subject areas) and updated or extended – the direct integration of a videoconference/chat function, for instance, is a good idea (due to the current high level of online teaching).

From the official teaching evaluation for the Philosophical Reflection on Digital Methods course (HS18), which was taught exclusively via KNOW:

“These things really made the course into something extra: – The variation in how the sessions were, both in form and content. How we one time discussed as a House of Commons, and once as a Swiss political meeting. – The good and insightful extra explanations by the teachers each time after reading, and how we could then ask questions and understand things that we didn’t see or understand at first by reading. All in all, I’m impressed with the course, and I learnt a lot. It was best course of this type that I have had!”

Lessons learned and advice are documented in detail in the following publication: Hannes Mayer und Norman Sieroka: Interdisciplinary Classroom and Remote Learning Using a Knowledge Network Online Whiteboard (KNOW). ETH Learning & Teaching Journal 2(1), 2020, 94-102. (see attachment)

• Interdisciplinary Classroom and Remote Learning Using a Knowledge Network Online Whiteboard (KNOW)
• Learning and Teaching Fair 2020