Web-based Group Seminar Environment Design And Development

In global information age, many important decisions can't make by an individual. Eighty percent of the complex problems require group to make decisions. This paper, firstly, introduces the tools of supporting group activities, and then mainly discusses the design and develop of Group Argumentation Environment(GAE), which is guided by Meta-Synthesis.Meta-Synthesis is put forward by Qian, who is a famous scientist of our country, in 90th last century. He then advanced Hall for Workshop of Metasynthetic Engineering(HWMSE) again. Meta-Synthesis is an excellent method for solving complex problems. Guided by this method, GAE system provides an argumentation environment for experts, which combines the quantitative modeling computing with the qualitative experts' knowledge. The system transforms quality to quantity, developing the man-machine combined.GAE is a 'Ba', which supports both collaborative technique and knowledge creation. The system supports group thinking model and solves the complex problems with qualitative group argumentation. 'Argumentation' is a group collaborative activity in nature. The process of collaboration contains the group's knowledge sharing and creation.GAE is basically a browser-server argumentation system, which supports loosely coupled group's activities, including group thinking and group decision modules, called Knowledge Creation tool and Knowledge Synthesis tool respectively. Knowledge Creation tool supports experts divergent thinking and qualitatively analyzing complex problems. The characteristic of this Ba is applying the dual scaling method to visualize the experts' argumentation contents, which can encourage participation, facilitate users assimilate others ideas, and stimulate emergence of more creative ideas. Knowledge Synthesis tool applies the AHP and NGT method, which are convergent method, to quantitatively testify the structure problems. In a word, GAE system is an environment for solving complex problems.