Concepts for Cooperative Knowledge Spaces in Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Abstract

Cooperative knowledge spaces have a high potential to improve eLTR (eLearning, eTeaching and eResearch) at universities. Since there are few implementations deployed, notably in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering, we propose a concept for field-specific knowledge spaces for those disciplines -"ViCToR"-Spaces (virtual cooperation in teaching and research for mathematics, natural sciences and engineering). ViCToR-Spaces present novel collaborative working environments for knowledge gain and research, supporting well-established forms of scientific and technological cooperation without geographical or technological boundaries. In this article, we describe the requirements for ViCToR-Spaces, the components that are already available, and further developments