A、Exchange information on dates. B、Perform computations. C、A means of communication. D、Process data. A

I’d like to talk about Inquiry Page collaboratory. We’ve had quite in opportunity today to share ideas about Inquiry Learning, but before we go, I’d like to take a few minutes to explain what we mean when we say the Inquiry Page is a collaboratory. First I’m going to describe what collaboratory is. Then, I’m going to talk about the types of things members of a collaboratory can do. Finally I’ll talk about the immediate and future benefits of belonging to a collaboratory.
A collaboratory is an environment where people can share resources and information. Historically, the problem with this kind of sharing was that generally only a few copies of any given resource were available. Today with the Internet, we can make unlimited copies of digital resources. Many of the resources we find useful and find valuable for Inquiry Learning are those we create ourselves, and those that others allow to be freely distributed. A collaboratory is a way to share those resources. A collaboratory generally serves a specific community of interest. For example, the Inquiry Page collaboratory serves instructors who are interested in Inquiry learning.
    Here I brought along my turtle drawings. I use them to demonstrate that a collaboratory is not simply a set of technologies like chatrooms, Webboards and HTML pages. A collaboratory is a living, breathing community of people with a common interest who come together using several types of media. This shell of tools and technologies, etc. is just a way a community communicates and shares its resources. One medium of coming together is this workshop, where those of us who are interested in inquiry learning meet face-to-face to share our stories. Technology can provide other ways for us to come together. There was a time when computers were used only to perform computations. Later, computers were used to process data. Increasingly, computers have become a means of communication. While nothing can beat the richness of the exchanges we had today, meeting face-to-face, coming together through the collaboratory tools can provide a way for us to meet without leaving our classrooms, homes or offices. These tools also enable us to meet asynchronously, which means we can talk to each other without having to find a time that will be convenient for everybody involved in the discussion. There’s an additional advantage, in that everybody’s voice can be heard. We can all talk at once using collaborative technologies. There is also the major advantage that, because the discussion takes place in textual form, a written record remains and that record can be shared. Internet discussions are self-documenting.
    At this workshop, many of us have had an opportunity to share our experiences with Inquiry Learning. The Inquiry Page collaboratory is a place to continue that sharing. The Inquiry unit is another way to share. The form that you saw earlier today is a semantic tool for telling our stories. The form presents all of the semantic categories we’ve come up with so far when we’ve tried to describe our experiences and with Inquiry. This list of categories in the unit form is not exhaustive; it’s just a starting point. Right now we have 26 categories, but we have the ability to add hundreds more if they’re useful. Can you imagine what the form would look like then? That leads to problems about how to make units easy to use and understand, which brings me to the second point I want to talk about...
16. Which one of the following statements best describes the term "collaboratory"?
17. What does a collaboratory generally serve?
18. The speaker illustrated many functions of the computer. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
19. What shall happen if the 26 categories are useful?
20. What will the speaker probably talk about next?