The design and implementation of an adaptive e-learning system

This paper describes the design and implementation of an adaptive e-learning system that provides a template for different learning materials as well as a student model that incorporates five distinct student characteristics as an aid to learning: primary characteristics are prior knowledge, learning style and the presence or absence of animated multimedia aids (multimedia mode); secondary characteristics include page background preference and link colour preference. The use of multimedia artefacts as a student characteristic has not previously been implemented or evaluated. The system development consists of a requirements analysis, design and implementation. The design models including use case diagrams, conceptual design, sequence diagrams, navigation design and presentation design are expressed using Unified Modelling Language (UML). The adaptive e-learning system was developed in a template implemented using Java Servlets, XHTML, XML, JavaScript and HTML. The template is a domain-independent adaptive e-learning system that has functions of both adaptivity and adaptability

London SynEx Demonstrator Site: Impact Assessment Report

The key ingredients of the SynEx-UCL software components are: 1. A comprehensive and federated electronic healthcare record that can be used to reference or to store all of the necessary healthcare information acquired from a diverse range of clinical databases and patient-held devices. 2. A directory service component to provide a core persons demographic database to search for and authenticate staff users of the system and to anchor patient identification and connection to their federated healthcare record. 3. A clinical record schema management tool (Object Dictionary Client) that enables clinicians or engineers to define and export the data sets mapping to individual feeder systems. 4. An expansible set of clinical management algorithms that provide prompts to the patient or clinician to assist in the management of patient care. CHIME has built up over a decade of experience within Europe on the requirements and information models that are needed to underpin comprehensive multiprofessional electronic healthcare records. The resulting architecture models have influenced new European standards in this area, and CHIME has designed and built prototype EHCR components based on these models. The demonstrator systems described here utilise a directory service and object-oriented engineering approach, and support the secure, mobile and distributed access to federated healthcare records via web-based services. The design and implementation of these software components has been founded on a thorough analysis of the clinical, technical and ethico-legal requirements for comprehensive EHCR systems, published through previous project deliverables and in future planned papers. The clinical demonstrator site described in this report has provided the solid basis from which to establish "proof of concept" verification of the design approach, and a valuable opportunity to install, test and evaluate the results of the component engineering undertaken during the EC funded project. Inevitably, a number of practical implementation and deployment obstacles have been overcome through this journey, each of those having contributed to the time taken to deliver the components but also to the richness of the end products. UCL is fortunate that the Whittington Hospital, and the department of cardiovascular medicine in particular, is committed to a long-term vision built around this work. That vision, outlined within this report, is shared by the Camden and Islington Health Authority and by many other purchaser and provider organisations in the area, and by a number of industrial parties. They are collectively determined to support the Demonstrator Site as an ongoing project well beyond the life of the EC SynEx Project. This report, although a final report as far as the EC project is concerned, is really a description of the first phase in establishing a centre of healthcare excellence. New EC Fifth Framework project funding has already been approved to enable new and innovative technology solutions to be added to the work already established in north London

Teaching Web Development Technologies: Past, Present, and (Near) Future

The advent of the World Wide Web not only fundamentally changes the way we do things, it also greatly changes how computer software are built. While this profound evolution of software development has caused many in the software industry to change their way of developing software, it has not caused many in the academics to change their way of teaching computing. This paper describes the evolution of a course that teaches web development technologies. The contents of the course in three different iterations, the observations made, the available educational resources employed, and the challenges ahead for the course are presented

A High Performance and Platform Independent Web-Based Distance Learning Environment

The growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) has significantly increased the amount of online information and services available to the general population of society. The fast development of high-powered communication technology, together with an increasingly computer-wise society have created new opportunities for the delivery of educational material and distance education on the Web. Among the popular Web-based distance learning systems are WebCT, Blackboard, Lotus LearningSpace and Virtual-U. However, these systems have limitations such as platfonn dependent, slow performance and expensive cost. In this thesis, a Web-based distance learning environment (WebEd 2000) has been developed using Java servlets and random access file to address these problems. It is essentially an extension of WebEd, a first working prototype of Web-based distance learning system developed at the Broadband and ATM Research Group, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). This new version provides significant improvement over its predecessor in various aspects, such as system performance, usability, scalability, security, reliability and stability. WebEd 2000 enables delivering conventional lecture notes over the Web and providing various tools to help in managing and maintaining course materials in a server. It also enables traditional face-to-face interaction to be carried out asynchronously via email and announcement services. Moreover, the system also supports monitoring and tracking of students activities as well as managing of students within a course. WebEd 2000 is mainly developed using the combination of Java servlets and JavaScript technologies. The server-side servlets, together with the binary format random access file, are used to process various client requests and store data, while the client-side JavaScript is used to enable DHTML features and perform less security concern processes such as generating an input dialogue box, hence lessening the workload of the server in relative. Finally, WebEd 2000 can easily be set up and deployed in any platforms with minimal modifications. Flexibility is achieved by utilizing Java technology for the system applications and random access file for the system data repository. It is this platform neutrality of Java bytecodes and binary file format that makes WebEd 2000 a completely platform independent Web-based distance learning environment

E-Business Application Development with Java Technology and Oracle: The Fortune Invest Inc. Case

Due to the popularity of E-business applications, Web-based database application development has become an important topic in the information systems curriculum. There is a need to explore ways to teach such a topic effectively. This paper presents a teaching case on the development of an e-business application for Fortune Invest Inc. using Java server technology with Java Database Connectivity to Oracle databases. The teaching case has the following features: 1) complete coverage of the fundamentals of e-business application development. 2) systematic integration of the knowledge in database design, implementation, programming languages, networking, Web development and system analysis. 3) script execution independent of any platforms. 4) accessible web sites on the Internet with sample code provided. The teaching case was tested in upper division CIS courses in three academic quarters during the past two years at California State University, Los Angeles. The teaching approach emphasizes learning by doing in order to motivate the student and to produce an effective learning outcome. The paper is accompanied by comprehensive teaching notes as well as executable programming scripts

A tool-mediated cognitive apprenticeship approach for a computer engineering course

Teaching database engineers involves a variety of learning activities. A strong focus is on practical problems that go beyond the acquisition of knowledge. Skills and experience are equally important. We propose a virtual apprenticeship model for the knowledge- and skillsoriented Web-based education of database students. We adapt the classical cognitive apprenticeship theory to the Web context utilising scaffolding and activity theory. The choice of educational media and the forms of student interaction with the media are central success criteria

A Platform Independent Web-Based Data Managementn System For Random Access File

With the advent of the Web, the Internet has evolved into a user-friendly medium capable of high speed, on demand information delivery. Putting data onto the World Wide Web in the form of a fully accessible, searchable database can open up a wide variety of possibilities for teaching, learning and research. There are many different types of web-based database management system (DBMS), e.g., Oracle, Informix/Illustra, IBM DB2, Object Design, ranging from small systems that run on personal computers to huge systems that run on mainframes. However, these systems have limitations such as being platform dependent, not portable and expensive. This thesis describes the development of WebDB, a platform independent webbased data management system using Java servIets and random access files to address the problems. It is developed in order to provide the management functions to WebEd2000's database. WebEd2000 is a working prototype of Web-based distance learning system developed at the Broadband and ATM Research Group, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). It enables delivering conventional lecture notes over the Web and providing various tools to help in managing and maintaining course materials in a server. The WebDB approach is for the ease of the centralized management of database administrator over the WebEd2000 users and maintains the database. It also enables instructors to access to their database and update it when necessary. Instead of WebEd2000 database, the system allows its users to put another database on the server. WebDB is mainly developed using the combination of Java servlets and JavaScript technologies. The server-side servlets are used to handle the requests from client and the responses from server. The random access file served as database repository in the database server where all the data is stored. The client-side JavaScript is used to enable DHTML features and perform less-security-concern processes in order to reduce the workload of the web-server. Lastly, WebEd can be easily set up and deployed in any platform and web-servers with minimal modifications. Portability is achieved by utilizing Java technology for the system applications and random access file as the data repository