Aggregating assessment tools in a service orientated architecture

Until recently assessment and other eLearning systems have tended to adopt monolithic architectures and this has restricted integration with other tools. The ELearning Framework (ELF) sets out to address this problem by creating an eLearning environment within which components with discrete purposes communicate via webservices. In order to help co-ordinate the design of the ELF, JISC has recently sponsored a number of Framework Reference Model Projects, and FReMa is the Framework Reference Model for Assessment. In this paper we examine how FReMA is facilitating a common understanding of the components of assessment and their interfaces, and we explain how this information is being elicited from the community by reference to tools which are already contributing to the model. We also present our approach to the adaptive website by which the emerging model is being disseminated to a range of stakeholders

Design and Implementation Strategies for IMS Learning Design

SIKS Dissertation Series No. 2008-27The IMS Learning Design (LD) specification, which has been released in February 2003, is a generic and flexible language for describing the learning practice and underlying learning designs using a formal notation which is computer-interpretable. It is based on a pedagogical meta-model (Koper & Manderveld, 2004) and supports the use of a wide range of pedagogies. It supports adaptation of individual learning routes and orchestrates interactions between users in various learning and support roles. A formalized learning design can be applied repeatedly in similar situations with different persons and contexts. Yet because IMS Learning Design is a fairly complex and elaborate specification, it can be difficult to grasp; furthermore, designing and implementing a runtime environment for the specification is far from straightforward. That IMS Learning Design makes use of other specifications and e-learning services adds further to this complexity for both its users and the software developers. For this new specification to succeed, therefore, a reference runtime implementation was needed. To this end, this thesis addresses two research and development issues. First, it investigates research into and development of a reusable reference runtime environment for IMS Learning Design. The resulting runtime, called CopperCore, provides a reference both for users of the specification and for software developers. The latter can reuse the design principles presented in this thesis for their own implementations, or reuse the CopperCore product through the interfaces provided. Second, this thesis addresses the integration of other specifications and e-learning services during runtime. It presents an architecture and implementation (CopperCore Service Integration) which provides an extensible lightweight solution to the problem. Both developments have been tested through real-world use in projects carried out by the IMS Learning Design community. The results have generally been positive, and have led us to conclude that we successfully addressed both the research and development issues. However, the results also indicate that the LD tooling lacks maturity, particularly in the authoring area. Through close integration of CopperCore with a product called the Personal Competence Manager, we demonstrate that a complementary approach to authoring in IMS Learning Design solves some of these issues

Service-oriented flexible and interoperable assessment: towards a standardised e-assessment system

Free-text answers assessment has been a field of interest during the last 50 years. Several free-text answers assessment tools underpinned by different techniques have been developed. In most cases, the complexity of the underpinned techniques has caused those tools to be designed and developed as stand-alone tools. The rationales behind using computers to assist learning assessment are mainly to save time and cost, as well as to reduce staff workload. However, utilising free-text answers assessment tools separately form the learning environment may increase the staff workload and increase the complexity of the assessment process. Therefore, free-text answers scorers have to have a flexible design to be integrated within the context of the e-assessment system architectures taking advantages of software-as-a-service architecture. Moreover, flexible and interoperable e-assessment architecture has to be utilised in order to facilitate this integration. This paper discusses the importance of flexible and interoperable e-assessment. Moreover, it proposes a service-oriented flexible and interoperable architecture for futuristic e-assessment systems. Nevertheless, it shows how such architecture can foster the e-assessment process in general and the free-text answers assessment in particular

Web-Mediated Education and Training Environments: A Review of Personalised Interactive Learning.

This chapter reviews the concept of personalised eLearning resources in relation to integrating interactivity into asynchronous learning. Personalised eLearning resources are learning resources which are selected to suit a specific student or trainee’s individual learning requirements. The affordance of personalised eLearning would provide educators with the opportunity to shift away from eLearning content that is retrieved and move towards the provision of personalised interactive content to provide a form of asynchronous learning to suit students at different degree levels. A basic introduction to the concept of ePedagogy in online learning environments is explored and the impacts these systems have on students learning experiences are considered. Issues, controversies, and problems associated with the creation of personalised interactive eLearning resources are examined, and suggested solutions and recommendations to the identified issues, controversies, and problems are reviewed. Personalised interactive asynchronous learning resources could potentially improve students’ learning experiences but more research on the human computer interface of these authoring tools is required before personalised eLearning resources are available for use by non-technical authors

Challenges Encountered in Creating Personalised Learning Activities to Suit Students Learning Preferences

This book chapter reviews some of the challenges encountered by educators in creating personalised e-learning activities to suit students learning preferences. Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) alternatively known as e-learning has not yet reached its full potential in higher education. There are still many potential uses as yet undiscovered and other discovered uses which are not yet realisable by many educators. TEL is still predominantly used for e-dissemination and e-administration. This chapter reviews the potential use of TEL to provide personalised learning activities to suit individual students learning preferences. In particular the challenges encountered by educators when trying to implement personalised learning activities based on individual students learning preferences

New concepts integration on e-learning platforms

The learning experience has evolved into the virtual world of the Internet, where learners have the possibility to shift from face-to-face learning environments to virtual learning environments supported by technologies. This concept, called e-learning, emerged in the early 1960s where a group of researchers from the Stanford University, USA began experimenting different ways to publish and assign learning content using a computer. These experiments were the beginning that led to the creation of countless learning platforms, initially constructed in standalone environments and later ported to the Internet as Webbased learning platforms. As initial objectives, these learning platforms include a collection of features to support instructors and learners in the learning process. However, some of these platforms continued to be based on an old instructor-centered learning model and created a collection of outdated technologies that, given the current need to a learner-center learning model and the existence of Web 2.0 technologies, become inadequate. As a solution to address and overcome these challenges, a friendly user interface and a correct root incorporation of Web 2.0 services a platform designed to focus the learning experience and environment personalization into the learner is needed to propose. In an operating system (OS) context the graphic user interface (GUI) is guided by a collection of approaches that details how human beings should interact with computers. These are the key ideas to customize, install, and organize virtual desktops. The combination of desktop concepts into a learning platform can be an asset to reduce the learning curve necessary to know how to use the system and also to create a group of flexible learning services. However, due to limitations in hypertext transfer protocol-hypertext markup language (HTTP-HTML) traditional solutions, to shift traditional technologies to a collection of rich Internet application (RIA) technologies and personal learning environments (PLEs) concepts is needed, in order to construct a desktop-like learning platform. RIA technologies will allow the design of powerful Web solutions containing many of the characteristics of desktop-like applications. Additionally, personal learning environments (PLEs) will help learners to manage learning contents. In this dissertation the personal learning environment box (PLEBOX) is presented. The PLEBOX platform is a customizable, desktop-like platform similar to the available operating systems, based on personal learning environments concepts and rich Internet applications technologies that provide a better learning environment for users. PLEBOX developers have a set of tools that allow the creation of learning and management modules that can be installed on the platform. These tools are management learning components and interfaces built as APIs, services, and objects of the software development kit (SDK). A group of prototype modules were build for evaluation of learning and management services, APIs, and SDKs. Furthermore, three case studies were created in order to evaluate and demonstrate the learning service usage in external environments. The PLEBOX deployment and corresponding features confirms that this platform can be seen as a very promising e-learning platform. Exhaustive experiments were driven with success and it is ready for use.A experiência de aprendizagem baseada em tecnologias evoluiu para o mundo virtual da Internet, onde os alunos têm a possibilidade de mudar uma aprendizagem presencial em sala de aula para uma aprendizagem baseada em ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem suportados por tecnologias. O conceito de e-learning surgiu nos anos sessenta (1960) quando um grupo de investigadores da Universidade de Standford, nos Estados Unidos, começaram a experimentar diferentes formas de publicar e atribuir conteúdos de aprendizagem através do computador. Estas experiências marcaram o começo que levou à criação de inúmeras plataformas de aprendizagem, inicialmente construídas em ambientes isolados e depois migradas para a Internet como plataformas de aprendizagem baseadas na Web. Como objectivos inicias, estas plataformas de aprendizagem incluem um conjunto de recursos para apoiar professores e alunos no processo de aprendizagem. No entanto, algumas destas plataformas continuam a ser baseadas em velhos modelos de aprendizagem centrados no professor, criadas com base em tecnologias ultrapassadas que, dadas as necessidades actuais de um modelo de aprendizagem centrado no aluno e da existência de tecnologias baseadas na Web 2.0, se tornaram inadequadas. Como abordagem para enfrentar e superar estes desafios propõem-se uma plataforma focada na personalização do ambiente de aprendizagem do aluno, composta por uma interface amigável e uma correcta incorporação de raiz de serviços da Web 2.0. No contexto dos sistemas operativos (SOs) o graphic user interface (GUI) é desenhado tendo em conta um conjunto de abordagens que detalha como as pessoas devem interagir com os computadores. Estas são as ideias chave para personalizar, instalar e organizar áreas de trabalho virtuais. A combinação do conceito desktop com uma plataforma de aprendizagem pode ser um trunfo para reduzir a curva de aprendizagem necessária para saber como utilizar o sistema e também para criar um grupo de serviços flexíveis de aprendizagem. No entanto, devido as limitações em soluções tradicionais hypertext transfer protocol - hypertext markup language (HTTP - HTML), é necessário migrar estas tecnologias para um grupo de tecnologias rich Internet application (RIA) e conceitos presentes em ambientes personalizados de aprendizagem (personal learning environment - PLE) para construir uma plataforma baseada em ambientes de trabalho virtuais de aprendizagem. As tecnologias RIA irão permitir a criação de soluções Web poderosas que contêm muitas das características disponíveis em aplicações desktop. Adicionalmente, o conceitos de PLE irá ajudar os alunos a gerir os seus próprios conteúdos de aprendizagem. Nesta dissertação, com base nas características apresentadas anteriormente, é apresentada a personal learning environment box (PLEBOX). A plataforma PLEBOX é uma solução de aprendizagem parametrizável com um ambiente de trabalho semelhante aos sistemas operativos actuais, baseando-se em personal learning environments e tecnologias RIA que fornecem um melhor ambiente de aprendizagem para os seus utilizadores. Os programadores da PLEBOX têm ao seu dispor um conjunto de ferramentas que permitem a criação de módulos de aprendizagem e administração que podem ser instalados na plataforma. Estas ferramentas são componentes de aprendizagem e interfaces construídos como APIs, serviços e objectos do software development kit (SDK). Foi construído um conjunto de módulos com o objectivo de avaliar e demonstrar os serviços de aprendizagem, os serviços de gestão, APIs e SDKs. Para além disso, foram criados três casos de estudo para avaliar e demonstrar a utilização dos serviços de aprendizagem em ambientes externos. O desenvolvimento efectuado até ao momento na PLEBOX e respectivos recursos confirma que esta plataforma pode ser vista com uma promissora plataforma de aprendizagem (e-learning), totalmente modular e adaptativa. Realizaram-se experiências exaustivas para testar a plataforma e estas foram realizadas com sucesso num ambiente real, estando assim a plataforma pronta para exploração real

Virtual learning process environment (VLPE): a BPM-based learning process management architecture

E-learning systems have significantly impacted the way that learning takes place within universities, particularly in providing self-learning support and flexibility of course delivery. Virtual Learning Environments help facilitate the management of educational courses for students, in particular by assisting course designers and thriving in the management of the learning itself. Current literature has shown that pedagogical modelling and learning process management facilitation are inadequate. In particular, quantitative information on the process of learning that is needed to perform real time or reflective monitoring and statistical analysis of students’ learning processes performance is deficient. Therefore, for a course designer, pedagogical evaluation and reform decisions can be difficult. This thesis presents an alternative e-learning systems architecture - Virtual Learning Process Environment (VLPE) - that uses the Business Process Management (BPM) conceptual framework to design an architecture that addresses the critical quantitative learning process information gaps associated with the conventional VLE frameworks. Within VLPE, course designers can model desired education pedagogies in the form of learning process workflows using an intuitive graphical flow diagram user-interface. Automated agents associated with BPM frameworks are employed to capture quantitative learning information from the learning process workflow. Consequently, course designers are able to monitor, analyse and re-evaluate in real time the effectiveness of their chosen pedagogy using live interactive learning process dashboards. Once a course delivery is complete the collated quantitative information can also be used to make major revisions to pedagogy design for the next iteration of the course. An additional contribution of this work is that this new architecture facilitates individual students in monitoring and analysing their own learning performances in comparison to their peers in a real time anonymous manner through a personal analytics learning process dashboard. A case scenario of the quantitative statistical analysis of a cohort of learners (10 participants in size) is presented. The analytical results of their learning processes, performances and progressions on a short Mathematics course over a five-week period are also presented in order to demonstrate that the proposed framework can significantly help to advance learning analytics and the visualisation of real time learning data