Development of Telephone-based e-Learning Portal

The proliferation of mobile phones in Nigeria, particularly among the student community, has continued to inspire the development and delivery of e-Learning applications. Most of the existing web-based e-Learning applications do not support nomadic voice-based learning (i.e. learning on the move through voice), and consequently do not provide a speedy access to information or enquiries on demand. Internet access is required to get every bit of information from most school portal system, which is not directly available to everyone. Lack of provision for voice in the existing web applications excludes support for people with limited capabilities such as the visually impaired and physical disabilities. In this paper, we present a design and development of a prototype telephone-based e-Learning portal that will be used for course registration and examination. This study is part of an ongoing e-Learning project involving the following modules: enrollment, course registration and examination, enquiries/information, messaging/collaboration, e-Learning and library. The prototype application was developed using VoiceXML for the voice user interface(VUI), PHP for database queries, Apache as the middle-ware and MySQL database as back-end. A unified modelling language (UML) was used to model and design the application. The proposed e-Learning system will compliment the web-based system in other to meet the needs of students with a range of disabilities such as visual impairment, repetitive strain injury, etc, that make reading and writing difficult. It also makes multiple platforms available to all users as well as boosting access to education for the physically challenged, particularly the sight impaired in the developing countries of the world. In institutions where students are not allowed to use mobile phones or where cost is an issue, then the alternative is the use of PC-phone

Framework to Enhance Teaching and Learning in System Analysis and Unified Modelling Language

Cowling, MA ORCiD: 0000-0003-1444-1563; Munoz Carpio, JC ORCiD: 0000-0003-0251-5510Systems Analysis modelling is considered foundational for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) students, with introductory and advanced units included in nearly all ICT and computer science degrees. Yet despite this, novice systems analysts (learners) find modelling and systems thinking quite difficult to learn and master. This makes the process of teaching the fundamentals frustrating and time intensive. This paper will discuss the foundational problems that learners face when learning Systems Analysis modelling. Through a systematic literature review, a framework will be proposed based on the key problems that novice learners experience. In this proposed framework, a sequence of activities has been developed to facilitate understanding of the requirements, solutions and incremental modelling. An example is provided illustrating how the framework could be used to incorporate visualization and gaming elements into a Systems Analysis classroom; therefore, improving motivation and learning. Through this work, a greater understanding of the approach to teaching modelling within the computer science classroom will be provided, as well as a framework to guide future teaching activities

Complete LibTech 2013 Print Program

PDF of the complete print program from the 2013 Library Technology Conferenc

Interactive real-time physics: an intuitive approach to form-finding and structural analysis for design and education

Real-time physics simulation has been extensively used in computer games, but its potential has yet to be fully realised in design and education. We present an interactive 3D physics engine with a wide variety of applications. In common with traditional FEM, the use of a local element stiffness matrix is retained. However, unlike typical non-linear FEM routines, elements forces, moments and inertia are appropriately lumped at nodes following the Dynamic Relaxation Method. A semi-implicit time integration scheme updates linear and angular momentum, and subsequently the local coordinate frames of the nodes. The Co-Rotational formulation is used to compute the resultant field of displacements in global coordinates including large deformations. The results obtained compare well against established commercial software. We demonstrate that the method presented allows the making of interactive structural models that can be used in teaching to develop an intuitive understanding of structural behaviour. We also show that the same interactive physics framework allows real-time optimization that can be used for geometric and structural design application

Top-Level Design and Practical Applications of Wisdom Campus in Chinese University—A Case of Wisdom Beihang

Wisdom education is the direction of educational informatization development. Wisdom campus is the advanced stage of the development of educational informatization. The construction of wisdom campus is a complicated systematic project, requiring not only strengthening top-level design from the macro level, but also considering the specific operational implementation from the micro level. On the background and connotation of wisdom campus development, this paper reviews the domestic research literature, and analyses the top-level design of wisdom campus. The organization structure is the key; the business process is the main line; the institution standard system is the focus; the campus culture is the essence; the platform construction is the core; the public service is the target; the operation and maintenance is the support; the information security is the basis; the supervision and assessment is the guarantee. At the same time, combined with the practical application of wisdom campus construction of Beihang University, the One-card service, integrated services, One-stop service, wireless network, unified identity authentication, data center, and iHome comprehensive application platform provide a reference case for the top-level design and construction of wisdom campus

Management Information System for E-learning: A Case Study of Federal Polytechnic Bali

This research is aims at designing and implementing Management Information System for E-learning that will be dynamic and functional for any academic institution. The methodology used in developing the Website was Extreme Programming (XP) and the adopted approach is object oriented design. The design features of the website consist of some functionality that includes: First of all, the system will allow administrator to add new user (student/lecturer), view and edit record. Secondly, user will able to login after successful system validation. Thirdly, the system will allow lecturer to upload, download and update learning resources. Fourthly, students will have access to all learning materials and they will able to perform self-evaluation after reading available learning resources. This self-evaluation is one of the major contributions of the system towards teaching and learning activities. Furthermore, the new system will allow students to search different uploaded learning materials on the websites. In addition to that, only the administrator has the privilege to delete and edit user. Keywords: learning material/resources, e-learning, Management Information System (MIS), Website, coding, programming and script