Conference ICL Villach 2009

Service-Labs: Reusing Services and Laboratories from Open Learning

Management Systems

Manuel Castro

UNED (Spanish University for Distance Education)

[email protected]

ICL 2009

Reusing Services and Laboratories from Open Learning Management Systems

Index Background Current Situation Objectives Package to Create New Courses Next Steps Conclusions

ICL 2009 Manuel Castro E-mail: [email protected]


Background

We are a distance learning university using a mixed model (blended learning before the signature of this model)

Total – 160,000 grade students

Also we have 4,000 students (and Study Centers) along:• Europe• Africa• America



Background

Subjects (as Engineering – Electrical, Electronics, Computer, Mechanical, etc.) with theoretical and practical knowledge ! At UNED around 7,000 Computer Eng. and 5,000

E&E+Mech. Engineering Problem: How is it possible to teach theses

practical and theoretical knowledge together ?

E-Learning platform and WebLabs



Current situations

Every institution develop their own materials (and architecture labs) to provide practical knowledge It is very difficult that another students from

another organization can use it

Institution1

Institution2

Virtual Lab 1

Virtual Lab 1

Virtual Lab 2

They are very

similar



Current situations

Some of LMS services:

Administration (user, assign tutors, payments, etc.) Content packing (courses, standards like SCORM, IMS) Asynchronous communication (e-mail, distribution list) Synchronous communication (chats, etc) Knowledge evaluation (tests, etc.)

Labs don´t reuse theses services



Current situations



Current situations There are several LMS (Moodle, .LRN, Sakai,

Blackboard) and them should connect with remote labs of a similar way Managements LMSs and remote labs


Different Web LabsE-learning platforms

SofwareLabs

WebLabs

Remote Labs

Middleware

iLabs


Current situations The MIT and Microsoft (and more organizations involved

in a new consortium) are working on the iLab concept. This project is based on allowing to share and to manage online complex laboratory experiments from different remote and virtual labs

InternetStudent

Student

Internet

Broker Server

Data Base

??

InstrumentsController

Software Lab

Different laboratories


Reusing Services and Laboratories from Open Learning Management SystemsDescription of Learning Management Systems

A LMS is a software program that allows displaying theoretical content in an organized and controlled way

• Administration (user, assign tutors, payments, etc.)

• Content packing (courses, standards like SCORM, IMS)

• Asynchronous communication (e-mail, distribution list)

• Synchronous communication (chats, etc)• Knowledge evaluation (tests, etc.)• Tracking users. To monitor the students’

progress • Stardards e-Learning



Different WebLabs

E-learning platforms

The scenario

SofwareLabs

WebLabs

RemoteLabs

Middleware

(web services)



Different Web LabsE-learning platforms

The scenario

SofwareLabs

WebLabs

Remote Labs

Middleware

iLabs



SOA


Service-Oriented Architecture

SOA provides interfaces to wrap service endpoints for a system-independent architecture

SOAs provide dynamic service discovery and binding

SOA provides an approach to integrate heterogeneous technologies

Web Services Directory

Web Services Client

Web Services Provider

1: Publish2: Discover

3: Bind and Invoke


LMS and WebServices


A brief description

LMS data base

LMS API

Webservice

It is needed to consider aspects such as security, authentication, etc.

Moodle

API

ModulesOr

Packages

ws Client


Enterprise Service Bus


Software architecture construct which provides fundamental services for complex architectures

Different Learning manegement systems

Web Labs and Remote Labs

Others systems

Managing of communication from diffrents system

Moodle

WebLabs

.LRN

Claroline

Sakai

Others Systems

OtherSystems

WSRest

WSSOAP

othersConnectors


Creating Lab LMS Package for courses We have developed a package in .LRN that allows to

reusing services

This package is programmed for .LRN. So all the organizations professors that work with .LRN can install the module and management in a graphic mode

This package is composed by: SQL directory is where the database files are stored TCL directory contains tcl and xql files and are used to create the API

package WWW directory where are stored the files that the student’s browser

shows on the screen



Reusing Services So that, our Laboratory can use the services that offers a

LMS



Displaying LMS Package An example of reusing services and including a laboratory

from another university A course is created, and when the students login in the LMS, they

can use tools like: Communication tools File storage and collaborative tools Contents (HTML, Flash, etc. or Learning objects or SCORMs) Autoevaluation Evaluation etc.

Of course, it should have an area where is displayed a Web Lab



Displaying LMS Package (example .LRN)



Next Steps We are working in designing an architecture that

allows to communicate different laboratories in open source e-learning platform Webservices (SOA), Enterprise service bus (ESB) E-learning Modules, LMS services, etc.



Next Steps Beside of creation of a .LRN package we are developing

a Web Lab and iLabs module in Moodle. At the present, we are programming a simple module The first step has been modified site administration of Moodle



Next Steps We have to create the databases that we are going to need

To do this we had to install the new module before it



Next Steps Using e-learning standards to get a better integration and

to get reusing of contents, assessments, etc. We are packaging in an SCORM a remote lab, programming in

Labview, but in a simple way



Next Steps We can see reports of using SCORM



Next Steps Looking form an xml description lab experiments that

allow to search, in an easy way, the labs as a learning object So, a administrator or teacher from web, LMS, etc. ,could search

what he need for his course and use it



Conclusions We are designing a middleware (ESB, SOA) to allow:

Reusing Web labs and remote labs in different LMS Web labs, virtual labs and remote labs reuse the LMS services It will be great if we can communicate different LMSs. So

students can study courses in different LMSs

SOA and ESB architecture is good for doing that

It is very important to use e-learning standards. We are working with SCORM packages and studying the advantages and disadvantages



Conclusions

In a global world is needed to look for global solution

Integrating Different systems (labs, LMS, scheduling services, etc.)

Reusing services Using e-learning standards and in some cases, creating new

initiatives. To establish new descriptions that allow searching what the

teacher need


Thank you for your attention !

Manuel Castro – Elio Sancristobal

UNED (Spanish University for Distance Education)

[email protected]

[email protected]

ICL 2009

Conference ICL Villach 2009

Technology

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