Ivan Ganchev 1 , Mairtin O’Droma 1 , Damien Meere 1 , Stanimir Stojanov 2 , Mícheál Ó hAodha 1

The First International m-libraries Conference

13th -14th November 2007 at the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the

Integration of Evolving Educational Support e-Services

Ivan Ganchev1, Mairtin O’Droma1, Damien Meere1, Stanimir Stojanov2,

Mícheál Ó hAodha1

1 University of Limerick,2 University of Plovdiv



Outline• Main components of a service architecture needed to support m-Teaching and m-Learning the DeLC.

• Enhanced DeLC network model illustrating how the supporting communications infrastructure provides intelligent mobile services for library users and information seekers across the University campus.

• Highlight some pilot mobile services, detailing the interactions which occur between the different network entities during service provision

• Discussion of iimplementation issues and proposal for a re-engineering approach

M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the Integration of Evolving Educational Support e-

Services

The First International m-libraries Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK



Modern mobile communications devices exhibit major potential for:

• Integration in the spheres of learning,

• Campus-wide communication

• Social inclusion/cohesion of society as a whole.

e-learning is being enhanced by this communicative potential to become m-learning.

Introduction


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•Mobile technologies are being used to revolutionize learning and provide discontinuous rather than incremental learning opportunities in libraries and campuses worldwide.

•Although most students nowadays use mobile phones, there has, to date, been relatively little activity in integrating them into the realm of mobile learning and the learning and library/information environments.

•Yet these new m-learning technologies (i.e. mobile devices and wireless communications) has the ability to transform and greatly enhance modern learning practices


ServicesIntroduction




DeLC Node(DeLCN)

Virtual DeLC Unit(at University

Campus)

InfoStations

1 st tier:Mobile Devices with

Intelligent Agents

3rd tier:

InfoStations' Centerwith Intelligent

Redirectors & ProfileManagers

2 nd tier:

DeLC Network Model


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•Mobile devices: house intelligent agents which act as personal assistants for mobile users (e.g. cellular phones, PDAs, laptops)

•InfoStations: deployed in the University library and at other key information points throughout the campus and providing network access/connectivity for mobile users with wireless devices.

•InfoStations’ Center: controls all InfoStations and provides updating and synchronizing information.


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DeLC Network Model




PDA

InfoStation

InfoStation

InfoStation

InfoStation

Wirelessconnection

Wirelessconnection

Cellularphone

Wirelessconnection

Wirelessconnection

InfoStationrange

IPConnection InfoStation's Center

IPConnection

IPConnection

IPConnection

DeLC communication infrastructure supporting m-Learning and m-Teaching:


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DeLC Network Model



DeLC ACCESS WIRELESS NETWORKS

•The following access wireless network types are considered to allow users access m-Learning and m-Teaching within DeLC:

• Cellular Networks •2G, (GSM) – supports data rates up to 14.4 Kbps •2.5G

•GPRS – supports data rates up to 56-114 Kbps •EDGE – supports data rates up to 384 Kbps.

•3G – supports data rates up to 384 Kbps

• Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15) - The coverage is less than 10m. The supported data rate is 1 Mbps and up to 2 Mbps in the second generation of Bluetooth;


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•The following access wireless network types are considered to allow users access m-Learning and m-Teaching within DeLC:

•WLAN (IEEE 802.11a/b/g) – Wireless Local Area Networks provide high data rates, 11Mbps with IEEE 802b and 54 Mbps with IEEE 802.11a/g.

•WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) – is a “WMAN” or “Wireless Metropolitan Area Network” capable of providing high-speed wireless networking (75Mbps) over great distances (~30 miles), and supporting a great number of users (in the order of thousands)


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DeLC Access Wireless Networks




DeLC Mobile Services

•Services users may access utilizing their mobile devices

•These context-aware services understand the users’ context:

• user location, • information environment, • mobility attributes required/requested, • courses/modules users are engaged in, • issues of time-criticality, • goal-driven sequencing of tasks engaged in by the user, • environmental context issues such as classmates and/or librarian/educator interactions.


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Intelligent Message Notification•Allows the broadcast

of MMS/SMS messages to a group of users,

• Message notification sent by lecturer to a class of students about canceling/postponing the lecture,

• Message sent by librarian announcing a library demonstration.

Mobiledevice

InfoStations'Center

Bluetooth, WLANor

WiMAXInfoStation Intelligent

messageredirecor

Internet

Email/fax/voice

mail

2G/2.5G/3Gnetwork

MMS/SMS

Fax

PC

PC

LaptopEmail

PSTN

fax

Bluetooth

Email

Landphone

voicemail

MMS/SMS

MMS/SMS

Cellularphone

Cellularphone

Cellularphone


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Sender

Display Info to User

SelectIMN

ServiceUser Service

Request Forward User ServiceRequest

Create message &select virtual

address of recipient Forward Message Forward Message

Map recipient's virtual address to realaddress. Analyse recipient's profile formost appropriate delivery location and

message format

If recipient is ousiderange of InfoStationforward message toInfoStation Center

Delivery ACK

TerminateService

Delivery ACK andservice terminationDelivery ACK and

service termination

If recipient is within range, delivermessage directly (re-format

message if necessary)

Re-format ifnecessary and

deliver messageto recipient at

most appropriatelocation

Recipient

Delivery ACK

Delivery ACK

Optional

PersonalAssistant

(Intelligent Agent)

InfoStation(Intelligent Agent)

Request for user'sAuthentication,

Authorisation andAccounting (AAA) +

description of current usermobile device

User's AAA OK;Analyse user profile and

mobile devicecapabilities using CC/

PP-UAProf

InfoStationCenter

(Intelligent Agent)

AAA ACK + Updated listof relevant services,

taking into account theCC/PP User Agent Profile

Request for user's AAA+description of currentuser mobile device

ACK

Instantiate service, e.g. startproviding the IMN Service

Updated Virtual AddressBook uploaded toPersonal Assistant

Display AddressBook to User

Intelligent Message Notification Interactions


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Intelligent Phone Call

Allows a DeLC user to make a phone call to other DeLC users in the most convenient and cheapest manner. Depending on called user’s location, the calling user has a number of options to call him/her:

• If colleague is off-campus but connected to the Internet. Call is made over the Internet using Internet Telephony / VoIP technology (cheapest option but with worst quality)

• If colleague on the campus (with a laptop or Bluetooth enabled cellular phone, or currently working on multimedia PC in the library or lab/office). Call is made over the University Intranet free of charge.

• By using cellular and/or telephone network – more expensive way, but with better quality.


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Intelligent Phone CallCommunications Infrastructure supporting the Intelligent Phone

call service:

InternetVoIP

2G/2.5G/3Gnetwork

Multimedia PC

Multimedia PC

LaptopVoIP

PSTN

Bluetooth

Land phone

Laptop

Land phonePSTN

Bluetooth

phone

Mobiledevice

Bluetooth, WLAN

or WiMAX

InfoStations'Center

Intelligentphone

call redirector

Ad Hoc Networkin a restaurant,sports arena etc

Cellularphone

Cellular

Cellular

InfoStation

phone

phoneCellular

VoIP


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Intelligent mTest

• mTest provides a means of evaluating the students’ acquired knowledge and provides valuable feedback to students concerning their progress.

• mTest also allows the educator to analyze, shape and enhance the learning experience of the students, ensuring them an optimal environment within which to learn.

• In order for this service to be successful, synchronization of the off-line eLearning process with the on-line mLearning process is imperative.

• Synchronization is especially important within the InfoStations paradigm due to the geographically intermittent nature of the connection.


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Intelligent mTest

Interactions

Display infoto user

SelectmTestservice

User servicerequest

Forward userservice request

ACK

BeginTest

Control info aftercompleting each test

question

Testcompleted

User mTest service profile update(i.e. delivery of completed test for grading) User mTest service

profile update (i.e.delivery of

completed test forgrading)

Test results

Test grading,taking into accountthe time required

for completionTest resultsTest results

Maintain user serviceprofile status

PersonalAssistant

(Intelligent Agent)

User

InfoStationCenter

(Intelligent Agent)

ACK

Instantiateservice

Out of Service Range

Analyse userservice profile

InfoStation 1(Intelligent Agent)

Forward user service request

ACKACK

User AAAOKACKAAA

Request for user AAA +device capabilities +

updates of user profileand user service profile Request for user AAA + updates of

user profile and user service profileUser AAA OK;

Create newaccount record

Analyze user profile anddevice capabilities

ACK + Updated List ofRelevant Services

Transfer full test content

Customize and adapt test content touser preferences and current devicecapabilities and network constraints

Transfer test contentin 'best' format

Display testcontentto user

Request for user AAA Request for userAAA

InfoStation 2(Intelligent Agent)


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Intelligent Mobile Services

There are a number of other services being developed along with the aforementioned services, such as:

• mLectures- (Mobile access to adaptable Hypermedia lecture content)

• Private chat- (Instant Messaging across InfoStations System)

• Intelligent parking locator- (Provides the locations of, and directions to free parking spaces throughout the campus)

• Mobile access to library catalougues- (Provides users on-the-move access to library catalogue services)


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Implementation Issues

• For the realization of these mobile services a significant enhancement to the existing DeLC architecture is required along.

• To achieve this goal, the first version of the DeLC system will be re-engineered into an architecture with the capabilities of facilitating the aforementioned services as mobile web services.

• This will lead to a more open information environment, supporting context-based discovery and access to user’s personal information.

• The flexibility and intelligence of the system will be enhanced through introduction of intelligent agents, which communicate with the functional modules, implemented as Web-services/library modules.


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Our re-engineering process includes the following steps:

• Expanding the set of services (deployed on DeLC nodes) with additional services needed to provide three types of interfaces respectively to:

•The existing server parts of services, e.g. central academic time schedule, intelligent diaries etc;•The InfoStations/library work stations;•The users mobile devices.

• Development of InfoStation software concerning intermediate processing of information needed for identification of users and services. The software could be agent- or service-oriented according to the model chosen in the server part;


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• Creation of the client part of the mobile services, i.e. development of personal helpers (for users) implemented as intelligent agents; • Setting up communication between the client part (personal helpers) and the server part (Web-services) by the means of the OWL-S protocol.

•The use of the OWL-S as a protocol for interaction between the software components (deployed on different DeLC nodes) offers a good opportunity for the realization of a software architecture with sufficient flexibility and offering a suitable environment for the support of a variety of mobile services.


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The efficient interaction between the three parties involved in the execution of mobile services (i.e. InfoStations’ Centre, InfoStations, library workstations and mobile devices) is another important issue on which we have to focus.

• According to the OWL-S specification, each service could be described in three abstract levels:

1. Service profile, which describes what the service performs (including information about the service’s inputs, outputs, preconditions, and other features, that can be used for advertising, discovery, and matchmaking of the appropriate service);

2. Service model, which shows how the service works. This is an expansion and more detailed specification of the service profile;


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3. Grounding, which describes how the service can be used and also specifies a communication protocol that can be used for the direct activation of the service. Possible groundings include: SOAP, Java remote call, KQML, CORBA IDL

• We propose a distributed treatment of the OWL-S specification, where the exact scheme of distribution will depend on the chosen approach.

• In both cases however the third abstract level of the services will be supported and processed in the DeLC nodes / InfoStations’ Centre, because the run-time module of the nodes is aware of the physical location of the services, and activates and controls their actual processing.


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• One of the main issues concerning the service implementation is that of the creation of User Profile and User Service Profile.

• “Composite Capabilities/ Preference Profile” (CC/PP) is a platform-independent, uniform format for the implementation of these profiles.

• Based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF).

• Structured framework for devices to make known their capabilities, as well as particular preferences of the user.

• As such, allows the host of that particular service (i.e. InfoStation or InfoStation Canter), to customize and tailor the content of the service to suit a requesting target device.


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• Provides device independence. – we can write device independent code, and provides ease of usage for user’s themselves.

• Need for Individual personalisation, CC/PP allows users to control relevant attributes conveying their own preferences.

• User Agent Profile (UAProf) is a concrete implementation of the CC/PP, developed by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) aimed at WAP enabled mobile terminals.

• Facilitates the end-to-end flow of Capability and Preference Information (CPI) from the mobile device through to the InfoStations and eventually to the InfoStation Centre.


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Provides information for the pre-adaptation of content before delivery to the target device.

Defines such characteristics as:

• Hardware characteristics • Software characteristics • Network characteristics • WAP characteristics • Push characteristics

As well as these, we ourselves can define components, which may be necessary within our own implementation of the UAProf.


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Within this University-based system it may be necessary to define a number of user related attributes such as

• User name, • Course or classes of a student, • The individuals role (Educator or Student) would specify

certain privileges.

Business Support Domain on the InfoStation Centre.

Circulation of updated user and service profiles.


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Conclusion and Future Work

• The main elements of the DeLC service architecture providing better support for m-Learning and m-Teaching have been described in this paper.

• The re-engineering of the original DeLC architecture into one with the capabilities of facilitating the services as intelligent mobile web services has been described.

• The new m-learning architectures we have analysed are emerging as one of the most promising technologies for supporting learning and information acquisition in a University or library/information context.


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The collaborative potential of these emerging technologies such as we have described can support educators/librarians with new possibilities for information acquisition that can be utilised by their customer-base as follows:

• It can provide learners/library users with new mobile computational tools to explore and share their knowledge with other peers

• Provide teachers/librarians with new communication channels so as to visualize students’ ideas and suggestions

• Foster collaboration among students, students and teachers, and among students and librarians/other information providers


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Conclusion and Future Work




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Ivan Ganchev 1 , Mairtin O’Droma 1 , Damien Meere 1 , Stanimir Stojanov 2 , Mícheál Ó hAodha 1

Documents

Transcript of Ivan Ganchev 1 , Mairtin O’Droma 1 , Damien Meere 1 , Stanimir Stojanov 2 , Mícheál Ó hAodha 1