Real Time Collaboration System (RTCS) Tools in E-learning Portals

Transcription

1 Real Time Collaboration System (RTCS) Tools in E-learning Portals Ramin Sadeghi Power and water University of Technology (PWUT), Iran, Tehran Saeid Moslehpour Haidar Almohri University of Hartford Yousef Karam University of Louisiana Abstract Internet-enabled learning, which is referred to as E-learning, encompasses learning services and technologies required to enable learning values to be delivered effectively anytime and anywhere. E-learning is a new phase for making changes in the training and education processes. This paper reports on a work in progress that utilizes and develops virtual connections to software tools, which are important for some courses, such as computer science courses. It outlines a method to put software tools online as part of the e-learning portal web course tools (WebCT). The aim of this paper is to explore the idea of enhancing the technology in hand by simple adjustments to empower the internet training. Keywords: E-learning, portal, internet training, learning styles. 1. Introduction Universities and other educational institutions in almost all the nations are facing more and more demands to cope with the increasing number of student. Within the traditional environment, new facilities can not be extended much because of the limited resources. Therefore a new environment, such as an open learning environment, should be introduced to cater the needs of students with different educational backgrounds. E-learning can be defined as an approach to teaching and learning that utilizes internet technologies to communicate and collaborate in an educational context. E-learning has been proven to be cost effective. It saves on travel and distribution costs as well as instructors costs. It was somehow difficult to use a lot of educational tools to facilitate online interaction in an educational environment. Hence, there was a need to come up with strategies to integrate and merge the isolated tools and use them together as a single software to create and maintain a course on the web in one environment. E-learning system is termed as learning portal. E-learning portals provide better online participation environment between students and instructors. This paper provides an overview about E-learning portals, which includes analysis of E-learning portal, WebCT as one of the leading E-learning portals, and context of the courses that can be offered in WebCT. The paper concentrates on a

2 new idea proposed to facilitate the usage of the WebCT for the courses with software tools involvement. 2. The Role of E-learning E-learning is a new concept in the field of education. It is an internet based educational system that can be used to improve active participation and empower both tutors and students to achieve effective learning [1]. E-learning enhances the traditional learning models by providing a new set of tools. The knowledge can be shared and exchanged between the tutors and students who are physically separated and not constrained by time and place [2]. 2.1 Learning style Learning styles are simply different approaches or ways of learning. Information about learning s tyles helps to develop coping strategies to compensate for weaknesses and capitalize on strengths. Two major types of leaning styles are: Learning through seeing (visual learning) Learning through listening (auditory learning) Visual learners need to face the teacher in the classroom. They need to see the teacher s body lan guage and facial expression to fully understand the lesson. They may learn best from visual displ ays including: charts, graphs, pictures, videos and illustrated textbooks. They often prefer to take detailed notes to absorb the information during a lecture or classroom discussion. Auditory learners learn best through verbal lectures, discussions and listening to what others have to say. They interpret the underlying meaning of speech through listening to the tone of voice, speed, and other nuances. These learners prefer to get information from reading text loudly and using tape recorders [3]. 2.2 The Infrastructure for a Creative E-learning Environment E-learning is based on technology for its implementation. Computer users, at all the proficiency levels, have access to constantly improving technology. This includes browser technology, platform independent transmission protocols, and media-capable features, such as java-enabled client-server interactivity. Is also extends to readily accessible new media, such as online multimedia and hypermedia. The hardware requirements for students are personal computers with telephone or network connection. To access any course, students require registering for the course. Once registered, the student will obtain the proper authorization to view and interact with the contents of the online course. Moreover, to create and implement internet/intranet based online course, one of the leading software packages called WebCT can be used (Figure 2). 2.3 Setting up the E-learning Environment The on-campus E-learning environment for teaching process can be categorized as follows: Faculty Development Virtual Classrooms Quality Guidelines

3 Intellectual Property Faculty Development Figure 1- Components of WBDL. Source: WebCT user manual Issues of faculty development are magnified with E-learning and the development of virtual class spaces for student engagement and interaction. Teaching with technology is more time consuming than traditional teaching because the instructor becomes an active member of the production team. Therefore, many measurements should be taken to encourage instructors to embrace technology in their teaching. For example, teaching institutions could treat online courses as one of the promotion and tenure standards Virtual Classrooms Virtual classrooms are not face to face teaching. Therefore, technologies should be used to connect instructors and students. Instructors should be encouraged to use computers while teaching provided that the classrooms are equipped with computers and software that are in working order each and every time they are needed [4]. Efforts to offer technology enhancements to classrooms, labs, and assorted learning spaces require collaboration among various campus units. Furthermore, the need for a reliable and robust network to support classroom technology is vital in all institutions that embrace e-learning. For example, classrooms should be ready for walk-up computing by instructors, network connections should available, and no client reconfiguration should be necessary, Quality Guidelines The campus establishes the guidelines that are specific to the online environment. The implementation would be left to the colleges and departments to enforce them and provide the appropriate incentives and support for the faculty and students.

4 2.3.4 Intellectual Property Any good intellectual property policy must respect this fundamental principle, wherein the faculty member has full right to continually be engaged in the process of creation, modification, and refinement of the online course. Yet, the creative activity is accommodated via substantial complementary inputs provided by the university. 3. Portals The term portal is a relatively recent addition to internet terminology. The portal is a concept rather than a specific product. It is an aggregation of learning services and associated products into a single coherent access point. This includes course catalogs, course registration, learner forums, etc. Some services are provided by the learning portal are: course catalog, registration and enrolment services, personal information storage areas, learning forums, instructional support, and online course/learning fulfillment. E-learning systems/portals have been developed to serve both virtual and traditional educational institution [5]. The most popular providers of internet infrastructure education software are: U-Portal Moodle Ecollege WebCT Blackboard Eclassroom Smartforce Among those leading educational software packages are Blackboard and WebCT. These two are on top of the list and have gained the interest of many researchers. In this paper, the focus will be on WebCT. From Figure 1, one can see that both students and instructors use the available tools in the E-learning portal. The instructors work as designers, who can put materials in the tools and make them available for student. The E-learning portal benefits from the database management as a back layer of portal, where all files can be managed through the shared database. To access any course, the students need to register for that course. Once registration is done, the students will view and use the online course contents through proper authorization. 3.1 Analysis of E-learning Portal Figure 2 represents the context diagram of E-learning portal. The context diagram is the interface between the portal and the users. Authorized users should provide their information (username and password) to be able to access the materials and facilities. Invalid information message is sent to the unauthorized users when they try to access the portal without registration. To get information regarding different tools in the portal, the users should specify their request and in

5 some cases they should send files. Note that one of the most important users of any E-learning portal is the portal administrator who can manage the entire portal for organization. Because of the focused objective of this paper, the concentration is only on student and teachers. Student : (Student -info, Student-request, Student-files, Tools-material) E-LEARNING PORTAL 3.2 WebCT Teacher : (Teacher-info, Teacher-files, Teacher-request, Tools-material) Figure 2- Context diagram of E-learning portal WebCT (Web Course Tools) is one of the leading educational integrated E-learning software packages. It is a learning environment rather than a simple website. WebCT has been developed by Murray Goldberge at the university of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada in It was launched commercially in 1997 {6}, and as stated by [7], more than 2600 colleges and universities in almost 84 countries worldwide are licensed to use WebCT s products and services to transform the educational experience of their students. Table 1 provides a list of Middle East countries currently licensed to use WebCT. The main window of the WebCT contains four general organizer pages (Course Content and Related Materials, Communication Tools, Study Tools, Evaluation Tools) that might be set by default by WebCT system administrator. In general, the default contents of organizer pages are listed in table 2. Table 1- Middle east countries currently licensed to use WebCT Country Number of license Iran 3 Bahrain 4 Lebanon 4 Saudi Arabia 4 UAE 7 Table 2- WebCT Basic Components

6 Each organizer contains a set of tools to perform a related set of activities. Organizer page contents can be reorganized depending on the designer s sense. The designer can use some or all the tools for the designed course. 3.3 Context of the Courses Offered in WebCT Many contemporary courses, like business administration, management, accounting, marketing, nursing, computer Science, information technology, education, etc. can be offered using WebCT to students in the distance learning environment. A deep looking at a computer science course, one can see that software tools are needed to facilitate the working environment of the users. These software tools are needed to run the practical sessions of computer science courses online. Figure 3 displays a case study to link a software tool, such as C++ compiler, to existing portal software. This can be done by creating an organizer page, which can be added to the homepage of the course or at any other page. A link to the required page can be included in the software tools organizer as shown in Figure 3. The user can perform the work using the software tool after which he/she can upload the file into WebCT. In this case, the user will not be forced indirectly to leave the e-learning portal because of the unavailability of the software tools.

7 Back to WebCT Home C++ compiler

8 Borland C++ Figure 3- Linking C compiler to existing portal software. Source: WebCT user manual 4. Conclusion Educational institutions need to extend the access to the applications over the internet in an effici ent, reliable, and secure manner. An E-learning connects directly to students and educational staff via the web to reduce costs and time and to improve efficiency. To achieve these benefits, existing educational institutions must transform their traditional educational processes with E- learning applications. This paper highlights the benefits associated with utilizing the online study tools to develop virtual connections to software tools which are important for computer science courses in particular and other courses in general. The benefits include: Learning accessibility anywhere and anytime Cost savings via the elimination of travel expenses Just-in-time access to content Less employee turnover Furthermore, there are some problems facing online courses which include the high cost of establishing E-learning. Therefore, E-learning should be established in a cost effective manner that will attract a lot of users in the future. Another problem facing E-learning is the availability of computers to all users. Many users depend on public computers which do not provide the necessary software tools needed by the users. References: [1]Dong, F.,Can you Secceed as a Cyberstudent,How to Develop Communication Skills on the web, elearning Mag azine, elearning Magazine, retrieved in September, 2001 from world wide web, ept01/cyberstude [2]Blackboard inc., educational Benefits of Online Learning, retrieved in 2000 from world wide web, ckboard.com [3] Kofahi, N.A. and Srinivas, Distance learniung: Major Issues and Challenges, Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on information and computer Science,WICS2002, KFUPM, Saudi Arabia,17-18 March,2002 [4] Fiadhi,J. A., Designing an OnCampus Intelligent Learning Portal, Journal of Science and technology (JST), 6(1), pp9-18, University of Science and Technology, Yemen Republic,2001. [5] WebCT,Oxford Brookes University,Media Workshop, retrieved on June fifth, 2000 world wide web, [6] WebCT, WebCT Customers, retrieved on April sixth, 2000 from World Wide Web, Biographic Information: RAMIN SADEGHI is a professor in Power and water University of Technology (PWUT), Iran, Tehran. He has developed a Web base distance learning software program. He is currently the head of Distance Learning Center of PWUT. SAEID MOSLEHPOUR is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture at the University of Hartford. He holds PhD from Iowa State

9 University and BS MS and degrees from Central Missouri State University. His areas of interest are logic design, CPLDs, FPGAs and distance learning. HAIDAR ALMOHRI is currently employed by Siemens Co. as a communication engineer in Kuwait. He has done his undergraduate and graduate study in Electrical Engineering at the University of Hartford. His areas of research interest are image processing using Digital Signal Processing. YOUSEF KARAM is currently employed in Ministry of Electricity and Water as a telecommunication engineer in Kuwait. He has earned his bachelor degree in Electrical and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Louisiana. He is a member of Kuwait Fund for Arabic Economic Development program.