Learning Together on the Fronter Platform

Transcription

1 Learning Together on the Fronter Platform

2 A Complete Range of Online Tools Fronter is a learning platform used by millions of teachers and learners, at thousands of learning institutions around the world. The platform is made up of almost 100 easy to use web-based tools developed in close cooperation with its users. The platform is continuously developing according to the evolving needs of the educational community. Fronter combines tools within the following areas: PERSONAL WORK & PORTFOLIO Personal Learning Environment (PLE). E-portfolio and personal working area. TEACHING & LEARNING Learning Management System (LMS). Customised learning, assessment and follow-up. SETUP & ADMINISTRATION Solid administration tools for large scale installations. COLLABORATION & COMMUNICATION Intranet functionality for efficient collaboration and communication. PUBLISHING Learning content management system (LCMS). Production, management and publishing of content. Fronter s Open philosophy: The essence of Fronter s Open Philosophy is to give learning institutions the benefit of an open source and open standard learning platform - while at the same time issuing guarantees for security, reliability and scalability, all included in a predictable fixed cost of ownership package. The open development process, managed by users in reference groups, ensures that the platform quickly adopts new ideas and concepts as they prove valuable to the teaching and learning community. Extensive compliance with open standards makes integration easy (SCORM, IMS, etc.) and support for Accessibility standards (WAI) ensures that Fronter is available to all user groups.

3 Collaborative Working Environment Fronter is a virtual building, structured into rooms. Each room is equipped with the tools required to empower the collaboration and learning activity in that room. The room owner invites members and assigns rights according to each member s role in the room The Building Fronter is your virtual building on the Internet. Virtual Rooms The building is structured into virtual rooms. Tools The rooms are equipped with the tools of your choice. Members Members are invited into rooms for learning and collaboration. Key Your key (password) gives you access to the rooms that are relevant to you. We call this the Collaborative Working Environment (CWE) as it combines tools for e-portfolio, personal work and learning (PLE), learning management (LMS), collaboration and knowledge management (KM) and content repository (LCMS). With Fronter I can. Create my own e-portfolio. Hand-in my work and have it assessed. Learn at my own pace whenever and wherever I like. Communicate with my teachers and peers. Work on my own or as part of a group. Access my own Individual Learning Plan.

4 PERSONAL WORK Easy to use tools for learning and collaboration online. 92 PlusPacks Modules with additional functionality, sold separately. Services Professional services delivered by Fronter staff. LEARNING Personal Learning Environment (PLE) Learning Management System (LMS) Today portal: Latest info from rooms in Fronter and external RSS feeds. Hand-in: Folder for submission of assignments and evaluation. client: Complete client with support for POP3 and IMAP. Test: Tool for test creation with options for format and design. My contacts: List of personal contacts and friends. Learning path: Structuring of learning pages to facilitate directed learning. My calendar: Organise personal appointments and meetings. Individual Learning Plan (ILP): Individual assessment of progress. My resources: Network-based hard drive for personal files and content. Learning goals: Import/customisation of learning goals for goal-oriented work. My portfolio: Personal portfolio and display folder. Question database: Shared database for test questions. Fronter Instant Messenger (FIM): Internal instant messaging system. Course import: Import of IMS, SCORM and AICC courses. Visual Mail: Write, draw or record a message to classmates in Fronter. Statistics: Complete report of activity in a room. Blog client: Edit your external blogs from directly within Fronter. Portfolio: Overview of learning process and work progress. Meeting: Personal real-time meeting tool for 3 users. Features incl. video, app. sharing, whiteboard etc. Result matrix: Summary of user results. Stickies: Internal messaging system in Fronter. Notes: Short notes linked to learning objects. My homepage: Personal web page. Whiteboard: Real-time whiteboard tool. Entrance Hall: Visual overview and easy access to rooms from the Today Portal. Sound recorder: Record and store sound directly in Fronter Resources and Pages. Information central: Quick overview of new elements on Today portal. Video: Show video clips and other multimedia files from the resources. To-do list: Personal task list with progress indication. External repository search: Search in predefined external repositories. My RSS feed: Personal RSS feed from your Today portal. Parental Log-in: Unique access to your child s portfolio. hosting: server, fully integrated with Fronter. Absence and gradebook: Recording behaviour, absence and grades. Calendar import: Import of calendar data using vcal and ical format. Digital exam: Professional examination tool. Webparts: Integration with Microsoft SharePoint portal. Ephorus plagiarism control: Plagiarism check for hand-ins into Fronter. Elluminate vofficetm: Upgrade Meeting to allow more users and recording of live sessions. Elluminate vclasstm: Full featured virtual classroom for a fixed number of users. Project management: Project teams supervise the Fronter implementation. Academy: Fronter accreditation and training courses. User conferences and events: Training and updates for Fronter users. Support: Unlimited support for accredited Fronter administrators.

5 COLLABORATION Collaboration and Communication PUBLISHING Learning Content Management System (LCMS) ADMINISTRATION Administration of the Fronter Platform Frontpage: Option to create customised start pages for rooms/courses. Page: Create pages with dynamic content and layout. Room: Basic building block of the Fronter platform. Messages: Shared message to all members in a room. File transfer: Upload external files and file structures. Organisation structure: Structure customised to your organisation. Shared document: Inbuilt editor for documents with one or more authors. Editor: Inbuilt word editor. Rights and roles: Definition of access rights and roles in Fronter. Discussion: Thread-based discussion forum. Shared resources: Shared archive for participants in a room. Global settings: Top level settings for the entire Fronter building. Conversation: Discussion, non-thread based forum. Article: Option to combine text and images. Local settings: Settings at school, faculty or institution level. Debate: Discussion forum with defined standpoints. List: Preparation of lists which can contain internal and external links. Export: Export of rooms (courses) as an IMS package. Brainstorm: Forum for anonymous generation of ideas. WebEq: Mathematical formula editor. Members: Room member list specifying access rights in the room. Hotseat: Question and answer function. Free text search: Search inside content created and uploaded to Fronter. Reports: Administrative reports for activity summaries. Shared contacts: Shared contact list for users. Links: Shared link resources with comment function. Database clean-up: Admin. routines for effective database administration. Chat: Real-time chat function in a room. News: Date-controlled news with images and text. Help: Complete online help system, with tutorials and training courses. Shared calendar: Shared calendar for members in a room. Statistics: Statistics for all content objects in the resources. Language support: Tool for different language selection. Voting: Simplified test for assessing opinion. Metadata: Metadata linked to content objects in the resources. User-defined tool: Option to define your own tools in a room. Activity Folder: Archive for activities specific to a project plan. Version control: Control of objects in the resources, with history summary. Design: Modify the graphical interface to match your organisation. Resource booking: Book equipment/ resources etc. through the calendar. OES: Direct opening, changing and saving of external files in Fronter. Portfolio Transfer: School to school transfer of students portfolios. Appointment list: Scheduling of individual meetings for a group of people. Metadata search: Search on metadata associated with content. Logging: Logging of all events in Fronter. Liveroom: Entry-level, synchronous virtual classroom tool for an unlimited number of users. RSS reader: Display RSS feeds from external sources on the Today portal. Open API: Ability to integrate with third party providers. Time recording: Recording time spent by project participants. Webfronter: Publishing tool for easy website creation and hosting. Fronter hosting: Complete hosting package offered by Fronter. Bridge: Share content and collaborate across Fronter installations. Infofronter: Publish RSS feeds from Fronter to external sources. Automatic user import: From Student Administrative Systems (SAS/MIS). Survey: Effective evaluation of all available courses in Fronter. SMS messaging: Purchase SMS quotas for sending text messages to users. Single Sign On: SSO with third party systems using Shibboleth or other. CreazaTM: Video editing, sound editing, mind mapping and cartoon creation. Content migration: Transfer content from other learning platforms to Fronter. LDAP authentication: Authenticate with LDAP servers. Elluminate Live! : Upgrade Liveroom to include additional features (video, app. sharing, recording and more). Workshop: Fronter workshops for teachers and school managers. Data synchronisation: With Fronter using SIF and other standards. Interface design: Customise the Fronter interface to suit your profile. Setup: Fronter, user imports, data synchronisation and single sign on. External hosting: Support for external hosting providers.

6 The Fronter Values The Fronter values determine the way in which we provide easy-to-use tools for learning and collaboration online, including the future development of the Fronter platform. These values ensure that Fronter engages with the users, develops and provides a product, in a way that is: Easy Open Professional Fronter is designed for the user, and to a large extent, by the user. With an intuitive interface, the Fronter Platform enables efficient operation with minimum training. Fronter believes in openness and embraces the term in a number of ways through our open development, integration, accessibility, source code and product guarantee. In all areas Fronter strives to provide a professional product and service to the users, promoting communication and collaboration throughout development, delivery and operation. open development: The process of development is fundamentally based on an open communication and collaboration with our customers - current and future. Open Integration: Fronter s component based architecture and standard API makes it easy to integrate with other legacy systems. Open Accessibility: Fronter is available to all users, through support for the accessibility standard WAI level A and support for many languages. Open Source: The Fronter source code is available to all licensed customers. Open Guarantee: In contrast to traditional open source products, Fronter offers tight service level agreements, quality control and a zero-bug regime.

7 A Platform for the Future We are committed to ensuring that the Fronter platform continues to satisfy the functional needs within personal work, learning, collaboration, publishing and administration. Equally important is the platform s ease of use, scalability and flexibility, our development strategy, support, guarantees and level of service (SLA). Ease of use A self explanatory interface and metaphors that everybody can relate to, ensure an easy start up for new users. A unique development process Fronter offers a radically different approach to product development. Key decisions about future development are taken by Fronter Reference Groups, consisting exclusively of Fronter users. Powerful and flexible admin module Fronter s administrative module is flexible enough to handle the largest and most complex organisational structures and user groups. The learning platform can also be integrated with third party administrative systems. Centrally hosted solution Fronter offers a centrally hosted solution at one of Europe s largest hosting centres with 24/7 and year round availability. With the highest focus on security, in the form of virus protection, encryption, back up and surveillance - your data is safe. Guarantee Fronter s Open Platform philosophy combines the best of two worlds; innovation based on open source, with guarantees and fixed cost of ownership issued by a corporation. In addition we offer our customers a tight service level agreement to ensure minimum fix-time for bugs, 24/7 watch, guarantees for further development, predictable roadmaps and a professional service team. National point of contact When implementing the Fronter learning platform you can rest assured we are available with unlimited support and implementation strategy guidance for all certified administrators. We are fully aware, and prepared to help you with any challenges you may face when implementing the learning platform. Through our partner and subsidiary network, we will guide you through training, administrative support, customised courses and user conferences. We have an extensive range of traditional and online courses, manuals, online help, implementation guides and white papers to make sure your implementation runs smoothly. Customised interface Fronter comes with a variety of interface designs. One example is a special look and feel for the youngest learners, developed in close cooperation with primary school teachers. With this feature, the same learning platform can be offered to both younger and older learners, but presented in a way that is appropriate and appealing to the age group. References upon request

8 Fronter UK Ltd About Fronter Founded in Norway in 1998, Fronter was acquired by Pearson in 2009, joining the world s leading education company. Setting the standard for online learning solutions, Fronter provides a flexible learning solution for the next generation of global education. Winning many prestigious awards, Fronter has been acknowledged as a leader in its market, and one of only 10 Learning Platform Service Suppliers to be certified by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) in the UK. Experiencing rapid growth and expansion, the Fronter Platform is used by millions of teachers and learners in schools, colleges, universities, and professional organisations around the world. Fronter takes part in all major European e-learning conferences, presenting the Fronter Platform to the greater educational community. Fronter is proud to be 100% focused on education, and is continuously evolving as a result of collaboration with its users and the dynamic educational market. Fronter provides easy-to-use tools for learning and collaboration online MORE INFORMATION AND DEMO AT FRONTER.Co.uk Fronter International Rådhusgata 1-3 P.O. BOX 232 Sentrum N-0103 Oslo, Norway info@fronter.com Fronter UK Ltd 80 Strand London WC2R ORL Tel: Offices in: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Spain, Poland, The United Kingdom, West Africa, North Africa and The Middle East.