Solutions for developing and integrating software tools for e learning systems.

Moraru, Sorin Aurel ; Ungureanu, Delia ; Sandu, Florin 等

1. INTRODUCTION

The main idea is to create a single application that integrates a variety of other tools (Moraru et al, 2006). The system was developed for the Leonardo da Vinci project: VetTrend (Valorisation of an Experiment-based Training System through a Transnational Educational Network Development). The advantage is that all the tools could be executed from the same place. Also, the system have the role to keep the information together, to present it to the users and allow the users to communicate between them, using different tehniques. The communication is a key-point into the process of learning; inside the system diferent types of communication tehniques have been developed and implemented by the authors: chat, discussion forum, whiteboard tool, newsletter engine etc.

2. GENERAL ARCHITECTUTE

The Learning Management System (LMS) manages the delivery of self-paced, e-learning courses. The LMS lets you publish courses and place them in an online catalog. Learners log into the LMS using a browser, select courses from the catalog and launch them. The LMS tracks the learners' activities with the courses (Mustica & Moraru, 2003). Also, the LMS provides online reports for each course and learner. The LMS structure is presented in the figure 1.

3. RESULTS: INTEGRATED SOFTWARE TOOLS

The e-learning platform has some facilities created as software tools integrated inside an uPortal application (Moraru et al, 2004). Bellow are described the Chat and the Discussion forum.

The Chat application has been developed using the Java technology (JSP and Servlet). JSP pages have been used for creating the application interface. A Servlet application was developed for processing the information.

The application could be used independently of any other application or it could be used inside a system of applications. In our case, we have decided to use the application inside the uPortal system.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

The application configuration is done by adding different parameters to the URL path that is used to access it. In this way could be set the name of the user that enters the chat application. Also, the groups at which the user has access could be configured.

Inside the application, all groups appear into a bar on top of the interface. At every group corresponds a button control. The user has the possibility to change from one group to another. Every group is like a different chat room; it exist a different conversation for every group.

The user has the possibility to do a private conversation with any online user from a group.

The Discussion forum application has been also integrated inside the uPortal system. In this way we could use the users from the uPortal system inside the forum module. The authentication into the forum module is done automatically, with the current username, when the current user accesses the link to the forum module. The administrator users from the uPortal system have the role of administrator inside the forum module.

In the figure 2 is presented a screenshot of the discussion forum module.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

The Newsletter engine application has the goal to offer a solution for a common problem, the communication between a sender (person or institution) and its subscribers (individual members or groups of members interested in a common subject) through the use of personalized e-mail messages that can be sent using the application. The outcome is a browser-based application, for sending out customized emails to its subscribers, emails containing more than plain text. The emails are customized for each client if the data of the client is available.

The structure of each web-page from the application is based on the following template (begining from the top):

* includes the "header.php" file that contains the information about the application's page, metadata such as: author, application name, copyright, linked style sheets, javascript files and the settings for connecting to the database (imported from the "connect.php" file);

* includes the "meniu.php" file that contains the structure of the menu;

* the content of each page such as: welcome message (for the first page), user form (for the page for adding a new user), the new article form (in the page for creating a new article) etc;

* includes the "footer.php" file that contains the bottom part of each page.

The user that doesn't have access to the toolbar functionalities will view an empty toolbar. The user is able to see what is displayed into the drawing area but he couldn't interact with it (do modifications). Having attached to the Whiteboard the Chat tool is very useful because the person who does the drawings can explain in the same time what he is doing.

In order to be able to access the facilities of the application, the users must log in. They must have a valid username and password. They must enter them in the login form and click on the "Submit" button. Adding a new user can be done by an administrator, and requires the first and last name of the user, a valid email address, a username and password (requested twice, to make sure it is not written wrong). The user's level can be chosen between 1-Admin and 2-User, the difference being that only the first type has full rights on the application.

The email field has a validation to make sure the user entered a valid email address. A JavaScript function checks to see if the email has the right format. The format must be something like this "user@server.[subdomain].domain". The second part of the email can also be the IP address of the host server.

Creating a new article needs to introduce a title, a main body, and an optinal signature. The text area for the body of the article is a WYSIWYG (WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet) JavaScript text editor, which allows rich content to be typed in. For saving the current order of the articles in the database, AJAX was chosen because it allows more dynamic user to machine interaction, making the sorting a pleasant experience.

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

The hover effect of the article is obtained using JavaScript.

Scriptaculous is a dynamic user interface that allows the user to interact with the content of the page by dragging and dropping, hovering, and also allowing the content to have a transparency like appearance (Kristaly & Moraru, 2006).

Adding subscribers into the database can be done in two ways: (i) the user can select to enter the contacts one by one, by typing in their title (Mr., Ms., etc), their name and email address; (ii) importing the subscribers from a TAB delimited file.

After the order in which the articles will appear has been selected, the newsletter is ready to be sent. The mailout is done in three simple steps, each one with its own importance: selecting the template, personalizing the newsletter (as shown in figure 3), and sending the newsletter. After the emailing is done, the application displays a report with the number of emails sent.

4. CONCLUSION

The architecture of a system platform developed for e-Learning within the Leonardo da Vinci project--VetTrend--was presented. A central portal (uPortal) includes the developed applications, allowing the access of a large type of users.

The created facilities--chat, discussion forum, whiteboard, etc--were developed and integrated inside the platform by the authors. The students can view the courses and communicate among them or with the teachers, using the integrated software tools, the main purpose of this system being to gather the information together and to facilitate the users' communication.

The Newsletter application can be used for keeping contact with several lists of people at the same time. Inside an university, it could be used to contact each group (or year) of students, or all at the same time, or it could be used to communicate separately with the students and teachers. It would also be useful for contacting the students that are studying abroad (usually with scholarships), or the ones that are preparing to study for a period of time in a foreign country, or in another university.

5. REFERENCES

Kristaly D.M., Moraru, S.A. (2006). Java technologies for model-view-controller architecture, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Optimization of Electrical and Electronic Equipment "OPTIM'06", Vol. III, pp. 175-178, ISBN 973 635 705-8, 978 973 635 705-3, Moeciu-Brasov, May 2006, Ed. Transilvania University, Brasov.

Moraru S.A., Diaconu, I., C. Bujdei, C. (2006). ICT Use for Remote Experiments in Electric and Electronic Domain, Proceedings of the 15th International Scientific And Applied Science Conference "ELECTRONICS ET'2006", book 3, pp. 201-2008, ISBN 954-438-566-5, Sozopol, Bulgaria, Sept. 2006, Technical University Sofia & Technical University Delft, Sofia.

Moraru, S.A., Pelcz, A., Perniu, L. (2004). Java and e-Learning--a view of a tool and a context for ICT products, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Optimization of Electrical and Electronic Equipments "OPTIM2004", Vol. IV, pp. 241-244, ISBN 973-635-285-4, Brasov, May 2004, Ed. Transilvania University, Brasov.

Mustica M., Moraru S.A. (2003). ECampus--An E-Learning Management System as a Web Based Application, Proceeding of the 12th International Scientific and Applied Science Conference "ELECTRONICS ET'2003", Book 4, pp. 190-193, ISBN 954-438-374-3, Sozopol, Bulgaria, Sept. 2003, Technical University Sofia & Technical University Delft, Sofia.

http://java.sun.com/product/ and .../javaee/javaserverfaces, Accessed: (2008-05-15)