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Approaches To E-Learning: Key Standards And Technologies. Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY. Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/. UKOLN is supported by:. Contents. Standards The Context The Need For Standards Key Web Standards E-Learning Standards - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Approaches To E-Learning:Key Standards And Technologies
Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of BathBath, BA2 7AY
EmailB.Kelly@ukoln.ac.ukURLhttp://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
UKOLN is supported by:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Contents
Standards• The Context• The Need For Standards• Key Web Standards• E-Learning Standards• Other Relevant Standards
Key Application Areas • The Web• Collaborative Systems• Learning Systems
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
The ContextStandards have a partial (but important role) in development work.Standards have a partial (but important role) in development work.
Standards: concerned with protocols and file formats
Standards: concerned with protocols and file formats
Architectures: models for implementing systems
Architectures: models for implementing systems
Applications: software products used to implement systems
Applications: software products used to implement systems
Resources: financial and staff costs needed to implement systems
Resources: financial and staff costs needed to implement systems
Open standards vs. Proprietary HTML / XML vs. PDF CSS / XSL vs. HTML GIF vs PNG
Which standards are applicable NT / UnixFile system / database application HTML tools / content management
Development vs. Migration costs Use of in-house expertise In-house vs. out-sourced Licensed vs. open source
Apache / IIS FrontPage / Dreamweaver Oracle / SQLServer ColdFusion vs ASP
Note the talks will illustrate applications, but we are application-neutral
Note the talks will illustrate applications, but we are application-neutral
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
The Bigger Context
In learning / e-learning users cover bother learners and teachers.User issues are not just usability, functionality, etc. but also learning styles, student needs, pedagogy, etc.
In learning / e-learning users cover bother learners and teachers.User issues are not just usability, functionality, etc. but also learning styles, student needs, pedagogy, etc.
Applications
Standards
ArchitectureUsers
Resources
Use
rs
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Why Do We Need Standards?
Any suggestions on why we need standards?
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
What Standards Provide
Standards are needed:• To provide application-independence – remember
when documents were trapped into particular word processing software
• To provide platform-independence – allowing us to move between PCs’ Macs, Unix systems, etc.
• To provide long term access to data – avoiding the digital dark ages.
• To provide a coherent architectural model – which allows for evolution and integration.
• To provide an open marketplace – allowing users to choice their preferred solution.
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Key Web Standards
HTML:• Universal native language for the Web• Should be used for the structure of Web
resources (and not their appearance)• Simple to use (but not necessarily for everyone)• You should create compliant HTML, and not just
HTML that seems to work
CSS:• Used to define how HTML tags appear• An elegant solution, allowing the appearance to
be managed and changed• Greater use should be made of CSS
Web
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
HTML’s Limitations
Although HTML is deployed world-wide it has its limitations:
• It cannot easily be extended (e.g. to add scientific tags)
• If can only describe basic document structures
• It was designed as an output format• It cannot easily be reused for other
purposes
Web
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
XML To The Rescue
XML:• Extensible Markup Language• A meta-language, used for designing other
languages• Designed to be extensible• Used to create languages such as MathML, CML,
SMIL, SVG, etc.• Has been a tremendous success in a short period• Should form the basis for your networked
applications
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“Flash? No thanks, I’ll stick with XML”
- or do you not trust my salesmanship?
“Flash? No thanks, I’ll stick with XML”
- or do you not trust my salesmanship?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
XHTML
XHTML:• HTML expressed as an XML application• XHTML are:
• In lowercase: <p> and not <P>• Must be closed: most have <p>xxx</p>• Empty elements thus: <hr /> and not <hr>• Attributes quoted: <img src=“foo” .. />
• XHTML must be compliant• Better suited for repurposing – but more
important to get it right• Current applications should probably aim to
create XHTML
Web
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Other Key Web Standards
SVG:• Scalable Vector Graphics• Vector graphics formats designed for Web• Can resize graphics without losing resolution• Particularly applicable in scientific applications• See <http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/>
SMIL:• Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language• Potential for use in many scientific applications
(simulations, etc.)• See <http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/>
Web
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SVG and SMIL are both XML applicationsSVG and SMIL are both XML applications
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Other Key Web Standards
MathML:• Mathematical Markup Language• Rendered natively in Mozilla browser• See <http://www.w3.org/Math/>
CML:• Chemical Markup Language• Java and JavaScripted browser support available• See <http://www.xml-cml.org/>
Web
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MathML and CML are both XML applicationsMathML and CML are both XML applications
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Pulling These Together
Because W3C standards are designed to be interoperable you can:
• Integrate SVG, MathML, CML and XHTML fragments into a single document
• Use SMIL to manipulate these fragments for use in simulations, animated displays, etc.
• Process them by other applications (algebraic systems, molecular modelling applications, …)
• …
Web
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
ExamplesA MathML PageA MathML Page
A CML PageA CML Page
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
E-Learning Standards
Why do you think we need e-learning standards?
What areas will be addressed by e-learning standards?E
-Lea
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
E-Learning Standards
E-learning standards:• The content of the learning is more important than
the technologies used to deliver the learning• There is very rapid changes in technologies:
printed resources, open learning materials, videos, CBL tools, BBC micros (in the UK), Gopher, Web, VRML, VLEs, …
• We need to be able to easily move content to new or different applications and delivery systems
• Teachers need to take 'chunks' or content and integrate them into their own learning environment
• …
E-L
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
E-Learning Standards
Areas which e-learning standards may cover:• Resource discovery – finding e-learning
resources• Assessment – defining assessment in an open
way• User profiles – describing user characteristics• Management – management of e-learning
environments (VLEs, MLEs, …)• …
E-L
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See <http://www.cetis.ac.uk/>
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Other Relevant Standards
What other areas related to e-learning will have standards which we will need to consider when developing e-learning systems?
Oth
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My Thoughts• Communications tools• Interactive systems• Publishing tools• …
My Thoughts• Communications tools• Interactive systems• Publishing tools• …
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Communications Standards
Email:• SMTP and POP /IMAP• HTML support• What will your VLE support?
IM:• Currently driven by vendors (MSN, AOL
Messenger, Yahoo Messenger)• Interoperability difficulties• XMPP• Jabber open source work
Video-conferencing:• Studio based / Web cams• Covered elsewhere?
Oth
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Key Application Areas
What are the key applications areas which you may wish to use when developing an e-learning environment?
Key
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Communications
Email:• Direct, lists, list archives• Email output, alerts, …
Phone Technologies• SMS alerts, 3G, …
IM Technologies• MSN Chat, …
Shared Desktops• Groupware tools
Key
Ap
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Publishing
Web resources:• Conventional Web pages and HTML tools• Use of CMSs
Blogging technologies • Structured resources• Calendar metaphor• Web-based authoring tool
Collaborative Publishing:• Wikis
Key
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Interaction
Various types of interaction:• Quizzes• Testing• Simulation• …K
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Managing
Applications for managing e-learning environments:
• Managing resources• Managing students• Managing assessment• …
Key
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Are
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Rather than discuss these key application areas you will have the opportunity to try out various applications in the next session
Rather than discuss these key application areas you will have the opportunity to try out various applications in the next session
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
It May Not Be Easy
However using standards is not always easy: • Many proprietary solutions can be very
good• Many users will have expertise in use of
proprietary solutions • Moving to open solutions may be
expensive, especially in the short term.• Some open solutions may be immature,
difficult to implement or fail to take off (OSI X.400 email, anyone?)
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
A Matrix For Selection
In order to provide objective criteria for selection of open solutions the following matrix is proposed:
• Maturity of standard: acceptance, stability, availability of tools, etc.
• Appropriateness of standard: fitness for purpose, timescales & budget, …
• Ease of deployment: costs, training, expertise, …• Organisation culture: readiness to experiment,
views on standards, OSS, etc.There will not be a single universal solution. The solution you chose should be based on your needs & circumstances. (Beware of salesmen of all types!)
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See “Matrix For Selection Of Standards” at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefing/briefing-31/>
See “Matrix For Selection Of Standards” at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefing/briefing-31/>
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Conclusions
To conclude:• Use of open standards is important in
development of richly functional and interoperable e-learning services
• Proprietary solutions ("let's buy everything from Microsoft") can be tempting – but this can have dangers!
• Use of open standards also has challenges:• Standards complex to understand• Standards wars• Standards may be immature• …
• It is for you and your organisation to resolve these conflicts (but workshop lecturers are here to help)
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
QuestionsQ
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