E – learning and Virtual Class

E-learning

Concept of E-Learning

E-Learning can be defined an approach to facilitate and enhance learning by means of personal computers, CD-ROMs, and the Internet. It may be as simple as that teachers may simply post their material on Internet, students can read it online or can download it for further access.

E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The letter “e” in e-learning stands for the word “electronic”, e-learning would incorporate all educational activities that are carried out by individuals or groups working online or offline, and synchronously or asynchronously via networked or standalone computers and other electronic devices.

E-learning is essentially the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. E-learning applications and processes include Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual education opportunities and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. It can be self-paced or instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and audio.

Abbreviations like CBT (Computer-Based Training), IBT (Internet-Based Training) or WBT (Web-Based Training) have been used as synonyms to e-learning.

The growing popularity of E-Learning has introduced new terms to education, as Virtual Classroom, where student will be present with his professor and fellow learners in a classroom. They will not be present physically in the classroom but connected to the classroom via Internet.

Virtual classroom aims to simulate the experience of attending a class overthe web. So everyone is able to see other participant virtually.

Market

The worldwide e-learning industry is estimated to be worth over $48 billion according to conservative estimates. Developments in internet and multimedia technologies are the basic enabler of e-learning, with consulting, content, technologies, services and support being identified as the five key sectors of the e-learning industry.

Other Forms of E-learning

E-learning can mean a lot more than just a self-study online course. This can include:

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Virtual classrooms, where an online tutor can interact in real time with learners, give presentations, ask questions (like WebEx)

Audio conferencing

Chat rooms

Discussion forums

Instant messaging

Podcasts

Vodcasts

Online games

Types of E-learning

Individualized self-paced e-learning online: refers to situations where an individual learner is accessing learning resources such as a database or course content online via an Intranet or the Internet. A typical example of this is a learner studying alone or conducting some research on the Internet or a local network.

Individualized self-paced e-learning offline: refers to situations where an individual learner is using learning resources such as a database or a computer-assisted learning package offline (i.e., while not connected to an Intranet or the Internet). An example of this is a learner working alone off a hard drive, a CD or DVD.

Group-based e-learning synchronously: refers to situations where groups of learners are working together in real time via an Intranet or the Internet. It may include text-based conferencing, and one or two-way audio and videoconferencing. Examples of this include learners engaged in a real-time chat or an audio-videoconference.

Group-based e-learning asynchronously: refers to situations wheregroups of learners are working over an Intranet or the Internet where exchanges among participants occur with a time delay (i.e., not in real time). Typical examples of this kind of activity include on-line discussions via electronic mailing lists and text-based conferencing within learning managements systems.

Advantages of E- learning:

1. Travel costs = zero

Many organizations are currently putting a lockdown on all travel for employees, while still expecting training delivery to persist. This plays very well to e-learning, as it has no

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travel cost. Dow Chemical reduced average spending of $95 per learner / per course on classroom training, to only $11 per learner / per course with electronic delivery, giving rise to an annual saving of $34 million.

2. Marginal cost of delivery = zero

The cost of e-learning is all in the production. There’s no marginal cost of delivery – rolling our e-learning to 100 or 10,000 learners costs the same.

3. Learner time is better spent

E-learning is generally shorter than classroom training on the same subject by up to 25-60% (according to Brandon Hall, 2001 and Rosenberg 2001). Time is compressed in e-learning, as you don’t have all the logistics that come with the classroom: welcomes, introductions, setting up and winding up sessions, breaks and the like. Since the biggest cost of any training is learner time spent in training, this makes a big difference to the bottom line.

4. It works for specialist content too

Don’t think you have to be at the 1,000+ learner’s level before e-learning makes sense. The cost per hour of e-learning can be dramatically reduced by using low-cost or open source tools, and taking on some tasks in-house. This means that even quite specialized areas which may have small audiences can still use e-learning and from a cost perspective come out better than they would with a classroom alternative.

Communication technologies used in E-learning

Communication technologies are generally categorized as asynchronous or synchronous.

Asynchronous activities : use technologies such as blogs, wikis, and discussion boards. The idea here is that participants may engage in the exchange of ideas or information without the dependency of other participant’s involvement at the same time. Electronic mail (Email) is also asynchronous in that mail can be sent or received without having both the participants’ involvement at the same time. Asynchronous learning also gives students the ability to work at their own pace. This is particularly beneficial for students who have health problems. They have the opportunity to complete their work in a low stress environment.

Synchronous activities: involve the exchange of ideas and information with one or more participants during the same period of time. A face to face discussion is an example of synchronous communications. Synchronous activities occur with all participants joining in at once, as with an online chat session or a virtual classroom or meeting.

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM3

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Concept of Virtual Classroom

Just as the term virtual means a simulation of the real thing, Virtual Classroom is a simulated classroom via Internet, which provides a convenient communication environment for distance learners just like traditional face-to-face classroom. A virtual classroom allows learners to attend a class from anywhere in the world and aims to provides a learning experience that is similar to a real classroom.

When we go to college we have a schedule of lectures, which we must attend. Student must arrive on time, and when he enters the classroom, he finds a teacher, fellow learners, a blackboard or whiteboard, LCD projector, optionally a television screen with videos. Likewise, a Virtual Classroom is a scheduled, online, teacher-led training session where teachers and learners interact together using computers linked to a network such as the Internet. A virtual classroom enables to bring learners from around the world together online in highly interactive virtual classes while greatly reducing the travel, time, and expense of on-site teaching/training programs. It can be used as a solution for live delivery and interaction that addresses the entire process of creating and managing our teaching-learning process. It facilitates instructor and student in teaching-learning events, such as a seminar, online discussion or a live training for employees in company. As in traditional classroom, there are professor and fellow learners present with the student; we have many participants present in virtual classroom. They can talk with each other as in the traditional classroom via chat. Similarly presenter uses whiteboard, gives notes/resources, gives presentation as given in traditional one. Thus, virtual classroom can be visualized as a classroom where a lecture or session is conducted using Internet.

Features: Crystal-clear, full-duplex voice over the Internet  PowerPoint presentation broadcasting

 Synchronous whiteboards

 Many-to-many high-quality video conferencing even at lower bandwidths

 Application and desktop sharing

Advantages of Virtual Classroom

Following are some of the advantages of Virtual classroom over traditional classroom model:

1. Removal of geographical barriers (Anywhere learning)A virtual classroom allows learners and teachers to attend a single live training session from any place in the world, provided they have a computer and Internet connection.

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2. Sessions can be recordedA virtual classroom has a facility to record the session so learners or teachers can replay it afterwards.

3. Quicker to organizeTraining can be organized more quickly than traditional classroom-based training. Classrooms and projectors do not need to be reserved, materials do not need to be distributed. The sessions are easier to schedule or reschedule since attendees will not be traveling to the venue of the session.

4. One to one communicationIn a virtual classroom environment, learners can talk to the teacher and to each other, and although this communication is not as rich in a traditional classroom, it still can help learners, since it is one to one. Due to these advantages, concept of virtual classroom is getting very popular. Since it allows learners to attend sessions from anywhere in world, it is very useful for distant learners and for peoples who cannot meet face to face because of lack of time.

Limitations of Virtual Classroom

Following are some of the limitations of Virtual classroom over

1. Traditional classroom

Teachers and students need to become familiar with the tools Teachers and students are familiar with the workings of a traditional classroom, that is, they understand the concepts of hand raising, the whiteboard, assignments, and so forth.With a virtual classroom, all attendees must become familiar with the way the virtual classroom works before virtual classroom based training starts.

2. Time dependency for Live Sessions

Attending virtual classroom training is restricted to a certain scheduled time.

3. Infrastructure for the participants

PC needs to be prepared Virtual classroom sessions need to be scheduled, teachers need to be invited, and participants’ PCs need to be prepared.

4. Technical Limitations Technical issues such as bandwidth, speed of the connection or power failure may create problem while presentation is going on.

Different Users of Virtual Classroom

There are different classes of users of virtual classroom based on the roles that they play. When presenter enters in virtual classroom, he has different work to do than

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participant. Depending on the user type, virtual classroom takes different form for each user. These forms can be categorized depending on the user's role. These roles are as follows:

Presenter (or Administrator) Participant

Facilities provided by presenter interface to Faculty:

Register new usersPresenter as an administrator has to register new users that will be attending the session.

Create a sessionPresenter has to decide the session time, users that will be invited for the session. While creating a session, he can specify the time and users of the particular session.

Cancel a user registrationIf any registered user does not want to attend the session, presenter cancels his registration.

Conduct Online presentationAs a presenter, he conducts the session for participants. During presentation he performs various activities in the classroom. He can load the presentation slide that will be displayed to participants.

Share ResourcesPresenter can add various resources to the session. It may be a file or just a simple web page link that participant can download at their end.

Conduct PollHe can create a poll for participants. Also he can chat with participants.

Explain concepts using WhiteboardHe can use whiteboard to explain some of the topic, which may not be able to explain via presentations, or to solve any particular doubt asked by the participant.

Facilities provided by participant interface to students:

View online presentationWhen a participant joins the session, they can view the presentation, which are conducted by the presenter in the virtual classroom. The presentation may include the PowerPoint presentation slides or it may also include the snap of the whiteboard on which the presenter can explain the concepts to the participants.

Public/Private Chat

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The participants can have a conversation with the fellow participants publicly or privately via the chat feature available in the interface, the chat allows the participant to send the instant messages to the participants who are also attending the session.

Raise HandsWhenever any participant will have any doubt, then he can tell that to presenter by using the hands up facility available in the user interface of the participant, using this feature the participant can interact with the presenter via the private chat.

Give Response to the pollsThe participants can answer the polls that are submitted by the presenter by using the “Submit Response” facility provided in the interface. The poll can be of type objective or it may be of Yes/No type. It the particular poll is public then participants can see response for that particular poll, else it will be kept hidden from the participant. The Only presenter is able to see the response for private poll.

Download ResourcesThe resources that are been shared by the presenter can be downloaded by the participants at their machine. The resources can be the files which may include course material, e-book’s etc, or it may be also web links which presenter may want the participants should refer.

Literature Survey

HP, IBM Lotus, Elluminate Live, Sanako, Maxwell, Blackboard virtual classrooms are some virtual classrooms used worldwide.

DESIGN

1. Use-case diagram

A use case is a technique for capturing the potential requirements of a new system or software change. Each use case provides one or more scenarios that convey how the system should interact with the end user or another system to achieve a specific business goal.

Use case diagrams depict:

Use cases: A use case describes a sequence of actions that provide something of measurable value to an actor and is drawn as a horizontal ellipse.

Actors: An actor is a person, organization, or external system that plays a role in one or more interactions with your system. Actors are drawn as stick figures.

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Associations: Associations between actors and use cases are indicated in use case diagrams by solid lines. An association exists whenever an actor is involved with an interaction described by a use case

System boundary boxes (optional): We can draw a rectangle around the use cases, called the system boundary box, to indicate the scope of the system.

Packages (optional): Packages are UML constructs that enable us to organize model elements (such as use cases) into groups. Packages are depicted as file folders and can be used on any of the UML diagrams, including both use case diagrams and class diagrams.

CDAC’s Virtual ClassroomFigure 5.1: Use Case Diagram for Virtual Classroom

As seen in use case diagram, in virtual classroom, there are two entities, Presenter and Participant, which interacts with the system. These two entities can be identified as actors in the System.

Activities performed by the presenter: Registering new Users Create session Create Agenda Create Poll Load Resources to the Session Start the Presentation End the Session

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Activities performed by the participant: Apply for the registration Attend the presentation Download Resources Give Response for the poll

2. Activity Diagram

Activity diagrams represent the business and operational workflows of a system. It is a dynamic diagram that shows the activity and the event that causes the object to be in the particular state. It describes the workflow behavior of a system. An Activity diagram consists of the following behavioral elements:

Initial Activity: This shows the starting point or first activity of the flow. Denoted by a solid circle. This is similar to the notation used for Initial State.

Activity: Represented by a rectangle with rounded (almost oval) edges.

Decisions: Similar to flowcharts, a logic where a decision is to be made is depicted by a diamond, with the options written on either sides of the arrows emerging from the diamond, within box brackets.

Concurrent Activities: Some activities occur simultaneously or in parallel. Such activities are called concurrent activities. For example, listening to the lecturer and looking at the blackboard is a parallel activity. This is represented by a horizontal split (thick dark line) and the two concurrent activities next to each other, and the horizontal line again to show the end of the parallel activity.

Final Activity: The end of the Activity diagram is shown by a bull's eye symbol, also called as a final activity.

Figure1: Activity Diagram to Register Users

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Figure 2: Activity diagram to create new Presentation

Figure 3: Activity Diagram to Start Presentation

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4. Activity Diagram to End Presentation

5. Activity Diagram to Attend Presentation

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DATA FLOW DIAGRAM

A data flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation of the "flow" of data through an information system.

A DFD shows what kinds of data will be input to and output from the system, where the data will come from and go to, and where the data will be stored. It does not show information about the timing of processes, or information about whether processes will operate in sequence or in parallel.

Symbols of Data Flow Diagram

There only four symbols used to write Data Flow Diagram as follows:

External Entities    –>  Rectangular box

Data Flow    –>  Arrow headed lines

Process   –>  Bubble (Circle or round corner square)

Data Store   –>  Narrow opened rectangle

Instructor Data Flow Diagram

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Student Data Flow Diagram

SCREENSHOTS

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Login Interface

The users (instructor and the students) log in the system by entering their userID and password in the login window.

Login Failed Interface If login process fails, the login failed interface appears. The reason (wrong userID or password, the user is already online, database connection failure, etc.) for the failure is displayed in the interface.

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The Instructor Interface

The Student Interface

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