Personal Learning Environment for Higher Education:

A Mashup Based Widget Concept Behnam Taraghi, Martin Ebner, Sandra Schaffert

Special Track “Mashups for Learning” (MASHL2009) International Conference on Interactive Computer

Aided Learning (ICL), Villach, Austria

Social Learning Computer and Information Services

Graz University of Technology

What is a PLE ?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/2441359074

According to Stephen Downes a PLE is ...

a future learning environment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skippytpe/256929499

According to Stephen Downes a PLE is ...

not an institutional or coporate application but a learning center

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alysser/2011022884

According to Stephen Downes a PLE is ...

where content is reused and remixed

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alysser/2011022884

According to Stephen Downes a PLE is ...

according to the student‘s own needs and interests

Why we need a PLE ?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toru_okada/1377360600

University a closed castle?

http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/file/view/swl_ple2.gif (Scott Leslie, PLE Diagram)

But how can we integrate the WWW ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghz/407109888/

and combine it with university‘s services?

The general concept

Issues to consider

• Focus on individual needs, preferences of users • Future VLE• Recommendations but not automatic personalization• Individuality of the interface• Learning and Information environment• Flexibility destroys design

Technological concept

Widget

• Follow a W3C Widget Specification• IST Palette Project and TenCompetence

„Widgets are full-fledged client-side applications that are authored using Web

standards. They are typically downloaded and installed on a client machine or device where

they typically run as stand-alone applications outside a Web browser“

Defintion of W3C

widget

widget

widget

Client-side application logic

(JavaScript)

Widget Update

JS

Call

Web ServerController

PHP Classes and Actions

Model

Database

MashUp Principle - Use of Widgets

XHR Request Response

HTTP Request

Response

JSONP Request

Response

Remote Web Server Remote Web Server

Java FX

„JavaFX is a rich client platform for building cross-device applications and content. Designed to enable easy creation and

deployment of RIAs with immersive media and content, the JavaFX platform ensures that RIAs

look and behave consistently across diverse form factors and devices.“

http://javafx.com/docs/gettingstarted/javafx/

First Working Prototype

Prototype

Performance issues

Minimize all CSS and JSUsing GZIP compressionReduce #requestsCaching

s

Next Steps

• Roll Out of the Prototype • Implementing Useful Widgets• Special focus on learning objects• Apply HTML 5 features• Recommendations for different learning resources• Mobile widgets

SOCIAL LEARNINGComputer and Information Services

Graz University of Technology

Behnam Taraghi

http://elearning.tugraz.at

http://tugll.tugraz.at/96874/

Join us in Graz - http://www.iunig.at