2011 04-04 (educon2011) emadrid esancristobal uned remote labs as learning services in the educational arena

Remote Labs as Learning Services in

the Educational ArenaElio San Cristóbal Ruiz

UNED (Spanish University for Distance Education)

[email protected]

Main Ideas

There are a great number of learning resources and learning systems that can work together for creating learning process.

Technology-enhanced learning is not just interacting with learning objects. Physical labs are another useful resource in education, especially for engineering and science education.

EDUCON, 2011-04-04Amman, Jordan

LMS and Online LabsLMS is a software program that allows displaying theoretical learning contents in an organized and controlled way. Some Services•Collaborative and communication Tools Wikis, Chats, forums, etc.•Evaluation Tools (supporting IMS-QTI)•Learning Content (IMS-CP, SCORM, etc.)•Administration


LMS and Online LabsOpen source Moodle, Sakai, claroline, dotLRN, etc.

Company software Blackboard

How LMS works --------


LMS

API

ModulesOr

Packages

Web

LMS and Online LabsOnline labs

•Virtual Web Labs These are web simulation programs that run over the Internet. Students´ browsers display the experiment.

•Remote Web Labs These are programs that allow students to interact with real hardware (figure 2.2) or instruments through their browser over the Internet.


LMS and Online Labs


Student

Student

Internet

WebServer

Audio and video Server

DatabseServer

??

Instruments

Student

Student

Internet

WebServer

Controller

LMS and Online LabsCurrent situation


Other Learning Systems

LMS and Online LabsIntegration


InternetStudent

Student

Internet

Broker Server

Data Base

??

InstrumentsController

Software Lab

LMS

MIDDLEWARE

Internet

Internet?

?InstrumentsController

Software Lab

LMS and Online Labs


LMS

API

ModulesOr

Packages

WebCreating a new service into LMS

LMS and Online Labs


LMS and Online Labs


LMS and Online Labs


LMS and Online LabsSCORM and Virtual Web Lab


LMS, Online Labs, Learning Sytems

Communication Problems

•Different architectures.

•Different programming languages.

•Different ways of communication (web services , JMS, etc.).



service-oriented architecture (SOA)


Web

Service 1

Service 4

Service 2

Service 3Service n


Enterprise Service Bus


ESB 1

ESB 2

LMS

System 1

Lab1

Lab 2Lab1

System 2

ConclusionsWe have created services in moodle and dotLRN for:

•Reusing Web labs and remote labs in different LMS•Web labs and remote labs reuse the LMS services

We are designing a middleware (ESB, SOA) to connect different e-learning systems. SOA and ESB architecture is good for doing that

using e-learning standards. We are working with SCORM, IMS-CC, etc. And studying the advantages and disadvantages


ConclusionsWe have created services in moodle and dotLRN for:

•Reusing Web labs and remote labs in different LMS•Web labs and remote labs reuse the LMS services

We are designing a middleware (ESB, SOA) to connect different e-learning systems. SOA and ESB architecture is good for doing that

using e-learning standards. We are working with SCORM, IMS-CC, etc. And studying the advantages and disadvantages


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors would like to acknowledge to the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry for the support in the project TIN2008-06083-C03/TSI “s-Labs – Integración de Servicios Abiertos para Laboratorios Remotos y Virtuales Distribuidos”.

Also authors want to acknowledge the support provided by e-Madrid Project, S2009/TIC-1650, “Investigación y Desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid”.


Thank you for your attention!

Elio San Cristóbal Ruiz

UNED (Spanish University for Distance Education)

[email protected]