THE CREATION OF A SOFTWARE
PROTOTYPE FOR ONLINE
EDUCATION OF PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION, THE SUPPORT OF
THE DISSEMINATION OF THE
APPLIED RESEARCH RESULTS
funded by:
the European Fund for Regional
Development and
the State Budget of the Slovak Republic
GENERAL BACKGROUND

Project Goal
o
support of applied research in the area of
Public Administration and Public Policy
online education and transfer of the research
results into praxis using new technologies
GENERAL BACKGROUND

Specific Project Goals
Support of applied research in the area of
online education for the development of
software prototype based on user’s request
Applied research results dissemination in
the area of software solutions for Public
Administration
INTRODUCTION OF PARTICIPATING
INSTITUTIONS

The presented project is implemented by:
o
o
the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences
that belongs to the Comenius University in
Bratislava;
the Faculty for Chemistry and Food
Technology of the Slovak University of
Technology (STU) in Bratislava
COMENIUS UNIVERSITY IN BRATISLAVA

One of the most prestigious and respected
education institutions in the Central Europe

13 faculties

1826 teachers

more than one hundred
thousand students
FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
SCIENCES
Instituts
Institute of Public Policy and
Economics
 Institute of European Studies
and International Relations
 Institute of Applied Psychology
 Institute of Social
Antopology

SLOVAK UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
One of the largest Universities of
Technology
 complex and modern university
offering about 77 study
fields
 co-operation with relevant
industry sectors
 wide experience with a
specific e-learning tool –
Moodle.

THE FACULTY OF CHEMICAL AND FOOD
TECHNOLOGY

Key departments in the chemistry
industry, chemistry technologies, food
industry and in the related consumer
industry
An active partner on
using and upgrading
Moodle

THE MOST IMPORTANT GOALS OF THE
PROJECT


1. Support of applied research in the area of
online education for the development of software
prototype based on user’s request
2. Dissemination of applied research results
in the area of software solutions for Public
Administration
ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE PROJECT



Need analysis in the area of software solutions
for education of Public Administration
The development of a software prototype based
on Moodle platform and related technical
documentation and the prototype pilot testing
Support of the utilization of the software
prototype within public and private education
field
ACTIVITIES DONE




Target groups needs research (PA employees,
students, teachers)
Survey of existing software solutions
Identification of recommendations for the
development of software prototype built on
Moodle platform
Ongoing development of software prototype
ACTIVITIES TO BE EXECUTED IN THE
UPCOMING MONTHS
Using the eye tracker we will identify which
features are the most eye-catching, which
features cause confusion and which ones are
ignored by user altogether
 Based on data obtained by eye tracker to
complete the recommendations for the software
prototype creation
 Development of a software prototype
 Since 9/2011 software prototype pilot run
 Another project dissemination 9/2011-2/2012

ANALYSIS AND THEIR STRUCTURE




Research of specific needs and requests of online
education software users on the basis of regional,
cultural, legislative and other specifics of the
target group
Current state of online education
Survey of existing software solutions, their
attributes, limitations, effectiveness and
possibilities of utilization within the project
Recommendations
RESULTS OF SPECIFIC NEEDS
RESEARCH AND REQUESTS OF ONLINE
EDUCATION SOFTWARE USERS
Target groups
o
o
o
o
o
Students working with existing e-learning portal
Teachers using e-learning in higher education
Staff working in public administration and local
government
Human Resource Executives
Existing e-learning portals administrators
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
May/2010 – August/2010

Electronic Questionnaire:
o Respondent identification
o Respondent participation in e-learning
o E-learning pros and cons
1. WHAT IS THE MOST POPULAR LEARNING
METHOD?
e-learning
full-time (learning)
blended learning
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
The most popular learning method is a combination of
full-time (learning) and e-learning (learning)
2. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF WORKING WITH
E-LEARNING FOR TEACHERS?
Better
communication
with students
Possibility to
work
simultaneously
with more
students
Improve
students
results
Increase
student
interest in
studying
Increase the
number of
students
E-learning is generally seen as a promising method of
learning, but identified educational, personal and
technical weaknesses must be removed
3. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF WORKING
WITH E-LEARNING FOR STUDENTS?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Availability of study Fast availability of
materials
results and important
dates
Better orientation
within study
Simple
communication with
teacher
Other
The biggest advantage of e-learning,
indicated by all student target
groups is the
availability of
study
materials
4. WHAT KIND OF ISSUES IN
IMPLEMENTATION OF E-LEARNING WERE
70.00%
RAISED BY TEACHERS?
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Lack of knowledge about
the use of e-learning tools
Colleagues disinterest
Insufficient technical
support
Students disinterest
Knowledge and
skills on how to
use the e-learning
properly is quite
an issue for
teachers
5. WHAT WERE E-LEARNING
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES FOR
STUDENTS?
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Other
Impersonal
approach to the
person
Weak technical
support
Difficulty of e- Lack of computer Misspelled tasks
learning system skills of teachers
The biggest disadvantage for
student target groups was
impersonal approach to the
person, therefore, the future elearning should focus on the
information campaign and
use of communication tools
6. HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN PART IN THE
TRAINING, WHICH USED THE METHOD OF ELEARNING?
24%
Áno
Yes
Nie
No
76%
INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION DO NOT
USE E-LEARNING FOR TRAINING OF THEIR
EMPLOYEES AND IF SO, THAN ONLY RARELY
RESULTS OF EXISTING SOFTWARE
SOLUTIONS SURVEY
Moodle is the most used software platform in
Slovakia
 Moodle as one of the few e-learning software
supports Slovak language
 One of the most eminent advantages of Moodle is
that it can run on different operating systems
 Moodle provides effective tools and simple
procedure for creating educational content
 Moodle is open source
 Moodle has the largest user base

TOP RATED E-LEARNING CONTENT MNGMT SYSTEMS
Product
Developer
Web
ATutor
University of Toronto
www.atutor.ca
Blackboard
Blackboard
www.blackboard.com
Claroline
University of Louvain
www.claroline.net
Class Server
Microsoft
www.microsoft.at
Clix
Imc G.m.b.H.
www.im-c.de
Distance Learning System
Ets G.m.b.H.
www.ets-online.de
elSitos
Bitmedia
www.bitmedia.cc
eLearning Suite
Hyperwave AG
www.hyperwave.com
IBT Server
Time4you
www.time4you.de
ILIAS
University of Cologne
www.ilias.de
Learning Space
Lotus (IBM)
www.lotus.com
Moodle
Moodle.com
www.moodle.org
Saba Learning Enterprise
Saba
www.saba.com
Top Class
WBT Systems
www.wbtsystems.com
WebCT
WebCT
www.webct.com
WeLearn
FIM – University of Linz
welearn.film.uni-linz.ac.at
COMPARISON
OF RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE
(WWW.BILDUNG. AT)
(OPEN SOURCE SYSTEM)
Product
Eduplone
ILIAS
Moodle
PHP-Nuke
Typo3
Category
LCMS
LCMS
LCMS
C3MS
CMS, C3MS
IMS, LOM
SCORM, AICC
SCORM
Free, GPL
Free, GPL
Free, GPL
Free, GPL
Free, GPL
Asynchronous. Com.
Communication
Synchronous. Com.
Collaboration
Personalization
Assessment
Didactics
Tracking
Coop. Content.
E-Learn. - Standards
Online
Content Generation
Offline
Asset-Management
Ability to Learn
Usability
Training
Documentation
Installation
Administration and
Technic
Administration
Scaling
Ability
Price and Licence
Product
ClassServer
elSITOS
Schooltalk
WeLearn
Category
LCMS
LMS
S3MS, LCMS
LMS
Legend:
Asynchronous. Com.
Communication
Synchronous. Com.
to by up to
standards
Collaboration
Personalization
Assessment
Didactics
partly to by
up to
standards
Tracking
Coop. Content.
E-Learn. - Standards
IMS
SCORM,
AICC
IMS
not up to
standards
Online
Content Generation
Offline
Asset-Management
GPL –
General
Public
License
Ability to Learn
Usability
Training
Documentation
Installation
Administration and
Technic
Administration
Scaling
Ability
Price and Licence
MS ACH
Agreement
conditional
free
paid
conditional
free
RECOMMENDATIONS
Continue on using the LCMS Moodle platform
 Develop CRM linked to Moodle for better and
more simple administration of the education
 Determine the most appropriate modules for
efficient use e-learning in education


Unify a methodology for creating e-courses

Unify a e-courses graphics environment

Strengthen technical support for all end user
groups
STEPS TO BE EXECUTED IN THE COMING
MONTHS
Using the eye tracker we will identify which
features are the most eye-catching, which
features cause confusion and which ones are
ignored by users altogether
 Based on data obtained (the eye tracker) we will
complete the recommendations for the software
prototype development
 Development of a software prototype
 Since 9/2011 software prototype pilot run
 Final phase of project dissemination 9/20112/2012

SOFTWARE PROTOTYPE NEW FEATURES FOR
ONLINE EDUCATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Last upgraded version of LCM Moodle

Better administration of courses and communication with
students
Module for Random assignments for larger group of students
 Module for time tracking of user activities, course ratings
 Module for technical support and helpdesk functionalities

Separate access to course materials and access to education
(community, testing, teachers)
 Improved audio / video support
 Localization

SOFTWARE PROTOTYPE NEW FEATURES FOR
ONLINE EDUCATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
 New
support materials
How to create courses for teachers
 How to use e-learning for students
 How to administer couses better

Experience sharing?
EXPECTATIONS



Increase the interest of both Slovak and
Foreign
students studying at our faculty
Possibility of extending cooperation with foreign
universities / colleges / faculties
Simplifying the learning process
Make the learning process more effective
 Digitization of education

PROJECT GAINS
Faculty will be ready to use digital technology as
part of its everyday life
o Make learning process more interesting
 Faculty will be equipped with modern technology
o Interactive whiteboards, computers with
touch-screen, voting machines, special eye
tracking monitor for further research
 Teachers will receive methodology and support
for the e-learning courses setting and
maintaining
 Students will receive interactive learning
methods and initial experience

Thank you for your attention!
Prof. PhDr. Ľudmila Malíková, PhD.
Head of the Institute of Public Policy and Economics
Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University
Phone: +421 2 206 69 855
E-mail: malikova@fses.uniba.sk
Dissemination: PhDr. Ľuba Vávrová, PhD.
Institute of Public Policy and Economics
Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University
Phone: +421 2 206 69 862
E-mail: crs.lgdc@gmail.com