LON-CAPA
an
Enabling Content and Assessment Tool
(LearningOnline Network with CAPA)
Guy Albertelli, Gerd Kortemeyer, Ed Kashy
Michigan State University
Why LON-CAPA?
To respond to several years of student and
faculty feedback about what is needed in an
online instructional tool
●To provide a platform for further
experimentation in IT for education
●To build a community that will share,
enhance and sustain the tool through Open
Source development
●
What is LON-CAPA?
A Distributed Learning Content Management
and Assessment System
●LON-CAPA stands for LearningOnline Network
with a Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach.
●Current version quite successful in providing pilot
users with a common, scalable platform to assist in
all aspects of teaching a course
●
"Distributed"
LON-CAPA is
built as a
geographically
distributed
network of
constantly
connected
servers
●
"Distributed":
Domains
The network is logically divided into
domains such as "MSU", "FSU" or
"Publisher X"
●Domains limit the flow of user
information
●Domains can limit access to content
resources
●Domains limit the extent of user
privileges
●
"Distributed": Users
Users can log into any machines in the network
●Users can access courses/resources from anywhere on
the network under one username
●Users can have roles and associated privileges for any
resources, data, and functionality on the network
●
"Distributed":
Resources
System ensures that only 1 authoritative
resource exists
●Other servers "subscribe" to the resource when
they need it
●When a new version is published all subscribed
servers are notified of the update
●
"Learning Content
Management"
Allows instructors to create educational materials
and to "share" such learning resources with
colleagues across departments and institutions
●Instructional content can be catalogued and placed
into cross-institutional shared repository
●Provides online tool to easily combine a variety of
content together for presentation to students
● html, movies, images, individualized
assessments, applets, simulations, other
resource collections,...
●
"Individualized
Assessment"
Individualized problems: different numbers,
different graphs, different options, …
●"Classical" online homework types: multiple
choice, option response, mix-and-match, string, etc
● Numerical, multicomponent numerical, physical
units, symbolic math, individualized simulations
●Combination of the above types
●Adaptive immediate feedback
●Multiple attempts
●
"Content Management":
XML/MathML/HTML
Supports display of symbolic math on
standard browers (IE, Netscape, Mozilla)
●Accepts mathematical standard input
(LaTex)
●Future safe with support for emerging
standard (MathML)
●
"Content Management":
Printing
On the fly generation of compact pdf file
student can download and printout
●The instructor can print the assignment
whole class
●Converts graphics as needed to optimize
printing, (generates .eps files as needed
from .jpg, .gif, .png, etc.)
●
Other Functionality
Content Revision Control
•Document Upload (PowerPoint, Word, etc)
•Online Contextual Help
•Bookmarks
•Student Annotation of Content
•Extensive Statistics Generation
•Spreadsheet for Grade Calculation
•Construction Space with Problem Tools and Templates
•Internal Email System
•Feedback on Resource Quality, by Students and Instructors
•Chatroom
•Syllabus
•Cummulative Calendar Tool
•
Who uses it? Students
(“It”: CAPA, LectureOnline, LON-CAPA family)
Who uses it? Students
Who uses it? Courses
Who uses it? Faculty
How is it used?
Material written by faculty teaching course or
"re-used" from other faculty
●Homework in addition to "traditional" lecture
and textbook
●"Traditional"lecture, homework and textbook
online
●VU courses
●AP courses
●Prelab quizzes
●In-class exercises
●
Can a non-commercial Open
Source, Free Software system be
sustained? And how?
Chronicle of Higher
Education
December 21, 2001
BlackBoard is affordable for now …
(But) higher-education officials expect that
courseware companies will raise their prices after
creating a market for the software, and after seeing
course-management systems become an
indispensable part of the academic-computing
infrastructure on most campuses. […]
As the company integrates more functions into
Blackboard, its executives anticipate signing many
more "$200,000-, $300,000-, and $400,000-a-year
relationships"
Chronicle of Higher
Education
December 21, 2001
(And) whatever the current faults of WebCT
and Blackboard, many academic
administrators say they are preferable to
homegrown systems. […]
Princeton developed its own coursemanagement system, beginning in 1997.
Two years later, the university decided to
abandon its homegrown system in favor of
Blackboard. Why?
Chronicle of Higher
Education
December 21, 2001
"The problem with homegrown systems is you typically
have one or two staff people who know how the system
works, and those people might leave or decide to do
something else," Mr. Goldstein [Director of Academic
Services, Princeton] says. (actually talking about his own
system)
Getting away from
"homegrown"
Problem: "one or two staff people"
Remedies:
●Collaboration with other institutions
●Workshops for training
●Conferences for disseminating best practices
Why LON-CAPA?
●
Pros
●
LON-CAPA has no licensing cost.
LON-CAPA is open-source GNU GPL, and can
be adapted and enhanced by adopters
●
Sustainability assured by critical mass of
adopters
●
●
Cons
●
Currently a small (but growing) user community
Still in experimental mode (successful), trying to
transition into production mode
●
Enlarging the user
community
For broad user acceptance we need:
●Professional redesign of the user interface
●Build a user support infrastructure
●Provide detailed documentation
●Stimulate content creation
IT Projects Support
Michigan State University (1992-Today)
●Software Development (CAPA, LOL, LON-CAPA)
●Sloan Foundation (1995-99)
●Studying ALNs on campus
●Mellon Foundation (1999-2002)
●Educational and Cost Effectivness
●NSF ITR (2000-2005)
●Investigate Shared Online Content using LON-CAPA
●Issues include: Sustainability, Dissemination,
Feasibility, Content Standards, Quality/Access of
Resources...
●
Conferences and
Workshops
First LON-CAPA meeting at MSU.
●Second meeting at Florida State University
with 56 faculty from 22 institutions.
●Next meeting at Truckee Meadows
Community College, Reno.
●Two programmer Workshops (approx 20
participants) at MSU in Summer.
●
Current LON-CAPA
Installations
Universities (department level)
Ohio University
•SUNY Stony Brook
•Florida State University
•University of South Carolina
•George Washington University
•University of Central Florida
•Michigan State University
•University of Delaware
Outside United States
•Simon Fraser University - Vancouver, Canada
•University of Halle - Halle, Germany
•University of Oldenberg - Oldenberg, Germany
•
More Information
www.lon-capa.org
Next user conference
Truckee Meadows Community College
Reno, Nevada
January 17-18 2003
Next Workshop Series
Michigan State University
June 6-7 & 9-11 2003