An Integrated Software Solution for Elearning and Academic Services
Alina Andreica, Daniel Stuparu, Florina Covaci,
Gabriel Pop
IT Department, Babes-Bolyai University,
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
{alina.andreica, daniel.stuparu, florina.covaci,
gabriel.pop}@ubbcluj.ro
Ministerul Comunicaţiilor şi Societăţii Informaţionale
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Proiectul SMIS 4424: Sistem electronic aplicativ integrat de educatie al Universităţii Babeş-Bolyai
• Focus
– an integrated software solution for providing elearning facilities & dedicated academic web services
– MS technology & an e-learning – content sharing
portal implementation
• Student feed-back
• Extensibility – web parts
– System integration framework – info system facilities;
the solution may be applied for various DBMS
• Database synchronization principles
– Solution extensibility – various organization cases
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• Topics
– Introduction and Working Framework
– E-learning functionalities
– Dedicated information system facilities
– System architecture and synchronization
principles
– Conclusions and Future Work
– References
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• Introduction
– Knowledge bases society - IT impact on
learning & management processes
– Information system integration - mainly
studied for business and organizational
processes
• Hasselbring, W. ”Information System Integration”.
Communications of the ACM, 43 (6). pp. 32-36,
2000 and other work
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• Introduction
– E-learning systems
• pre-defined facilities: Blackboard or WebCT
– www.blackboard.com ; www.webct.com
• Flexible facilities: MS Learning Gateway, moodle
–
http://www.microsoft.com/education/solutions/higheredportals.aspx
– www.moodle.org
– Organizational necessity of content sharing &
communication tools
– Integrated e-learning web services + info
systems facilities
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Solution of an integrated portal
– framework for integrating an e-learning system with
dedicated information systems into a web portal
– An integrated architecture based on ILM Microsoft server, and
additional interface modules
• integrates the dedicated information systems into a web portal
that also provides e-learning facilities, based on SharePoint Portal
• ILM can be used to synchronize and optimize data access and
delegate processing means to the appropriate dedicated software
components – by specific interfaces
– Integration & synchronization of databases based on different
technologies (php / postgresql, asp / MS sql)
– Adequacy to organizational IT strategy
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E-learning systems - advanced tools which assist
teachers in creating a cooperative,
multidisciplinary and explorative learning
environment and students in accessing these
learning facilities and developing learning
interactions within this environment
• development of the student and goal centered
learning model
• Information system implementation stages;
user involvement in specification, testing,
implementing
• system flexibility requirements and decentralized system administration that were
pursued are expected to prove their efficiency
in future developments
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• Web services - E-learning services
– SharePoint built in facilities
• content & schedule management and sharing
• communication facilities (e-mail – OWA type,
discussion lists, etc.)
• evaluation tools and feed-back facilities; task
management ; survey tools
• blog and RSS tools
– The system is open to adding new webparts, services or components ie. Evaluation
Ministerul
Comunicaţiilor şi Societăţii Informaţionale
• Virtual
lab functionalities
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• Web Services – virtual labs
– support learning in experimental sciences
and sharing experimental knowledge by
electronic means in fields like: process
engineering, environmental engineering,
physics, chemistry, biology
• on-line virtual experiments and on-line labs; case
studies based on mathematical modelling and
simulation; recorded video sequences and online video streaming; posting material to be
further processed with dedicated client
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• E-learning functionalities – portal interface
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• E-learning functionalities – discipline site
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• Web services - E-learning services
Managing an educational resource (in design permissions)
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• Student feed-back
– dedicated questionnaires for administrators,
students and teachers
• survey built-in functionality
– the students’ survey was filled in early portal
implementation stages
• learning content was still under development
• involved distance learning students in human
and economic fields
• 71 students enrolled in BA and MA programs
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• subject group profile
– students attending distance learning programs
• 55% enrolled in human field specializations 45% - in
economic ones
• 83% - in BA programs and 17% in MA programs
Study field
Study level distribution
17%
45%
human
55%
BA
MA
real
83%
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• subject group profile
– students in distance learning programs
• 69% of the subject group - female students and 31% - male
students
• age distribution 18-25 interval – 64%, and 35% - 26-35
Age distribution
Gender
1%
0%
8%
18-22
31%
23-25
43%
27%
male
26-35
female
36-45
46-55
69%
56-66
21%
>66
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• feed-back to the posted educational resources
– early implementation stages impact on the
evaluation
Platform functionalities
4%
10%
16%
36%
very weak
weak
• platform
functionalities:
moderate – 34%,
good and very good –
40%
moderate
good
very good
34%
• 26% - low level of
content filling in
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• feed-back to the posted educational resources
– early implementation stages impact on the
evaluation
Functionalities regarding educational content
7%
11%
14%
40%
28%
• Functionalities
regarding the
educational content:
moderate – 28%
very weak
weak
subjects rate them as
moderate
moderate and 47% as
good
very good
good and very good
• 25% - low level of
content filling in
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• feed-back to the posted educational resources
– the learning facilities provided within the portal should
be used by filling in specific content in order to
address the students’ educational needs
Efficiency of educational resources
13%
11%
13%
very weak
weak
moderate
good
35%
very good
28%
• efficiency of
educatioanal
resources : 48% good
and very good, 28% moderate
• 24% - low level of
content filling in
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• Portal Administration Evaluation
– 86% of administrators did not grant for more than
50% of their teachers permissions for administering
their own educational content, which reveals the fact
that users are still in initial phases of platform use
– 57% didn’t have the experience of using other
platform
– administration functionalities and functionalities for
developing educational content are well rated: 29%
very good, 57% good, 14% moderate
– functionalities for platform development are very
well rated: 43% very good, 57% good
– adaptability and flexibility characteristics have a very
good feed-back
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• Student feed-back
– dedicated questionnaires for administrators,
students and teachers
• survey built-in functionality
– the students’ survey was filled in early portal
implementation stages
• learning content was still under development
• involved distance learning students in human
and economic fields
• 71 students enrolled in BA and MA programs
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• Student feed-back
– Proficient software tools prove their efficiency only
when appropriately used on specific data
• administration functionalities, functionalities for
developing educational content and platform
development have a very good feed-back,
being rated >=4 on a scale 1-5
• efficient portal functionalities must be sustained
by an adequate usage level and content fillingin in order to prove their proficiency
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• Dedicated Web Services
http://academicinfo.ubbcluj.ro/Info
– AcademicInfo is an integrated information system
dedicated to managing educational information, with
processing facilities for secretariats, specific access
facilities for students and teachers and relevant
synthesis regarding the educational process
• models educational processes at BBU level, ensuring
course selection from all faculties’ curricula in study
agreements, manages in a flexible manner various types of
educational activities at all study levels (BA, MA, PhD,
continuous education, specific curricula);
• ensures multilingual support in processing and reporting
• various types of facilities: fee management, student
documents and requests, on-line course evaluation
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• Dedicated Web Services – http://manageasist.ubbcluj.ro
– ManageAsist system is the integrated software
system for administrative management - an ERP
system adapted for higher education institutions
• designed on systematic principles
• modules: Document management, Assets, Warehouse,
Cashier, Finance, Accountancy, Grants, Human Resources
and Acquisitions, and decision assistance facilities
• Each module contains management reports for the
corresponding compartment; global decision assistance
facilities will be improved
• Previous papers address: advanced design principles,
means of processing hierarchical structures, module
integration – see references
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• Dedicated Web Services http://infocercetare.ubbcluj.ro
– Research Management System manages
research activities, by offering accessible and userfriendly means of collecting specific information,
automatically performing quantitative analyses,
syntheses and evaluations
• a tool for quantitative research evaluation; a tool for
supporting the design of competitive research strategies at
an institutional level
• Facilities for
– members of the academic & research staff, PhD students
– research management levels: chairs, institutes, departments,
faculties, university
– See references for details
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• System architecture and
synchronization principles
– authentication solution - maps facilities from the
dedicated information systems into the portal, for
each user category - ILM type server
– the authentication server associates, to each user
group, the facilities that correspond to their
permissions in each of the dedicated information
systems AcademicInfo, ManageAsist, Research
Management System – specific interface modules
– A global synchronized database is in train of being
created - human resource & organization chart
• User[userid, account, password, unitid]
• Unit[unitid, unitname, …]
Ministerul Comunicaţiilor şi Societăţii superior_id,
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• Organization_chart[unitid,
horiz_id]
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• Integration Framework And Principles - example
– database synchronisation --> data warehouse
• AcademicInfo, ManageAsist, Research Management
System and Portal databases
• Basic data for organizational management: organisation
chart, HR
• Example:
– portal – AcademicInfo: users (all categories), curricula, study
contracts, grades, fees
– portal – AcademicInfo – ManageAsist: organisation chart,
units, human resources, managers, financial information
– portal – AcademicInfo – Research Management System:
research activities, PhD Students
– portal – ManageAsist – Research Management System:,
units, human resources, grants & corresponding financial
information
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• System architecture and
synchronization principles
– Permission management
• Configures portal content for each user category
• Group based
• User categories - example:
– Students ( PhD students, international students): curricula
content; specialization based groups
– Teachers ( teacher assistants): content management;
discipline based groups
– Administrators: administration permissions; faculty based
groups
– other users: secretariats, alumni, partners, etc.
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• System architecture and
synchronization principles
– 2 database management systems
– database synchronization
• PostgreSQL for ManageAsist and Research
Management System and MS SQL Server for
AcademicInfo
• Global database; bi-directional synchronization
• this solution ensures significant autonomy functional
advantages for information systems, compared to a
direct Active Directory integration & mapping
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System architecture and synchronization principles
• MS Identity Lifecycle Management server, has advanced
integration facilities with our e-learning portal
• we are configuring the necessary permission mappings from
the dedicated information systems into the authentication
server by means of dedicated interfaces which transfer
credentials from the portal into each system
AcademicInfo
(SQL Server)
ManageAsist
(PostgreSQL)
ILM DB
(SQL
Server)
Research MS
(PostgreSQL)
the proposed integration solution
may be applied in different
organizations, for integrating their
dedicated information systems
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• Conclusions and Future Work
– an integrated software solution for providing
e-learning facilities and dedicated academic
web services
• Organizations face the phase of system integration
• The universities’ case is quite complex, since their activity
covers a wide range of areas: education and learning,
research, administration
• Integrated web services: learning facilities, virtual labs and
dedicated information facilities
• Solution generality: single log-on framework for providing
learning, sharing & collaboration facilities + dedicated
information system services
• Extendibility in organizations; solution adaptability
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• Conclusions and Future Work
– We discuss the student feed-back
consequent to the learning facilities
implementation
• Evaluation in initial implementation stages
• Students evaluate available content
• efficient portal functionalities must be sustained
by an adequate usage level and content filling-in
in order to prove their proficiency
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• Conclusions and Future Work
– an efficient integration solution by implementing a
single authentication server and mapping specific
facilities from the dedicated information systems
into the portal, for each user category
• a global integrated database and a permission mapping
scheme for ensuring appropriate access into the dedicated
information systems & portal content
• good extensibility degree for various organization cases:
single log-on framework for providing learning, sharing &
collaboration facilities + dedicated information system
services ; Solution adaptation to the specific organizational
IT management strategy
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•
Selected References
•
•
•
•
Andreica A. (2006), IT Strategies In Increasing Business
Competitiveness, Studia Europaea, (p.139-148), LI, 3
Andreica A. B., Stuparu D., Ghetie F. (2009), Design and
Implementation of an Erp System for Universities,
Proceedings of IADIS Information Systems 2009,(p 315322), IADIS Press, Eds: M. Nunes, P. Isaias, P. Powell
Hasselbring, W. ”Information System Integration”.
Communications of the ACM, 43 (6). pp. 32-36, 2000
Hasselbring, Wilhelm and Pedersen, Susanne,
“Metamodelling of Domain-Specific Standards for
Semantic Interoperability”. Lecture Notes in Computer
Science, 3782, pp. 557 – 559, 2005
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• Selected References
• Andreica A. B. (2009), Integrated Software Framework for
Academic Management , IADIS Multiconference on Computer
Science and Information Systems - Informatics, Algarve Portugal,
17-23 June 2009, Proceedings of Informatics 2009 ,(p. 221-224),
IADIS Press, Editor: Hans Weghorn, Jörg Roth, Pedro Isaias
• Berry M., Linoff G. (2000), Mastering Data Mining, John Wiley &
Sons
• Hoganson, K., Guimaraes, M., (2003), “N-Tier Client/Server
Course”, Consortium for Computing Sciences in College
Conference, Dunwoody, Georgia
• Horton, William, Horton, Katherine, (2003), E-learning Tools and
Technologies: A consumer's guide for trainers, teachers,
educators, and instructional designers, Wiley
• PostgreSQL Team , “High Availability, Load Balancing, and
Replication” http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/highavailability.html
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