MLearning and mTeaching Architectures and the Integration of Evolving Educational Support eServices

1
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Ivan Ganchev1, Mairtin ODroma1, Damien Meere1,
Stanimir Stojanov2, Mícheál Ó hAodha1 1
University of Limerick,2 University of Plovdiv
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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Outline

• Main components of a service architecture
  needed to support m-Teaching and m-Learning the
  DeLC.
• Enhanced DeLC network model illustrating how
  the supporting communications infrastructure
  provides intelligent mobile services for library
  users and information seekers across the
  University campus.
• Highlight some pilot mobile services, detailing
  the interactions which occur between the
  different network entities during service
  provision
• Discussion of iimplementation issues and
  proposal for a re-engineering approach

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
3
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Introduction

• Modern mobile communications devices exhibit
  major potential for
• Integration in the spheres of learning,
• Campus-wide communication
• Social inclusion/cohesion of society as a whole.
• e-learning is being enhanced by this
  communicative potential to become m-learning.

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
4
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Introduction

• Mobile technologies are being used to
  revolutionize learning and provide discontinuous
  rather than incremental learning opportunities in
  libraries and campuses worldwide.
• Although most students nowadays use mobile
  phones, there has, to date, been relatively
  little activity in integrating them into the
  realm of mobile learning and the learning and
  library/information environments.
• Yet these new m-learning technologies (i.e.
  mobile devices and wireless communications) has
  the ability to transform and greatly enhance
  modern learning practices

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
5
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
DeLC Network Model
The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
6
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
DeLC Network Model

• Mobile devices house intelligent agents which
  act as personal assistants for mobile users (e.g.
  cellular phones, PDAs, laptops)
• InfoStations deployed in the University library
  and at other key information points throughout
  the campus and providing network
  access/connectivity for mobile users with
  wireless devices.
• InfoStations Center controls all InfoStations
  and provides updating and synchronizing
  information.

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
7
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
DeLC Network Model
DeLC communication infrastructure supporting
m-Learning and m-Teaching
The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
DeLC ACCESS WIRELESS NETWORKS

• The following access wireless network types are
  considered to allow users access m-Learning and
  m-Teaching within DeLC
• Cellular Networks
• 2G, (GSM) supports data rates up to 14.4 Kbps
• 2.5G
• GPRS supports data rates up to 56-114 Kbps
• EDGE supports data rates up to 384 Kbps.
• 3G supports data rates up to 384 Kbps
• Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15) - The coverage is less
  than 10m. The supported data rate is 1 Mbps and
  up to 2 Mbps in the second generation of
  Bluetooth

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
9
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
DeLC Access Wireless Networks

• The following access wireless network types are
  considered to allow users access m-Learning and
  m-Teaching within DeLC
• WLAN (IEEE 802.11a/b/g) Wireless Local Area
  Networks provide high data rates, 11Mbps with
  IEEE 802b and 54 Mbps with IEEE 802.11a/g.
• WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) is a WMAN or Wireless
  Metropolitan Area Network capable of providing
  high-speed wireless networking (75Mbps) over
  great distances (30 miles), and supporting a
  great number of users (in the order of thousands)

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
10
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
DeLC Mobile Services

• Services users may access utilizing their mobile
  devices
• These context-aware services understand the
  users context
• user location,
• information environment,
• mobility attributes required/requested,
• courses/modules users are engaged in,
• issues of time-criticality,
• goal-driven sequencing of tasks engaged in by
  the user,
• environmental context issues such as classmates
  and/or librarian/educator interactions.

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
11
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Intelligent Message Notification

• Allows the broadcast of MMS/SMS messages to a
  group of users,
• Message notification sent by lecturer to a class
  of students about canceling/postponing the
  lecture,
• Message sent by librarian announcing a library
  demonstration.

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
12
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Intelligent Message Notification Interactions
The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Intelligent Phone Call

• Allows a DeLC user to make a phone call to other
  DeLC users in the most convenient and cheapest
  manner. Depending on called users location, the
  calling user has a number of options to call
  him/her
• If colleague is off-campus but connected to the
  Internet. Call is made over the Internet using
  Internet Telephony / VoIP technology (cheapest
  option but with worst quality)
• If colleague on the campus (with a laptop or
  Bluetooth enabled cellular phone, or currently
  working on multimedia PC in the library or
  lab/office). Call is made over the University
  Intranet free of charge.
• By using cellular and/or telephone network
  more expensive way, but with better quality.

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
14
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Intelligent Phone Call
Communications Infrastructure supporting the
Intelligent Phone call service
The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Intelligent mTest

• mTest provides a means of evaluating the
  students acquired knowledge and provides
  valuable feedback to students concerning their
  progress.
• mTest also allows the educator to analyze, shape
  and enhance the learning experience of the
  students, ensuring them an optimal environment
  within which to learn.
• In order for this service to be successful,
  synchronization of the off-line eLearning process
  with the on-line mLearning process is imperative.
  
• Synchronization is especially important within
  the InfoStations paradigm due to the
  geographically intermittent nature of the
  connection.

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
16
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Intelligent mTest Interactions
The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
17
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Intelligent Mobile Services

• There are a number of other services being
  developed along with the aforementioned services,
  such as
• mLectures- (Mobile access to adaptable
  Hypermedia lecture content)
• Private chat- (Instant Messaging across
  InfoStations System)
• Intelligent parking locator- (Provides the
  locations of, and directions to free parking
  spaces throughout the campus)
• Mobile access to library catalougues- (Provides
  users on-the-move access to library catalogue
  services)

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
18
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• For the realization of these mobile services a
  significant enhancement to the existing DeLC
  architecture is required along.
• To achieve this goal, the first version of the
  DeLC system will be re-engineered into an
  architecture with the capabilities of
  facilitating the aforementioned services as
  mobile web services.
• This will lead to a more open information
  environment, supporting context-based discovery
  and access to users personal information.
• The flexibility and intelligence of the system
  will be enhanced through introduction of
  intelligent agents, which communicate with the
  functional modules, implemented as
  Web-services/library modules.

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
19
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• Our re-engineering process includes the following
  steps
• Expanding the set of services (deployed on DeLC
  nodes) with additional services needed to provide
  three types of interfaces respectively to
• The existing server parts of services, e.g.
  central academic time schedule, intelligent
  diaries etc
• The InfoStations/library work stations
• The users mobile devices.
• Development of InfoStation software concerning
  intermediate processing of information needed for
  identification of users and services. The
  software could be agent- or service-oriented
  according to the model chosen in the server part

The First International m-libraries
Conference13th -14th November 2007 at the Open
University, Milton Keynes, UK
20
M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• Creation of the client part of the mobile
  services, i.e. development of personal helpers
  (for users) implemented as intelligent agents
• Setting up communication between the client part
  (personal helpers) and the server part
  (Web-services) by the means of the OWL-S
  protocol.
• The use of the OWL-S as a protocol for
  interaction between the software components
  (deployed on different DeLC nodes) offers a good
  opportunity for the realization of a software
  architecture with sufficient flexibility and
  offering a suitable environment for the support
  of a variety of mobile services.

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• The efficient interaction between the three
  parties involved in the execution of mobile
  services (i.e. InfoStations Centre,
  InfoStations, library workstations and mobile
  devices) is another important issue on which we
  have to focus.
• According to the OWL-S specification, each
  service could be described in three abstract
  levels
• Service profile, which describes what the
  service performs (including information about the
  services inputs, outputs, preconditions, and
  other features, that can be used for advertising,
  discovery, and matchmaking of the appropriate
  service)
• Service model, which shows how the service works.
  This is an expansion and more detailed
  specification of the service profile

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• Grounding, which describes how the service can
  be used and also specifies a communication
  protocol that can be used for the direct
  activation of the service. Possible groundings
  include SOAP, Java remote call, KQML, CORBA IDL
• We propose a distributed treatment of the OWL-S
  specification, where the exact scheme of
  distribution will depend on the chosen approach.
• In both cases however the third abstract level
  of the services will be supported and processed
  in the DeLC nodes / InfoStations Centre, because
  the run-time module of the nodes is aware of the
  physical location of the services, and activates
  and controls their actual processing.

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• One of the main issues concerning the service
  implementation is that of the creation of User
  Profile and User Service Profile.
• Composite Capabilities/ Preference Profile
  (CC/PP) is a platform-independent, uniform format
  for the implementation of these profiles.
• Based on the Resource Description Framework
  (RDF).
• Structured framework for devices to make known
  their capabilities, as well as particular
  preferences of the user.
• As such, allows the host of that particular
  service (i.e. InfoStation or InfoStation Canter),
  to customize and tailor the content of the
  service to suit a requesting target device.

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• Provides device independence. we can write
  device independent code, and provides ease of
  usage for users themselves.
• Need for Individual personalisation, CC/PP
  allows users to control relevant attributes
  conveying their own preferences.
• User Agent Profile (UAProf) is a concrete
  implementation of the CC/PP, developed by the
  Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) aimed at WAP enabled
  mobile terminals.
• Facilitates the end-to-end flow of Capability
  and Preference Information (CPI) from the mobile
  device through to the InfoStations and eventually
  to the InfoStation Centre.

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• Provides information for the pre-adaptation of
  content before delivery to the target device.
• Defines such characteristics as
• Hardware characteristics
• Software characteristics
• Network characteristics
• WAP characteristics
• Push characteristics
• As well as these, we ourselves can define
  components, which may be necessary within our own
  implementation of the UAProf.

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Implementation Issues

• Within this University-based system it may be
  necessary to define a number of user related
  attributes such as
• User name,
• Course or classes of a student,
• The individuals role (Educator or Student) would
  specify certain privileges.
• Business Support Domain on the InfoStation
  Centre.
• Circulation of updated user and service profiles.

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Conclusion and Future Work

• The main elements of the DeLC service
  architecture providing better support for
  m-Learning and m-Teaching have been described in
  this paper.
• The re-engineering of the original DeLC
  architecture into one with the capabilities of
  facilitating the services as intelligent mobile
  web services has been described.
• The new m-learning architectures we have
  analysed are emerging as one of the most
  promising technologies for supporting learning
  and information acquisition in a University or
  library/information context.

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Conclusion and Future Work

• The collaborative potential of these emerging
  technologies such as we have described can
  support educators/librarians with new
  possibilities for information acquisition that
  can be utilised by their customer-base as
  follows
• It can provide learners/library users with new
  mobile computational tools to explore and share
  their knowledge with other peers
• Provide teachers/librarians with new
  communication channels so as to visualize
  students ideas and suggestions
• Foster collaboration among students, students
  and teachers, and among students and
  librarians/other information providers

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M-Learning and m-Teaching Architectures and the
Integration of Evolving Educational Support
e-Services
Questions