The

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• The
• LearningOnline Network with CAPA
• (LON-CAPA)
• Gerd Kortemeyer,
• Wolfgang Bauer, Deborah Kashy, Edwin Kashy,
  Cheryl Speier
• Michigan State University

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What is LON-CAPA?

• LON-CAPA stands for LearningOnline Network with a
  Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach.
• developed and implemented by a group of faculty
  and professionals
• provides instructors with a common, scalable
  platform to assist in all aspects of teaching a
  course, from lecture preparation to
  administration of homework assignments and exams
• Distributed Learning Content Management and
  Assessment System

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Distributed

• LON-CAPA is built as a geographically distributed
  network of
• constantly
• connected servers

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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

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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

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DistributedServer Types

• Two classes of servers access servers and
  library servers
• Access servers host user sessions processing
• Library servers every user and course has a home
  server in the network which holds all of their
  resources and data storage backend

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DistributedLoad Balancing

• Access servers can have a list of spare access
  servers to offload sessions depending on own work
  load
• Additional round robin IP scheme possible
• MSU setup

msu.lon-capa.org
Round Robin
s1
s3
s2
s4
Spares
Library Server
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Distributed Dynamic Replication

• When a content resource is first requested, the
  access server finds the home library server of
  the author/owner, subscribes to the resource, and
  copies it in the background.
• When resource is modified on its library server,
  subscribed access servers are notified.
• Depending on last date of local access, the
  access servers copy the new version over, or
  delete local cached copy.

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Learning Content Management

• Allows instructors to create educational
  materials and to share such learning resources
  with colleagues across departments and
  institutions
• All instructional content goes into
  cross-institutional shared repository and is
  cataloged
• LON-CAPA provides online tool, Resource Assembly
  Tool (RAT), to combine content into Custom
  Online Course Pack

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Learning Content Management

• Pages can be constructed from fragments and other
  pages
• Sequences can be constructed from fragments,
  pages, and other
• sequences
• Courses point to (top-level) sequences
• Maps at every level are simply other content
  resources

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Learning Content Management

• Graphical resource assembly tool (RAT) to
  construct maps
• Working on
• branching
• based on
• conditions using
• performance data,
• course data,
• and preferences
• Individualized
• curriculum

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Content Management Handlers

• Every resource in the system, both content and
  system programs, is called by URL all resources
  can be bookmarked.
• Any resource can be processed on-the-fly while
  being delivered to the user.
• User calls for a resource, LON-CAPA finds
  appropriate chain of handlers, processes resource
  for desired target, and sends it out.
• Chain of handlers can also cover several
  transactions. Example user calls for URL, but
  needs to login first and then pick course.
• All handlers can interact with session environment

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Content Management Document-driven processing

• Example user calls for sample.xml

sample.xml Uses my.style
my.style Defines tags for targets
triggers
loads
Target
XML Handler
Session Environment
Prefe- rences
User
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Content Management XML/MathML/HTML

• XML handler provides rendering of XML and HTML to
  targets XML, HTML, MathML, and LaTeX
• Math rendering capability LaTeX can be inserted
  into HTML and XML documents between ltmgt and lt/mgt
  tags.
• lth1gtIdentitylt/h1gtltimg srccircle.gif
  alignrightgt
• The ltigtidentitylt/igt ltmgt\sin2(\omega t)
• \cos2(\omega t)1lt/mgt allows us to
• Math fragments are rendered into symbol fonts for
  target HTML, and MathML for MathML-capable
  browsers using a derivative of tth/ttm.

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Content Management LaTeX

• LaTeX files can be directly put onto the file
  system, and will be automatically handled as if
  they had
• one large
• ltmgtlt/mgt
• around them

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Individualized Assessment

• Individualized problems different numbers,
  different graphs, different options,
• Classical online homework types multiple
  choice, option response, mix-and-match, string,
  etc
• STEM types numerical, multicomponent
  numerical, physical units, symbolic math,
  individualized simulations
• Combination of the above types
• Adaptive immediate feedback
• Multiple attempts

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Individualized Assessment

• Example Individualized graph, numerical answer

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Individualized Assessment

• Example
• Individualized
• labels, options
  

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Individualized Assessment

• Example Multicomponent numerical with
  individualized animation

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• Some of the History

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1992 CAPA

• Started by Ed Kashy et al. in Cyclotron
• Individualized assessment system for science and
  math
• Immediate feedback, multiple tries - mastery
  based
• Used paper copies of assignments and terminal
  input
• X-Windows problem editing
• Got Web student interface in 95

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1997 LectureOnline

• Started by Wolfgang Bauer, Walt Benenson, Gary
  Westfall, and Gerd Kortemeyer in Cyclotron
• Learning content management and individualized
  assessment system for science and math
• Sharing of content between courses
• Completely web-based interface

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1999 LON-CAPA

• The LearningOnline Network with CAPA
• Collaboration of CAPA and LectureOnline groups
• The best of both worlds
• Sharing of content between courses and
  institutions
• Reusability of content on different levels of
  granularity
• Distributed and Scalable

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• Who are the users (at MSU)?

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Who uses it? Students(It CAPA, LectureOnline,
LON-CAPA family)
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Who uses it? Students
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Who uses it? Courses
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Who uses it? Faculty
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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

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LON-CAPA versus BlackBoard

• LON-CAPA has no licensing cost, BlackBoard does
  -)
• LON-CAPA is open-source GNU GPL, and can be
  adapted, enhanced, debugged, , BlackBoard cannot
  -)
• BlackBoard does have systems-support, lots of
  documentation, training material, , LON-CAPA
  does not -(

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LON-CAPA versus BlackBoard

• LON-CAPA was initially developed primarily by
  STEM faculty for power users
• LON-CAPA makes the hard things possible, but
  currently does not yet make all easy things easy
• BlackBoard makes easy things easy, but leaves
  many hard things impossible

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Faculty Perspective

• My problems are computational and not multiple
  choice, the types of grading mechanisms built
  into standard instructional delivery platforms
  (e.g., Blackboard) would not be sufficient for
  me.
• Professor Paul Rubin
• teaching MBA804

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Faculty Perspective

• Although LON-CAPAs potential benefits as a
  distributed-network resource indexing system far
  outweigh what could be achieved by an off the
  shelf course management system (e.g., Blackboard,
  WebCT) it still needs considerable interface
  development and user testing
• LBS144 Professor
• Janet McCray Batzli
• Challenge keep hard things possible, make easy
  things easy

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LON-CAPA versus BlackBoard

• Making the easy things easy added
• Chatroom
• Syllabus
• Cummulative Calendar Tool
• About Me tool
• Document Upload (PowerPoint, Word, etc)
• On-the-fly course maps and documents
• Online Contextual Help
• Significant Documentation Effort
• User and Administrator Mailing List
• Easy RedHat 7.3 Installation
• 3-Command-SysAdmin Upgrade Sequence
• Color-Scheme/Logo Domain Customization
• help.lon-capa.org

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Chronicle of Higher EducationDecember 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"

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LON-CAPA vs. BlackBoard Open Source

• LON-CAPA runs on Linux (target for installs
  RedHat distribution)
• Apache webserver
• mod_perl for server-side handlers
• JavaScript for client-side functionality
• MySQL as database for metadata searches
• LaTeX, Gnuplot
• MuPAD for symbolic manipulations (planned)

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LON-CAPA and OKI?
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Source Code Lines
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Chronicle of Higher EducationDecember 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 course-management
  system, beginning in 1997. Two years later, the
  university decided to abandon its homegrown
  system in favor of Blackboard. Why?

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Chronicle of Higher EducationDecember 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)
• Problem
• one or two staff people
• Solution
• Collaboration with other institutions
• Workshops
• Conferences
• Investment in documentation, etc

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SummaryWhy do it?

• Solid, scalable platform
• Easily expandable
• Customizable
• The hard things are done
• Control over codebase
• Standard open-source tools and libraries
• Independence
• No licensing fee for both application and
  operating system
• Forming academic consortium
• Linux model of sustainability

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The Project

• Investigation of a Model for Online Resource
  Creation and Sharing in Education Settings
• Uses LON-CAPA as model system
• Five year project, funded by the National Science
  Foundation Information Technology Research Program

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The Project Research Goals

• Open source code development concept for
  Instructional Management System
• Pooling online educational resources between
  departments, colleges, universities and schools
• Business models for trading such resources on
  small level of granularity
• Business models for services and support
• Metrics for resource quality and effectiveness
• Curriculum adaptivity to learner
• types and remediation needs

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The Project Pilot Users, Boards

• Pilot users 6 high schools, 2 community
  colleges, 1 four year college, 12 universities
• Business advisory board McGraw-Hill, Saunders,
  Wiley, Freeman/Worth, Dell, RedHat, Apex
  Learning, university representatives
• Three member Evaluation Board
• Seven high school teachers in 2 Research
  Experience for Teachers (RET) supplements

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The Project National STEM Digital Library

• Supplement to cross-integrate LON-CAPA with NSF
  National STEM Digital Library
• NSDL available to LON-CAPA as content domain
• LON-CAPA resource pool available in NSDL as
  associated library
• LON-CAPA can be used as course delivery tool for
  NSDL content

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Conferences and Workshops

• First user meetings with 50 faculty from other
  universities at MSU
• Second user meeting at Florida State University
  with 56 faculty from 22 institutions
• Next user meeting at Truckee Meadows Community
  College, Reno
• Two programmer Workshops (approx 20 participants)
  at MSU in Summer

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Status Installations in Production Cluster

• High Schools
• Mio AuSable High School - Mio, Michigan
• Charlotte High School - Charlotte, Michigan
• Fowlerville High School - Fowlerville. Michigan
• Theodore Roosevelt High School - Wyandotte,
  Michigan
• Lansing School District
• East Lansing Public Schools
• Community Colleges
• Westshore Community College - Scottsville,
  Michigan
• Truckee Meadows Community College - Reno, Nevada

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Status Installationsin Production Cluster

• 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
• Outside United States
• Simon Fraser University - Vancouver, Canada
• University of Halle - Halle, Germany
• University of Oldenberg - Oldenberg, Germany

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On the web ...

• www.lon-capa.org
• help.lon-capa.org
• bugs.lon-capa.org
• mail.lon-capa.org
• install.lon-capa.org