Middleware to integrate heterogeneous Learning Management Systems and initial results (original) (raw)

A middleware for the integration of third-party learning tools in SOA-based Learning Management Systems: Supporting instance management and data transfer

IEEE EDUCON 2010 Conference, 2010

The widespread adoption of broadband Internet connections and the need of institutions such as universities or enterprises to provide their staff with continuous education have led to a fast adoption of Learning Management Systems. These systems typically provide a centralized environment where students can communicate, carry out experiments, etc. However, the rapid growth of these platforms together with the unlimited need for learning tools, mainly in engineering education contexts (e.g. simulators, communication tools), are hindering their development. The natural alternative is to decouple these tools from the Learning Management Systems themselves, taking advantage of the Software as a Service distribution model. To perform such a decoupling a middleware is required to allow the integration and use of an external tool by the Learning Management System. In this paper a proposal for such middleware is described, with a special focus on the part devoted to manage instances and the transfer of data.

Enabling interoperability for LMS educational services

Computer Standards & Interfaces, 2009

Nowadays, e-learning is undergoing a standardization process. In this paper, an overview of e-learning standardization state of the art is provided and the relationship between Learning Management System (LMS) functionalities and current e-learning standards is presented. Some lacks are found and the importance of defining new standards to cover several LMS aspects is justified. This work describes new e-service specifications for LMS final user application functionalities in order to cover such lacks. In addition, a web-based authoring tool has been implemented according to these new specifications, generating XML files. In this way, interoperability between different new LMS aspects is enabled.

Data and Application Integration in Learning Content Management Systems: A Web Services Approach

2006

This paper describes a service-oriented approach for the integration of third-party external applications and resources into an existing open source e-Learning environment. We detail the architecture for creating customized learning environments composed of existing open source applications and systems. As a result, a Web services-oriented framework for e-Learning systems is proposed, providing a flexible integration model in which all the learning components and applications are loosely connected. Web services provide a suitable deployment environment to realize dynamic and interoperable e-Learning systems by facilitating application-to-application interaction.

The need for academic middleware to support advanced learning services

The increased signi®cance of digital and human networks in academic institutions and the development of vocational and distance-learning methods and systems and their associated delivery services have modi®ed the organizational and information structures of academic institutions. In this new scenario, management information systems, many learning resources in printed or digital format and network-related user services compete for acceptance in a rapidly changing system. There is a growing need to provide new services in order to function in a changing international market, to prepare for the expected student mobility and the increasing diversity of educational needs. There are two main research areas that are looking at the problem, each from their own perspective: the learning technology area and the network technology area. The former is working mainly on standards and best practices for the delivery of online and distance education. Eorts include the description of learning objects with metadata, the description of learners with pro®les and the generic depiction of learning technology systems in terms of information systems architecture. In the latter research area, recent deployment issues have been of increasing concern. Inevitably, research is moving towards an area where major work is already underway. This is the part of the networking community that is working on the de®nition and deployment of middleware services. This paper argues for the introduction of academic middleware to speed up the delivery process of the new services and reduce the complexity of the managed systems. Ó

Architecture for Integrating Learning Platforms Using Adapter

International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering, 2018

The advantage of the electronic and mobile learning platforms is the dissemination of learning contents with ease. But these platforms operate differently to exchange the learning contents from the server (educator's site) to the clients (learner's site). Integrating these learning platforms to operate as a single platform and exchange the contents based on learners' request could improve the learning efficiency and reduce the operational cost. This work introduces a Web services approach based on client-server model to develop an integrated architecture that join the two learning platforms. In this paper, the architecture of the learning platforms is presented and explained. Furthermore, an adapter in a form of web service is develop as a fuse between the server and the client. Finally, the process of using the web services to unify the two learning architectures using the adapter is demonstrated and explained.

A Middleware Model for Telecollaboration Systems in Education

2005 6th International Conference on Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training, 2005

The internationalization and virtualization of both educational institutes and workplaces around the world is driving the development of technology that supports remote collaboration. Telecollaboration is aimed at bringing participants together into a virtual co-location where these participants can collaborate with each other. Over 2003 and 2004, several groups of students from the University of Technology, Sydney attempted to modify an existing conferencing package. This resulted in the development of a prototype telecollaboration system. In this paper we re-evaluate the architecture of the prototype, making a number of observations about the system and giving rise to a list of key features for a middleware that is capable of masking the heterogeneity of telecollaborative services and also provides for pervasive and ambient access to resources and services throughout such systems.

Content management middleware for the support of distributed teaching

Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 2004

eCMS is a web-based federated content management system for the support of distributed teaching based on an open, distributed middleware architecture for the publication, discovery, retrieval, and integration of educational material. The infrastructure supports the management of both standalone material and structured courses, as well as the integration of existing organized external repositories. The infrastructure is complemented with services targeting the specific needs of user groups involved in the e-Learning process, namely learners, content providers, course managers, and repository administrators.

An architecture for open learning management systems

Advances in Informatics, 2003

There exists an urgent demand on defining architectures for Learning Management Systems, so that high-level frameworks for understanding these systems can be discovered, and quality attributes like portability, interoperability, reusability and modifiability can be achieved. In this paper we propose a prototype architecture aimed to engineer Open Learning Management Systems, that professes state-of-the-art software engineering techniques such as layered structure and component-based nature. Our work is based upon standards and practices from international standardization bodies, on the empirical results of designing, developing and evaluating Learning Management Systems and on the practices of well-established software engineering techniques. ware, networks). A major part of the technological infrastructure of WbISs is the Learning Management System (LMS). LMSs are software systems that synthesize the functionality of computer-mediated communications software (e-mail, bulletin boards, newsgroups etc.) and on-line methods of delivering courseware (e.g. the WWW) . An LMS is a middleware that acts and interfaces between the low-level infrastructure of the Internet and the WWW from the one side and the customized domain-specific learning education and training systems on the other side.

A PROPOSED INTEROPERABLE ARCHITECTURE FOR EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

Recently, Information technology (IT) is used to adapt for exchanging electronic data among different educational systems.Eductional data are coming from various types of software which generate their own data types have been widely used. Data exchange between different educational systems have to be done to improve interoperability between them. It improved ability for education information system to exchange information about students who move from one location or institution. This paper will propose data exchange platform for educational information system based on RESTFUL web service. Purposed data exchange platform for educational system is designed by using a cloud-based service platform.

Sharing Learner Information through a Web Services-based Learning Architecture

JOURNAL OF WEB ENGINEERING, 2005

This paper presents architecture for the exchange of learner's model information between e-learning systems on the Web. The present work is part of a current project intended to present an adaptive content associated to a particular student profile, the AdaptWeb ® Project. The Web Service technology is used since it allows the easy communication between Web applications through the HTTS protocol. Our goal with this work is provide a standard communication allowing different e-learning systems to cooperate in order to gather a set of learner information, richer than that found in a standard elearning system. As a result, the course content, in any federated e-learning system is adapted and presented to students, according to each student's program, cognitive characteristics, and navigation preferences in the same way. Once the student profile is determined all the courses will be offered using the same profile.