Integrating Next Generation SCORM with Social Networking Platform in Higher Education: A Case Study Using Tin Can API and Elgg. Amine V. Bitar1, Antoine M. Melki1, Michel G. Chammas2 1
Department of Computer Science University of Balamand Lebanon {
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]} 2
Arab Support Center for Free and Open Source Software (Ma3bar) University of Balamand Lebanon
Abstract: Human-to-Human communication has changed in the last few years. Social networking sites have been used by university students and teachers in their daily communication. Additionally, these tools provide institutions and organizations with an interactive mean to build community skills. In particular, open source social networks have a lot of features that allow people to build social relations and supply institutions with enhanced learning capabilities. Some researchers claim that introducing social networks improves students’ academic performance and increases institutional revenues. In Lebanon, 80% of higher educational institutions have adopted learning management systems, like Moodle, to provide both students and teachers with online interactive learning opportunities. Moodle is limited to some basic features (user collaboration, group discussions, file sharing…). These features might be complemented through the integration of a powerful social networking tool like Elgg. On the other hand, Elgg is not Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) compliant, so its lack of course management might be made for with the integration with Moodle. This paper discusses the benefits of integrating the next generation of SCORM with Elgg and attempts to describe the integration process and technical procedures involved. It is organized as follows: 1) A literature review to properly express the terms and concepts, 2) an exhibition of the requirements for the Next Generation SCORM, 3) a description of Elgg that shows that it does not have those requirements, 4) highlight the necessity why Elgg should meet these requirements, 5) propose a solution to integrate Tin Can API with Elgg, 6) a conclusion with the future works. Keywords: Open source, learning management system, social network, higher education, next generation SCORM, Moodle, Elgg, Tin Can API, Lebanon.
1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Human-to-Human communication environment has changed in the last few years. Social networking sites have been used as important tools and interactive means which connect people with others around the world. Such technologies provide institutions and organizations with community building competences. In particular, open source social networks present lot of features that allow people to build social relations between each others. Moreover, these media supply institutions with enhanced learning capabilities which have been used by students and teachers in their daily communications. In progression, higher educational institutions have started to implement open source social networking sites as a mean to improve students’ academic performance. The main purpose of adopting such techniques is to
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allow teachers and students benefit from online services to achieve high level of cooperative learning platform. The aim of this paper is to show the advantage of using open source social networks in higher educational institutions. It presents an overview about open source software in general, then open source social networking in particular and their effects on education systems. Elgg could be considered as a powerful social learning tool for institutions. Elgg offers a lot of features. On the other hand, Elgg does not comply with Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). Elgg could be integrated with Moodle to empower its lack of course management. In contrast, SCORM has some limitations to achieve the necessities of today's online educational system. Consequently, a solution is proposed in this paper to integrate Tin Can API with Elgg as a replacement to the Elgg/Moodle integration solution to form a complete learning management system. 2. OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE According to GNU project, free software can be defined as “a matter of the users’ freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software”. Open source software – software delivered with its source code – is an outcome of the convergence of information and communication technologies [1]. Open source software allows developers to modify, extend, and improve the code for free. Developers are also the users of the software where they participate in the collaborative development process. The main strength of open source software is security since weaknesses and code bugs can be easily detected and fixed due to the large number of people examining the software [2], [3], and [4]. 3. OPEN SOURCE SOCIAL NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES Institutions are moving towards open education by adopting online teaching. Open education is when knowledge and learning materials should be free and open to use by students [5]. The use of open source software in open education allows better performance and more customizable than proprietary software which allows institutions to benefit from a wide range of advantages such as: increasing community collaborations, developing education strategies, and cost-saving. By definition, an open source social networking technology is an online site or platform which is used by people to build social relations among them. People use social networking sites for different number of purposes: making connections with friends, meeting new people, sharing photos, discussions, activities, and events. As an example, Facebook is an open source social networking site that offers many features: users' interactions, instant messaging, shared blogs, file sharing, and forums. Recently, institutions have adopted open source social networking applications like social networking sites and course management systems as an online medium for education. The goal behind such transition is to reduce cost and to rapidly fix open source software bugs and problems. The benefits of the open source model are increased quality, greater stability, superior performance, and improved functionality [6]. In their research paper on next-generation social networking media, Jafari, McGee and Carmean show the interest of students in social networking media and course management systems where these systems have much in common with the systems they use socially in their daily communication life [7]. Some researchers focus on the importance of deploying open source social networking media as methods for online education in classrooms. The greatest benefits of such deployment are to promote student reflection, to present students to others and to allow students reflect on their learning [8], [9]. Consequently, open source social networking provides institutions with the capability to enhance the learning process [10], [11]. Furthermore, open source social networking platforms offer a numerous number of positive effects on enhancing the educational process such as: increased productivity, cost saving, advanced collaboration, research support,
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creative teaching atmosphere, increased libraries visibilities, motivated students and enhanced learning opportunities. 4. REQUIREMENTS FOR NEXT GENERATION SCORM To have an access to online materials, a course based system requires course management characteristics such as: file access control, user levels and many different features. By definition, "Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a set of technical standards for e-learning software products. It is the de facto industry standard for e-learning interoperability" [12]. The main goal of SCORM is to manage the communication process between online learning content and learning management systems (LMSs). It is mainly supported by many LMSs and Virtual Learning Environments. In online education, learning system could be synchronous or asynchronous. A synchronous learning system is an environment where learning occurs at the same time and place. On the other hand, asynchronous learning system is an environment where time and place are not constraints. SCORM provides synchronous and asynchronous online learning system with basic course management features. In contrast, it has a lot of disadvantages: complicated format, lot of internet bandwidth usage, high storage space usage, limited selection of activities, long time download of learning interactions, web browser dependant, limited tracking capabilities, LMS dependant, no availability of cross domain content and platform transition, and no support for offline mode. The above listed requirements are introduced as new features and possibilities in Tin Can API. It is classified to be the next generation solution of 10 years old SCORM which eliminates all the limitations and weaknesses of previous e-learning systems [13]. Tin Can API is a new requirement for learning systems which allow the possibility of collecting data in a consistent format about various experiences a person has (online and offline) from numerous technologies [14]. In addition to the above requirements, Tin Can API offers many solutions such as: complete control over content (materials, files…), social and collaborative learning, mobile applications, virtual worlds, games tracking and simulations, real-world performance and offline learning tracking. A comparison between SCORM and Tin Can API is shown in the below table which highlights the most included features of each one. Table 1: Comparison of the offered features by SCORM and Tin Can API Completion tracking Time tracking Students pass/fail tracking Single score reporting Multiple score reporting Detailed test results Solid security No LMS required Complete control over content No limitation for cross-domain Mobile apps usage for learning Platform transition Games tracking Simulations tracking Informal learning tracking Real-world performance tracking Offline learning tracking Interactive learning tracking
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SCORM Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Tin Can API Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Adaptive learning tracking Blended learning tracking Long-term learning tracking Team-based learning tracking
No No No No
Yes Yes Yes Yes
The above table shows some SCORM limitations of primitive features. Consequently, Tin Can API offers more advanced features and could be considered as a replacement for previous e-learning standards. 5. ELGG 5.1.
DESCRIPTION
Elgg is an award-winning social networking engine, delivering the building blocks that enable businesses, schools, universities and associations to create their own fully-featured social networks and applications [15]. Elgg provides lot of social features which makes it a right choice for educational institutions. Furthermore, it offers a wide range of features which provide institutions with an interactive environment and allow students to collaborate with each others in an online learning community. Elgg allows the creation of an online learning environment with a set of features: weblogs, instant messaging, bookmarks, customization, resources publishing, access control, files repository, and sharing with others. 5.2.
REQUIREMENTS IMPORTANCE FOR ELGG
Elgg lacks some features of course management system: no course creating, no instructors mentioning, and no grading system and scheduling availability. Add to that, Elgg does not comply with SCORM. In order to include the most features of a course based system, Elgg could be integrated with other LMSs (like Moodle). Moodle is an open source course management system (CMS) which provides educators with the creation of a social cooperative online platform [16]. Moodle is SCORM compliant but limited to some basic features like: user collaboration, group discussions, and file sharing…. These features might be complemented through the integration of a powerful social networking tool like Elgg. Based on the above comparison in Table 1 which shows the lack of advanced features in SCORM and provided by Tin Can API, therefore, we suggest the integration of Elgg with next generation SCORM to form a complete learning management system. Tin Can API is LMS independent; it provides all the advanced features as a next generation SCORM to Elgg without the use of LMS (like Moodle). 6. PROPOSED SOLUTION As mentioned earlier, we propose to integrate Tin Can API with Elgg as a solution to replace Elgg/Moodle integration. Tin Can API presents an open source client libraries which are available in four main languages: Objective C, Javascript, .Net and Java. In addition to that, it provides large open source software community support through GitHub, a collaborative repository of open source projects. Tin Can API integration with Elgg is achieved through a Learning Record Store (LRS). A LRS is a learning records repository of Tin Can API activities which can be accessed by Elgg, reporting tools, or any other LMSs. LRS can provide with read/write accessibilities to its data which are stored as individual learning records or entire records. It can be installed on local servers along with Elgg or on cloud servers which communicate with Elgg through the network. Having this integration in an educational institution allows teachers with better
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understanding of their students. Moreover, it provides teachers with the capabilities to track and monitor online/offline students activities. Unlike SCORM and other e-learning standards which store a limited amount of data and learning materials, Tin Can API allows LRS to store all data, logs, and reporting process of students.
Figure 1: Elgg/Tin Can API Integration Solution According to Figure 1, it shows a complete integration of Elgg with Tin Can API through LRS. LRS acts as middleware between Elgg and Tin Can features. Learning data and activities (Tin Can course, game, simulator…) are delivered to Elgg through LRS. An Elgg plug-in should be developed as a Tin Can client to communicate with the LRS. In the above proposed system, a course, game, quiz, or any learning activity are created through the Elgg interface which are stored in the LRS and managed by the Tin Can API. When students access the activities, the LRS stores and record their actions. LRS reports actions to teachers who can monitor and track students' activities with all the provided Tin Can features. 7. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK In conclusion, many institutions have already started adopting open source social networking platforms. In this paper, we have proposed a solution to integrate Elgg with Tin Can API through a Tin Can Client Elgg plug-in. The proposed system, being a combination of social media with the latest e-learning technologies, promises to present an alternative of traditional LMS and e-learning standards. As future work, a Tin Can Client Elgg plug-in is planned for development. Educational institutions and organizations which started the adoption of Elgg can implement the resulting system as a complete learning management system. 8. REFERENCES [1]. Shahron V.R., “Adopting Open-Source Software Applications in Higher Education: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of the Literature”, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 79, No. 2, pp. 682–701, June 2009. [2]. Raymond E. S., “The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary”. Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly & Associates, 2001. [3]. Stallman R., The GNU Project. Retrieved July 02, 2013, from http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html, 1999. [4]. Weber S., “The Success of Open Source”, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.
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[5]. Hiltz S.R. and Turoff M., “Education Goes Digital: The Evolution of Online Learning and The Revolution in Higher Education”, Communications of the ACM, vol. 48, no. 10, pp 59-63, 2005. [6]. Siemens G., “Open Source Content in Education: Part 2 – Developing, Sharing, Expanding Resources”, Retrieved June 25, 2013, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/open_source_part_2.htm, 2003. [7]. Jafari A., McGee P., and Carmean C, “A Research Study on Current CMS and Next Generation E-Learning Environment”, Next Generation Course Management System Group, 2007. [8]. Berscia W. and Miller M, “What’s Worth? The Perceived Benefits of Instructional Blogging”, Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education, 2006. [9]. Barrett H., “Researching Electronic Portfolios and Learning Engagement: The REFLECT Initiative”, TaskStream Inc., 2005. [10]. Schlenkrich L. and Sewry DA., “Factors for Successful Use of Social Networking Sites in Higher Education”, Journal of Social Studies Research, 2012. [11]. Clyde L.A., “Educational Blogging”, Teacher Librarian, vol. 32, no. 3, pp 43-45, 2005. [12]. SCORM, http://scorm.com/scorm-explained/, last accessed July 15, 2013. [13]. SCORM, http://scorm.com/tincan/, last accessed July 15, 2013. [14]. TinCanAPI, http://tincanapi.com/overview/, last accessed July 15, 2013. [15]. Elgg. http://www.elgg.org, last accessed July 15, 2013. [16]. Moodle, http://www.moodle.org/, last accessed July 11, 2013.
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