Personal Learning Environment Box (PLEBOX): A ...

Personal Learning Environment Box (PLEBOX): A New Approach to E-Learning Platforms ˜ ES,1 JOEL J. P. C. RODRIGUES,1 ISABEL de la TORRE2 TIAGO M. C. SIMO 1

Instituto de Telecomunicaço˜es, University of Beira Interior, Rua Marqueˆs d’A´vila e Bolama, 6201-001 Covilha˜, Portugal

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Department of Signal Theory and Communications, University of Valladolid, Campus Miguel Delibes, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain Received 11 September 2010; accepted 6 February 2011 ABSTRACT: This article presents a new E-learning platform called Personal Learning Environment Box (PLEBOX). The system is built on Microsoft SharePoint and SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK) and enables the creation of modular and expansible software, presenting a simplified interaction with the user. PLEBOX has been used by 210 users (10 teachers and 200 engineering students) of the University of Beira Interior, Portugal and the University of Valladolid, Spain. The PLEBOX platform has innovative features compared to existing platforms, such as creating a customizable work environment, the ability to add applications, a framework for developing modules, and a new form to exposure learning contents, which can be used in engineering applications and education. ß 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.20537 Keywords: E-learning platform; framework; Learning Management System (LMS); Personal Learning Environment; simplified interaction

INTRODUCTION E-Learning refers to the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to transform and support the learning process ubiquitously [1]. E-Learning evolution has resulted from the emergence of the Information Society (IS) and it has greatly impacted on the global socio-cultural and economic development [1]. Some researchers in this field argue that the development of E-learning has not been tested, and it is still in its infancy [2]. There are different E-learning technologies in use that state how actual learning will take place depending on the environment in which they are implemented. They include Learning Management Systems (LMS), Content Management Systems (CMS), Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS), TV, CD-ROM, virtual worlds, and collaborative technologies.

Correspondence to J. J. P. C. Rodrigues ([email protected]). ß 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

LMS are primarily developed to provide online learning services for students, teachers, tutors, and managers [3]. Examples of LMS include KEWL [4], open-source E-learning software over Windows System. Other LMS is Moodle that was developed to facilitate the collaborative creation of content, organization, control, and to manage the publication of documents in a centralized environment [5–7]. LCMS are mostly Web-based systems. They combine the management and administrative functionalities of LMS and CMS to author, approve, publish, and manage learning content. An example of such technologies is the Macromedia Course Builder [8]. Virtual worlds have become very popular and promising in facilitating student learning. The E-learning evolution has been enabled by network technologies. Nowadays, virtual communities, game authoring tools, and personalized tools support students learning. Personalizing information has long been the motivation behind developing E-learning systems [9]. This article presents an innovative LMS named Personal Learning Environment Box (PLEBOX), which integrates the common features to existing systems. Among them are: personalization of the learning environment, allocation and carry out

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SIMO˜ES, RODRIGUES, AND de la TORRE

learning tasks, monitoring of students, and simplicity in user interaction. PLEBOX contributes for modular and expandable software, supporting a simplified interaction with the users. Moreover, it provides a single learning environment, by integrating all required tools. As a result, the user is focused on the learning environment, without the need to use external tools. With PLEBOX, the concept of E-learning platforms is stretched into the concept of Remote Desktop, by enabling learning tools installation, monitoring, and communication. Moreover, an Application Programming Interface (API) enables the creation of new applications in different engineering environments. The remainder of this article is organized as follows. The subsection of the introduction section presents the motivation for this work. Second section reviews the state of art of E-learning applications while third section describes the methodology to develop the platform. Fourth section focuses on the results achieved (PLEBOX modules, validation, and evaluation) and, finally, fifth section presents conclusions and pinpoints directions for future work.

Motivation Nowadays, E-learning platforms represent a major involvement in the students and teachers lives. They present new ways to share and disseminate learning contents, monitoring students, using of intelligent systems, and systems to simulate virtual classrooms. Many existing E-learning platforms have failed in simplicity component. In addition, there is a growing need for a platform that incorporates new features in a transparent and simple way for the user. In this context, LMS are computer programs that integrate functions for teaching, evaluation, and management of courses. The use of LMS in engineering education can bring a better follow-up of students to the tutor and the student themselves [10]. LMS and Internet applications are important tools for teaching and learning in engineering education [11]. Some situations where we have an E-learning platform and a teacher might need an existing teaching tool on her/his current platform. The teacher will have the opportunity to find solutions and applications within the platform, never out of the learning environment of students. If this does not happen, the teacher will lead to a second learning environment for the student, which can be located in a different reality from what was used. The solution to this problem is not only a platform for creating patterns of similarity with other systems, but also by creating a platform that can contribute to a quick and easy interaction with an architecture, capable of supporting solutions in and never out. The idea of the work environment has emerged since the early days of computing. There is the ambition of having an environment in which the user can organize her/his applications and/or documents. PLEBOX treats many of these problems and it uses different technologies before expanding and improving them. For instance it enables advanced functionality inside Webparts, like Drag & Drop functionality. The abstract idea of the box behind the PLEBOX is a means to add a set of applications (features or modules). The PLEBOX is more than a simple application for the Web, is a framework that will enable the development

of modules and functionality by others, as well as provide new forms of interaction with learning content and monitoring of students, which can be used in engineering applications and education. PLEBOX can be easily adapted to the specific needs of learning and in future network education.

RELATED WORK In this work, a critical review of literature was done to provide a more practical framework for achieving success in PLEBOX system. The demand for E-learning is great because this type of learning not only takes place in tanks, such as universities or secondary schools, but also in business or health centers. Many platforms have been created to offer E-learning functionality such as open-source education, commercial, while it has been an active research topic. Open-source platforms are widely used, such as Moodle [7], ATutor [12] or .LRN [13], etc. Proprietary software highlights Blackboard platform. Moodle is a very popular free LMS that has its origins in the 1990s. In 2003, the company moodle.com was launched to provide commercial support, managed hosting, consulting, and other services. It has become a popular LMS, with about 45,000 validated registered sites at the beginning of 2010, and being widely used in higher and university education [5,6]. A Tutor is an open source system supporting learning, content management, and specifically considering accessibility, and adaptability issues. It was first released in 2002 after two studies conducted that evaluated the accessibility of learning platforms to people with disabilities. Several features are planned for the near future, including a barrier free authoring tool and a streaming media server [12]. The .LRN system is built on the top of Open Architecture Community System (OpenACS) which is a toolkit for building scalable, community-oriented Web applications. .LRN is an open source E-learning and community building software originally developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Today, it is supported by a worldwide consortium of educational institutions, non-profit organizations, some industry partners, and open source developers [13]. Blackboard was founded in 1997 and provides course and content management systems, collaboration tools, and a number of other services combined in the ‘‘Academic Suite’’ and the ‘‘Business Suite’’ [14]. Adaptive educational systems attempt to maintain a learning style profile for each student. They use this profile to adapt the presentation and navigation of the instructional content to each student [9]. Some authors treat the adaptation and personalization problem in an E-learning system, for example [15], proposed the Adaptive & Personalized E-Learning System (APeLS) capable of providing an adaptive and personalized learning environment for users. Moreover, they showed a new metric Quality of Learning (QoL) to measure the learning performance. There are other systems developed for educational purposes, commonly referred to as Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEH) [16,17]. These systems base their user models largely on existing knowledge, and adaptation occurs at both content level and/or adaptive navigation. Some of these systems are: AHA! [18], WHURLE 2.0 [19], etc. Up to the very recent years, most E-learning systems have not been personalized. Different works have addressed the need

PLEBOX - PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT BOX

for personalization in the E-learning domain. Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) are attracting increasing interest. They may be characterized in a multidimensional space. Examples of these systems are: Colloquia, Manchester Framework, and PLEX [20]. In Ref. 21, the issue of personalization in E-learning platforms is surveyed, especially how to do the learning contents adaptation according with the user preferences. Information Technology (IT)-based engineering education is an important profit market for universities from a socioeconomic and political viewpoint [22]. Different models have been developed and implemented across various disciplines of engineering. In Engineering Education, there are many E-Learning Tools. For example, an Interactive Multimedia E-Learning System (IMELS) was developed to provide a comprehensive problem-based learning environment for the discipline of industrial engineering [23]. PerfPred is a Web-based tool for predicting the performance of computer systems [24]. Stefanovic et al. [25] present a web laboratory as educational tool for teaching students the basic principles and methodology in performing a series of experiments on different equipment through the Internet.

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METHODS This section presents PLEBOX architecture, database, and associated technologies.

System Architecture PLEBOX architecture is shown in Figure 1. It consists of a set of components that allow to access to the modules, database, and a set of associated permissions with modules or features. PLEBOX creates an interface for connection to SharePoint, including the API for accessing to Web Parts. For developing PLEBOX platform the following technologies were employed: Microsoft Windows Server, Internet Information Services that allows the use of technologies such as .NET; SharePoint that allows share documents and management Web applications; and Microsoft SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK) that will let the allocation of learning tasks associated with shared documents. On the other hand, the PLEBOX architecture provides all its services to the Internet, accessible by clients through a browser.

Figure 1 PLEBOX architecture. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]


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Data Modeling PLEBOX uses SharePoint database (see Fig. 2) and SLK which has a set of tables to allow the following operations:

A set of modules can be linked to one or more working environments. A module can be in the position (x0, y0) on the working environment of user w and in the position (x1, y1) for other user. A set of features may be associated with one or more working environments. A feature can be in the position (x0, y0) on the working environment of user w and the position (x1, y1) for other user. A working environment is associated to a user. A feature is associated to permission. A module is connected to permission.

SLK. These technologies will enable user management, sharing and management documents, actions, and monitoring delivery of learning content. The system was built using the Microsoft .NET framework, and also technologies such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Extensible Markup Language (XML), and JavaScript. Since there is the need to prepare specific tasks on the client side, JavaScript language was used, while XML and Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) tackles the need to continue a pattern used by SharePoint. OAJAX.NET was a technology used to develop a similar platform to applications outside the browser, while this technology coupled with AjaxControl ToolKit will allow to the use of partial update panels.

RESULTS Along this section, it is showed the following: PLEBOX platform, evaluation, and validation results.

Used Technologies

PLEBOX Framework

PLEBOX platform covers a large range of technologies based on Windows Server 2003 R2, SharePoint Services 3.0, and the

Figure 3 shows the PLEBOX operation to connection with other framework components. Each user has a different working

Figure 2 PLEBOX database. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]


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Figure 3 PLEBOX framework. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

environment, that is, a user may have different features or modules running at different positions in their respective working environment in the face of another user may have diverse configuration, thus enabling customization. PLEBOX also provides the ability that enables the possibility to include a given application in the common window interface (Fig. 4). As we can observe in Figure 4, the windows system enables the programmer to incorporate different modules in standard and common window using the PLEBOX API. After that the module is added to the box. Figure 5 presents a simple demo application that uses the PLEBOX window interface. In Figure 5 there is a

demonstration of a module in standard and common window using the PLEBOX API. This window has the ability to move and to keep track of his current position.

Work Environments: ‘‘Administrator,’’ ‘‘Teacher,’’ and ‘‘Student’’ The working environment of the ‘‘Administrator’’ can include a set of modules or functionalities. In Figure 6, it can be observed a demonstration module, with an animation when moving the mouse over the module icon.

Figure 4 Windows system. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

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Figure 5 Module in a PLEBOX window. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Menu Management in all working environments includes: all modules, features, Google Module, Twitter Module, RSS Module, and SharePoint settings. Module Management (Fig. 7) provides a simple interface and an error messages notification system that will allow the installation of new modules, and execution operations on previously installed modules. In Figure 7, it can be seen how to add a new module to the box, just typing the name of the assembly and the Web Part Definition File name. These files are located in a given directory to which programmers have access.

In the next step, in Figures 8 and 9, a new module was added and finally that module will be available for use in the menu. Learning Tasks Module provides a simple interface, with an error messages notification system, providing search functionality over the tasks, for both students and teachers. Using the API SLK a student can start or resume a learning task, and a teacher can assess learning tasks. The teacher-working environment considers two E-learning modules, the ‘‘E-Learning Tasks’’ module and the ‘‘Assign E-Learning Tasks’’ module. The ‘‘E-Learning Tasks’’ module will enable learning tasks removal and evaluation. Furthermore the teacher has at his disposal a set of filters that will allow visualization of: active tasks, ready to grade tasks that was previously completed by the student, overdue tasks, and returned tasks by students. Regarding the ‘‘Assign E-Learning tasks’’ module will allow the upload of documents to the server. The teacher might associate with that document a learning task assigned to one or more students. In terms of E-learning, the work environment of the student is formed by the ‘‘E-Learning Tasks’’ module. This module in student side will enable students to accomplish or resume learning tasks, submitted by one or more teachers. The module has a set of filters that shows: all tasks, to do tasks within the time that the student has to make them, overdue tasks, deadline today tasks—shows the tasks that the student has to delivery today, and returned tasks that shows all tasks that were evaluated and returned by the teacher, this allows the student to review its tasks and a final classification.

Evaluation and Validation PLEBOX has been installed, configured, and accessible through http://plebox.it.ubi.pt. Nowadays, a total of 210 users (10 teachers and 200 engineering students) from University of Beira Interior, Portugal and University of Valladolid, Spain. They

Figure 6 Demonstration module in the work environment ‘‘Administrator.’’ [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]


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Figure 7 Module Management—step one. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

have used the system for 1 year. After the experience, they completed a PLEBOX utility survey (a likert scale 1–7). The questions are shown in Table I. In Figure 10 it can be seen that 50% of teachers strongly agree that platform has an attractive design, it is scalable and expandable, navigation options are clear and consistent, learning objectives are state in observable, measurable terms, and text blocks are written in minimalist style. Forty percent of teachers think that the platform is very easy to use and other 40% only is easy to use. Forty percent strongly agree that the work environment is very friendly and intuitive, 40% agree about this question and other 20% tend to agree. Moreover, 40% strongly agree that all hyperlinks work correctly, 40% agree about this question and other 20% tend to agree. With the questions 8 and 10 the percentages are similar (40% strongly agree, 40% agree, and 20% tend to agree). In Figure 11 it can be observed that 90% of students strongly agree that learning objectives are stated in observable, measurable terms. Forty percent strongly agree that the work environment is very friendly and intuitive, 40% agree about this question, and other 20% tend to agree. Also, 50% strongly agree that all hyperlinks work correctly, 40% agree about this question and other 10% tend to agree. Sixty percent agree that the platform has an attractive design. Fifty percent strongly agree that the platform is easy to use and other 50% only agree. Fifty percent strongly agree that navigation options are clear

and consistent. Fifty percent strongly agree that test blocks are written in minimalist style, 60% strongly agree that each icon serves an instructional or informational need and 40% also strongly agree that used fonts are easy to read.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK PLEBOX platform is modular, expandable, and capable of supporting a simplified interaction with the user desktop, customizable, and with the ability to gather in one place a set of applications. It makes use of Rich Internet Application (RIA). It presents a form of powerful and easy to use interaction. Moreover, a system of more sophisticated user interaction is created. The platform can be expanded and new modules can be integrated. PLEBOX is an interesting contribution in the context of E-learning platforms. Thus, PLEBOX is more than just a PLE due to the existing API on the Windows system, enables development new modules for the box. In terms of limitations, the Windows System lack functions such as maximize or change window font size. In addition, it does not have a management system for themes, to customize the colors and background image of the learning environment. A new learning environment is presented, with the following objectives: to customize the desktop, the assignment

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Figure 8 Module Management—step two. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Figure 9 Module Management—step three. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.] Table I

PLEBOX Utility Survey

Name Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10

Description The platform has an attractive design The platform is easy to use The platform is scalable and expandable The work environment is very friendly and intuitive Navigation options are clear and consistent All hyperlinks work correctly Learning objectives are stated in observable, measurable terms Each icon serves an instructional or informational need Text blocks are written in minimalist style: compact and useful Fonts (style, color, saturation) are easy to read in both on-screen and printed version


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Figure 10 Results of PLEBOX utility survey for teachers. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Figure 11 Results of PLEBOX utility survey for students. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

and conducting learning tasks, monitoring of students, and ease to use. For the construction of the platform, two modules were developed using the PLEBOX API such as ‘‘Learning Tasks’’ to allow students to begin or resume their learning tasks and teachers’ reviewing process. The module ‘‘Assign E-Learning tasks,’’ using SLK API, has a link between PLEBOX, SharePoint, and SLK. Its main objectives are sharing documents from existing SharePoint application, and creation of learning tasks that can be performed by one student or more. It can be concluded that PLEBOX has got innovative features compared to available platforms. The system has been tested by teachers and engineering students of the University of Beira Interior, Portugal and the University of Valladolid, Spain, and the results show a great utility for users. In a first stage, the PLEBOX platform was developed with the capability to store contents. In a second stage, the different learning contents were built. In a third stage, these learning contents were available for mobile devices that allow the download of those contents in a way to facilitate the learning monitoring. In a future, PLEBOX will incorporate new modules, making them increasingly populated with tools such as social networks applications, interaction with mobile systems (mobile devices connect to the PLEBOX fixed platform for content download and upload over an available wireless network connection), and applications to communication in real time. Moreover, PLEBOX will incorporate a faster learning contents distribution motor to support different learning scenarios. It will have a multi-lingual and a graphical installer to simplify the installation and maintenance.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work has been supported by the Instituto de Telecomunicaço˜es, Next Generation Networks and Applications Group (NetGNA), Portugal and by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (Fundaçaõ para a Cieˆncia e Tecnologia), on behalf of a research integration scholarship (BII).

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BIOGRAPHIES Tiago M. C. Simo˜es is a MSc student on Informatics Engineering at the University of Beira Interior. He received his BSc degree in Informatics Engineering from the University of Beira Interiorin 2010. He is also a research grant at the University of Beira Interior on behalf of eLearning 3.0 project. His current research areas focuses on e-Learning technologies. Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues is a professor in the Department of Informatics of the University of Beira Interior, Covilha˜, Portugal, and a researcher at the Instituto de Telecomunicaço˜es, Portugal. He received a PhD degree in informatics engineering, an MSc degree from the University of Beira Interior, and a five-year BS degree (licentiate) in informatics engineering from the University of Coimbra, Portugal. His main research interests include sensor networks, e-learning, e-health, high-speed networks, delay tolerant networks, and mobile and ubiquitous computing. He is the editor-in-chief of the International Journal on E-Health and Medical Communications. He is the general chair of MAN 2009 and MAN 2010 (in conjunction with IEEE ICC 2009 and 2010), N&G 2010 (with IEEE AINA 2010), chair of the Track on eHealth at IEEE ICC 2011, chair of

the CSSMA Symposium at IEEE ICC 2012 and IEEE Globecom 2010, chair of the Symposium on Ad-Hoc and Sensor Networks of the SoftCom Conference, and TPC chair of IEEE CAMAD 2010, and he has chaired many other technical committees. He is a member of many international program committees and several editorial review boards, and he has served as a guest editor for a number of journals, including the IET Communications Journal and the Journal of Communications Software and Systems. He has chaired many technical sessions and given tutorials at major international conferences. He has authored or co-authored over 150 papers in refereed international journals and conferences, a book, and a patent. He is a licensed professional engineer (senior member), and he is member of ACM SIGCOMM, a member of the Internet Society, an IARIA fellow, and a senior member of IEEE. Isabel de la Torre Dıéz was born in Zamora, Spain, in 1979. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in telecommunication engineering from the University of Valladolid, Spain, in 2003 and 2010, respectively. Currently, she is an assistant professor in the Department of Signal Theory and Communications at the University of Valladolid. Her teaching and research interests includes development of Telemedicine applications, EHRs (Electronic Health Records), EHR standards, e-learning and e-commerce applications.