UPGRADE: Vol. IV, Issue no. 5, October 2003 (e-Learning

Presentation
Distance Learning [HTML] [PDF: 4 pages, 163 KB]
(includes a list of Useful References for those interested in knowing more about matters related to "e-Learning").
Ángel Fidalgo-Blanco and Martín Llamas-Nistal - Guest Editors
Abstract: The guest editors present the issue, of highly practical nature, whose aim is to provide readers with a necessarily limited overview of e-Learning systems, via a series of articles on some signiﬁcant aspects --standards, technological questions and practical e-Learning use cases-- which they consider representative of the work currently being done in this ﬁeld. As usual, a list of Useful References is also included for those interested in knowing more about this subject.

Component-Based Software Engineering and CSCL in the Field of e-Learning [PDF: 8 pages, 311 KB]
Yannis A. Dimitriadis, Juan-Ignacio Asensio-Pérez, Alejandra Martínez-Monés, and César A. Osuna-Gómez
Abstract: The use of Information and Communication Technologies in the education domain has been characterized by the need of providing ﬂexible systems that are adaptable to particular learning situations. In this sense, Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) has emerged as a software development paradigm suitable for obtaining reusable, ﬂexible, and customizable distributed applications, which would provide great beneﬁts to the e-Learning domain. Nevertheless, this CBSE-education relationship has not coped with the collaborative aspects and the pedagogic theories underlying the social constructivism that constitutes the basis for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). This article describes the process undertaken by the authors when applying CBSD principles to the CSCL domain, emphasising the lessons learned during this experience. The article is particularly focused on the problem of ‘translating’ the highly dynamic requirements posed by educators, as well as by participants and their educational context, into the CSCL applications.

AVANTE: A Web Based Instruction Architecture based on XML/XSL Standards, Free Software and Distributed CORBA Component [PDF: 10 pages, 357 KB] Víctor Theoktisto, Adelaide Bianchini, Edna Ruckhaus, and Lee Lima
Abstract: The AVANTE Architecture described in this paper implements a WBI (Web Based Instruction) environment based on CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) distributed software components for course management, user authentication, collaborative work, database access, presentation and other services. The AVANTE components conform to a 4-tiered model, with client, presentation, management, and low level services component sublayers. All metadata deﬁnitions are described using emerging XML (eXtensible Markup Language) standards for WBI. The developed WBI tool can be deployed using currently available free software and is independent of the chosen database manager. Performance and scalability are adjusted by adding or removing servers and replicating CORBA components. Services can be extended to include auditing, dynamic and adaptive interfaces, grading, content development, and integration with existing administrative services.

e -Learning in Distance Education and in the New Cooperative Environments [PDF: 8 pages, 296 KB]
Enrique Rubio-Royo, Domingo J. Gallego, and Catalina Alonso-García
Abstract: This article, of informative purpose, aims to give an overview of how e-Learning is being included in training processes considered as traditional (distance and on site learning). But it will also be looking at practical cases showing the results of the application of e-Learning within the framework of what are referred to as ‘entrepreneurial units’, small research groups and departments set up within Universities to apply innovative techniques among teachers and learners.

EducaNext: A Service for Knowledge Sharing [PDF: 7 pages, 876 KB]
Joaquín Salvachúa-Rodríguez, Juan Quemada-Vives, Blanca Rodríguez-Pajares, and Gabriel Huecas Fernández-Toribio
Abstract: In the coming years we will face the problem of lifelong, or ongoing, learning in the context of a rapid renewal of the vast wealth of technical information. To address this problem we submit a solution, EducaNext, based on sharing and collaboration for learning resource creation. We use the term ‘learning resources’ in its broadest possible sense, including such learning activities as distributed multimedia conferences and their deﬁnition languages.

Ángel Fidalgo-Blanco has a PhD in Informatics. He is a Professor of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain, and has more than 15 years’ experience in the application of ICT to learning. He is currently Deputy Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Informatic Methods at the UPM, Director of the Laboratory of Innovation in Information Technologies (DMAMI-UPM) and collaborator in educational innovation at the UNESCO Department of University Management and Policy. He forms part of the academic management of the Master in “Consulting in e-Business Information Technologies” at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
<aﬁdalgo AT dmami DOT upm DOT es>

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have not only transformed many of the day to day activities of people and organizations but have also become a powerful instrument for meeting new needs. More specifically, ICT are used to enhance quality in the field of training, allowing learners to take a more active part in the learning process, bringing training to the workplace and making learning accessible to people who are unable to attend presential classes. But it’s not all good news; the two main problems arising from the incorporation of ICT in learning processes are:

The inappropriate use of these technologies, which can produce exactly the opposite effect to what was intended.
The widening of the education gap between rich and poor regions (as the latter lack the necessary technological infrastructures)

1 An Evolving Terminology

The various methods and procedures whereby ICT is applied to training is popularly known by the all embracing term e-Learning, but also goes under various other names, such as tele-learning, tele-training, tele-education (or distance learning, electronic learning, etc., etc.). This is not helpful for the uninitiated to gain an understanding of the exact meaning of the term e-Learning and prevents people, even those who have had some experience of this kind of learning, from having a general vision of its possibilities.

Various terms have been used to refer to the application of ICT in training:

First of all there was CBT (Computer Based Training) which basically consisted of using a personal computer as an ‘assistant teacher’; the computer was responsible for performing certain tasks with the learners, for example asking questions and explaining the concepts that the learner had problems with. This term was current until the early 90s.
The increasing power of computers and the appearance of CD-ROMs, the most important feature of which is, as readers will be aware, their ability to store large amounts of information on a single recordable disk, gave rise to another term, Educational Multimedia. The main feature of Educational Multimedia was its ability to integrate different kinds of information, for example an image or a video and connect it via links (hypertext or hypermedia), in a similar way to present day web pages. This term was current until the mid 90s.
The consolidation of communications networks, specifically the Internet, gave rise to Tele-training which basically consisted of using networks as a means of communicationbetween learner and teacher; the learner used e-mail to send the teacher queries and assignments and content was organized on web pages. This term had a relatively short lifespan.
The term e-Learning first appeared in the mid 90s and is used to describe Internet based tools providing a series of services to be applied in training processes; these services are typically: communications (forums, chat, e-mail); management (learner management, grades, statistics), cooperative work (virtual hard disks, shared directories) and navigation (indexes, multimedia, lists, …). e-Learning systems were quickly incorporated into distance learning processes, although they were also applied to other types of training (on site, at the workplace, ongoing or lifelong, …). The main weakness of these systems is the way content is transmitted, that is, the problem of designing and applying pedagogical methods which ensure that the learner really does learn.
In recent years a new generation of e-Learning systems incorporating knowledge management techniques is beginning to appear; these systems are known as LCMS (Learning Content Management System) e-Learning. These are an improvement over previous methods as they reduce the cost and the preparation time of a course, reorganize content according to individual student’s needs and allow the different content to be reused.

All these terms reﬂect a speciﬁc technological advance, and the term e-Learning should therefore be understood to mean a series of processes and technologies developed to serve the world of training; the where, how and when depends on the vision of those responsible for training, on the learning environment and on the speciﬁc needs of each organization or individual. The decisive factor behind the qualitative and quantitative growth of the inﬂuence of ICT on training was the arrival of the Internet and its star application, the World Wide Web (WWW, or simply the Web). It was ﬁrst used as a simple means of communication (mainly via e-mail, as we mentioned earlier) and distribution of software and material. In the early days of the Web an abundance of educational material was distributed over the Internet, mainly on web pages, but the problem was that this material, mainly notes and written material in general that needed printing out, was not necessarily designed for this medium.

Around this time the ﬁrst tele-training or e-Learning platforms were also being developed, aimed at integrating the different aspects of training over this new medium. One of the biggest problems in this new environment, with its many platforms which are not always compatible with one other, is the matter of the reuse of learning resources which are often costly to produce. Interoperability is another requirement to be met; different systems or platforms need to be able to interchange information and work together. All of the above gives rise to the need for standards to regulate these requirements.

2 The Contents of This Monograph

In this highly practical monograph we aim to provide readers with an overview of some signiﬁcant aspects of e- Learning systems, albeit a necessarily limited one, via a series of articles which we consider representative of the work currently being done in this ﬁeld. The articles are divided into three clearly differentiated sections – standards, major technological aspects and practical e-Learning use cases – prefaced by our opening article, “Technology Enhanced Learning: Research Activities within the Framework of the European Commission” in which Patricia Manson and Elena Coello, of the European Commission Directorate General for the Information Society, describe how the European Union is supporting the development of learning technologies by their programmes and calls for research.

In the ﬁrst section – standards – we have two articles. The ﬁrst is “Standardization in Computer Based Learning”, by Judith Rodríguez-Estévez, Manuel Caeiro-Rodríguez and Juan M. Santos-Gago, which presents the state of the art and current trends in the standardization process of computer based learning, identifying the most important institutions involved, their role in the process and the most interesting ﬁelds and issues.issues. Meanwhile, the second article, “CEN/ISSS WS-LT: The European Standardization Body for Learning Technologies”, by Frans Van Assche and Mike Collett, presents the standardization activities conducted by the Workshop on Learning Technologies, WS-LT, of the CEN/ISSS (Comité Européen de Normalisation/Information Society Standardization System).

The second section, dealing with technological aspects of importance to the theme of the monograph, comprises another two articles. The ﬁrst is by Yannis A. Dimitriadis, Juan-Ignacio Asensio-Pérez, Alejandra Martínez-Monés and César A. Osuna-Gómez, and is entitled “Component-Based Software Engineering and CSCL in the Field of e-Learning”. It takes a look at various alternative approaches to the problem of adequately transferring the highly dynamic requirements of the learning environment to CSCL (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning) applications. The second article, “AVANTE: A Web Based Instruction Architecture based on XML/XSL Standards, Free Software and Distributed CORBA Components”, authored by Víctor Theoktisto, Adelaide Bianchini, Edna Ruckhaus and Lee Lima, describes the architecture being used at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela).

The ﬁnal section, dealing with practical use cases in the ﬁeld of e-Learning, is made up of three articles covering different activity sectors: “e -Learning in Distance Education and in the New Cooperative Environments”, by Enrique Rubio-Royo, Domingo J. Gallego and Catalina Alonso-García, provides us with an overview of the application of the Internet in distance learning provided by the UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia – Open University of Spain) and shows us how the incorporation of ICT affects teachers’ work, creating new expectations for enhancing learning processes. “Information Technologies and Knowledge Management in the Ongoing Training of Doctors”, by Cristina Zamanillo-Sarmiento, Julián Ruiz-Ferrán and Ángel Fidalgo-Blanco, concerns an e-Learning experience with healthcare professionals in which the objective is to keep them permanently up to date so they can manage their private practices more efﬁciently and effectively. Finally, “EducaNext: A Service for Knowledge Sharing”, by Joaquín Salvachúa-Rodríguez, Juan Quemada-Vives, Blanca Rodríguez-Pajares and Gabriel Huecas Fernández-Toribio, describes an e-Learning service based on sharing and collaboration for designing learning resources, in which the ISABEL application, developed since 1993 by the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, plays a major role.

Translation by Steve Turpin

Acknowledgements

While expressing our hope that this monograph will help readers of Upgrade and Novática towards a better understanding of some of the essential aspects of e-Learning, we want also show our gratitude to the editors of both journals for the trust they have placed in us and the help they have given us throughout the whole preparation and editing process. Thanks also go to the authors for their articles, particularly to Patricia Manson, head of the Technology Enhanced Learning Unit (European Commission Directorate General for the Information Society) for her special contribution to the monograph.

Last updated on October 30th, 2003	by Rafael Fernández Calvo, François Louis Nicolet, and Roberto Carniel, Editorial Team of Upgrade
	<rfcalvo AT ati DOT es> (E-mail address written with anti-spamming disguise)

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