Reports

E-learning is nothing new to the Catalan university system. For some time, experts from a number of institutions have been working to make learning on the net a reality. Another step is now being taken and all the universities are working together to bring the Campus project to fruition, which will allow them to create their own virtual campuses using shared standards.

Thus, compatibility is one of the basic concepts: ensuring that all of the universities' virtual campuses, irrespective of their base platform, can be interconnected to exchange improvements or services, for learning that is both virtual and based on bricks and clicks. This reality is only possible if the institutions create shared platforms that are versatile, accessible and multipurpose. The importance of this connectivity has meant that the project counted on the support of public and private agents associated with e-learning in order to provide the tools that enable this shared software to be created that makes interaction between the virtual learning environments possible.

One of the characteristics of the platform developed by the Campus project has been its free software base from the start. Having a system based on open source allows its internal functioning to be shared by all the developers, so that, apart from being a saving for organisations, it can be studied and modified to make improvements as it is published under a GPL (General Public Licence). This is also the case of the two virtual learning platforms on which the Campus project is based: Moodle and Sakai. These two systems are two of the most widely used and, as they are open-source programs, they can be adapted and modified. Communication between these two platforms and with the elements that comprise the virtual learning environments will be made using the OKI (Open Knowledge Initiative) standards, promoted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Indeed, this institution also collaborates on the Catalan project, ensuring and certifying its quality.

Other important factors in these platforms are usability and accessibility, because, among other aspects, they provide access to these campuses for people with disabilities. The technology used on this project also makes access to virtual learning environments possible from any technological device; for example, subject content can be accessed using an HTML document, a text-reading program, a computer with an adapted keyboard, e-ink books or an embosser, among many other tools.

An encounter for sharing knowledge

As part of this project, the University Campus Conference was held at Barcelona Activa in the Catalan capital between October 3 and 5. For three days, both dissemination and debate on the future of e-learning and educational technology and the sharing of the work completed during the project took centre stage. World-renowned experts in distance education and technology applied to learning took part in a number of presentations, debates and even practical workshops. The Director of Academic Computing at MIT, Vijay Kumar, opened the encounter together with the Chief Executive Officer of the IMS Global Learning Consortium, Rob Abel. Abel also took part in another conference that tackled standards, open source and virtual learning platforms, which also involved the former Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation, Charles Severance, the Director of the Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI), Jeff Merriman, and an OKI consultant, Tom Coppeto. The central themes of the other conference that rounded off this encounter were usability, accessibility and design, with presentations from Julio Abascal, from the University of the Basque Country, Emmanuelle Gutiérrez, from the Latin American Seminar on Disability and Web Accessibility, Nigel Bevan, an expert in usability, and Dan Formosa, a product design and research consultant.

This encounter, however, had an added value over and above that of sharing technical approaches as it was "involved speakers from major virtual learning institutions from around the world who offered their vision of technology-based teaching", in the words of the UOC's Vice President for Technology, Llorenç Valverde. According to Valverde, the presence of the speakers at the conference gave "international validation" to the Campus project, which has been developed in line with different "world quality standards". These debates help to share expertise and knowledge on the contribution of technological advances to improving the learning process and the quality of life of university students.

Over these three days, there was also an exhibition, which offered a visual sample of different ways of accessing virtual environments: ranging from a piece of gym equipment with an iPod, or a mobile at the beach, to a computer with a Braille-adapted keyboard. All of these devices help access virtual learning environments that are "designed for students", commented Magí Almirall, Director of Educational Technology at the UOC. Almirall explained that today's student "is accustomed to using technology", but also to multi-tasking. This principle is also what permits access for disabled people – the accessibility standards of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) enable a variety of adapted devices to be used to access virtual campuses.

Developers and observers

Officially inaugurated on April 1 2006, the Campus project has created a framework for collaboration between the Catalan universities and the public and private agents involved in e-learning, which, after eighteen months of work, will achieve two types of results: those related generically to the usability or the legality of the project, among others, and other more practical ones, such as the generation of the functional modules so that they can be configured for each educational environment. The UOC is the university leading the project, although the public and private agents work together to combine forces and avoid overlaps. Among the various partners in the project, there are those that have developmental roles (specifically, seven of the participating universities), while others act as observers. The initiative is based on that already developed by contributing partners. Each of the agents also decides the part of the project that they develop, at all times following the project?s global technical specifications.

The basis of the system are the collaborative learning environments, the equivalent to the basis of any operating system, in this case either the Moodle or Sakai platforms, which can be shared and connected using an OKI adaptor system. Likewise, this standard connects these two bases and the services or modules that each university needs, ie, the specific applications that they require, such as messaging, forums, chats, translation systems, etc.

Moodle is a freely distributed course management system (CMS) created in 2002 by Martin Dougiamas. Featuring a simple and intuitive system, it allows educators to create online learning communities with a cooperative philosophy. At present, there are more than 75,000 registered users and it has been translated into over 70 languages.

The Sakai Project is a community based on the development of free software, which works towards the design, construction and deployment of a new collaboration and learning environment (CLE) for higher education. It also follows the model on which the open-source movement is based. It began at the University of Michigan and the University of Indiana, which started working, independently, in the ambit of open source. Subsequently, MIT and the University of Stanford joined in and, together with the Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI), the uPortal consortium and generous assistance from the Mellon Foundation, they set up the Sakai Project.

Projects

UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

• File area: a feature that allows users to manage files or set up their own personal website. It allows files to be shared and exchanged in common areas.
• Discussion forums: an online application that supports the exchange of messages between users asynchronously as a group. It enables doubts to be clarified and the discussion of topics that arise during teaching.
• Internal messaging: an asynchronous system for the exchange of emails between campus users that enables all aspects of teaching to be managed.
• Activity tool: a feature that allows teachers to create, administrate, review and mark the course?s teaching activities that are not corrected automatically.

UPC (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya)

• Wiki: a repository of web pages connected via hyperlinks, each of which can be visited and edited by any user through a browser.
• Bookmarks: a feature that provides users with access to pages that are key to their studying, be they inside the platform or beyond, on the internet. It is an important resource for collaboration in learning.
• Language service (editor/corrector/translator): a feature that provides users with the resources that enable them to improve the quality of their written communication, such as spelling and grammar checks and automatic translation.

UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya)

• Podcast: a system for integrating voice into the virtual classroom based on podcasting, it is aimed at foreign language teaching.
• Calendar: a feature to aid management of activities, deadlines and key events in training activities. It allows the sharing of key dates and support for the administration of private events.
• Text chat: an application that allows communication between people in real time using messages written on the net.
• Web mail: an asynchronous messaging service for exchanging emails between users.
• Assessment and management tool (QTI): a tool that allows for the creation of learning materials with different types of activities and the assessment of students' progress, or self-assessment by students. It allows authors to create, edit and publish activities and for these to be viewed and worked on by students.
• Learning dossier: this allows students to present the best examples of their work and their reflections on their learning process. The main recipients are the teachers.
• Paths/logs: this option collects all the information automatically produced by the platform in relation to the use made of a specific course and its resources by users.
• RSS mobile/TV: an application for constructing interfaces for mobiles and TV based on the information gathered by the standard RSS (Really Simple Syndication) system.
• 3D virtual environments: integration of 3D virtual environments into the classroom, along the lines of Second Life.

URL (Universitat Ramon Llull)

• Virtual class: an application that allows distance classes to be run with the high number of interactive, synchronous and intuitive tools needed for this end.
• Assessment – results report tool (QTI): an application that allows the information on the results obtained by participants in examinations to be stored. Faculty can consult the results and analyse students' levels and efforts.
• SCORM content monitoring: a tool that aids synchronisation between the teaching materials and the Campus platform and increases the monitoring, assessment and integration options for teaching content.

UIC (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya)

• Live e-learning: a virtual learning support system based on multicasting technology for audio and video, as well as text-mode applications, all in real time.

UdG (Universitat de Girona)

• ACME: a system for developing exercises focusing on technology and mathematics subjects that respond automatically to the students' actions. It has been under development for over ten years.