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I had almost forgotten about this animation explaining how SOA works. It is very pedagogical and easy to understand, and it explains it from an eFramework perspective.

Min avhandling (Modularization of the learning architecture: supporting learning theories by learning technologies) har uppmärksammats på flera ställen vilket givetvis är jättekul!

• På KKS Framtidens lärande: Mer flexibla lärandemiljöer
• På Øysten Johanessens blogg: Fredrik Paulsson har disputert
• På Skolporten, Forskning & utveckling
• På 計畫贊助者 (?)
• På En IKT-pedagogs funderingar

Min förhoppning är att den ska läsas och att det ska bli diskussion. Jag har försökt skriva så att både datavetare och pedagoger kan ha utbyte av att läsa den och jag hoppas att jag har lyckats.

My second post at the Swedish Learning Space

It is a problem that virtual learning environments (VLEs) are perceived as something that are installed centrally (silo-like) to be used by teachers and students as is (referring back to my last post, Where do VLEs come from and where are they heading?).  VLEs should not just “be there”, they should be assembled when needed, put together and adapted to specific pedagogical needs. And, in fact there is an interesting ongoing development towards modular VLEs. This is actually a trend that affects most application fields of IT. In general modularity (in its most ideal form) means that a VLE are viewed as a (distributed) toolbox from which different tools (or components/modules) can be chosen and assembled to form a loosely coupled learning environment with the look and feel of a VLE, but that actually consists of small parts provided as services by different providers - much like the parts of a machine is forming the machine or like Lego. This is of course still a vision, but it is far from unrealistic and we can already see examples of this happening. As a concept this development can be compared to Learning Objects, which doest really work as supposed (yet?), but anyway, as a concept…

Read the whole post here

An e-Framework and SOA meeting was held in Oslo on the 26th of January. I was invited, but could unfortunately not attend as I was in Luxembourg on the FP7 meeting. The presentations from the meeting are however available online at ttp://www.slideshare.net/soameeting.

Read some of my previous SOA-related postings at http://www.frepa.org/wp/category/soa/ and http://www.frepa.org/wp/category/vwe/

My article, titled " A Service Oriented Architecture-framework for modularized Virtual Learning Environments ", was accepted for presentation at the m-ICTE2006 conference. Read the abstract here .

This is good, and probably bound to happen. A step in the right direction, that maight help in opening up the learning architecture and eventually get us out of the silo…

June 22, 2006, Indianapolis, USA: A Cooperation Agreement between the IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS) and the e-Framework for Education and Research Initiative (the e-Framework) was announced at the IMS annual members’ meeting. The principal goal of the Cooperation Agreement is to work together towards a shared vision of service enabled infrastructures for Higher Education.

Outputs from the e-Framework will be important to the deliberations of IMS in terms of further standardization initiatives and feedback from IMS industry members will assist greatly in developing the e-Framework.

Read the whole press release at IMS  

From Scott Wilson’s Workblog

Scott Wilson makes a few good points - even though I believe that reuse actually is an important reason in itself for Learning Objects, as it supports the way in which teachers often prefer to work. I do however agree with him in general…

Reuse often falls out as a side benefit from technologies. The critical requirement is to make the process you want to get working actually working. If this can save you effort next time, or on another system, thats great, but its not the primary motivation. We’ve seen this a lot in the learning objects discourse, with the "reuse" topic hijacking the agenda when perhaps other concerns, such as enabling coordination of shared activity, making it easier for teachers and students to write and publish, and making more connections between resources (rather than less - a requirement for LO reuse is fewer or no links) may have been more fruitful avenues to pursue.

Read the blog post at http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=20060505104338  

Our modularized VWE (which is based on the Learning Objects taxonomy outlined in this paper), was added to FreeWorld World Team. It is good to see VWE be spread to a wider circle…;)

I dag höll jag ett seminarium på Myndigheten för Skolutveckling. Seminariet arrangerades av SIS TK450 och handlade om ramverk för tjänstebaserade arkitekturer (SOA) för e-lärande. Seminariet inleddes med en översikt av utvecklingen av virtuella lärmiljöer från 70-talet till dagens miljöer. Därefter en liten genom gång av begrepp och principer för SOA, samt varför det kan vara en bra modell för IT i utbildningssammanhang. Utgångspunkten för SOA för e-lärande vad eLearning Framework och eFramework som därefter jämfördes med andra modeller (MIT/OKI-Sakai och vår egen VWE). Seminariet avslutades med en lite blick in i (vad jag förmodar:) är framtiden, samt en mycket bra och intressant diskussion!

Mina presentationsbilder kan laddas ner här: [PDF eller ODP (Open Office presentation)] 

A slightly modified version of our paper for the ProLearn/iClass thematic workshop on Learning Objects in Context,  "VWE: a framework for modularized Virtual Learning Environments - Applying the Learning Object Concept to the VLE", will be published in a special issue of the IJEL- International Journal on E-Learning.

The paper describes the Learning Object taxonomy that constitutes the basis for the Virtual Workspace Environment (yes, we deeply regret the badly chosen name, but the project started back in 1997, and well…;). The VWE Learning Object texonomy is based on Wileys’s idea of the Atomic Learning Object [.doc]. We have addes a new type of object: the Resource Object.

The Resource Object has one task and that is to support digital content objects (such as Simple (Fundamental) Learning Objects or Simple (Fundamental) Data Objects) to be rendered, used or interacted with. Hence, Resource Objects provides the application logics needed in Grouped Learning Objects. By separating application logics (one layer) from presentation (another layer) and data (a third layer) we can say goodbye to the type of Learning Objects that makes a mishmash of presentation, logics and data.

Resource Objects can be of two types: the Helper Resource Objects, which works as described above - much like a "plug-in" or "reader" for content - and the Creator Resource Objects, which adds functionality (application logics) which doesn’t need to be directly related to any content. Hence, it can add arbritrary functionality to the VLE!

This approach makes it possible to assemble a VLE from general modules, in the same fashion as we assemble content from "traditional" Learning Objects. Hence, we get a modularized VLE that is as flexible as our modularized content!

To support this component/object model for a VLE, we developed (it later turned out:) a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Exposing common functionality as services proved to be the best way to support this kind of modularity. However, back in 1997, when we started to develop VWE, Web Services where more or less unheard of. Instead we used CORBA and RMI to accomplish our mission: to build the first (at least to my knowledge) Service Oriented Architecture for Learning. Later, in 2001 we released a second prototype-framework based on Web Service technology (e.g. SOAP. WDSL etc.)

Assembling a VLE with the VWE-framework is quite similar to working with the LAMS system (We are currently looking in to IMS Learning Design for VWE). A teacher (or a student) chooses which components (content and functionality) they want to use in order to construct their new Learning Space (or as it is also refered to: Workspace). Parts of the Learning Space become personal and, other parts are shared with other users for collaboration and interaction. The process is handled with wizard-like Learning Space editors.

We basically wanted to put teachers and learners in control of the VLE by making the VLE  adapt to different learning contexts as well as to different user preferences, methods for learning and pedagogical theories!

The figure below outlines the VWE Learning Object Taxonomy 

I am currently working on two more VWE papers so expect more to come… in the meantime: read the ProLearn/iClass paper