Bekti Cahyo Hidayanto

Dynamic content synchronization between learning management systems over limited bandwidth network

Well-designed instructional material is equally important for successful e-Learning implementation. Teachers and instructors play a major role in terms of designing and building learning content. In one respect, it requires costs in terms of effort, time and experience. In other respects, a good learning content is likely a result of recurring revisions as a result of teaching experience as well as evaluating student activities. In the case of higher educational institutions (HEI) in developing countries (such as Indonesia), resource sharing in many aspects is highly recommended effort against high cost and redundant works, e-Learning is no exception. Sharing and re-using e-Learning content on particular subject between Learning Management Systems (LMS) can be one of the methods. In addition, collaborative teaching may cause a content develops gradually while conducting content sharing. Thus, the capability of synchronizing the content between LMS is necessary. On the other hand, typical e-Learning implementation might not be appropriate due to the concerns of network infrastructure in developing countries. In some areas, the network has less bandwidth and even frequent disconnections. This paper introduces a novel method of sharing e-Learning content between distributed Learning Management Systems by using dynamic content synchronization. This method also suites the need of course sharing which supports collaborative teaching activity. Moreover, this approach is designed to address the needs of content sharing in areas with network infrastructure limitation in terms of bandwidth and availability.

E-mail based updates delivery in unidirectional content synchronization among learning management systems over limited bandwidth environment

As the usage of Learning Management System (LMS) becomes popular in academic institution, demands for sharing learning content among them are getting higher. Such a way could be an alternative way of resource sharing in order to reduce the cost and effort instead of building a high quality material of e-learning content by themselves. Despite the leverage of Internet has been massive, not all places covered by sufficient infrastructure. Some parts of developing country, for example, eastern part of Indonesia, are still suffering unstable connection, availability, frequent disconnection and limited bandwidth. In addition, e-mail technology has been used widely as one of the popular communication tool. Also, its capability of transporting different types of digital content message across multiple and separated network makes it sufficient to be employed in such limited network. This paper discusses the concept and architecture of e-mail based delivery for distributing updates between LMSs in terms of content synchronization among LMSs over limited bandwidth network. A running example on how the system works is described and shows that this system managed to synchronize course content between LMSs by means of e-mail system.