Fredrik Paulsson

Connecting Learning Object Repositories: Strategies, Technologies and Issues

The rapid growth of digital learning resources has brought forward a number of issues concerning availability, distribution and use. Altogether, the issues are a mix of interplaited technological and pedagogical considerations. Some of those issues, mainly related to repositories and the distribution of digital learning resources, are examined and described in this article. A particular focus is put on how resources can be described and indexed using metadata, and on how access to digital learning resources can be improved and facilitated through federation and/or harvesting of metadata in order to tie several repositories together to provide a service that offers one single access point. The study also examined how this single point of access can be moved closer to the user (i.e. to the environment where digital learning resources are used) through simple federation of the service, enabling access to the network of repositories from any virtual learning environment. The study was carried out by experiments connected to a real-life case. The study concludes in several suggestions for how access to digital learning resources can be enhanced, as well as in the identifications of a couple of new issues that need to be addressed by future research.

SOA-Frameworks for Modular Virtual Learning Environments: Comparing Implementation Approaches

A general SOA framework for Virtual Learning Environments, based on the VWE Learning Object Taxonomy, is suggested in this chapter. Five basic and general services are suggested for implementation of modular Virtual Learning Environments. The design of the service framework was tested by implementation in two prototypes, using two different approaches where a Java-RMI based implementation was compared to a Web Service (SOAP) based implementation. By implementing the VWE Learning Object Taxonomy and the VWE SOA framework, the prototypes showed that a level of modularity, similar to the level of modularity of Learning Objects, could be achieved for the Virtual Learning Environment as well. Using the VWE Learning Object Taxonomy, this was accomplished by including the learning content and the Virtual Learning Environment into the same conceptual space. The comparison of the prototypes showed that the Web Service approach was preferred in favor of the Java-RMI approach. This was mainly due to platform neutrality and the use of the http-protocol. The study was supplemented by an analysis of the two approaches in relation to a third, REST-based approach.

Suggesting an SOA Framework for Modular Virtual Learning Environments: Comparing Two Implementation Approaches

The article suggests a general SOA framework for virtual learning environments, based on the VWE learning-object taxonomy. The SOA framework suggests five basic services for implementation of modular virtual learning environments. The SOA framework was implemented in two prototypes using two different approaches: a Java-RMI-based implementation that was compared to a Web-service-based (SOAP) implementation by using the VWE learning-object taxonomy and the VWE SOA framework. The prototypes showed that a level of modularity, similar to the level of modularity of learning objects, could be achieved for the virtual learning environment as well through the inclusion in the same conceptual space. The comparison of the prototypes showed that the Web service approach was preferred in favor of the Java-RMI approach. This was mainly due to platform neutrality and the use of the HTTP protocol.