1. Thomas Demuth, Dagmar Sommer, Andreas Rieke
Conception and Realization of the Offline-Navigator in the Virtual University
Thomas Demuth, Dagmar Sommer, Andreas Rieke

2. General Information about the FernUniversität
Some 55,000 students
mainly employees, who have their own multimedia PCs available
Only distance teaching institution at university level in Germany
Different kinds of study are offered:
full-time study
part-time study
further education
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

3. Advantages of new Media
Especially in case of networks
online communication with the lecturer
common learning in groups
video conferences / prepared video lectures
online distribution of course materials
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

4. The Virtual University
First comprehensive concepts were developed nearly three years ago
An extensive prototype has been implemented and tested in practice with nearly 2500 students
50 courses are currently offered by the following faculties:
Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Law, Social Sciences
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

5. General Information
For security reasons, each course unit is password protected
Students can enrol either conventionally or electronically
Undergraduate and graduate study
Participating Faculties:
Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Social Sciences, Law
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

6. General Information ... (cont.)
The technology team supports the development of course materials, their storage and distribution.
The faculties are responsible for course materials offered to the students.
Topics of the accompanying research:
acceptance of the technology
content of the Virtual University
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

7. Goals of the Project
To test new multimedia and communication technologies
To offer all functions of a university on screen
To evaluate and test the technical platform of the Virtual University
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

8. Technical Platform Distributed servers Networked by campus backbone
Based on the internet technology
Integrated databases
On user side based on standard software (web browser, news/mail client)
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

9. Distributed Servers
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

10. Access to the Virtual University
... is provided via
Broadband-ISDN
ISDN
Internet
Cable modem
CD-ROMs
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

11. Structure of the Virtual University
Presentation and Administration Area
provides
Information about courses, lectures, enrollment, ...
General communication: , chat, news
Shopping (software, books, CD-ROMs, ...)
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

12. Structure of the Virtual University (cont.)
Course Area
provides
different kinds of course materials, e.g.:
text oriented courses
highly interactive courses
Communication Area
provides tools for the communication
amongst the students
between the students and the lecturer
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

13. Functional Areas
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

14. Functional Areas (cont.)
Central Facilities: Library, computer center, ...
News: Admissions, campus events, ...
Information: FAQs, publications, guided tour, ...
Miscellaneous: Communication services, software, ...
Faculties: Departments, programs, courses, ...
Online Registration
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

15. Course Materials
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

16. Course Materials
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

17. Course Materials (cont.)
The course material is based on the existing teaching material of the FernUniversität that is already optimised for distance teaching
Different kinds of course materials are offered to the students:
multimedia courses, videos, computer based training, highly interactive courses with integrated working and experimental environment, animations, ...
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

18. Tutoring and Communication
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

19. Tutoring and Communication (cont.)
Communication is an important factor of education since it influences the efficiency of learning
Up to the development of the Virtual University the communication at the FernUniversität was based on mail and telephone, with mail causing a certain delay for the students and with telephone service not being available during evenings and weekend
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

20. Tutoring and Communication (cont.)
Asynchronous communication systems like , mailing lists, and newsgroups enable students to set up messages time independently and directly from their PC
The flexibility of the system supports the communication between students with very different individual learning styles
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

21. Networks Access via internet provider implicates low bit rates
Direct access to Hagen via ISDN is usually cheaper than via Internet
Access via study centres or HSLAN of other universities also attractive
CD-ROMs with hyperlinks for large amount of data
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

22. Situation Student at home Virtual University
uses PC and modem (with analogue connection)
Virtual University
distributes
learning/course units
common information
additional software
in different variations (online/offline versions)
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

23. Student can work online offline
with direct access to learning units, etc
offline
downloads the material (course units/software)
installs
material
software
reads common information
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

24. Student always has to
check each course he has enrolled for new learning units,
download, and
install it.
check each cource for specific/individual appointments (seminaries, examinations)
check for common information
 He has to pay his provider (TelCo) for the total online/navigation time
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

25. Solution Conception of a tool, which and further
automatically offers an individual and structured list of course materials
notifies about actual common information
updates older course material
shows further software which is needed
and further
compares which of the items above are already on the student‘s PC or
downloads the missing items.
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

26. Further Motivation More comfort to the student
all the navigation he did manually is done by this tool
Reduction of online time and costs
 Conception of the Offline Navigator
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

27. Topology
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

28. Topology (cont.) Student‘s PC (at home, office, ...)
Offline Navigator client installed
Dedicated location on harddisk for course units
Internet connection (analog, ISDN, ...)
Account at the Virtual University
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

29. Topology (cont.) Virtual University Offline Navigator server
Database system with information about
students
courses
enrolments
Web server
Offering/containing the
course units
individual data for the student
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

30. Phases of communication
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

31. Preliminaries
The student configures his Offline Navigator client specifying
his username,
his password,
a directory on his local PC where the components shall be stored, and
host and port to be contacted
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

32. Phase 1: Retrieval of course list (Online)
Offline Navigator Client
searches for existing course units and installed components on the harddisk of the student‘s PC
connects to the Virtual University, authenticates itself, retrieves a list of courses and components individual for the student and disconnects
compares these two lists and presents an arranged list to the student
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

33. Phase 2: Selection of courses (Offline)
The student
clearly realises new components of each enrolled course
selects the desired items
This can be done in arbitrary time without further online costs
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

34. Phase 3: Download of components (Online)
Offline Navigator Client
connects to the Virtual University a second time,
authenticates itself again,
downloads the components chosen by the student, and
stores them on the student‘s PC
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

35. Phase 4: Installation (Offline)
Offline Navigator Client
installs the components, decompressing them, without any interaction by the student
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

36. Comparison of the online time of the two modes
Traditional method
Offline Navigator
For each enroled course
Navigation (Searching for new components)
Selection (of desired/ necessary components)
Downloading the items
Request of course units/component list
Download of chosen items
Online
Navigation
Selection
Installation
Installing the downloaded items
Offline
 Relocation of the most time/cost consuming actions from the expensive online to the offline phase which is free of charge
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

37. Offline Navigator Summary of advantages
Individual view of the course offers
Establishes two short online sessions in contrast to one long session
Improves the download process
No online costs for navigation time
Minimises transmission costs
Further use of internet services while operation of the Offline Navigator is possible
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

38. Screenshot of the Offline Navigator client
Get available list of course units for the student
Course name and number
Compare list with units on the student‘s PC
Course units available on student‘s PC
Set preferences
Selected course unit for the next download
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

39. Technical Background Offline Navigator Server Offline Navigator Client
Relational Database Management System PostgreSQL 6.3.1
Script language PHP/FI 2.0b12
Apache web server 1.2.0
Offline Navigator Client
Java, Microsoft Visual J++ 1.1
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

40. Homepage of the Virtual University
virtuelle-uni.fernuni-hagen.de
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen

41. Virtual University FernUniversität - Online
persons to contact
Prof. Dr.-Ing. F. Kaderali
FB Elektrotechnik
LG Kommunikationssysteme
Feithstr. 140 / TGZ
58084 Hagen
Tel.:
Fax:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. G. Schlageter
FB Informatik
LG Praktische Informatik I
Feithstr. 140 / TGZ
58084 Hagen
Tel.:
Fax:
Thomas Demuth, FernUniversität Hagen