Session S3C Work in Progress - PI2E, Towards a Home Page for e-learning

Manuel Caeiro-Rodriguez, Martin Llamas-Nistal, Juan Gonzalez-Tato, Javier Alvarez-Osuna [email protected], [email protected], juangtato@.com, [email protected]

Abstract – The idea of this project is to translate the allow connection with other web applications like Wikipedia, principles of Web 2.0 to e-learning, enabling social YouTube, T.V. Guide.com, Facebook, Twitter and iTunes. participation and dynamic data exchange between users. The result is that the user can access their favorite sites We are working in the development of an i-Google Gadget, through its homepage. In addition, gadgets can be included in called Edu-GAL (Educational-Gadget Activity List), with other websites such as MySpace and social networks as e-learning services and its integration with other existing Facebook. tools and gadgets on the i-Google platform. Edu-GAL will There are plenty of gadgets for iGoogle. The Google take advantage of a set of existing Web services that Search gadget has over 45 million users. Currently available in provide main e-learning functionalities. The project is 73 countries, 43 languages and there are more than 248,000 located in the context of so-called Personal Learning available gadgets. From the point of view of this project there Environments (PLE). Compared to traditional e-learning are several interesting educational gadgets [1]: systems, in especially Learning Management Systems • IReminder allows users to establish a "To Do List". This (LMS), PLE are more learner-centered as it is the user gadget can be configured to send reminders for each task who defines and decides the environment at which he/she in the list by e-mail or mobile. will learn. • allows scratch pad to take notes and tag entries, export them or send them in Gmail documents Index Terms – i-Google Home Page, Gadget, e-learning, PLE, • ISuggest to search on other related web sites which the LMS. user is viewing. • Timesheet recorder allows you to track minute to minute INTRODUCTION of what users are doing. In recent years we have witnessed a revolution in Internet From a technological point of view a gadget is normally a called Web 2.0 or Social Web. This new concept is small XML file that contains a combination of Javascript, represented by a new type of applications in which users are HTML and CCS definitions. Gadgets are supported in HTML supported to create new content and exchange them with other 5 and AJAX. For the development of iGoogle gadgets several users, maximizing the personal involvement and community API are provided, among which we can find FriendConnect or building and networking. Examples include blogs, wikis, OpenSocial, which facilitate the exchange of information forums, RSS, tweets, social tagging, social networks and between users sharing similar interests. podcasts. Personalized homepages (also known as startpages, or STATE OF THE ART personal web portals) are web pages, which may include two The state of the art shows how the personalized homepages, types of components: feeds and gadgets. Feeds provide users including iGoogle, have a degree of maturity including a to view updated content from different web sites based on multitude of applications and programming facilities. A pulled mechanisms (e.g., RSS, ). Gadgets are gadget can use specific APIs (e.g., OpenSocial [2]) to offer interactive applications that provide all kinds of Web information sharing with other gadgets. There are also efforts functionality from presentation to content interaction with to use the iGoogle gadget technology from an educational others. Homepages can include custom applications according point of view (e.g., Memeteka [3]). In any case, this is an to the user's personal preferences, combining for example, a application that integrates existing gadgets to compose an e- reader e-mail, a list of news, weather forecasts, stock market learning environment, but it doesn’t provide any specific indices, hours of movies in theaters, etc. The result is that the gadget that facilitate the implementation and monitoring of users have all the information they are interested in a educational activities. personalized, fast and immediate way through a single The majority of the e-learning systems (e.g., LMS, VLE) interface. Some of the most popular homepages are Netvibes [4] rule for the provision of e-learning capabilities. In front of , Microsoft's Live.com and iGoogle. them, Personal Learning Environments (PLE) [5] have been iGoogle is a customizable and configurable homepage. proposed to enhance the capacity of particularization and Users can combine gadgets of all Google applications customization in e-learning systems. However, today the LMS including Gmail, , , , is revealed as the reference applications and are used by Google Reader and . There are also gadgets to 978-1-61284-469-5/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE October 12 – 15, 2011, Rapid City, SD 41st ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference S3C-1 Session S3C agencies and schools to provide full functionality. PLE Similar to the previous case, it will be the responsibility of proposals are still at a very early and experimental stage. Edu-GAL to show the involved people in each case.

THE PROPOSAL CONCLUSIONS Faced with this situation arises the development of an specific The proposed system is specially designed to support informal e-learning gadget, Edu-GAL (Educational-Gadget Activity learning. It is considered as formal learning the education that List), which is responsible for the management of educational is taught based on curricula and official programs in which the activities. Edu-GAL could be downloaded and assembled student gets a degree or a certain certification. Against this along with other gadgets in a "Home Page of I-Google to E- model, in informal learning the student is not "bound" to make learning "(PI2E) by the student, building in this way his/her a certain studies, it is something that he searches and wants. In own e-learning environment. Edu-GAL will provide the this way, the student does at his/her own pace and using the access point to all educational activities in which the students systems that takes his/her fancy. Obviously, this fits well with are involved. From the selection of a particular educational the principles of Web 2.0. activity on Edu-GAL, the other gadgets included in PI2E will The next activities in this project involve the development show contextual information. As an example, suppose an user of the gadget, its connection with the PoEML Web Services selects a DJ master class. Then, the other gadgets included in and the communication with other gadgets. After, we plan to PI2E display the related information: the agenda other musical do some pilots to get experiences with the system. Then, we activities, the forum topics about the contents of the course, will continue this project by developing gadgets for specific gadgets with YouTube content and resources from SlideShare, tools that can be used in combination with Edu-GAL. For etc. example: gadgets to perform questionnaires, to provide In this way, PI2E may include features similar to those of forums, etc. the current LMS and that have all sorts of gadgets, but at a much lower cost and in a very customizable way. Moreover, a ACKNOWLEDGMENT line of work will incorporate the functionality of existing LMS We thank Galician Consellería de Economía e Industria for its (e.g. Moodle) in their own environment through specific partial support to this work under grant “PI2E: Páxina Inicial gadgets. I-Google de E-learning” (10SEC002E). WEB SERVICES REFERENCES

We plan to take advantage of a set of web services to provide [1] Hurm, L., Steele, K., Hill, A., Tidrick, A., Tunnicliffe, C., Baker, C., in Edu-GAL the functionality of a typical e-learning system. Irving, K., Peppler, A. K. “iGoogle Full Wiki Text”. [Online]. Available These web services have been developed in the context of the https://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/INSITE/iGoogle+Full+Wiki+Text PoEML language [6]. PoEML is a modeling language [2] OpenSocial Specification [Online]. Available http://opensocial.org/ & intended to support the design and computational execution of http://docs.opensocial.org/display/OS/Home lesson plans involving key issues such as reusability, [3] Casquero, O., Portillo, J., Ovelar, R., Romo, J., & Benito, M. (2008). adaptability, flexibility and the support of collaborative “iGoogle and gadgets as a platform for integrating institutional and learning activities. Up to date we have developed an execution external services” Mash-Up Personal Learning Environments. Proc. of engine that is able to process PoEML models (namely: lesson 1st Workshop MUPPLE, 37-41. plans) and manage the state of learners along lesson activities. [4] ADL Instructional Capabilities Team, Choosing a Learning This functionality is provided as a set of web services and it Management System, 21 December 2010, Version 2.2. has already been used to support two developments: one based [5] Van Harmelen, H. (2008) Design trajectories: four experiments in PLE on Moodle [7] and other one providing a mixed platform with implementation. Interactive Learning Environments, 16(1), 35 – 46 PC and TV interfaces [8]. [6] M. Caeiro, “PoEML: A separation-of-concerns proposal to instructional The functionality provided by the PoEML Web services design”, pp. 184-208, 2007 (in L. Botturi & T. Stubbs, Eds., Handbook enables to offer the following information in the Edu-GAL of visual languages for instructional design: theories and practices gadget: edited by, IGI Global) • Each learner can get the list of learning activities that [7] Perez-Rodriguez, R., Caeiro-Rodriguez, M., Anido-Rifon, L. (2008) he/she has to work out. These activities include “Supporting PoEML Educational Processes in Moodle: a Middleware Approach” In Proceedings of the V Simposio Pluridisciplinar sobre information about deadlines, mandatory or optional Diseño y Evauación de Contenidos Reutilizables (SPEDECE’08). character, relationships with other learning activities, etc. • [8] Caeiro-Rodriguez, M., Fontenla-Gonzalez, J., Perez-Rodriguez, R., Each learning activity involves a learning context that Anido-Rifon, L.E. (2010). Instructional Design with PoEML in a E- may include specific tools required to perform the learning-as-a-Service Model. Mixing Web and IPTV Learning activity. The PoEML Web services just provide the Experiencies. In Proceedings of te International Conference on information about these tools and it will be the Addvanced Learning Technologies (ICALT’10), 736-737 responsibility of Edu-GAL to offer it. • Each learning activity also involves a relation of other learners (and maybe teachers) that are involved in it.

978-1-61284-469-5/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE October 12 – 15, 2011, Rapid City, SD 41st ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference S3C-2