Virtual Learning Process Environment (Vlpe): a Bpm-Based Learning Process Management Architecture
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VIRTUAL LEARNING PROCESS ENVIRONMENT (VLPE): A BPM-BASED LEARNING PROCESS MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE BY AYODEJI ADESINA (B.ENG.) ([email protected]) A Thesis submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Electronic Engineering) Supervised by Dr. Derek Molloy School of Electronic Engineering Dublin City University March 2013 Abstract E-learning systems have significantly impacted the way that learning takes place within universi- ties, particularly in providing self-learning support and flexibility of course delivery. Virtual Learning Environments help facilitate the management of educational courses for students, in particular by assisting course designers and thriving in the management of the learning itself. Current literature has shown that pedagogical modelling and learning process management facilitation are inadequate. In particular, quantitative information on the process of learning that is needed to perform real time or reflective monitoring and statistical analysis of students’ learning processes performance is deficient. Therefore, for a course designer, pedagogical evaluation and reform decisions can be diffi- cult. This thesis presents an alternative e-learning systems architecture - Virtual Learning Process Environment (VLPE) - that uses the Business Process Management (BPM) conceptual framework to design an architecture that addresses the critical quantitative learning process information gaps associated with the conventional VLE frameworks. Within VLPE, course designers can model de- sired education pedagogies in the form of learning process workflows using an intuitive graphical flow diagram user-interface. Automated agents associated with BPM frameworks are employed to capture quantitative learning information from the learning process workflow. Consequently, course designers are able to monitor, analyse and re-evaluate in real time the effectiveness of their chosen pedagogy using live interactive learning process dashboards. Once a course delivery is complete the collated quantitative information can also be used to make major revisions to pedagogy design for the next iteration of the course. An additional contribution of this work is that this new architec- ture facilitates individual students in monitoring and analysing their own learning performances in comparison to their peers in a real time anonymous manner through a personal analytics learning process dashboard. A case scenario of the quantitative statistical analysis of a cohort of learners (10 participants in size) is presented. The analytical results of their learning processes, performances and progressions on a short Mathematics course over a five-week period are also presented in order to demonstrate that the proposed framework can significantly help to advance learning analytics and the visualisation of real time learning data. I Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Derek Molloy, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the beginning of this research to the level that has enabled me to develop an understanding of this research. I would like to express my gratitude for his patience throughout the writing of this thesis. I have benefited from all series of discussions with him and his advices have given me an invaluable insight and skill on technical writing, too. I would also like to thank Dr. Robert Sadleir for his support and constructive comments during the group weekly meeting. I wish to offer a special thanks to David Molloy who, over the course of this study, has always been more than willing to offer assistance and many helpful discussions on the various topics within this research. I am grateful for his patience, attention and exceptional work ethic. I have totally enjoyed doing my PhD over the past three and a half years and my time working with the Centre for Image Processing and Analysis (CIPA) has been a valuable and remarkable experience. For this I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my fellow research colleagues for their friendship, co-operation and understanding; Patricia, Min, Sha, Tian, Xiong and all other members of the CIPA group - Thank you all for making the group an enjoyable one to work with. I wish to also thank my dearest wife, Abimbola, for her love, patience and supports. Her encouragement always inspires and brings out the best in me. I wish to extend my profound gratitude to my entire family, particulary my Mum and Aunty, Comfort and Grace, for their belief in me and my work. Thank you all, for you all have been my strength over the course of this study. Acknowledgements are also due to IRCSET, the Irish Research Council for Science, En- gineering and Technology for funding my PhD studies. II Declaration I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy is entirely my own work, that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ID No.: 54162327 Candidate Date: III Author’s Publications The following publications stem from this research. All publications are full length papers and each describes a particular aspect of this research. • Adesina, A. and Molloy, D. (2012b). Virtual learning process environment: Cohort analytics for learning and learning processes. Proceedings of International Conference on e-Education and e-Learning, ICEEEL. Amsterdam, Netherlands. Accepted for a journal publication with the International Journal of Social and Human Sciences (Vol. 6. 2012) • Adesina, A. and Molloy, D. (2012a). Virtual learning environment versus virtual lear- ning process environment. IADIS International Conference e-Learning, part of the IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (MCCSIS 2012). Lisbon, Portugal • Adesina, A. and Molloy, D. (2011a). A business process management based virtual learning environment: Customised learning paths. Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2011). Noordwijkerhout, Ne- therlands • Adesina, A. and Molloy, D. (2011b). A business process management based virtual learning environment: The human interaction management system. Proceedings of the Red-Conference: Universita della Svizzera italiana, Lugano (Ascona, Switzerland). [ISBN: 978-88-6101-010-9] • Adesina, A. and Molloy, D. (2010). Capturing and monitoring of learning process through a business process management (BPM) framework. 3rd International Sympo- sium for Engineering Education. University College Cork, Ireland IV Table of Contents Abstract I Acknowledgements II Declaration III Author’s PublicationsIV List of FiguresX List of Table XVI 1 Introduction1 1.1 Motivation.....................................5 1.2 Challenges.....................................8 1.3 Research Questions................................ 10 1.4 Contributions................................... 11 1.5 Structure..................................... 12 2 E-Learning in Virtual Environments 14 2.1 Introduction to E-Learning............................ 14 2.1.1 Learning In E-learning Contexts..................... 19 V 2.1.2 Blended Learning............................. 22 2.1.3 Pedagogy................................. 24 2.1.4 Learning Theories............................. 26 2.1.5 Summary................................. 29 2.2 E-Learning Content Standards.......................... 32 2.2.1 Learning Objects............................. 33 2.2.2 Learning Object Metadata........................ 37 2.2.3 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Learning Technology Standards Committee (IEEE LTSC).................. 40 2.2.4 Instructional Management System Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC)................................... 40 2.2.5 Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL)................. 41 2.2.6 Issues with the metadata standards................... 43 2.2.7 DOCBOOK................................ 44 2.2.8 Summary................................. 46 2.3 Current E-Learning Systems........................... 47 2.3.1 Content Management Systems (CMSs)................. 48 2.3.2 Learning Management Systems (LMSs)................. 48 2.3.3 Learning Content Management Systems (LCMSs)........... 49 2.3.4 Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs)................. 51 2.3.5 Current E-Learning System Limitations................ 52 2.4 Summary..................................... 59 3 State-Of-The-Art Requirements of an Ideal Virtual Learning Environment 61 3.1 Introduction.................................... 61 3.2 Adaptive and Flexible E-Learning........................ 63 VI 3.3 Customisation of Learning pathways...................... 66 3.4 Enhanced Human Interactive Pedagogy..................... 72 3.5 Learning Process Management and Pedagogy................. 76 3.6 Learning Process Analytics............................ 79 3.7 Pedagogical Modelling.............................. 83 3.8 Summary..................................... 86 4 The BPM-Based Architecture for Virtual Learning Environments 89 4.1 Introduction.................................... 89 4.2 Current VLE Architectural Frameworks and Technological Solutions..... 91 4.3 The BPM-based Architecture.......................... 96 4.4 BPM-based Architectural Frameworks and Technologies for VLEs...... 103 4.4.1 Service Oriented Architecture