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+ | ====== Platform Description====== | ||
+ | ===== Introduction ===== | ||
+ | The Open eClass platform is a complete Course Management System and it is the solution offered by the Greek Academic Network GUnet to support asynchronous eLearning services. It has been designed with the intention to support the conventional educational process. It is actively supported by GUnet and is distributed for free as open-source software. | ||
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+ | The incorporation of asynchronous eLearning services offers new extensions in education, providing interaction and constant teacher-student communication. Also, the electronic organization, | ||
+ | Finally, the Open eClass platform supports all asynchronous eLearning services. The access to those services is achieved via a simple web browser without any demand of specialized technical knowledge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Platform Philosophy ===== | ||
+ | Open eClass is a mature open source e-learning platform. Its basic goal is to enhance and support educational activity, for both teachers and students, through a technological peak environment. The teacher is offered a dynamic knowledge feeding environment, | ||
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+ | Moreover, adaptability, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Goals - Benefits ===== | ||
+ | The basic goal of the Open eClass platform is the development of a virtual educational environment, | ||
+ | * Incorporation of new informatics and telecommunication technologies in educational activities. | ||
+ | * Creation of a practical means of interaction and continuous communication between the teacher and the student. | ||
+ | * Exploitation of existing educational material and great educational experience. | ||
+ | * Constructive use of the Internet and the network infrastructure. | ||
+ | * Ease of teacher and student use for the support of people with different technical literacy and culture, still with the same high standards in the education provided. | ||
+ | * Provision of a low-cost, reliable, e-sight service for the asynchronous eLearning. | ||
+ | * Adaptability to special needs-requirements of the educational institutes. | ||
+ | * Ease at manipulation, | ||
+ | * Free download and central support by the Greek Academic Network GUnet. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Basic Features ===== | ||
+ | The basic platform features that compile its functional infrastructure are: | ||
+ | - distinct user roles | ||
+ | - distinct course categories | ||
+ | - structured course presentation | ||
+ | - easy course creation and use | ||
+ | - ease of administration | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== User Roles ==== | ||
+ | The basic user-roles that platform Open eClass supports are three: a) user-teacher, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The user **teacher** is responsible for the creation and administration of electronic courses. Teacher accounts are created by the platform administrators, | ||
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+ | The user **student** can register to courses making an open registration, | ||
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+ | Finally, the **administrator** has general control over the platform. Administrators can create and administer user accounts and courses, monitor the server and database operation. | ||
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+ | ==== eCourse Categories ==== | ||
+ | The eCourse categories supported by the Open eClass platform are three: a) open courses, b) registration open courses, c) closed courses and d) inactive courses. The access pattern to an eCourse is defined by the teacher in charge during the creation of the course, while it can change dynamically through the interface of the eCourse administration tool. More analytically, | ||
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+ | **Open courses** are publicly accessible, even by visitors without a user account. | ||
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+ | **Registration required** restricted courses are accessible to platform users that are registered to them. This means that these courses are open to everyone having an account. For additional security the course teacher can set a registration password. | ||
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+ | **Closed courses** are only accessible to users after a course teacher allows access to their account by registering them to the course. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finally, **inactive courses** are only accessible by the course teacher and they are not presented in any Course List. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== eCourse Structure ==== | ||
+ | The eCourse is the core part of the Open eClass platform. | ||
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+ | On the eCourse home screen, there is a short description about the course, and the Course identity info with basic information (eCourse title, code, teachers in charge, department etc). Also, there is a toolbar with a) an “email” hyperlink, which allows registered student-users, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The eCourse, as we already mentioned, is a modular infrastructure consisting of seventeen (17) learning modules (tools) and four (4) course management tools. The responsible teacher can activate and deactivate them according to the structure and the educational material of each course, so as to simplify the user environment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | - An **agenda** in which basic course events (lectures, meetings, evaluations, | ||
+ | - **Documents**, | ||
+ | - **Announcements** which are about the course and inform the registered users. | ||
+ | - **Forums** for exchange of opinions and ideas on issues about the course. It is a module of interaction between the teacher and the student. | ||
+ | - **User Groups** (open or closed) are a selection of registered users (students and teachers) who share the same conversation forum as well as the file and assignment submission area, and promote cooperation and interaction among students. | ||
+ | - **Links**, useful Internet resources concerning the course, grouped together. | ||
+ | - **Assignments**, | ||
+ | - Self-evaluation **exercises** created by the teacher aiming at students’ practice on the course material. This module consolidates a multiple choice exercise generator, as well as gap filling and matching exercises. | ||
+ | - **Course Description**, | ||
+ | - **Glossary**, | ||
+ | - **E-Book**, a module for uploading and presenting electronic books in HTML format | ||
+ | - **Multimedia**, | ||
+ | - **Learning Path** allows teachers to organise their educational material and students to follow a series of steps as learning activities. (SCORM) | ||
+ | - **Wiki**, a system for course participants to collaborate on documents, allowing everyone to edit document pages while maintaining full history of changes | ||
+ | - **Teleconference** is a module which allows teacher and students to exchange text messages (chat module) | ||
+ | - **Questionnaires** are a module which offers the capability of creating gallop polls and student profile surveys. | ||
+ | - **Drop box area**, where feedback in educational action is supported with the exchange of files between the teachers in charge and the course registered students. | ||
+ | The active learning modules of the course are enlightened on top of the eCourse left menu, and are seen by the students. The inactive learning modules are presented in wan light and cannot be viewed by the students. What is worth mentioning is the fact that the inactive course elearning modules remain functional, storing the information that may have been imported. They are just not viewed by the students. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finally, the **eCourse Management Tools** allow teachers to configure course information (title, keywords, etc.), control eCourse access settings, renew or delete the eCourse, manage registered users, view usage statistics and activate / deactivate eCourse learning tools. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === eCourse Units === | ||
+ | Course units offer a flexible way to organize educational material that is stored in the course learning modules in an articulate structure. | ||
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+ | More specifically, | ||
+ | The student can click on the name of the module that wishes to enter the contents. The picture bellow shows the contents of the module we chose. | ||
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+ | ==== User Interface ==== | ||
+ | The platform User Interface has been redesigned with the intention of becoming more functional and attaining consistency. The platform’s User Interface (basic screens) is briefly described below. More information can be found in teacher’s, | ||
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+ | === Platform’s Homepage === | ||
+ | The platform’s homepage includes the course list, the user registration forms, the user manuals, the platform identity with useful statistics on the platform use, as well as contact information with the platform administrators. | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the same time, there is a user login form for entering eCourses, as well as a link to remind users of their registration password. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === User’s Portfolio === | ||
+ | On entering the Open eClass platform, registered users are transferred to their personal portfolio, which is an area allowing them to organize and control their participation in the platform eCourses. | ||
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+ | In the left column menu there is a series of choices concerning the creation of the course, the registration to platform eCourses, the user’s profile maintenance, | ||
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+ | In the central (main) column there is a list of supported courses (teacher-user) and a list of courses attended (student-user). If you click on the course title you enter the eCourse with the user’s rights depending of your role in the course. Also there is a “unregister” choice in the courses you attend as a student, so that you can delete it from the list. In the personalised portfolio there are five informative tools: a) my last announcements, | ||
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+ | === Sliding menu === | ||
+ | One of the elements that were added to the new version of the platform is the drop down menu (sliding menu) located at the top right edge of the home screen. This menu consists of three sub-menu which are: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * My Courses | ||
+ | * New Messages | ||
+ | * Quick Nodes | ||
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+ | === My Courses | ||
+ | Selecting this sub-menu you can view the courses in which you are registered and quickly access them just by pushing on them. Also in this menu except the title of the course are presented and the names of those responsible of the course. | ||
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+ | === New messages === | ||
+ | You can easily view your incoming messages by simply selecting this sub-menu. | ||
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+ | For your added given the opportunity to view all your messages incoming / outgoing button named "all messages" | ||
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+ | === Quick Nodes === | ||
+ | With this option you can quickly and easily write a new note. Simply enter the title and description of your note and click save. | ||
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+ | You are also able to display all the notes given by clicking on all the Notes connector | ||
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+ | === Platform’s eCourse === | ||
+ | The eCourse is the basic learning entity in the Open eClass platform. Each eCourse integrates a series of learning modules, which are organized and manipulated by the responsible teacher. More specifically, | ||
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+ | === Platform Administration Area === | ||
+ | Finally, the platform Administration area includes a number of administration tools for the registered users, the platform eCourses, the Server, the Database, as well as a series of supportive tools. In this area only platform Administrators have access. | ||
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+ | ===== Platform Support ===== | ||
+ | The Open eClass platform (www.openeclass.org) is a complete Course Management System. It is distributed for free as open-source software. The platform is actively supported by the GUnet Asynchronous eLearning Group. Every platform installation is supported by the local administrators who are responsible for the platform’s operation, as well as the service of registered users’ (teachers, students) requests. |