An advanced Distance Learning system is being developed for University of Osijek, School of Economics, Graduate Program "Enterpreneurship". This document briefly describes the project scope, characteristics, and benefits resulting from the use of this system.

Initial situation:

Graduate Program "Enterpreneurship" currently has more than 200 students in several generations. They are geographically located in various regions of Croatia and Macedonia, and attending class sessions on a regular basis may be difficult or impossible. Furthermore, many of the teachers and lecturers are coming from USA, UK, etc. Consistent, structured and accessible course materials are not always available, or may be available only in a printed form in limited number of copies. Consistent and standardized workflow processes and standards related to lecture modules, exams, requirements, etc. are not yet developed.

System description:

Built upon Mono portal framework, Distance Learning system deployed at http://www.psp.efos.hr and related subdomains (like http://ebusiness.psp.efos.hr) is used as a central e-learning application with full support for:

• advanced content management features (WYSIWYG text editing, modularization of content, categorization, full text search, personalization)
• community tools (forums, chats, Web mail, streaming, video-conferencing)
• e-learning subsystems (exam preparation and administration, knowledge management, user tracking)

The system currently contains more than 30 different portals, all managed from a single administrator interface, using single codebase and database. It is developed using the Microsoft .NET framework and related development tools (ASP.NET: C# and VB.NET), and is running on MS Windows 2000/2003 servers and SQL Server 2000.

Distance learning portals list

A typical portal home page

Forum integration

Course evaluation module

Web exam admin module

File manager module

Document categories / support for different file formats (PPT presentation shown here)

Project scope and goal:

A dedicated subportal is developed for every course at the Graduate Program. Every subportal has standardized user interface and enforces universal workflow and organization schemes, allowing for personalization and modification when necessary. Students attending respective courses have access to all course materials and community tools for communicating with their peers and teachers. System is fully protected using a scalable security hierarchy.

Benefits:

• no need for excessive traveling and physical access to classrooms
• future development of IT/communication architecture will allow for intensive use of voice/video conferencing
• fast and easy access to course materials
• standardized organization of information and resources, resulting in a higher quality of available materials
• reusable content modules may be re-deployed in other courses/institutions without significant effort
• minimal effort is invested in system administration and ongoing maintenance
• "pluggable" architecture enables easy implementation of new system functionality
• no need for advanced knowledge of HTML and related Web technologies for students and teachers
• trackable and measurable information on student's activities and learning habits
• developing hands-on experience with advanced IT technology
• brand recognition for the Graduate Program as the leader in cutting-edge technologies