Next Generation eLearning

Enterprise grading system integration

with SCORM learning objects

 

For Easy and Personal Course Information Management

 

The National Autonomous University of Mexico came to OpeniWorld with a strong entry in the area of course information management.  Not only is UNAM creating educational applications that integrate with centralized grade record systems, but they are doing so through the use of open standards and specifications, focused on building an SOA infrastructure for education.

 

Original Showcase Description:

 

UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) is the premier University in Mexico, and also the largest. It enrolls more than 270,000 students (from high school to postgraduate) and is responsible for more than 50% of the research that is done in México.

 

As a national and public university, UNAM has made an important commitment to Mexican society. Not only providing education but also helping in the development of social, cultural and scientific projects and solutions.

 

The interest of developing open standard based technologies and service oriented architectures at UNAM arises from the need to support the wide selection of academic programs that the University delivers through different modalities and models (open and distance education; face to face learning as well as e-learning). It also arises from the need to support shared and mobil programs that UNAM runs in conjunction with other universities within the country.

 

Even though several LMS’s have been implemented and developed in schools at UNAM, and although reusability and content interoperability has been discussed internationally, most learning systems within these schools do not consider interoperability to be a serious issue, nor are they considering how to integrate with centralized administration and information management systems. This is the reason why DGSCA (General Computing Centre, at UNAM) has developed an O.K.I. grading system prototype to begin the construction of an open and service oriented infrastructure to centralize general information, and a SCORM player that gives the opportunity to reuse content within this environment and not to depend on a specific technology.

 

The following elements will be demonstrated in this showcase:

 

* A SCORM 2004 compliant SCORM player built using Java technologies such as Struts and Hibernate, exposing users through a web service that communicates with an O.K.I. agent manager.

 

* An O.K.I. based grading system is built with Spring, Hibernate and Struts to execute two OKI grading manager services: creating gradable objects and creating records for the gradable objects.

 

During the showcase, the SCORM player will be playing, in real time, a Sharable Content Object, running a regression test. Grade records will be transfer to the O.K.I. based grading system, showing how UNAM mobility programs and the several tools used in e-learning programs across the campus can use a common and unique service to manage students’ records.