Abstract — Many educational and training institutions acquired
proprietary e-Learning systems which are tailored-made and
difficult to reuse in the development process of new systems. This
paper aims to look into the issue of reusability of the
functionalities in the e-Learning domain. The functionalities that
span across many e-Learning systems (common functionalities)
can be built as reusable components by using Web services and
the implementation of these services enables the reuse of the
functionalities . A pool of e-Learning Web services is built and
allows to provide functionalities to the various e-learning systems.
These e-learning Web services are described by using an ontology
which takes into account the functionalities’ characteristics of elearning
platforms. The aim is to allow developers to find them
automatically. Following that, instead of building from scratch,
the development of future e-Learning systems will involve
assembling the suitable functionalities from Web services’
set related to e-Learning. This will tremendously reduce the time,
effort and cost needed in building new e-Learning systems.
Keywords- learning functionalities ; Reusable functionality; eLearning;
Web service; Learning Object; ontology .
I. INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEMATIQUE
Today we are faced with a proliferation of e-Learning
platforms whose functionalities resemble one another to a
large extent. Standardization efforts in this domain concentrate
much more on the reuse of learning content that on the reuse
of the functionalities of the e-learning platforms [4].
Indeed, the majority of works in e-learning domain[1],
[2],[3] and[13] base themselves on the reuse of learning
content (granularity of the Learning Objects) ,but little interest
was granted to the possibility of using certain parts of the
existing e-Learning systems like a means to facilitate the
development of new systems [4], [5] and [15]. Certainly,
many resources (efforts, times and costs) are necessary for the
development of the e-learning systems. When the reuse is
difficult, the development of the new e-Learning system
cannot profit from the previous development effort provided
in this domain.
Web services for e-Learning are basically implemented for
the purpose of enhancing interoperability in integrating
systems to support all critical functions in one package [6] and
also allows the reuse of the functionalities of e-Learning
systems. Instead of building an e-learning system from zero, it
can be assembled by selecting the necessary functionalities
from a set of Web services related to e-Learning. The ultimate
goal of this work is to produce a pool of e-Learning Web
services which provide functionalities to the e-Learning
systems. The developed Web services include: the
construction of chapters, generation of the exercises,
generation of the assessments, generation of the simulators,
according to the preferences of each user.
We describe afterward, the e-learning Web services with
an ontology which will take into account the characteristics of
the functionalities of the e-Learning platforms. The criteria of
choosing e-learning Web services depend, generally, on the
adopted pedagogical model and the technological constraint.
However, OWL-S (Web Ontology Language for Web
Services) does not give the opportunity of describing these
criteria. So for the description of these characteristics, we
propose an extension of OWL-S which consists of the
contribution of an ontology, called ontology of learning
quality, which assures the description of the pedagogical
characteristics of the services as well as the technical
characteristic judged necessary for the automation of their
discovery.
The works [4],[5] and [15] have proposed the e-learning
Web services but our approach added several points :
1. We propose other e-learning Web services such as:
Chapter, Exercise, Simulator and Assessment Web
services. We also propose the common Web services
include selection, adaptation, organization and
annotation.
2. Semantic: we propose Web services ontology,
Learning Objects ontology and domain ontology .The
idea is to make explicit the semantics of the content
of LOs and from the functionality offered by each
Web services through metadata or semantic
annotations, in order to allow software agents
perform tasks of search and selection of resources
(Web services or LOs).
3. Personalization: each service integrates the filtering
process (adaptation) to generate the pedagogical
activities according to the learner's profile.
Abstract — Many educational and training institutions acquiredproprietary e-Learning systems which are tailored-made anddifficult to reuse in the development process of new systems. Thispaper aims to look into the issue of reusability of thefunctionalities in the e-Learning domain. The functionalities thatspan across many e-Learning systems (common functionalities)can be built as reusable components by using Web services andthe implementation of these services enables the reuse of thefunctionalities . A pool of e-Learning Web services is built andallows to provide functionalities to the various e-learning systems.These e-learning Web services are described by using an ontologywhich takes into account the functionalities’ characteristics of elearningplatforms. The aim is to allow developers to find themautomatically. Following that, instead of building from scratch,the development of future e-Learning systems will involveassembling the suitable functionalities from Web services’set related to e-Learning. This will tremendously reduce the time,effort and cost needed in building new e-Learning systems.Keywords- learning functionalities ; Reusable functionality; eLearning;Web service; Learning Object; ontology .I. INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEMATIQUE Today we are faced with a proliferation of e-Learningplatforms whose functionalities resemble one another to alarge extent. Standardization efforts in this domain concentratemuch more on the reuse of learning content that on the reuseof the functionalities of the e-learning platforms [4]. Indeed, the majority of works in e-learning domain[1],[2],[3] and[13] base themselves on the reuse of learningcontent (granularity of the Learning Objects) ,but little interestwas granted to the possibility of using certain parts of theexisting e-Learning systems like a means to facilitate thedevelopment of new systems [4], [5] and [15]. Certainly,many resources (efforts, times and costs) are necessary for thedevelopment of the e-learning systems. When the reuse isdifficult, the development of the new e-Learning systemcannot profit from the previous development effort providedin this domain. Web services for e-Learning are basically implemented forthe purpose of enhancing interoperability in integratingsystems to support all critical functions in one package [6] andalso allows the reuse of the functionalities of e-Learningsystems. Instead of building an e-learning system from zero, itcan be assembled by selecting the necessary functionalitiesfrom a set of Web services related to e-Learning. The ultimategoal of this work is to produce a pool of e-Learning Webservices which provide functionalities to the e-Learningsystems. The developed Web services include: theconstruction of chapters, generation of the exercises,generation of the assessments, generation of the simulators,according to the preferences of each user. We describe afterward, the e-learning Web services withan ontology which will take into account the characteristics ofthe functionalities of the e-Learning platforms. The criteria ofchoosing e-learning Web services depend, generally, on theadopted pedagogical model and the technological constraint.However, OWL-S (Web Ontology Language for WebServices) does not give the opportunity of describing thesecriteria. So for the description of these characteristics, wepropose an extension of OWL-S which consists of thecontribution of an ontology, called ontology of learningquality, which assures the description of the pedagogicalcharacteristics of the services as well as the technicalcharacteristic judged necessary for the automation of theirdiscovery. The works [4],[5] and [15] have proposed the e-learningWeb services but our approach added several points :1. We propose other e-learning Web services such as:Chapter, Exercise, Simulator and Assessment Webservices. We also propose the common Web servicesinclude selection, adaptation, organization andannotation.2. Semantic: we propose Web services ontology,Learning Objects ontology and domain ontology .Theidea is to make explicit the semantics of the contentof LOs and from the functionality offered by eachWeb services through metadata or semanticannotations, in order to allow software agentsperform tasks of search and selection of resources(Web services or LOs).3. Personalization: each service integrates the filteringprocess (adaptation) to generate the pedagogicalactivities according to the learner's profile.
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