BM 19: The technical infrastructure maintaining the e-learning system is fit for purpose and supports both academic and administrative functions. Technical specification is based on stakeholder requirements and involves realistic estimates of system usage and development.
Effective delivery of e-learning courses requires a computer-based system capable of:
- registering students to courses and programmes;
- distributing e-learning materials to students;
- maintaining and updating records of student performance;
- conducting aspects of e-business with respect to student fees etc.;
- facilitating communication between the institution, its students, staff and affiliate staff (if any).
The institution itself may acquire, operate and maintain this system; alternatively the facilities may be provided via outsourcing arrangements with a third-party.
It is recommended that there is a survey and analysis of stakeholder expectations of the e-learning system. Major stakeholder groups are academics, administrators, students, and those providing on-line tutorial support.
The technical design must take account of anticipated course use by students, administrative transactions and download requirements. Realistic assumptions of student usage patterns (e.g. prediction of peak periods such as assignment submission) should be used in estimation of server and connectivity requirements.
Arrangements for backup, archiving and recovery should be specified as an integral element of the technical specification.
What does this mean?
The most issues listed here are relevant.
From a realistic point of view a Moodle server, as used in the project, is sufficient. Schools may run their own server (if a qualified technician is available), rent it or use the Moodle server provided by the school authority (this is applicable in many European countries).
Recommendation: Moodle offers technical solutions to connect the Moodle users to the school administration (IT system) with standard solutions (like LDAP[1] and Active Directory). This is a preferred solution but needs some technical effort.
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[1] Moodle authentication plugin which provides all functionality of auth_ldap, but supports advanced features for the LDAP synchronization task and LDAP authentication.
BM 20: The systems for communication and provision of information are secure, reliable and assure appropriate levels of privacy. Measures are in place for system recovery in the event of failure or breakdown.
Good performance against this benchmark is dependent on effective design and management of technical systems. A system that is not professionally managed is unlikely to perform well against these criteria.
The institution must have a clear set of standards for the operation of the technical infrastructure, together with evidence of compliance with these standards. Key performance indicators such as system availability, down-time, queuing time for access, etc. should be monitored and available for review.
The VLE must provide sufficient security of all personal details and of all communications between student, teacher and institution.
What does this mean?
The installation of the Moodle server must ensure the privacy of students, especially as students are especially worthy of protection as non-adult people.
Recommendation: The school should provide an internal communication system using either the Microsoft offer for schools or as a GOOGLE school. The internal communication of Moodle is not so popular with students.
Hint: The communication standards of a school must be developed and implemented with a “360° view” and include all communication issues.
BM 21: Appropriate provision is made for system maintenance, monitoring and review of performance against the standards set. These standards are updated when necessary.
This benchmark expands on the previous statement and applies the principle of effective professional management to the delivery of services. Attention to the following factors is necessary to ensure good performance.
- Technical requirements of the system are monitored on a regular basis.
- IT professionals operate the system to the standards commonly encountered in the commercial customer service sector.
- Comprehensive documentation of operational procedures is evident.
- Logbooks and other routine record keeping should demonstrate whether the standards set are being achieved.
The system must allow for data collection on many aspects of its operation and use.
What does this mean?
A school operating their own server must have a well-educated technician (that also could be a teacher) to maintain and control the system.
This person must care for a comprehensive documentation of the system and must maintain the system regularly.
BM 22: E-learning systems provide a choice of online tools which are appropriate for the educational models adopted and for the requirements of students and educators.
The design and management of the virtual learning environment (VLE), or other e-learning system, should support the achievement of pedagogic objectives. This should be evident in the processes used to acquire, implement and manage the system.
The systems must allow for management of all processes from course authoring to delivery of the course materials to students and recording their performance.
The system may need to be compatible with many pre-existing systems within an institution, e.g. its student registration system. Some institutions may choose to implement a VLE by an internal systems integration project.
The core of the VLE is the system that undertakes the delivery of e-learning materials to students. Its facilities influence the nature of the teaching process and student interactions that can be offered. The e-learning system should address the needs of users for easy access and high quality interaction with the learning materials.
To achieve this, the VLE needs to offer a range of tools such as quizzes, forums, wikis, text chat and web conferencing.
What does this mean?
The used (and recommended) Moodle supports almost all mentioned features.
The creation of content is not integrated in the platform. This has the advantage that it is possible to develop material also offline and care for a repository of (reusable) material.
The Moodle platform provides all necessary tools. The project group recommends to use external modules (as foreseen for Moodle) to enhance the capability of the Moodle server.
Recommendation: Installation of the H5P framework enhances the multimedia and interactivity potential of Moodle and is highly recommended.
BM 23: Information about how to use the institution’s e-learning systems and services is provided to all users in a logical, consistent and reliable way.
There should be clear information available to students and other interested parties about e-learning courses and how they are presented: for example, mechanisms for dissemination of course materials, and types of assessment.
Information may be extracted to suit the needs of differing audiences and modes of presentation, for example prospective students, enrolled students, system managers and student support agents.
Achievement of good performance in this area will be indicated by user satisfaction. Satisfaction should be based on ease of access, completeness, relevance, up-to-date information, coherence, consistency etc.
What does this mean?
Students must be instructed how to use the learning platform. This might be done once (at the begin of the school year) and is useful for all teachers using the platform with their class. The instructions must be available also in written form and must be accessible easily for al students.
Recommendation: In school education it is good praxis to provide a (dedicated) teacher (for each class) to support the class and the students. Additionally, it could be useful to name a “gifted student” in each class as the first contact person for other students.
BM 24: Institutional materials and information accessible through the VLE are regularly monitored, reviewed and updated. The responsibility for this is clearly defined and those responsible are provided with appropriate and secure access to the system to enable revision and updating.
The e-learning provision must be monitored, managed and updated on a continuous basis to ensure its effectiveness. Monitoring student use may make an important contribution to successful performance in this area.
Monitoring should cover the detailed operational aspects of the system (performance, availability, capacity utilization, user error reports etc.) and also the performance of the human support systems.
Student surveys administered on-line, routinely as part of courses and by random selection, should be augmented by consultation with the student body regarding the effectiveness of the system. This information should be used to inform future development.
What does this mean?
The person(s) mentioned in BM 21 is in charge to care for basic monitoring (of the platform).
Monitoring the students’ activities is the job of the teacher running the course. The monitoring results could be taken as an input for the formative evaluation.
Recommendation: Online student’s surveys or electronic test should be avoided in a distance learning situation. These tests could be done using the Moodle server during onsite teaching (in a classroom monitored by a teacher to avoid cheating.
All materials must be available from one "central point" and it is possible to access them from the learning platform. All external material (OER, web 2.0 tools or other material used for the learning) must be integrated in the course.
Hint: this is an additional quality benchmark (that does not exist in the e-xcellence framework).
What does this mean?
All materials, activities, simulations or videos must be accessible from the learning platform. This can be done by (some examples, no full list):
- Use of the tools (integrated in Moodle) to insert multimedia content
- Use of iframes[1]
- Linking of the content (directly out from Moodle)
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[1] An iframe (short for inline frame) is an HTML element that allows an external webpage to be embedded in an HTML document (source: TechTerms)