The Virtual University: Developing a Dynamic Learning Management Portal
Speaker
Dan Rehak, Anne R. Humphreys, Bill Blackmon
Cyber Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon Research Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
When
-
Where
Wean Hall 5409
Description
The Virtual University Project is developing a proof-of-principle demonstration of an educational services portal. The initial customer objective was a simple framework that could be used as a front-end to access a fixed set of predefined basic core services: course registration, web-based course delivery and an independent collaboration environment. Hardwired back-end interfaces were contemplated to a fixed collection of legacy systems. User interaction was application/service centric. In reviewing the needs of both the initial customer and other potential users, the key characteristics described above were found to be lacking. The revised objective is to provide “an individualized, customizable, one-stop, learning-centric, career-oriented access point to all technologically supported functions for learning, administration, operations and support within an organization, for all participants in that organization’s learning activities.” This user view is mapped to a technical view of “an open, evolving, learning technology environment based on a ubiquitous, distributed computing infrastructure effectively encompassing all operational, educational, spatial, temporal, learner, organizational, and technological characteristics, with interoperability of components, operations, learning, learners and organizations across all of these dimensions.”
We will discuss the requirements driving this work, and outline the traditional approaches to developing educational portals, from both the general user and the technical perspective. Using this background, we will present our view of how a comprehensive web-based learning environment might work and might be viewed by different user communities, including learners, educators, and educational institutions. An overview of the system architecture, core services, and implementation requirements will be presented.
Speaker's Bio
Dan Rehak, PhD
Daniel R. Rehak is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is Director of System and Courseware Architecture at the Information Technology Development within the Carnegie Mellon Research Institute. His academic appointment is in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He also is an affiliate faculty member of the Institute for Complex Engineered System (ICES).
Prof. Rehak has been using technology to support education during his entire tenure at the University, and he has been involved in Web-based delivery of courses since 1995. Dr. Rehak is Project Director and System Architect for the [http://online.web.cmu.edu] Carnegie Mellon Online Project, the University’s enterprise-level, Web-based instructional management system. He is responsible for both the overall system design and oversight in developing courses with Carnegie Mellon Online. Dr. Rehak’s expertise is in the areas of software design, data management, Internet and Web-based technologies, and education technologies. He is a member of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC P1484), US Technical Advisory Group for ISO/IECJTC1 SC36 and is a participant in the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Working Group.
Anne R. Humphreys
Anne R. Humphreys is the Director, Program Management for the Information Technology Development Center at Carnegie Mellon Research Institute (June 1999 –Present). She is responsible for the virtual university research effort, and identifying, planning and executing a set of technologies and distance education efforts with customers. From April 1998–May, 1999 she was the Distance Education Team Lead for the Software Engineering Institute, CMU. There, she led the effort to design and develop a proof of concept for a Virtual University for the Army National Guard. From June 1996–March 1998 Anne was Project Manager for the Masters of Software Engineering Distance Education program in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. There, she was responsible for planning, designing, and implementing a distance taught certificate program in software engineering.
Anne received an MA in Professional and Technical Writing in 1994 and an MA in Communication Planning and Design in 1996, both from Carnegie Mellon. Her research interests include human-computer interaction, learning management systems, and online and distance education.
Bill Blackmon, PhD
Bill Blackmon is the lead faculty liaison for Carnegie Mellon Online. He has worked on the project since 1997 after receiving his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University in Civil Engineering for research in interactive engineering textbooks.