Grid Architecture for eLearning

1
Grid Architecture for eLearning
Eric Yen Computing Centre, Academia Sinica Jan.
22th, 2003
2
Outline

• Emergence of eLearning
• Why using Grid for eLearning?
• Related Work in the World
• Our Approaches
• Future Development and Conclusion

3
The Unprecedented Ten Years

• Networking from 100Kbps to Gbps
• Computing from 100MFLOPS to TeraFLOPS
• Storage from 100GigaBytes to PetaBytes
• We are producing 3 x 1018 Bytes of data each year
• Most business processes, research, learning,
  commerce, socialising, etc. may be conducted on
  the Internet
• Internet and Digital Technology together bring in
  revolutionary ways to communicate, deal with
  information and collaborate

4
What is eLearning

• Definition
• Internet-based learning, for simplicity
• Refers to the use of IT to create, deliver,
  manage and support learning and training,
  anytime, anywhere
• Used for enhancing quality and improving
  accessibility to education and training
• IT fosters the opening of schools to other
  resources of learning, such as multimedia
  libraries, museums, local community resources,
  research centers, and transnational cooperation
• IT may also foster new relationships and new
  roles for students acting as researchers,
  creators, designers, etc.
• Toward open learning environments and virtual
  teaching

5
Emergence of eLearning1

• Survey of accessibility to eLearning for people
  with disabilities by Electronic Training
  Village(ETV), over 320 respondents across Europe
• 54.8 think it will open up new and innovative
  opportunities for communities of learners with
  disabilities
• Only 1.5 consider eLearning is inappropriate for
  most learners with disabilities
• eLearning plays an important role in developing a
  more convergent system of higher education for
  mobility, employability and competitiveness
• To be effective, the lifelong education and
  training strategy should, as a priority, tackle
  problems such as the lack of interest shown by
  individuals, time constraints, the cost of
  training, and the lack of information on training
  possibilities --gt demands for eLearning

Data from Whats new in eLearning,
europa.eu.int/comm/education/elearning/wn2001_09/w
hat2.htm
6
Emergence of eLerning2

• Adaptation of education and training systems to
  meet the challenge making Europe the most
  competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy
  in the world, capable of sustainable economic
  growth with more and better jobs and greater
  social cohesion --gt eLearning Designing
  Tomorrows Education

7
Challenge and Goals of eLearning

• Challenge
• Building Knowledge Society
• Ubiquitous Learning
• Emergence of New Learning Models --gt Workflow
  Analysis
• The most efficient implementation
• Adaptation to technology changes
• Goals
• Learning how to learn
• Helping people with disabilities more easier to
  learn
• Life Long Learning and Life Long Teaching
• Training at All Levels
• Formation of Learning Society

8
Essence of eLearning

• Taking advantage of Virtual Environment
• Requirements
• Demand Driven use case-based
• Users need a service rather than a product
• Adaptability need to evolve continually by
  integrating different services, adding new tools
  and adapting to specific learning scenarios
• Compatibility quick development of a course
  site, and compatible to open and standard format,
  e.g., the SCORM, IEEE, etc.
• Low Cost
• Outreach and Collaboration

9
Basic Requirements of eLearning

• Combination of either Learner Centric or Teacher
  Centric, for making the most outcome
• Diversified, Large Amount, Distributed and better
  accessed Learning Resources
• Well Organized and Complete Content Description
• Integration of heterogeneous Information
  Resources
• On Demand and Ubiquitous Learning for anyone
• Toward Effective Knowledge Discovery and Well
  Knowledge Organization Management

10
Demands for What?

• Open Source Model
• Foster the activities for using variant tools to
  solve problems
• Active learning and learn how to learn
• Facilitate free and rapid exchange of knowledge
  and ideas
• Open Source eLearning Platform
• Enhance quality of learning experience
• Ubiquitous learning Learning-on-Demand and
  Learning everywhere
• Notes Learners have much greater choice in how
  their learning is delivered, enabling them to
  interact easily with teachers and access
  appropriate levels of administrative, educational
  and technical support.
• Make education accessible for whom choose not to
  or cannot attend classes on campus
• Notes Ensuring that online resources and
  assessment are of equivalent or superior quality
  to those available in a traditional learning
  environment.
• Facilitate Realization of Life Long Learning
• Bridging the Digital Divide
• Knowledge-based Resource Discovery, Sharing,
  Accumulation, and Creation
• National eLearning Strategy

11
How to Get There?

• Open Source eLearning Platform
• Web-based virtual learning, teaching and
  informing
• Robust, distributed collaborated and ubiquitous
  computing environment as the infrastructure --gt
  demands for Grid Infrastructure !
• Standardization
• Well-defined specification
• Interoperability Mechanism for conversion,
  transformation, and exchange, etc.
• Integration
• Building Community for
• Developing Common tools
• Technical Study Support
• Requirements Collection
• Planning
• Suggestions to National Strategy
• Grid Infrastructure
• Learning Resources
• eLearning Services

12
The Best Solution from Grid

• Support sharing and coordinated use of diverse
  resources in dynamic virtual organizations
  Grid !
• Good technical solutions for key problems, such
  as
• Security enhancement like authentication and
  authorization
• Resource discovery and monitoring
• Reliable remote service invocation
• High-performance remote data access
• -- Grid !
• Good quality reference implementation,
  multi-lingual support, interfaces to many
  systems, large user base, industrial support,
  etc. Grid !
• Persistent Web Services Grid !

13
What Grid can do ?

• Coordinating the sharing of distributed resources
  and flexible collaboration thru virtual
  organization
• Effective management of distributed heterogeneous
  resources
• Solving larger scale problem which is beyond the
  provision of any single institute/supercomputer
  in the world
• Construction of a secure, reliable, efficient,
  and scalable mass storage system environment
• Optimize the Usage of Resources
• Facilitate better Sharing and Integration of
  Information Resources
• Demands of IT for scientific researches in the
  new millennium
• Management of PetaByte scale storage system
• Collaborative processing
• Sharing and collaborating distributed resources
• SummaryGrid is the mainstream for IT
  infrastructure

14
Related Work in the World

• Learning GRID of Excellence Working Group
  (LeGE-WG) Towards a European Learning GRID
  Infrastructure
• NGfL
• eScience, IST
• ADL (DoD Advanced Distributed Learning), US
• EOE (Apple Computers Educational Object Economy)
• GEM (Gateway to Education Materials) Project
• GESTALT (Getting Educational Systems Talking
  Across Leading-Edge Technologies)
• eLearning in Taiwan --gt eTAIWAN

15
Progress of eLearning in Taiwan

• Master Plan of Information Technology in
  Education for Primary and Secondary Schools
• Ministry of Education, 2001 --2005
• 20 of curriculum time of using IT
• 600 seed schools
• Training teacher teams
• Equipping teachers with notebook computers
• Program of Science and Technology for e-Learning
  (2003)
• Cross Ministry initiative
• 130 million US for 5 years
• Led by the President Liu of NCU

16
Sample of an eLearning Project in Taiwan
Courtesy by Tak-Wai Chan, NCU, Taiwan, PNC 2002
Conf
17
Learning Flow in Classroom

• Step 1. Preparation before class (teacher)
• Step 2. Introductory discussion (teacher)
• Step 3. Group working on projects (students)
• Step 4. Group working on reports (students)
• Step 5. Presentations (students)
• Step 6. Peer evaluations among groups (students)
• Step 7. Discussion and conclusion (teacher)
• Step 8. Praising individual or team (teacher)

Courtesy by Tak-Wai Chan, NCU, Taiwan, PNC 2002
Conf
18
Learning Flow in Classroom
Courtesy by Tak-Wai Chan, NCU, Taiwan, PNC 2002
Conf
19
Scope of e-Learning1

• Person instructor, and learner
• Platform a content management system for
  e-Learning (LCMS)
• Content
• Curriculum
• Course
• Lesson
• Learning objects
• Information objects
• Raw content items

20
Scope of e-Learning2
L C M S
PERSON
Leaning Content
I N S T R U C T O R
L E A R N E R
Curriculum Course Lesson Learning Obj. Infor.
Obj. Raw Content Obj.
21
Scope of e-Learning4 Generic Metadata Attributes
22
DA for Learning Contents

• Serving as sources of learning materials
• Content management for DA paves the framework for
  knowledge-based persistent archive
• Value added program for building up sustainable
  business of digital contents
• Links to samples in NDAP

23
Scope of Digital Archives
Domain Expertise
e-Research
Culture and Knowledge Background
Being Digitised
e-Learning
Digital Archives
Enterprise Intelligence
Born Digital
General Knowledge Base
Business Process and Lifecycle
24
Content Management Challenges1

• Separating content from presentation
• Versioning, Roll-back
• Data/Information re-use
• Re-purposing of Information, flexible Output
• Workflow, submit, review, approve, store

25
Digital Information Lifecycle
26
Typical Process Corresponds to Lifecycle
27
Content Management Challenges2

• Integrating diversified contents and external
  sources
• System and roles-based security
• Metadata Management
• Compute and Storage resources on demand
• Reliability and Scalability

28
Basic Functions of a CMS

• A CMS manages the path from authoring through to
  publishing using a scheme of workflow and by
  providing a system for content storage and
  integration.
• Authoring/Capturing
• Workflow
• Integration and Storage
• Publishing/Dissemination

29
The CMS Feature List
30
Grid Architecture for eLearning
31
Grid Applications in AS

• High Energy Physics Computational Grid, Data
  Grid, Access Grid
• BioGrid Computational Grid, Data Grid, Access
  Grid
• In charge of coordination of National Genomic
  Project
• Bio-Computing
• Bio-Informatics
• Bio-Diversity
• Bio-Portal
• Computational Chemistry and Computational
  Physics Computational Grid, Access Grid
• National Digital Archives Data Grid, Access Grid
• In charge of coordination of National Digital
  Archive Project
• Earth Science and Astronomy Research
  Computational Grid, Data Grid
• Earthquake Data Center
• BATS
• Geospatial Information Science Applications
  Data Grid, Access Grid
• NSDI
• Web-based Space, Time and Language Content
  Architecture
• eLearning Access Grid, Data Grid and less
  Computational Grid

32
Pilot Projects for eLearning in AS

• Social University for Adults Learning
• Community University for Minority, e.g.,
  Indigenous People
• Parallel Programming and Computing Applications
• Survey of the standardization of metadata for
  eLearning

33
Access Grid for Collaborative Env.

• Multi-point Video Conference Facilities
• MCU-based 24 concurrent sessions
• VRVS
• H.320/H.323
• WhiteBoard
• Video Server
• Web-based Content Retrieval and Dissemination

34
Access Grid for Collaborative Env.

• Voice, video and data conferencing over multiple
  networks (IP and ISDN) using one platform.
• MULTIPOINT VIDEO SOLUTIONS JUST FOR IP
• IP Continuous Presence
• IP QoS
• and deliver enhanced support for IP conferencing.
  
• Benefits
• Improved conference connection rates with optimal
  capabilities
• Improved audio quality standard with your system
• Customize your meetings like face-to-face
  meetings
• Reservationless/Adhoc conferencing capabilities
• T.120 Data Conferencing across mixed ISDN and IP
  networks
• Easy Management To suit your individual needs,
  choose from browser based or Windows based
  scheduling and management

35
Introduction to Digital Archive

• Digital Archive is a collection of digital
  objects.
• A digital object is defined as something (e.g.,
  an image, an audio recording, a text document, a
  movie, a map) that has been digitally encoded and
  integrated with metadata to support discovery,
  use, and storage of those objects.
• Goals for Digital Archive (functional point of
  view)
• Protection of the original
• Duplication for safety
• Search and Retrieval
• Easy Access
• Resource Sharing
• Lower cost of maintenance and dissemination
• Max. flexibility for integration of
  heterogeneous/homogeneous information resources
• Providing abundant resources for knowledge
  discovery and knowledge construction

36
Why Knowledge-based Approach for Digital Archives

• Passive Requirements for long-term scalable and
  persistent archives while the technology evolves
• Active Requirements for generation of new
  knowledge (for easily discover new and unexpected
  patterns, trends and relationships that can be
  hidden deep within very large and diverse
  datasets)

37
Clarification of Concepts

• Collection-based Persistent Archives
• Organization of the collection is archived
  simultaneously with the digital objects that
  comprise the collection.
• Focus
• Development of infrastructure independent
  representations for the information content of
  the collection,
• Interoperability mechanisms to support migration
  of the collection onto new SW HW systems,
• Use of a standard markup language to annotate the
  information content
• Purpose maintain not only the bits associated
  with the original data, but also the context that
  permits the data to be interpreted
• Knowledge-based Archives
• Archival description of a collection includes not
  only contextual information about the digital
  objects, but also knowledge about the
  relationships used to derive the contextual
  information.

38
Knowledge-based Archive

• Archive Accession Process
• Implied knowledge e.g., interpretation of fields
• Structural knowledge e.g., topology associated
  with digital line graphs
• Domain knowledge e.g., relationships between
  domain concepts
• Procedural knowledge e.g., workflow creation
  steps for digital objects
• Presentation kwnoeldge e.g., support for
  knowledge-based queries
• Relationships
• Semantic/logical relationships
• Procedural/temporal relationships
• Structural/spatial relationships
• Functional relationships

39
Why Knowledge-based Approach for Digital Library
?1

• Providing Conceptual Infrastructure
• Mapping out the conceptual structure and
  providing a common language for a field
• Providing classification/typology and concept
  definitions. Clarifying concepts by putting them
  into context. Thus providing orientation and
  serving as a reference tool for individual
  researchers and practitioners and thereby
• Assisting with the exploration of the conceptual
  context of a research problem and in structuring
  the problem, thereby providing the conceptual
  basis for the design of good research, for the
  consistent definition of variables, and thus the
  cumulation of research results.
• Providing the conceptual basis for the
  exploration of the various aspects of a program
  in program planning, in the identification of
  approaches and strategies, and in the development
  of evaluation criteria
• Assisting users in understanding context
• Assisting information providers with
  conceptualizing a topic and with finding the
  proper term
• Discovery of high quality resources
• Providing frameworks for information exchange and
  resource interoperability

Dagobert Soergel, Evaluation of Knowledge
Organization Systems (KOS)
40
Geospatial Data Infrastructure
Courtesy by FGDC, USGS
41
Examples for Archives of Geospatial Materials in
NDAP
42
Examples for Archives of Geospatial Materials in
NDAP
43
Key Issues for eLearning

• Coordination and Resource Integration
• Just-in-Time Education and Training
• Standards
• Enhancing Quality improve Accessibility
• Open Learning Environment Virtual Teaching
• Infrastructure and Equipment
• Networking from connected to better connection
  wider education usage
• Quality Contents and Services
• Cost Saving
• Flexibility
• Balance of eLearning Campus Learning
• Ubiquity and Reliability
• Multilingual Portals
• Sustainable commercial market for eLearning
  content development

44
Future Research Topics

• Visual Representations
• Collaborative Learning and Behavioral Models
• Knowledge Management
• Learning Process and Knowledge Discovery
• Theoretical Aspects concerning Communities
  Processes
• Identify the Learning and Teaching Needs
• Baseline a Grid Architecture Design and Prototype
  a Learning Grid
• Pedagogy, eContents and user-friendly interfaces

45
Conceptual IT Architecture for Supporting of
Research
Users
Web-based GUI/HCI
Metadata
HPC/HTC
HC
BioC
CMS
GIST
CA
Security Authentication
Grid Middleware
Computer, Storage Communication
46
Taiwan LCG Structures Taiwan domestic
network. Minimum bandwidth is 2.5Gbps. Taipei
GigaPoP is a Metropolitan Fiber Ring, with the
capability to upgrade from 10Gbps to Multi-Lambda
network.
Taiwan International Connectivity
Broadband connections to US, Europe, Japan and
Hong Kong are in place and will be upgraded when
necessary.
CN CERnet
NCTU
AU
NCU Tear 2/3
EU
YMU
NTOU
10G
JP
Academia Sinica (AS) Tear 1/2
1.2G or 2.5G via StarLight in Ph1
US
MOECC
155M ? 622M
622M
Taipei GigaPoP (10G 2.5G)
CGU
155M ? 622M
HK
TANet Schools
Taipei City School Net, GSN, ISPs
CN CSTnet
SG
TH
NTU Tear 2/3
47
The Infrastructure for Integrating Web Services
Grid Technology
Web Services Grid Protocols
Courtesy by IBM Taiwan
48
Open Grid Services Architecture

• Objectives
• Manage resources across distributed heterogeneous
  platforms
• Deliver seamless QoS
• Provide a common base for autonomic management
  solutions
• Define open, published interfaces
• Exploit industry-standard integration
  technologies
• Web Services, SOAP, XML,...
• Integrate with existing IT resources

49
Open Grid Infrastructure (OGSI)
Grid Service Implementation - Examples
Courtesy by IBM Taiwan
50
Architecture Framework
OGSA Software Evolution
Courtesy by IBM Taiwan
51
Future Conclusion

• Help teachers and learners to open their minds
  for new scenarios
• Policy and Strategies for Future Development
• Functional Requirements for eLearning, from the
  users perspectives
• Appropriate Grid Architecture to support the
  requirements
• Practical Models and processes for eLearning
• Study of user behaviors and collecting
  requirements continuously, by use case analysis