Disseminating Knowledge: Drupal for Education and E-learning
Shankar Wed,
11/14/2018 - 12:26
Have you always secretly wanted to spend your evenings writing
symphonies, learning about filmography or assessing climate change?
Studying niche subjects have traditionally been for niche students.
But e-learning platforms have changed all that with the provision
for learning almost any subject online.
Corporate e-learning has witnessed a stupendous
900% growth in the last decade or so. With more and more
e-learning platforms flourishing, organisations are striving to be
the best to stand apart from the rest. Drupal has been a great
asset in powering education and
e-learning with its powerful capabilities that can help
enterprises offer a wonderful digital experience. Let’s trace the
roots of e-learning before diving deep into the ocean of
possibilities with Drupal for building an amazing e-learning
platform.
Before the internet era
Source: eFront
A brief history of e-learning can be traced through the
compilation made by
eFront. Even before the internet existed, distance education
was being offered. In 1840, Isaac Pitman taught shorthand via
correspondence where completed assignments were sent to him via
mail and he would, then, send his students more work.
Fast forward to the 20th century, the first testing machine was
invented in 1924 that enabled students to test themselves. The
teaching machine was invented in 1954 by a Harvard professor for
allowing schools to administer programmed instruction to students.
In 1960, the first computer-based training program (CBT program)
called Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operation
(PLATO).
At a CBT systems seminar in 1999, the term ‘e-learning’ was
first utilised. Eventually, with internet and computers becoming
the core of businesses, the 2000s saw the adoption of e-learning by
organisations to train employees. Today, a plenitude of e-learning
solutions are available in the form of MOOCs (Massive Open Online
Courses), Social platforms and Learning Management System among
others.
E-learning: Learn anywhere, anytime
In essence, e-learning refers to the computer-based educational
tool or system that allows you to learn anywhere and at any time.
It is the online method of building skills and knowledge across the
complete workforce and with customers and partners. It comes with
numerous formats like the self-paced courses, virtual live
classrooms or informal learning.
E-learning refers to the computer-based educational
tool or system that allows you to learn anywhere and at any
time
Technological advancements have diminished the geographical gap
with the use of tools that can make you feel as if you are inside
the classroom. E-learning provides the ability to share material in
all sorts of formats such as videos, slideshows, and PDFs. It is
possible to conduct webinars (live online classes) and communicate
with professors via chat and message forums.
There is a superabundance of different e-learning systems
(otherwise known as Learning Management Systems or LMS) and methods
which enable the courses to be delivered. With the right kind of
tools, several processes can be automated like the marking of tests
or the creation of engrossing content. E-learning offers the
learners with the ability to fit learning around their lifestyles
thereby enabling even the busiest of persons to further a career
and gain new qualifications.
Merits and Demerits
Some of the major benefits are outlined below:
-
No restrictions: E-learning facilitates
learning without having to organise when and where everyone, who is
interested in learning a course, can be present.
-
Interactive and fun: Designing a course to
make it interactive and fun with the use of multimedia or
gamification enhances engagement and the relative lifetime of the
course.
-
Affordable: E-learning is cost-effective. For
instance, while textbooks can become obsolete, the need to
perpetually acquire new editions by paying exorbitant amounts of
money is not present in e-learning.
Some of the concerns that need to be taken care of:
-
Practical skills: It is considered tougher to
pick up skills like building a wooden table, pottery, and car
engineering from online resources as these require hands-on
experience.
-
Secludedness: Although e-learning enables a
person to remotely access a classroom in his or her own time,
learners may feel a sense of isolation. Tools such as video
conferencing, social media and discussion forums can allow them to
actively engage with professors or other students.
-
Health concerns: With the mandatory need of a
computer or mobile devices, health-related issues like eyestrain,
bad posture, and other physical problems may be troublesome.
However, sending out proper guidelines beforehand to the learner
like correct sitting posture, desk height, and recommendations for
regular breaks can be done.
Building Yardstick LMS with Drupal
OpenSense Labs built Yardstick LMS, a learning management
system, for Yardstick Educational Initiatives which caters to the
students of various schools of Dubai.
Yardstick
LMS Homepage
The architecture of the project involved a lot of custom
development:
1. Yardstick Core
This is the core module of the Yardstick LMS where the process
of creating, updating and deleting the nodes take place.
2. Yardstick Quiz
We built this custom module for the whole functionality of the
quiz component. It generates a quiz, quiz palette and quiz report
after quiz completion based upon the validation of the visibility
of the report.
We could generate three kinds of reports:
- An individual-level quiz where one’s performance is
evaluated
- A sectional-level report where performance for each section is
evaluated
- Grade-level report where performance for all the sections is
compared and evaluated.
For the quiz, we had different sub-components like questions,
options, marks, the average time to answer, learning objective,
skill level score, and concept. The same question could be used for
different quiz thereby minimising the redundancy of the data. Also,
image, video or text could be added for questions.
3. Yardstick Bulk User Import
This module was built to assist the administrators in creating
users all at once by importing a CSV file. Also, there is an option
to send invitation mail to all the users with login
credentials.
4. Yardstick Custom Login
We provided a custom login feature where same login credentials
could be used to log into the Yardstick system. That is, we
provided an endpoint for verifying the login credentials and upon
success, users were logged in.
5. Yardstick Validation
This module offers all the validation across the site whether it
is related to access permission or some time validation.
6. Yardstick Challenge
It offers the user an option to submit a task which is assigned
to them where they are provided with text area and file upload
widget.
Yardstick LMS has an intricate structure
On the end user side, there is a seamless flow but as we go
deeper, it becomes challenging. Yardstick LMS has an intricate
structure.
We had two kinds of login:
- Normal login using Yardstick credentials
- And the other for school-specific login like the Delhi Public
School (DPS) users.
Yardstick
LMS custom login for DPS users
For DPS users, we used the same login form but a different
functionality for validating credentials. DPS school gave us an
endpoint where we sent a POST request with username and password.
If the username and password were correct, then that endpoint
returned the user information.
If the username was received, we checked on our Yardstick system
if the username exists. If it does not exist, then we
programmatically created a new user with the information that we
received from the endpoint and created a user session. And if does
exist, then we updated the password on our system.
Yardstick LMS is designed to govern multiple schools at
the same time
We designed Yardstick LMS in such a way that multiple schools
can be governed at the same time. All the students of various
schools will be learning the same content thereby building
uniformity.
The core part of our system dwells in the modules. The module is
a content type that can store numerous information like components,
concept, description, objective, syllabus among others.
Several different components can be added like Task, Quiz, Video
task, Extension, Feedback, Inspiration, pdf lesson plan, Real life
application, and Scientific principles.
Yardstick
LMS Real life application component page
Schools could opt for different modules for different grades.
When a module was subscribed by a school, a clone module of the
master module was created and the school copy was visible only to
the school. School version could be modified by the school admin as
per their needs and preferences. Master module remained the same.
While creating a subscription, administrator had to provide the
date so that the components were accessible to the students. School
admin could set different dates to different components and only
the components with past date were accessible.
Flow
Diagram of module subscription to school
Also, we provided an option to create a dynamic feedback form
for the modules for analysis. Yardstick Admin had the option to
design and create a feedback form as per their requirement and
could assign it to a particular module. Different types of elements
could be utilised for designing the form like rating, captcha,
email, range slider, text field, checkboxes, radio buttons and so
on.
Students and teachers need to submit their feedback for each of the
modules. On the basis of this, Yardstick team try to improve the
content of the system.
Also, various roles were defined for users such as Yardstick
Administrator, School Administrator, Teacher, and Student.
1. Yardstick Admin
Yardstick Admin can perform all the operations. He or she can
create new users, grant permissions and revoke them as well.
2. School Admin
It has the provision for handling all the operation which are
only related to their school. School Admin handles the modules and
their components and can import user for their school. All school
reports and task submissions are visible to School Admins.
3. Teachers
Teachers can view modules and components assigned to their
classes and provide remarks to the students for multiple components
and they can view all kinds of reports.
4. Students
They can attempt quiz, submit tasks, view components and view
their own reports.
What’s the future of e-learning?
According to a report on
Research and Markets, the e-learning market is anticipated to
generate revenue of $65.41 billion by 2023 with a growth rate of
7.07% during the forecast period.
The report goes on to state that with the advent of cloud
infrastructure, peer-to-peer problem solving and open content
creation, more business opportunities would pop up for service
providers in the global e-learning market. The introduction of
cloud-based learning and AR/VR mobile-based learning will be a
major factor in driving the growth of e-learning.
The growth of the e-learning market is due to the
learning process enhancements in the academic sector
According to
Technavio, the growth of the market is due to the learning
process enhancements in the academic sector.
Global
self-paced e-learning market 2019-2023 | Source: Technavio
Following are major trends to look forward to:
-
Microlearning, which emphasises on the design
of microlearning activities through micro-steps in digital media
environments, will be on the rise.
-
Gamification, which is the use of game
thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context to keep the users
engrossed and help them solve more problems, will see increased
adoption rates.
-
Personalised learning, which is the tailoring
of pedagogy, curriculum and learning environments to meet the
demands of learners, can be a driving force.
-
Automatic learning, like the one shown in the
movie The Matrix where a person is strapped onto a high-tech chair
and a series of martial arts training programs are downloaded into
his brain, can be a possibility.
Conclusion
It’s a world which is replete with possibilities. As one of
the most intelligent species to walk on this earth, we perpetually
innovate with the way we want to lead a better lifestyle. We learn
new things to gain more knowledge. And in the process, we find ways
of improving our learning experience. E-learning is one such tech
marvel that promises to be a force to reckon with. It is not a
disrupting technology but something that is going to get bigger and
bigger in the years to come.
As a content management framework, Drupal offers a magnificent
platform to build a robust e-learning system. With years of
experience in
Drupal Development, OpenSense Labs can help in providing an
amazing digital experience.
Contact us at hello@opensenselabs.com
to build an e-learning system using Drupal and transform the
educational experience.
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E-learning
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Yardstick LMS
Drupal Learning Management System
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Learning Management System
E-learning platform
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