A tour of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

15:00 – 16:30
Tour of the participating institutions
A tour of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

16:30 Go to Castelldefels Campus by car
17:00 Visit to the Computing Centre
17:30 Go to 22@ building by car
18:00 Visit to the 22@-Labs

Computing, Multimedia and Telecommunication Studies (CMTS) – English –
Estudios de Informática, Multimedia y Telecomunicion (EIMT) – Spanish –

21.05.2012, Barcelona

1

Agenda: Tour of the participating institutions
A tour of the Open University of Catalonia (OUC)

• Virtual Resources
 Virtual Campus.
o Overview: Francesc santanach
o Virtual Classroom (Rooms for teaching and study): Muriel Garreta
o Library: Toni Espadas
 Virtual Labs in EIMT
o Introduction: Josep Prieto
o Computing: Josep Jorba
o Multimedia: César Córcoles
o Telecommunication: Carlos Monzo

III. Innovation projects
 CMTS projects: David Masip
 OUC projects: Francesc/Muriel

V. Physical spaces
 Computing Centre: located at Castelldefels campus. (Alvaro Pernas)
 Physical Labs: located at 22@ building (C.Monzo, J.Jorba, J.Córcoles)

CMTS = EIMT = Computing, Multimedia and Telecommunication Studies 2


 Virtual Campus.
o Overview: Francesc santanach


 OUC projects: Kiko/Muriel

V. Physical spaces


I. Virtual Resources

Virtual Campus: Overview
Francesc Santanach

4

I. Virtual Resources: Virtual Campus
Overview

Campus 5.0: The UOC’s LMS
The Learning Management System of
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Overview

About UOC Students
• There are many typologies of students with different
ages, backgrounds, experiences, needs, desires and
expectations.
• They are “on” 24/7.
• They are active participants in the learning process.
• They are overwhelmed with information.
• Asynchronous activities the most, but synchronous in
some cases.
• “We are all disabled”. It depends on the context and
the time (at home, bus, train, car drive and other
situations).

Overview

About UOC Faculty
• Would prefer using different tools and
services based on the subject taught or
previous experience.
• The online environment is their only medium
to teach and motivate students.
• Their “teaching” is essentially asynchronous.
• The contents they use evolve very fast.

Overview

About UOC's Virtual Campus
• A virtual campus designed and developed by the UOC
• 17 years old
• C++, Java, PHP and Ruby. HTML, XML, Flash, among others.
• With many dependencies (more than 15 years of development).
• High Performance:
– average: 2500 users at the same time.
– maximum: 6000 users at the same time.
– Real-time info at:
http://www.uoc.edu/portal/english/la_universitat/tecnologia_uoc/in

• From the UOC's perspective, the future of e-learning will be focused on
the interoperability among tools and services, learning platforms,
social networks, contents and organizations.

Overview

The UOC’s Virtual Campus History
• 1995: First Class. Commercial product. 30 concurrent
users.
• 1996: UOC Campus 1.0. C++ CGI. Monolithic
architecture. 200 concurrent users.
• 2002: UOC Campus 2.0 (iCampus). Cluster of Java
Services. 3-tier architecture.1700 concurrent users.
• 2008: UOC Campus 5.0 beta. SOA. Open Source &
Open standards approach. 4000 concurrent users.
• 2009: UOC Campus 5.0. SOA. Interoperability with
other e-learning tools and systems.

Overview

The challenge: e-learning Platform Problems
• The LMS is just the tip of the iceberg:
– There are many integration problems
– Many configurations are possible
• Evolution:
– product -> LMS 1st generation
– framework -> LMS 2nd generation (mostly existing LMS)
– A set of services -> LMS 3rd generation (the future)
• Today (in transition from frameworks to services):
– A wealth of tools available to be used as e-learning tools
– Some good LMSs but with integration problems

Overview
Lessons Learned
• Today, the development of LMS cannot be faced alone without
considering other initiatives alike. It is fundamental to work and
develop in collaboration with other institutions.
• The future will look different and will require from us to quickly adapt.
• Interoperability is not easy to accomplish, years of hard work are to be
invested in.
• There are different user types, each of them with specific needs.
• Integration does not mean to modify the tool source code but rather
to extend it with plug-ins and connectors.
• In a virtual campus there are very different tools, some more specific
for just a few courses, others intended to be used by all users. Every
type needs its own technology and architecture.

Overview
Campus 5.0
FROM TO

Overview

Overview

The Campus 5.0 Design Principles
• Performance and availability.
• User-centered Design.
• Sharing and integrating technology.
• Standards, Specifications & Guidelines.
• Educational Innovation.
• Personalization & flexibility.
• Service-oriented Architecture.

Overview

Benefits
• Agnostic approach: ability to implement the UOC's learning
model and also other learning models.
• Modularity and easy-to-replace components.
• Flexibility in terms of technology and pedagogy.
• Ability to add any tool and service
• Ability to change as we go
• Personalization for both faculty and students.
• Collaboration: possibility to share e-learning tools and
materials with other institutions and more opportunities to
collaborate with them.


Virtual Campus: Virtual Classroom
Rooms for teaching and study

Muriel Garreta

16

Campus Virtual


Virtual Campus: Library
Toni Espadas

18

Virtual Library

The Virtual Library:
The first virtual library from the first virtual university, created in 1995.
An information and documentary resource centre that provides support to teaching and
research work at the UOC.

The Library’s presence in the classroom, through the Classroom Resources section, places it at
the centre of the UOC eductional model, alongside the University’s other working groups and
faculty.

Classroom Library: 21.584 educational electronic resources.

Virtual Library

An overview

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ullamcorper magna sed nec eros.

Virtual Library

The first virtual library from the first virtual university, created in
1995.
An information and documentary resource centre that provides
support to teaching and research work at the UOC.

The UOC Virtual Library is a permanent gateway to all manner
of resources and library services.

Providing instant, non-stop, round-the-clock access to both the
institution's own resources and remote resources in an effort to
meet users' needs 'just in case, just in time and just for
them'.

http://biblioteca.uoc.edu/eng/

Virtual Library

The library’s presence in the classroom, through the Classroom
Resources section, places it at the centre of the UOC educational
model, alongside the University’s other working groups and faculty.

A library model, which enables uninterrupted access to all resources
from inside the classroom at any time of day, any day of the year;
but also access to its services.

As a library that is present in all Campus classrooms, its
librarians/information officers must work closely with the university
faculty to meet the different user needs, in accordance with the
specific requirements of each degree programme, field of
knowledge, subject, etc.

Course 2010-2011: 21.854 resources in the classrooms

Virtual Library

34.743 docs

112.516 docs


 Virtual Campus.
o Overview: Kiko santanach



V. Physical spaces



Virtual Labs: Introduction
Josep Prieto

25


Virtual Labs in CMTS
Introduction

One special feature to learn Computing,
Multimedia and Telecommunication programs.

•Practical laboratory activities

One important resource to learn in a Virtual
Learning Environment:

•Virtual Laboratories

26

I. Virtual Resources: Virtual Labs in CMTS
Introduction

Practical laboratory activities
They are an essential part of any engineering
curriculum since they strengthen concepts
presented during lectures.

Virtual Laboratories
Virtual Labs are interactive virtual spaces that
incorporate all the technological, pedagogic and
human resources for carrying out practical
activities, adapted to the needs of the students
and teachers in a virtual learning environment.

27

I. Virtual Resources: Virtual Labs in EIMT
Introduction

VPLab Structure: Technological resources
3.Virtual communication environment (VCE)
4.Simulator (SIM)
5.Remote laboratory (REM)
6.Automatic assessment tool (AAT)
7.Virtual machine (VM)
8.Software support (SUP)

28

I. Virtual Resources: Virtual Labs in EIMT
Introduction

VPLab Structure:
Pedagogic and strategic resources
4.Learning methodology (MET)
5.Evaluation (AVA)
6.Support documentation and other materials
(DOC)

VPLab Structure: Human resources

4.Student (STU)
5.Teacher (TCH)

29

Introduction

Main Virtual Labs in
- Computing,
- Multimedia and
- Telecommunication:
• Virtual Programming Laboratory (VPLab)
• Virtual Operating System Laboratory (VOSLab)
• Virtual Database Laboratory (VDBLab)
• Virtual Electronic Laboratory (VELab)
• Virtual Networking Laboratory (VNLab)
• Virtual Computing Architecture and Organization Laboratory (VCAOLab)
• Virtual Mathematic Laboratory (VMathLab)

In the CMT programs

64 Virtual Lab classrooms have been implemented

30


Virtual Labs: Computing
Josep Jorba

31

Computing
Computer Engineering (& Related Studies) Labs Use Cases:
• Hardware and software experimentation

• Development of practical competences

• Can be accessed from anywhere (24x7)

• Three available laboratory typologies for hands-on student experimentation
o Simulation Lab: Use of software and simulations
o Home Lab: Hardware (and its associated software) is physically sent to students
o Remote Lab: Remote hardware access

Computing
01
Computer Architecture and Operating systems
• Use of software:
• Gnu/Linux distributions (Fedora / Debian / Ubuntu) & others
• Customized OS micro-kernels (Linux & others)
• Computer architecture simulators.

• 24/7 resource access from anywhere, Software is available at
Virtual Class rooms ( links to soft repositories).

• Hardware
• Physical servers with various operating systems and
architectures (GNU/Linux Intel/AMD x86_64, Solaris Sun
Sparc)
• HPC environments (Cluster systems and multi-core
machines)

•Different experiments can be performed
o Distributed Programming (Bag of Tasks, Boinc)
o Parallel Programming (MPI & OpenMP)
o Operating systems programming.

Computing

02
Home Lab (Embedded Systems)

• Experimentation with real hardware
o Results from Embedded Systems Lab@Home
innovation project.
o Up-to-date wireless sensor networks (WSN)
o Electronics components (e.g. transistors)

• Different kind of experiments
o Microcontroller programming.
o Radio chip programming.
o Sensors interaction.

• Community
o Wiki / videos available to build a community around
the WSN field to share obtained expertise.

Computing
03
Security Remote Lab

• Online 24/7 access to a real networking simple configuration.

• Students didn’t know internal network architecture , only some
basic parameters “You have a laboratory to try our studied
techniques, with machines at IP’s x.x.x.x”.

LabSeg3
Internet

LabSeg1
Firewall

LabSeg2

Computing
03
Security Remote Lab II

• Some of the infrastructure is created dynamically via virtual
machines, to provide multiple instances of different operating
systems and database servers.

Seg Sistemes Operatius Seg Bases de Dades
Virtual Servers Virtual Servers

LabSeg 1 LabSeg2

LabSeg3

Computing
04
NetLab (Remote networking Lab)
• Online 24/7 access to a Cisco networking lab, that is available to
the students to implement dynamic configurations of switches and
routers, with different subnets schemes.

Computing

05
Automatic Assessment
Tool for a Virtual
Programming Lab
AAT is a web-based grading
system that carries out the source
code in the programming
assignment.

AAT process consists of the
compilation and execution against
test data and user-specified data
(benchmark).

Computing

05
Automatic Assessment
Tool for a Virtual
Programming Lab
The AAT also provides the
teacher with all test reports of the
students.

Computing

III. Physical Spaces: Physical Labs.

Computing and Multimedia Labs

• Located at -1 floor of 22@ building

• Arranged in four different racks, containing individual servers, clusters, and net connectivity
(at Gbit Ethernet speed)

• 24x7 resources available from anywhere

•Including some beta labs:
o Servers pool for quick-deployment of new labs/web sites/CMS
o Remote Mobile Laboratory

Computing

01
Computer and Multimedia Lab Equipment

• Soft Lab
o Software provided to students, with commercial (or free)
licenses.

•Home Lab
o Embedded Systems Lab @home (WSN related)
o Virtual machines preconfigured as a Lab for different
subjects (Security, Databases, Operating Systems).

• Remote Lab (including server access)
o Security Lab
o Netlab
o AndroidRemote (mobile and tablet remote access).
o PlanetLab infraestructure.
o Servers & Clusters, e.g. HPC ones.

Computing

01
Computing and multimedia physical Lab Equipment

• NetLab
• Remote Mobile Lab
• Research groups facilities (some use at postgraduated and PhD courses).

• Generic servers implementig different laboratories, normaly Rack servers
with configurations of 4/8GB main memory, and quad core CPUs:
• 6 servers HP Proliant Intel/AMD quad core CPUs
• 1 server HP Proliant for HPC with 32GB main memory and 16 cores.
• 40Dell PowerEdge servers (many models) in clusters and individual
servers.


Virtual Labs: Multimedia
Cesar Córcoles

43

Multimedia

Multimedia Labs

Multimedia

Multimedia Labs
• Physics
• PHP+MySQL

• Interface design tools
• Web design tools
• 3D Graphics tools
• Imaging tools

Multimedia

Multimedia Labs
• Basic FTP and HTTP

• comoras.uoc.edu
(PHP+MySQL)

• Amazon EC2 (Linux system)
administration

Multimedia

Multimedia Labs

Arduino for Interaction Design


Virtual Labs: Telecommunication
Carlos Monzo

58

Telecommunication

• Hardware and software experimentation

• Development of practical competences

• Experiments can be accessed from anywhere

• Three available laboratory typologies for hands-on student experimentation
o Simulation Lab: Use of software (including license management) and simulations
o Home Lab: Hardware (and its associated software) is physically sent to students
o Remote Lab: Remote hardware access

Telecommunication

01
Simulation Lab

• Use of software and simulations
o Online software license management
o Online/Offline software and simulations execution

• 24/7 resource access from anywhere

• Online access control to high cost software licenses

• High computational cost applications by means of online execution

• Different experiments can be performed in simulation lab
o Signal processing (e.g. Matlab)
o Electronic communications (e.g. Matlab)
o Microwave circuits analysis and simulation (e.g. ADS)
o Digital electronics (e.g. Xilinx ISE)
o Etc.

Telecommunication

02
Home Lab

• Experimentation with real hardware
o Experiments board with PC USB-connectivity
o Electronics components (e.g. transistors)

• Measurement and generation equipments are provided
o Basic measurements: multimeter
o Advanced measurements: digital oscilloscope
o DC power supply (±15V, ±5V and +12V)
o Function / Arbitrary waveform generator

• Portable devices
o Experiments can be performed anywhere

• Different experiments configurations
o Very first contact with Electronics
o Complex experiments depending on subject needs

Telecommunication

03
Remote Lab

• Online 24/7 access to real hardware and signals from anywhere

• Oriented to high cost and complexity experiments
o High cost devices: e.g. radio transceiver
o High complexity: e.g. fiber optics

• Different kind of experiments can be performed
o Communication systems (NI Elvis/Emona DATEx)
o Fiber optics (NI Elvis/Emona FOTEx)
o RF communications (RF NI USRP)
o Digital Electronics (NI FPGA Board)
o Etc.

• Resource access is controlled in terms of
o Scheduling (i.e. booking system)
o Connection and use (i.e. remote control)

Telecommunication

• Located at -1 floor of 22@ building

• Both room temperature and humidity are controlled to minimize possible malfunctions

• It is arranged in different “tables” to group experiments resources

• 24/7 resource access from anywhere

• There are another available support devices besides the main lab resources
o Connectivity infrastructure: e.g. server, switch
o Experiments support: computers with all needed software
o Design and test: specific hardware and software (e.g. oscilloscope, waveform generator)

Telecommunication

01
Telecommunication Lab Equipment

• Simulation Lab
o Server with all needed license managers (e.g. Matlab)
o All needed software and simulations for experiments

•Home Lab
o Virtual machine with all the needed software
o UOC experimentation board (utility model pending)
o Electronic components and measurement equipment

• Remote Lab
o Server with the booking system
o Computers for hardware control
o NI Elvis II+: signal generation and data acquisition
o Emona DATEx: communication systems experiments
o Emona FOTEx: fiber optics experiments
o USRP: RF communication experiments
o FPGA board: digital electronics experiments

Telecommunication

01
Telecommunication Lab Equipment

• Design and test experiments related hardware
o Oscilloscope
o Multimeter
o Function / Arbitrary waveform generator
o DC voltage supply

• Design and test experiments related software
o Matlab (Mathworks)
o LabVIEW (National Instruments)
o ADS (Agilent )
o ISE (Xilinx)
o Quartus II (Altera)
o VirtualBox (Oracle)
o Etc.


 Virtual Campus.



V. Physical spaces


II. Innovation projects

CMTS Projects
David Masip

67

II. Innovation projects: CMTS Projects

CMTS Projects (Innovation projects developed inside the CMTS)

CMTS Professors have a strong leadership in innovation projects inside the
University and in external public calls

•Approximately 25% of the proposals of the last APLICA call belong to the CMTS.

Main innovation goals for the short and mid-term future:

•The construction of an innovation map linking all the past and current projects
developed in the CMTS.
•Develop a taxonomy of the projects and identify areas and synergies among groups
from the CMTS.
•Bring this innovation projects to the Virtual Classroom

68


Main areas: Students evaluation and assisted self assessment
CMTS teaching staff use their TIC technical skills to develop Ad Hoc tools to solve our students
special needs.
• CMTS students deliver a final degree project: We have developed an environment for virtual
dissertations of final degree projects: Present@.
• Students evaluation: Some of the subjects taught allow for automatic assessment of the
contents. We used WIRIS and MoodleQuizzes to evaluate specific topics.
• The quizzes give immediate answers to
students to know their qualifications.

• Each student faces a personalized Quiz,
which is conveniently parameterized to be
unique in the virtual classroom.

• The quizzes are used first predagogically
providing a training step with personalized
feedback about the correct solutions and the
wrong steps taken.

69


Main areas: New Educational resources, repositories and
multimedia rich contents
Many CMTS professors develop specific tools for their subjects, which are used in
designing:
• Knowledge repositories
• New forums with advanced properties (opinion mining, rating, collaborative,…)
• Microblogging
• Multimedia educational resources: hypervideo and virtual scene personalization
• Circuits verification and simulation
• Educational services

70


Main areas: Mathematics and specific problematics
CMTS staff and students must face extra difficulties based on the specific contents of their
curricula and their languages. Some relevant initiatives are:
•Introduction of mathematic formulae in the virtual campus
•Locution of mathematical contents
•Handwritten Math Recognition
•eLearning of logics
•Math video lectures

http://cimanet.uoc.edu/DistribucioNormal/

71


CMTS Innovation and research
The whole UOC is a living Lab for doing research on elearning topics and innovation.
Many CMTS members are also enrolled in the eLearn research center and focus
their research projects on improving the virtual campus and developing new
innovation tools. This research covers areas such as:

• Collaborative learning
• Datamining in virtual campus Logs to analyze:
• Students drop rates
• Academic results
• Demographic and marketing data.
• Free Software and open courses
• Repositories of open learning objects

72


OUC Projects
Muriel Garreta / Francesc Santanach

73


OUC Projects

74


 Virtual Campus.



V. Physical spaces


Thank you very much for you attention!

Marta Borràs, mborrasc@uoc.edu
César Córcoles, ccorcoles@uoc.edu
Toni Espadas, aespadas@uoc.edu
Muriel Garreta, murielgd@uoc.edu
Josep Jorba, jjorbae@uoc.edu
David Masip, dmasipr@uoc.edu
Carlos Monzo, cmonzo@uoc.edu
Joan Antoni Pastor, jpastor@uoc.edu
Josep Prieto, jprieto@uoc.edu
Francesc Santanach, fsantanach@uoc.edu

76

A tour of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

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