WebELS: Realizing e-learning for Higher Education in Low-Speed Internet Environment

WebELS: Realizing e-Learning for Higher
Education in Low-Speed Internet
Environment
Arjulie John BERENA
Sila CHUNWIJITRA
Mohamed OSAMNIA
Hitoshi OKADA
Haruki UENO
23-27 October 2013, Osaka, Japan
A Project of National Institute of Informatics
2-1-2 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 101-8430, Japan
http://webels.ex.nii.ac.jp
WebELS ®
Web-based E-Learning System

1. Background of the Project
2. Related Studies and Technologies
3. WebELS Learning as Asynchronous Approach
4. WebELS Meeting as Synchronous Approach
5. System Evaluation
6. Practical Usage
7. Conclusion
Contents

WebELS is an e-Learning/e-Meeting platform to support
flexibility and globalization of higher education as well as flexible
business communication. WebELS has two subsystems – Learning
and Meeting Systems. It is distributed as an Open-source
Software (OSS).
WebELS Learning supports
asynchronous e-learning approach by
means of an on-demand voice-based and
video-based content with powerful
authoring features.
WebELS Meeting supports synchronous
e-learning approach by means an online
multimedia presentation, video conferencing
and chat messaging.
WebELS (Web-based E-Learning System)
is a project of the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo, Japan.

Download
WebELS Main Server
http://webels.ex.nii.ac.jp
WebELS Service Site
http://webels.ex.nii.ac.jp/service
Service ForumNews

Motivation of the Project
 Lifelong education* is definitely required for sustainable technological growth and
development in the points of view of individual and the nation. Knowledge learned
at universities become out-of-date in shorter years, and researchers, engineers and
technologists are required to obtain new knowledge continuously after graduation.
 The social demand for graduate students and company employees to pursue higher
education is not meet in the traditional classroom-based education due to cost, time
and location limitations.
 The recent growth of Internet technologies has paved the way for restructuring the
educational system from the traditional classroom-based method to the use of
information and communications technology (ICT) as a support system.
 There is an increasing number higher educational institutions (HEI) adopting ICT in
education for delivering various educational programs, such as continuous education,
online academic lecture, online meeting and similar activities.
*H. Ueno, “Internet-Based Distance Learning for Lifelong Engineering Education - A Personal View and Issues”, Journal of Information and
Systems in Education, Vol.1, No.1, 2002, pp. 45-52.

 However, there are challenges in the successful implementation of an e-Learning
system.
 Some instructors are conservative on introducing e-Learning as some of them do
not have the necessary IT skills.
 Some systems have complex method of creating and updating an e-Learning
course demanding time and effort, and usually requires an instructional designer
with an IT skills.
 Scarcity of educational content in higher education in science and technology,
coupled with issues on security and exclusivity of educational resources.
 In the case of an online lecture or meeting, video streaming requires high-
bandwidth network for providing better quality. Thus, the usability of an e-
Learning system in low bandwidth environment is limited in this situation.

 A new system must support:
 A variety of asynchronous and synchronous e-Learning activities such as on-
demand learning for self-learning, online meeting for multi-location group
discussion and online lecture for real-time remote lecture distribution.
 Easy-to-use course authoring tool that can integrate various media such as slide
presentation, image, audio, and video data.
 Course management for allowing instructors to assign permission to courses
visible only to specific viewer group.
 Contents management for archiving and dissemination of multimedia contents
on the Internet.
 Usage in low bandwidth environment such as a dial-up line to reach a wider
range of users especially in developing countries such as in Asia and Africa.

 Graduate students are research partners whose activities involved research
meetings, presentation in conferences, online collaboration through discussions
with professors and other researchers in academe and industries.
 Requires powerful authoring tool so that professors and students alike can
create and edit their own presentation materials on their personal computers.
 Utilization of various contents in the form of PDF, PPT and other office
documents for personal and shared use on various operating systems, such as
Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
 Slide-based presentation materials and multimedia support such as audio and
video.
 Online annotation to a previously done presentation material by professors and
colleagues during meeting and discussions.
Characteristics of Higher Education

 ICT in Education
 For Basic/Undergraduate Education
• Learning Management System (LMS) - Ex. Moodle, Blackboard, etc.
 For Higher Education
• Content Management System (CMS)
• Webminar (Ex. WebEx, Polycom, Adobe Connect, etc.)
 Online Presentations Tools
 Screen-sharing (Ex. GoToMeeting, WebEx, Skype, etc.)
 Document-sharing (Ex. Google Docs, SlideRocket, AuthorStream, etc.)
 Video conferencing Systems
 Tele-conferencing system (Ex. Polycom, AT&T Connect, etc.)
• Requires specific hardware device
 Web-conferencing (Ex. Skype, Adobe Connect, etc.)
• Peer-to-peer, high cost

 Features of WebELS Learning
 Audio-based and video-based content authoring
 On-demand self-learning
 User and content management
 Support on low-bandwidth environment
 Features of WebELS Meeting
 Multipoint video conferencing
 Online multimedia slide presentation
 Chat messaging
 User privileges such as admin, chairman, presenter and default listener
 Group-based user management
 Support on low-bandwidth environment
WebELS is an all-in-one system that supports a hybrid e-Learning system
where the activities of both asynchronous and synchronous are combined
to improve the quality of online education.

3. WebELS Learning as Asynchronous Approach (1/9)
 What is an asynchronous e-learning approach?
 Learners and teachers don’t have to be online at the same time.
 Often facilitated by electronic media such as e-mail, discussion board, on-
demand content, and downloadable documents.
 Learners log on to an e-learning environment at any time which make it
possible for them to combine education with work, family and other
commitments.
Email Exchange
Message Boards
Discussion Groups
Self-paced Courses
Learners common activities:

 WebELS Learning System Approach
Content Authoring – for creating
and editing audio-based and video-
based content to be distributed online
using an easy-to-use authoring tool
Course management – for
assigning permission to courses
visible only to specific viewer group.
Contents management - for
archiving and publishing of multimedia
contents on the Internet.
User Management – for user
registration according to user
class, assigning viewers group, etc.
 Lecturers Role
 Learners Role
On-demand Self-Learning – browsing
the content list and start to learn using
the content created by the lecturers.

 WebELS Learning System and the Audio-based Content Authoring

 WebELS Learning System and the Video-based Content Authoring

Lecturer Learner
*Chunwijitra, S., Berena, A.J., Okada, H., & Ueno, H. (2013). “Advanced Content Authoring and Viewing Tools Using Aggregated Video and
Slide Synchronization by Key Marking for Web-Based e-Learning System in Higher Education.” IEICE Transaction on Information and Systems,
April 2013.
 Video-based Authoring Tool Work Flow*

 User Interface Design for the Authoring Tool*
1 – Slide navigator
2 – Raw video panel
3 – Slide preview panel
4 – Aggregated video preview panel
5 – Content information panel
6 – Editing control panel
*Ibid.

 User Interface Design for the Viewing Tool*
1 – Aggregated video panel
2 – Slide panel
3 – Content information panel
4 – Control panel
Features:
1.Video streaming with adaptive buffering technique
2.Video setting available in low, medium and high quality
3.Cursor-video synchronization
4.Toggle slide and video display control
5. Zoom function for slide and video
*Ibid.

 Concept of Video Stream and Slide Synchronization*
*Ibid.

 User Class and Privileges
User Class Privileges
Admin 1. User Management (Add, Edit, Delete, Change Password)
2. Course Management (Create, Edit, Delete, View, Export, Import
Course and Assign Course View Permission to Students)
3. Group & Permission Management (Add and Delete Viewer Group,
Assign View Permission by User, Category and Course)
4. Category and Sub-Category Management (Add, Delete)
5. User Statistics (User access, etc.)
Faculty &
Staff
Course Management (Create, Edit, Delete, View, Export, Import
Course and Assign Course View Permission to Students)
Student View Online Course and Download Offline Viewer Course
Student View Online Course and Download Offline Viewer Course

4. WebELS Meeting as Synchronous Approach (1/8)
 What is a synchronous e-learning approach?
 Learners and teachers have to be online at the same time.
 Often facilitated by electronic media such as videoconferencing and chat
messaging.
 Learners log on to the system at a scheduled time. Since participants are online
at the same time, it is more like of a social activity. Synchronous activity help
learners feel like being involved rather than isolates.
Shared Presentation Board
Video Conferencing
Chat Messaging
Learners common activities:

 WebELS Meeting System Approach
User Group Management – for user
registration according to user class,
assigning viewers group, etc.
Online Lecture – Real-time distance
lecture with video streaming and
multimedia presentation.
Online Meeting - Multipoint voice
and video conferencing system with
online multimedia presentation
optimized for users in low-
bandwidth environment.
Online Conference - Online
distribution of academic conference
with user privileges for presenter,
chairman and admin.

Required Server Components
Linux OS (CentOS)
Java JDK
MySQL
Apache Tomcat
Red5
OpenOffice
Required Client Components
Software:
Multi-OS (Windows, Mac OS, Linux)
Multi-Browser (IE, Chrome, Firefox)
Adobe Flash Player Plugin
Hardware:
Web Camera
Microphone
 WebELS Meeting System

Video Conferencing - Multipoint voice and video conferencing system
with small, wide and full-screen display layouts and automatic quality
control optimized for users in low-speed network.
Small Video Layout Wide Video Layout

Online Multimedia Presentation - synchronized slide presentation that
supports image, scalable vector graphics (SVG), and video format.
Features:
1.Online annotation
2.Online Cursor
3.Offline Mode
4.Whiteboard
5.Zooming function

Online Conference User Roles – supports user roles for the online
conference such as admin to ensure the quality performance of the system, chairman
to ensure the flow of the conference, and presenter to take control of the slide
presentation.
Admin - can MUTE/UNMUTE the microphone and BLOCK/UNBLOCK the
camera of selected user or all users except the presenter. Admin can also
control the video display layout during the meeting/conference.
Chairman - can change the content for presentation distribution among the
users during the meeting/conference.
Presenter - has the full control of the slide presentation such as slide
changing, annotation, zooming, adding new files and other functions during
the meeting/conference.

 Other Features of WebELS Meeting
 Chat Messaging - Text messaging between meeting participants.
 Group-based user management system - Members belonging to the same
group have common user ID and password
 Content-centered platform - Content creation is pre-requisite for starting a
meeting/conference
 Support on Low-speed Internet - The minimum bandwidth requirement
for a user to connect to the system is 100Kbps.

WebELS Meeting Server
Browser Meeting Server
• Apache Tomcat
• Red5
• MySQL
WebELS Client
(Presenter)
1
REQUEST: Meeting Panel
2
DOWNLOAD
3
Meeting
Panel
Initialize
7
7
SHARED OBJECT: Slide
1
8
N
Browser
WebELS Client
(Listener)
2
DOWNLOAD
Meeting
Panel
LOAD Content
4
5
N
Receive Shared Object
from the server.Send SHARED OBJECT
Data for every slide event.
Event
Event
Event
Broadcast S.O.
REQUEST: Meeting Panel
4
LOGIN
Authenticate
5
RESPONSE
6
BROADCAST VIDEO STREAM
SHARED OBJECT: Annotation
RecvS.O.
SHARED OBJECT: Slide
LOGIN
RESPONSEAuthenticate
3
Initialize
6
RECEIVE STREAM
7
RECEIVE SHARED OBJECT
RECEIVE SHARED OBJECT
Execute
Execute
Display Video
Red5 Input
Stream
Red5 Output
Stream
RecvS.O.
RecvS.O.
Broadcast S.O.
 WebELS Meeting System Work Flow

N1 N2 N3
WebELS Video Streaming Server
Receive Data
(N1, N2, N3)
Sent Data
N1 N2 N3
1 Upstream
2 Downstreams
2 Upstreams
6 Downstreams
1 Upstream
2 Downstreams
1 Upstream
2 Downstreams
N1 N2 N3
WebELS Video Streaming Server
Receive Data
(N1, N2, N3)
Sent Data
N1 N2 N3
1 Upstream
2 Downstreams
2 Upstreams
6 Downstreams
1 Upstream
2 Downstreams
1 Upstream
2 Downstreams
Low-Quality Bitrate = 50kbps
Medium-Quality Bitrate = 80 kbps
High-Quality Bitrate = 100 kbps
 Video Stream for Various Quality
We implemented automatic Video
Quality control based on the
detected bandwidth.

 Server Uplink/Downlink Bandwidth for Face-to-Face Meeting
and Broadcast Mode

 User Acceptance Evaluation
Questionnaire: 18 questions (8 – authoring function, 6 - viewing function, 4 - overall system)
Survey Respondents: 73 (9 –instructors, 64 – students) from Japan, Thailand, Algeria, Indonesia, China, Philippines)
Measurement Tool: Likert Scale (Strongly Disagree – 1, Disagree – 2, Neither – 3, Agree – 4, Strongly Agree – 5)
Factors of Interest: Usefulness, Ease-of-Use, User Satisfaction

 Summary of Survey Result
Rating Scale Functions User Acceptance Factors
User
satisfation
(%)
Usefulness
(%)
Ease-of-use
(%)
Strongly disagree Authoring 0 0 0
Viewing 0 0 0
Overall System 0 0 0
Disagree Authoring 2.74 1.83 1.71
Viewing 1.37 1.37 1.37
Overall System 2.74 2.05 1.37
Neither agree nor
disagree
Authoring 26.03 22.83 27.4
Viewing 26.94 21.92 27.4
Agree Authoring 39.73 42.92 41.1
Viewing 41.55 38.36 39.73
Strongly agree Authoring 31.51 32.44 29.79
Viewing 30.14 38.36 31.51

6. Practical Usage
Remote Viewers
ServerConference Presentation
Client
(Chairman)
Client
(Individual Listener)
Client
(Group Listener)
Client
(Admin)
Client
(Presenter)
Conference Session
 Online Distribution of an Academic Conference

6. Practical Usage
NII, Japan and NECTEC, Thailand
1s AASEF Conference,Nagoya,JPe-CC Symposium, Japan NII, JP
Distance Lecture between NII,
JP and Tsinghua, China

7. Conclusion
This paper has presented a Web-based e-Learning System (WebELS) for higher
education in low bandwidth Internet environment. Specifically, it has
introduces the following:
 WebELS Learning System that supports asynchronous e-Learning activities such as on-
demand self-learning using audio-based and video-based content. It has an easy-to-
use authoring tool that can help lecturers create and edit their content out of recorded
video and slide presentation using video synchronization methodology by key-marking.
 WebELS Meeting System that supports synchronous e-Learning activities such as
online meeting for group discussion, online lecture for distance lecture, and online
distribution of an academic conference. The system has a video conferencing system,
online synchronized multimedia presentation, chat messaging, and other functions.
Online synchronization in our context refers to real-time mirroring of slide presentation
between the presenter and listeners. Video conferencing system provides face-to-face
environment between the presenter and listeners.
 System evaluation proves that the system can work well in low bandwidth Internet
environment. Survey results also shows that the system have higher user acceptance
rate among the 73 respondents.

Thank you for your attention !!!

WebELS: Realizing e-learning for Higher Education in Low-Speed Internet Environment

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