Case Studies \ An e-learning solution

Our client, an NGO based out of India, wanted to offer an online course on disaster management - their area of specialization. Students could register with the website (for a fee) to take up the course. The course contains of a set of six basic modules and one additional module. To complete the course students were required to successfully complete various assessments (both objective and subjective type). Based on these requirements, Icreon designed and developed the e-learning website. A web based administration panel has been provided allowing the administrators to manage the website.

Business Requirements

Our client required a solution that would enable them to manage an e-learning module that would enable people spread across geographical locations to undertake a course on disaster management. The course was to be available in two modes - basic and advanced (available on completion of the basic course). The course content was to be made available to students in a staggered manner - with applicants required to complete assessments in order to access further modules. The course material was to be displayed on the website in the form of a book. Facilities for the administrators to create and upload course content and also create objective and essay assessments pertaining to the course content were required. The administrators required a facility to be able to track the progress of the students.

A solution to offer online courses on disaster management

Benefits:

• Students can register for and undertake the course online
• Provides for online evaluation via means of objective and subjective type assessments
• Administrators can track the progress of students
• Easy to use web based interfaces that can be used by administrators to manage the website

Users:
The solution can be accessed by various types of users:

• Administrator: Has complete control over the functioning of the website. Also has complete access to the back-end modules
• Tutors: Tutors are the users who have restricted access within the admin module. They can view and respond to queries assigned to them, view the details of other tutors, view the case studies and questions available in the system.
• Students/Registered Users: Any user who has signed-up for the course.

Solution:
The solution developed by Icreon on the .net framework enables the client to operate and manage the e-learning module on disaster management with ease. The system has been divided into two main modules:

Public Module
The public module can be used by visitors to browse through the website and register for the course. Registered students can also login to the website.

The various components of the public module include:

Registration: Students can register for the basic course (comprising of 6 core module and 1 additional module that the student can choose) by providing general information such as name, address, education level etc.

The administrator can activate the student's account on realization of the payment (made offline via cheque, or bank draft). The student's registration will be valid for a period of three months from the date of activation.

Search: Students perform a keyword search to locate available case studies. Options to browse through the case studies will be provided only if it has been flagged as a sample.

Information Pages: These pages contain information pertaining to the course, company details etc.

My Account: Each registered student has access to his/her personal account wherein he/she can access the course modules as well as manage his/her account. The various sections available include:

Profile: The student can manage his/her profile Subscriptions: The student can track the status (i.e. expiry date, days remaining etc) of his/her registration. Once the student completes the basic course, the student can apply for and complete other additional modules. A fixed fee will be charged for each additional module and each will be available for a month from the date of payment. Course Modules: A listing of all modules available in the course will be displayed. In case of the basic course, initially links to only the first two modules and the first assessment will be provided. Upon successfully attempting the first assessment the links to the next 2 modules and assessments will be activated. This process will follow till all links are activated. In case of other additional modules (that are not part of the basic course), the other additional modules purchased by the user will be displayed. After every additional module, an objective type assessment pertaining to that module will be displayed. Case Study: Students can browse through the case studies available in the course. We have developed a Flash based tool that can be used to flip through the case studies as if reading a book. Tools to zoom-in, zoom-out of specific areas on the case study have been provided. Objective Type Assessments: Each objective type assessment contains twenty multiple choice questions (randomly picked from the question bank) pertaining to the associated modules. The assessment will be a timed one (the duration of each assessment can be set by the administrator). On submitting the assessment, the system will calculate the score (by comparing the student's answer with the correct answer specified by the administrator) and on the basis of which a grade (scale can be managed by the administrator) will be assigned. Subjective Type Assessment: This is the final assessment that the student has to take in order to complete the course. The assessment will be activated only after the student has completed all other objective assessments. The student can upload an essay (in .doc or .pdf) format pertaining to a specific topic. On submitting the essay the student will be flagged as having completed the course. The essay will be available to the administrator for evaluation. Queries: Students can post questions, pertaining to specific modules. All queries and their responses are received in this section. Resources: Contains links to various additional resources posted by the administrator.

Admin Module
A web based administration panel has been provided allowing administrators to manage and control the functioning of the website. The various features available for the admin include:

• Course Modules: The disaster management course consists of a set of modules. The administrator can use this module to create and manage the course modules available in the system. A module can either belong to the basic course or can be part of the additional course.
• Case Studies: Each module consists of a set of case studies (available in the form of .swf files) that can uploaded through the case studies module. A case study can be flagged as a sample; sample case studies are available to all for viewing.
  The administrator can also specify keywords, enabling case studies to be easily located during search.
  A listing of all uploaded case studies is available, the administrator can edit, delete case studies.
• Assessments: The administrator can create and manage assessments. For each assessment the administrator can define the marks per question, the duration and can associate modules with it.
  The administrator can also create a question bank. Each question is associated with a module and up-to 5 answer options can be provided. The administrator can select the correct answer form among the answer options.
  The administrator can also create and manage essay topics for the subjective type assessments.
  An assessment grading scheme (on the basis of the marks obtained) can be defined by the administrator.

• Manage Resources: The administrator can create and manage a list of resources (from across the Internet).
• Tutors: This module can be used to create and manage a list of tutors available in the system. The task of the tutors is to respond to queries submitted by students. To do so the tutors can access the admin module and can respond to queries which have been assigned to them (by the administrator). Tutors will have restricted access within the module. The administrator can track the status of the query i.e. whether it has been answered or not.
• Applicants: The administrator can track all the students who have registered with the website. They can activate accounts for the students whose payments have been received.
  The administrator can monitor the progress (assessments take, score and grade for each etc) of each student. They can also download and view the essay submitted by the students.

Technologies used in developing this application are: