an ecosystem in e-learning using cloud computing as platform
TRANSCRIPT
134 T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I ( I V ) P a g e |
An Ecosystem in e-Learning Using Cloud Computing as platform and Web2.0
Mona Nasr Shimaa Ouf Faculty of Computers & Information Faculty of Computers & Information
Helwan University, Egypt Helwan University, Egypt
[email protected] [email protected]
ABSTRACT Research community has believed that an e-learning ecosystem is the
next generation e-learning but has faced challenges in optimizing
resource allocations, dealing with dynamic demands on getting
information and knowledge anywhere and anytime, handling rapid
storage growth requirements, cost controlling and greater flexibility.
Additionally, e-learning ecosystems need to improve its infrastructure,
which can devote the required computation and storage resources for e-
learning ecosystems. Cloud computing technologies although in their
early stages, have managed to change the way applications are going to
be developed and accessed. These technologies are aimed at running
applications as services over the internet on a flexible infrastructure.
Cloud computing provides a low cost solution to academic institutions
for their researchers, faculty and students. This setup provides an
additional benefit because all browsers based applications can also be
accessed through mobile devices in addition to being available to a
variety of laptop and desk top computers, provided internet access is
available. In this paper we combined various technologies to achieve
this goal. We present an interactive tool that can be used for science
education; integration between cloud computing as a platform and web
2.0 are presented as a solution for building effective e-learning
ecosystem.
Keywords
Cloud Computing as a platform, E-Learning, Ecosystem, Web 2.0,
Virtual Community.
1. INTRODUCTION During the last years, the nature of the Internet was constantly
changing from static environment to a highly dynamic environment that
allows end users to run software applications collaborate, share
information, and creates new services online [1]. There is no doubt that
the future belongs to the cloud computing. This new environment
supports the creation of new generation of e-learning ecosystem that is
able to run on a wide range of hardware devices, while storing data
inside the cloud.
The need for e-learning is increasing constantly and the development
and the improvement of the e-learning solutions is necessary. Also, the
e-learning systems need to keep the pace with the technology [1], so
recently research community has believed that e-learning ecosystem is
the next generation of e-learning [2] and the new direction is building
and hosting e-educational system into the cloud. Also, there are several
tools that offer support for e-learning ecosystem among this tools web
2.0.
Web 2.0 has changed the World Wide Web from the original traditional
publishing model of information into a collaborative information
creation model. The great diffusion of Web 2.0 as new instrument is
having strong effect and change on the way people search, find,
collaboratively develop and consume information and knowledge.
Today people are extensively using some of the Web 2.0 applications
such as Wikipedia, YouTube and Twitter to create and share
information. Cloud Computing presents a new way of deploying
applications. Today we can get Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS),
Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS). There are
elastic clouds where memory and processing power get allocated based
on computing resources required at the time [3].
Unlike the traditional web service technology, a light weight
approach is available by Web2.0 services. Web 2.0 as term is closely
associated with Tim O'Reilly is considered as a collection of web
applications that reuse user generated content, initiate social interaction
[4](Interaction typically occurs through discussion, commenting,
collaborative writing, or working together on projects[5])and enable
collaborative functionalities based on more usable and convenient
technologies such as AJAX(Asynchronous JavaScript and XML),
JavaScript, XSLT/XML(Extensible Stylesheet Language
Transformations/ExtensibleMarkupLanguage),XHTML(ExtensibleHyp
ertext Markup Language),CSS( Cascading Style Sheet) and Document
Object Model, XML-RPC,REST (Representational State Transfer), RSS
(“Rich Site Summary” or “Real Simple Atom, wikis, podcast, mashups,
Syndication”), Social Bookmarking [4].
In advance, these technologies facilitate the subscription, access,
propagation; reuse and compilation of small chunks of content (micro
content), interactive information sharing with the group members and/or
with other learner groups, user-centered design. A Web 2.0 site gives its
users the free choice to interact or collaborate with each other in a social
media dialogue as creators of user generated content in a virtual
community [6].
Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube , LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter,
Facebook or Google Maps are representatives of Web2.0 applications.
An important characteristic of these applications is that they provide a
range of their functionality and data via web interfaces for third parties.
Also, in all these social networks participants are as important as the
content they upload and share with others [4]. Education and learning
are not an exception of Web 2.0 trends, as the number of Web 2.0
empowered e-learning environments are booming. So, researchers using
Web 2.0 applications in e-learning ecosystem in order to [30]:
• Place learners at the centre of online activities and facilitate
supposedly new forms of creation, collaboration, and
consumption.[20]
• Allow learners to personalize learning environments [18].
• Allow learners to engage with new illiteracies and express
themselves in different media.
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Copyright ©2011 IJJ: The Research Bulletin of Jordan ACM - ISWSA;
ISSN: 2078-7952 (print); 2078-7960 (online)
135 T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I ( I V ) P a g e |
• Encourage a proficiency in the publication of content, which
creates a sense of ownership, audience engagement, peer
assessment, and informal learning.
• Facilitate learning [21].
• Use collaborative problem solving [22].
• Provide prompt feedback.
• Offer learners unprecedented opportunities to create and share
content and to interact with others [21].
• Make e-learning environment more effective and successful
[20].
• Provide flexible and cost efficient e-learning ecosystem.
• Offer very attractive capabilities for learners to collaborate
and share learning contents (e.g. learning objects, drawings,
animations, pictures, digital videos, texts etc.)[30].
This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes how
ecosystem can improve e-learning. Section 3 focuses on cloud
computing concepts and the benefits of cloud computing for education.
Section 4 illustrates an enhanced e-learning ecosystem based on an
integration between cloud computing and web 2.0.
2. E-LEARNING ECOSYSTEM The aim of this section is to summarize the complex situation for
learning in environments of the 21st century by applying the ecosystem
concept and identify high level requirements for our proposed flexible
learning environment. Today’s educators have access to new
technologies such as cloud computing and Web 2.0 and they should
capitalize on this advantage to facilitate learning and make learning
environment more successful and effective [7].
In recent years, we have witnessed significant growth and massive
changes in the e-learning industry. Dondi and Delrio expressed
concerns about first generation e-learning as follows [8]:
• Isolation of learners, lack of educators' feedback, student
collaboration and campus social context.
• Uncertainty of costs for institutions and learners.
• Uncertainty about e-learning quality (resources, technology
and support services) and e-learning evaluation.
• Shortage of competencies required for e-learning
implementation among teaching staff, technical staff, and
students.
• Domination of technology and market forces over educational
aims and institutional development strategies.
According to Cowley and others, there are set of contextual
elements should take into consideration to make e-learning more
effective and successful and to facilitate learning in complex and
intricate situations:
• Environment: learners need a certain environment (PC,
Connection, software).
• Teach skills: learners need to know something about how to
use whatever learning system exists.
• Subject matter skills: learners need to have some prerequisite
skills to benefit from the course.
• Support: there has to be a mechanism to get support when
learners run into problems.
• Content: must be designed for interaction.
• Instructor: aware of learners' needs/concerns and
involvement levels, attempts to draw learners into discussion
early, organizes schedule, provides resources for learners in
need of additional learning.
• Technology: should play effective role.
• Organization: focused on learning, time and resources made
available [8].
These elements belong to e-learning ecology or ecosystems that lead
to the emergence of a second generation of e-learning [12]. This model
is comprehensive and is capable of adapting new technologies and
tools, integrating new learning approaches, adaptable to a variety of
learning styles, and is responsive to the learning conditions[7].
Ecosystem is defined according to the Encyclopedia Britannica as a
“complex of living organisms, their physical environment, and all their
interrelationships in a particular unit of space "also, ecosystem is more
flexible which can be of any size as long as organism, physical
environment and interaction exists [9].The British ecologist,
A.G.Tansley in 1935, and the American Raymond L. Lindeman define
ecosystem “a biotic community or assemblage and its associated
physical environment in a specific place.” [10]. Tansley indicated that
ecology should appropriately consider the activities and effects of
humans in ecosystems. The fact that he recognized new kinds of
ecosystems that result at least in part from human actions is important
[11]. The definition implicitly shows the interactions between the living
(biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components, and intrinsically within
highly complex elements.
The ecosystem is classified by biotic and abiotic components and
their entire interrelationship in specified physical boundaries and its
applicability to various application domains that lead Chang and Gütl to
integrate the idea of the ecosystem to the learning domain [10].
The generic model developed by Chang and Gütl depict learning
ecosystem (LES) that “consists of the stakeholders incorporating the
whole chain of the collaborative learning processes, the learning
utilities and the learning environment, within specific boundaries,
called environmental borders” also, show difference between living or
biotic and non-living or abiotic components. This difference is to
confirm that learning is a simple process between the living and non-
living components but growing awareness of the different styles of
potential learners, aware of learners' needs and early adopters'
experiences, strategies and the existence of modern utilities, Pursuit of
better learning via ICT(Information and communication technologies)
for lifelong learning, emergence of adaptive hypermedia and the growth
of open source software (OSS), the need to improve quality of e-
learning, and systems compounded by internal and external
environmental factors create a greater need to offer flexibility to survive
in a complex learning environment[9].
Fig.1 Simplified representation for the learning ecosystem (LES) [10]
The generic model is outlined as follow: The biotic units (living
parts) in the learning ecosystem constitute the learning communities
and other stakeholders such as teachers, tutors, content providers,
instructional designers and pedagogical experts who can interact and
T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I
collaborate synchronously and asynchronously with one another and
play significant roles in teaching and learning [10].
The learning utilities comparable to the abiotic units represent the
non-living parts; include the static and dynamic learning m
(content and pedagogical aspects), background knowledge in the form
of external sources such as Wikipedia, digital libraries, technology, and
tools applied in teaching( Laptops, desktop computers, podcasting,
Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) ).The technology may consists of the
architecture and infrastructure platform for the management, delivery
and tracking of e-learning in the form of learning content management
system (LCMS), learning management system (LMS) and content
delivery system (CDS)[7].
The learning environmental boundaries, an analogy to the specified
physical boundaries of the ecosystem defines the physical and logical
borders of the learning system. That is one of the system’s
characteristics, which are in common specified as the
ecosystem conditions [10].
The learning ecosystem dynamic conditions are affected by
external and internal influences, such as evolution of knowledge,
educational goals, learning tasks, cultural and sociological aspects, and
expectations by society, private industry and business organizations, the
government, public service and not-for-profit organizations.
the learning ecosystem conditions have important impact on the
“behavior” of the system and its components. To be successfu
be valuable for the system, each individual and group must adapt to the
environmental conditions to find their niches. In order to fit them all
together, proper learning utilities must also be available.
Any learning situation consists of biotic and abiotic components
which, their relationships and interactions together with the ecosystems'
condition so that, researchers confirm that LES can be used with any
learning situation, such as in classroom teaching or e-
The major interests in the learning environment are relationships
and interactions related to the information flow as well as knowledge
transfer and transformation. Like a biological ecosystem, in a learning
ecosystem, individuals can shape groups and can interact
other or with learning utilities at the individual or group level. They also
can perform, change or adapt specific behaviors in order to contribute to
the success of the learning ecosystem [10].
Extending ecosystem to e-learning defines E-learning ecosystem
the term used to describe all the components required to implement an
e-learning solution".
Fig. 2 E-learning ecosystem components that is consists of Content
providers, Consultants, Infrastructure [8]
Consultants
• Strategy
• compensation
• Implementation
• Information technology
Content
Providers
• Brand
• Custom
• Commodity
Infrastructure
• Learning Management System
• Tools
• Content Delivery System
T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I ( I V )
collaborate synchronously and asynchronously with one another and
comparable to the abiotic units represent the
living parts; include the static and dynamic learning media
(content and pedagogical aspects), background knowledge in the form
of external sources such as Wikipedia, digital libraries, technology, and
tools applied in teaching( Laptops, desktop computers, podcasting,
chnology may consists of the
architecture and infrastructure platform for the management, delivery
learning in the form of learning content management
system (LCMS), learning management system (LMS) and content
, an analogy to the specified
physical boundaries of the ecosystem defines the physical and logical
borders of the learning system. That is one of the system’s
characteristics, which are in common specified as the learning
The learning ecosystem dynamic conditions are affected by
external and internal influences, such as evolution of knowledge,
educational goals, learning tasks, cultural and sociological aspects, and
by society, private industry and business organizations, the
profit organizations. Changes in
the learning ecosystem conditions have important impact on the
“behavior” of the system and its components. To be successful and to
be valuable for the system, each individual and group must adapt to the
environmental conditions to find their niches. In order to fit them all
together, proper learning utilities must also be available.
iotic and abiotic components
which, their relationships and interactions together with the ecosystems'
ers confirm that LES can be used with any
-learning [9].
interests in the learning environment are relationships
and interactions related to the information flow as well as knowledge
transfer and transformation. Like a biological ecosystem, in a learning
ecosystem, individuals can shape groups and can interact with each
other or with learning utilities at the individual or group level. They also
can perform, change or adapt specific behaviors in order to contribute to
learning ecosystem "is
the term used to describe all the components required to implement an
learning solution".
learning ecosystem components that is consists of Content
By focusing on the learning utilities component (abiotic unit) of ELES,
the learning communities (biotic unit) of ELES must be self organizing.
This self-organization is required to avoid a single point of failure.
Furthermore, the interaction between learner
improvement of the productivity of learning environment must be taken
into account to achieve this cloud computing and web 2.0 as platform to
develop e-learning ecosystems [7].
3. A WALK IN THE CLOUD COMPUTING What is cloud computing and what does it mean for IT? A
that is frequently asked by people inside and outside
Information technology is changing rapidly, so cloud computing birth
came to explore the next generation in
has become one of the hottest buzzwords in the IT area. Many
companies and institutions are rushing to define clouds and provide
cloud solutions in various ways [2].
Cloud computing is Internet-based
resources, software, and information
other devices on demand, like the electricity grid
involves the existence of data centers that are able to provide services;
the cloud can be seen as a unique access point for all requests coming
from the world wide spread clients [1].
Fig. 3 Cloud computing
It allow users to use applications without, the need to purchase,
install, or support software on their local computers and/or servers,
worrying about how to maintain these applications,
the users to access their personal files anywhere in the
from any internet-enabled device, from their phones to their desktop
computers, only the user pay according to how much and how often he
need services [26].
New advances in processors, virtualization technology, disk storage,
broadband internet access and fast, inexpensive servers have all
combined to make cloud computing a compelling paradigm [33].
of the most important featured ideas behind cloud computi
scalability, and the key technology which make it possible is
virtualization [2]. Virtualization breaks down the physical barriers
inherent in isolated resources, and automates the management of these
resources as a single entity through hypervisor t
(Virtual Machines).
Cloud computing has critical impact on important areas of IT, like
security, infrastructure, investments, and more [27]. It away to increase
compensation
Implementation
Information technology
Brand
Custom
Commodity
Learning Management System
Content Delivery System
136 P a g e |
focusing on the learning utilities component (abiotic unit) of ELES,
the learning communities (biotic unit) of ELES must be self organizing.
organization is required to avoid a single point of failure.
Furthermore, the interaction between learners and educators and
the productivity of learning environment must be taken
o achieve this cloud computing and web 2.0 as platform to
IN THE CLOUD COMPUTING and what does it mean for IT? A question
that is frequently asked by people inside and outside technology industr.
Information technology is changing rapidly, so cloud computing birth
the next generation in computation. Cloud computing
has become one of the hottest buzzwords in the IT area. Many
companies and institutions are rushing to define clouds and provide
based computing, whereby shared
resources, software, and information are provided to computers and
electricity grid [25].Due to the fact it
involves the existence of data centers that are able to provide services;
the cloud can be seen as a unique access point for all requests coming
Fig. 3 Cloud computing [1]
users to use applications without, the need to purchase,
install, or support software on their local computers and/or servers,
worrying about how to maintain these applications, in addition to enable
the users to access their personal files anywhere in the world, anytime,
enabled device, from their phones to their desktop
computers, only the user pay according to how much and how often he
New advances in processors, virtualization technology, disk storage,
broadband internet access and fast, inexpensive servers have all
combined to make cloud computing a compelling paradigm [33]. One
ideas behind cloud computing is
scalability, and the key technology which make it possible is
virtualization [2]. Virtualization breaks down the physical barriers
inherent in isolated resources, and automates the management of these
resources as a single entity through hypervisor technology such as VMs
Cloud computing has critical impact on important areas of IT, like
security, infrastructure, investments, and more [27]. It away to increase
137 T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I ( I V ) P a g e |
capacity or add capabilities on the fly, reduce enterprise IT costs &
complexities while improving workload optimization and service
delivery, allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing
storage, memory, processing and bandwidth without investing in new
infrastructure, training new personnel, purchase software, or licensing
new software [13]. So, cloud computing becomes an adaptable
technology for many of companies and institutions with its dynamic
scalability and use of virtualized resources as a service through the
internet. Advances in technology offer new opportunities in enhancing
teaching and learning so cloud computing has a significant impact on
the educational environment.
Potential Values of Cloud computing for education are:
• Provide opportunity for ubiquitous computing [30].
• No need for backing up everything to a thumb drive and
transferring it from one device to another.
• No need to copy all stuff from one PC to another when buying
a new one. It also means students can create a repository of
information that stays with them and keeps growing as long as
he wants them.
• A convenient tool to engage in the scholarship of teaching and
learning.
• Provides large amounts of processing power comparable to
supercomputer level.
• Crash recovery is nearly unneeded. If the client computer
crashes, there are almost no data lost because everything is
stored in the cloud [1].
• Allows students to work from multiple Places (home, work,
library, etc), find their files and edit them through the cloud
and browser-based applications can also be accessed through
various devices (mobile, laptop and desktop computers,
provided internet access is available) [14].
• Most software is free, available and ready-to-use.
• Students can have a richer and more diverse learning
experience, even outside standard school hours.
• Allows students to create content through the browser,
instead of only searching through the browser.
• It provides a low cost solution to academic institutions for
their researchers, faculty and students [29].
• Flexibility. Scale infrastructure to maximize investments.
Cloud computing allows user to dynamically scale as
demands fluctuate [15].
• Accessibility. Help make data and services publicly available
without jeopardizing sensitive information.
Also cloud computing provides some major security benefits
for individuals and educational institutions that are
using/developing e-learning ecosystem, like the following:
• improved improbability : it is almost impossible for any
interested person (thief) to determine where is located the
machine that stores some wanted data (tests, exam questions,
results) or to find out which is the physical component he
needs to steal in order to get a digital asset[1].
• Virtualization: makes possible the rapid replacement of a
compromised cloud located server without major costs or
damages. It is very easy to create a clone of a virtual machine
so the cloud downtime is expected to be reduced substantially.
• Centralized data storage: losing a cloud client is no longer a
major incident while the main part of the applications and
data is stored into the cloud so a new client can be connected
very fast. Imagine what is happening today if a laptop that
stores the examination questions is stolen.
• Monitoring of data access becomes easier in view of the fact
that only one place should be supervised, not thousands of
computers belonging to a university, for example. Also, the
security changes can be easily tested and implemented since
the cloud represents a unique entry point for all the clients
[24].
Cloud computing is an excellent alternative for both colleges which
are specially under budget shortage to transform from traditional
learning to e-learning and colleges which do not have the resources and
infrastructure needed to run top e-learning solution effectively[15].
There is several cloud computing services providers that offer
support for educational systems. The internet giant Colleges advantages
of available cloud-based applications offered by service providers and
enable their own users/students to benefit from a set of online
productivity tools and applications in the cloud such as email, contact
lists, document storage, calendars, photo sharing, creation and sharing
(spreadsheets, word processed documents, presentations etc), and the
ability to create websites[27].
Google is one of the most prominent companies offering software as
a free online service to billions of users across the world (Google Apps,
Maps and Gmail are all based in the cloud). It already owns a massive
computer infrastructure (the cloud) where millions of people are
connecting too.
In 2008 Google has released Google App Engine as a platform
enables the user to build and host web apps on the same systems that
power Google applications. App Engine offers fast development and
deployment; simple administration, with no need to worry about
hardware, patches or backups; and effortless scalability [33].
IBM's CloudBurst is a self contained, pre packaged cloud that
includes hardware, software, applications, and middleware for faster
application development and deployment turnaround time [3, 36].
In 2006, Amazon extended its AWS (Amazon Web Service) suite
with a new component called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (or EC2)
that allows to the users to rent from Amazon processing power to be
used to run their own applications [31].
Microsoft has also spent big bucks on cloud computing. The firm
announced that Azure will go live in January 2010, Windows Azure
platform as a flexible cloud–computing platform that lets user focus on
solving education problems, addressing students' needs and provides
necessary web tools for education. Using Azure platform will bring the
education institutions closer to its vision and giving the flexibility to
education IT departments [29].
Which cloud is right for the user? The choice to move to the cloud is
not an all-or-nothing proposition. With different types of cloud
offerings, user has flexible options about which services to obtain in the
cloud and which to keep on-site. User priorities and security
requirements determine the level of cloud capabilities to explore. If we
look closely at the cloud, we will see three distinct sets of offerings:
• Infrastructure as a service (Iaas).
• Platform as a service (Paas).
• Software as a service (Saas).
T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I
Fig. 4 Cloud Computing Layers [17]
Software as a Service (SaaS): Deliver applications to the browser of
user or customer from the cloud. It helps organizations
process with limited IT resources to deploy and maintain needed
software in a timely manner while, at the same time, reducing energy
consumption and expenses. A growing number of academic institutions
are turning to SaaS for their desktop applications (Hinds Commu
College uses an email solution hosted in the cloud) Students now have
the free collaborative tools they want [19].
Platform as a Service: Cloud platform services or "Platform as a
Service (PaaS)" deliver a computing platform and/or
service, often consuming cloud infrastructure and sustaining cloud
applications[13]. It facilitates development and deployment of
applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing
the underlying infrastructure (hardware (server, storage and network),
and associated software (operating systems virtualization technology,
file system)) [24].Cloud platform provide all of the facilities required to
support the complete life cycle of building and delivering web
applications and services entirely available from the Internet [33].
Infrastructure as a Service (Data centers on demand):
infrastructure services or "Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)" get on
demand computer infrastructure. Rather than purchasing servers,
software, data center space or network equipment, clients
those resources as a fully outsourced service [17].
The service is typically billed on a utility computing
of resources consumed (and therefore the cost) will typically reflect the
level of activity. It is an evolution of virtual private server
[25].
Using data centers means the user can scale with ease and speed to
meet the infrastructure needs of his entire organization or individual
departments within it, globally or locally [19].Amazon Web Services
Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Secure Storage Service (S3) are
examples of IaaS offerings [33].
• Virtual Desktop: Use any networked desktop in the users'
enterprise to access the applications, data an
• Virtual Data Center: Add or reduce computing power and
capacity as needed, control costs through a pay
structure, and offer accessibility from anywhere [34].
E-learning ecosystems can use benefit from cloud computing using:
• Infrastructure: use an e-learning ecosystem on the provider's
infrastructure.
• Platform: use and develop an e-learning ecosystem based on
the provider's development interface.
• Services: use the e-learning ecosystem given by the provider.
SaaS
Paas
Iaas
T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I ( I V )
Cloud Computing Layers [17]
Deliver applications to the browser of
user or customer from the cloud. It helps organizations learning
with limited IT resources to deploy and maintain needed
software in a timely manner while, at the same time, reducing energy
consumption and expenses. A growing number of academic institutions
are turning to SaaS for their desktop applications (Hinds Community
College uses an email solution hosted in the cloud) Students now have
Cloud platform services or "Platform as a
solution stack as a
service, often consuming cloud infrastructure and sustaining cloud
. It facilitates development and deployment of
applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing
the underlying infrastructure (hardware (server, storage and network),
and associated software (operating systems virtualization technology,
provide all of the facilities required to
support the complete life cycle of building and delivering web
applications and services entirely available from the Internet [33].
(Data centers on demand): Cloud
infrastructure services or "Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)" get on-
. Rather than purchasing servers,
software, data center space or network equipment, clients instead buy
utility computing basis and amount
re the cost) will typically reflect the
virtual private server offerings
can scale with ease and speed to
meet the infrastructure needs of his entire organization or individual
departments within it, globally or locally [19].Amazon Web Services
Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Secure Storage Service (S3) are
Use any networked desktop in the users'
enterprise to access the applications, data and other resources.
Add or reduce computing power and
through a pay-per-use
structure, and offer accessibility from anywhere [34].
learning ecosystems can use benefit from cloud computing using:
learning ecosystem on the provider's
learning ecosystem based on
learning ecosystem given by the provider.
4. CLOUD COMPUTING AND WEB 2.0 Technologies and Services for building
Ecosystems There have been many new advances in the computing field in
recent times. Cloud Computing and Web 2.0 are two such areas that are
beginning to significantly impact how we develop, deploy and use e
learning ecosystem model. As shown in
involving various stakeholders' needs to
and content types, increasing e-learning ecosystem productivity and
scalability, Moreover; learning environment must
adaptable towards users’ needs and concerns.
This raises the question of whether cloud computing and web2.0
meet the indicated requirements. To answer this
introduces the proposed model with new technologies
between cloud computing and simple web 2.0 layer model
linked with learning processes. Each layer will perform specific
functions which contribute in achieving the
Fig. 5 e-Learning ecosystem
Components of the Proposed Model:
(2) Specific types of services and applications, (3) Web 2.0 based
activities, (4) learning processes (5) Cloud computing
Azure (7) Windows Azure AppFabric and
(1)Web2.0 Technologies: The first layer includes technologies
which make Web services and applications more usable and
convenient, such as AJAX, JavaScript,
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), REST, RSS, Atom, and the like. These
technologies allow users to create, share, collaborate & communicate,
improve system performance and make the user interface more
attractive. From this layer we will use only the tools that compatible
with cloud computing.
(2)Web2.0 Services and Applications
web 2.0 services and application built on
that demonstrate the foundations of the web 2.0 concept, and they are
already being used to a certain extent in education, these applications
include weblogs, wikis, social writing tools,
tagging, podcasts, media sharing tools, social networks, mashup and the
like. These are not really technologies as such, but services built using
the building blocks of the technologies and open standards that underpin
the Internet and the Web. The universities ca
applications to communicate and interact with learners, staff and the
wider academic community. From this layer we will use only the tools
that compatible with cloud computing.
(3)Web 2.0 Based Activities: The third layer contain
activities are depending on web2.0 services
Web 2.0-based activities include collaborative content writing, sharing,
communication, messaging, information linking, information
presentation and the like.
(4)Learning Processes: The learning processes are summarized as a
number of the learning processes are defined by the Learning
Each of the learning tasks can be controlled by one or even several
138 P a g e |
CLOUD COMPUTING AND WEB 2.0 Services for building efficient E-Learning
Ecosystems many new advances in the computing field in
recent times. Cloud Computing and Web 2.0 are two such areas that are
beginning to significantly impact how we develop, deploy and use e-
shown in Section 2, e-learning ecosystem
needs to integrate a variety of services
learning ecosystem productivity and
; learning environment must be flexible and
concerns.
cloud computing and web2.0 can
. To answer this question, Figure 5
introduces the proposed model with new technologies, integration
between cloud computing and simple web 2.0 layer model will be
linked with learning processes. Each layer will perform specific
functions which contribute in achieving the paper objectives.
earning ecosystem model
Components of the Proposed Model: (1) Web2.0 technologies,
types of services and applications, (3) Web 2.0 based
activities, (4) learning processes (5) Cloud computing (6) Windows
and (8) SQL Azure.
The first layer includes technologies
Web services and applications more usable and
convenient, such as AJAX, JavaScript, XSLT/XML, XHTML,
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), REST, RSS, Atom, and the like. These
technologies allow users to create, share, collaborate & communicate,
rformance and make the user interface more
attractive. From this layer we will use only the tools that compatible
Web2.0 Services and Applications: The second layer consists of
web 2.0 services and application built on Web 2.0 technologies layer
that demonstrate the foundations of the web 2.0 concept, and they are
already being used to a certain extent in education, these applications
include weblogs, wikis, social writing tools, social bookmarking, social
podcasts, media sharing tools, social networks, mashup and the
like. These are not really technologies as such, but services built using
the building blocks of the technologies and open standards that underpin
The universities can make use of these
applications to communicate and interact with learners, staff and the
wider academic community. From this layer we will use only the tools
The third layer contains specific
on web2.0 services and applications. These
based activities include collaborative content writing, sharing,
ommunication, messaging, information linking, information
learning processes are summarized as a
learning processes are defined by the Learning tasks.
Each of the learning tasks can be controlled by one or even several
139 T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I ( I V ) P a g e |
learning activities. Such activities can be provided through the Web 2.0
services and applications by Web 2.0-based activities.
(5)Cloud computing as a platform:
Cloud computing as a platform is a new era of cloud computing
offers the academic organization a familiar development experience,
on-demand scalability, scale up when it need capacity and pull it back
when it don’t, cost savings, and reduced time to market for the
applications, all in a secure environment[35] . It is a new instrument to
host and deploy e-learning ecosystem in more effective way. We will
use windows azure as a platform.
(6)Windows Azure: Provides a Windows-based environment for
running e-learning ecosystem application and storing data on servers in
Microsoft data centers.
(7)Windows Azure AppFabric: provides a comprehensive cloud
middleware platform for developing, deploying and managing e-
learning ecosystem application on the Windows Azure Platform. It
delivers additional developer productivity adding in higher-level
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capabilities on top of the familiar
Windows Azure application model. It also enables bridging the existing
applications to the cloud through secure connectivity across network
and geographic boundaries, and by providing a consistent development
model for both Windows Azure and Windows Server.
(8) SQL Azure
Is a highly available and scalable cloud database service built on SQL
Server technologies? With SQL Azure, developers do not have to
install, setup, and patch or manage any software.
Benefits of windows azure: Agility: Take advantage of development tools, automated service
management and global datacenter presence to respond faster to
customer needs, focus on his competitive differentiators, and reach new
markets.
Efficiency: Windows Azure improves productivity and increases
operational efficiency by lowering up-front capital costs.
Focus: Focus on delivering services and value to user and not on
managing technology infrastructure. Windows Azure enables user to
spend less time on operational hurdles and more time focusing on his
competitive differentiators.
Simplicity: Utilize user existing skills in familiar languages such as
.NET to create and manage web applications and services.
Trustworthy: Enterprise class service backed by reliable service level
agreements and a rich online services experience.
Emerging web 2.0 layers with windows azure as a platform meet
the needs of the education communities in the educational institutions.
5. SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN Fig 6 and Fig 7 show a deep understanding of the goals, tasks, and
requirements of the proposed enhanced e-learning ecosystem.
Fig. 6 E-learning Ecosystem Diagram
Fig. 7 Database Schema
6. CONCLOSION The design of e-learning ecosystems is still in its infancy. With the huge
growth of users, services education contents and resources, e-learning
ecosystem is facing challenges of optimizing resource allocations,
dealing with dynamic concurrency demands, handling rapid storage
growth requirements and cost controlling. So the best solution for this is
using new technologies (integration between cloud computing and web
2.0). In the field of ICT sourcing cloud computing is currently one of
the biggest topics. Cloud computing is a delivery model that allows
users to rent ICT services and performance on an on-demand or project
basis through networks (e.g. the Internet or an intranet) instead of
uc Actors
E-Learning Ecosystem
Learner
Educator
Admin
Author
Coordinator
Manager
View Course
Create Profile Interactiv e
Discussion
Adj ust User
Interface
Create Content
Enroll courses
Utilize Content
Update Content
Collaborate
Content Creatre New
Course
Manage Content
Category
Create curriculum
Inspect learner
activ ities
Update the Existing
Course
Supervise
learner’ learning
Coach learner’
learning
Assist learner’
learning
Ev aluate learner’
learning
participate in
discussions
communicate
personal messages
exchange personal
messages
collect deliv erables
assess deliv erables
return deliverables
comment proj ect
work
review learning
activ ities
stimulate learning
proposing activ ities
create work teams
provide contents
ev aluate learners
progress
communicate with
learners, other
educators and
coordinators
administrate security
access rights to the
system
access rights to the
system
network operations
Monitor and repair
database
connections and
operations
Monitor & repair
server problems
Maintain the system
produce statistics
Inspect course
progress
Monitor learner
progress
Tally an analyze test
results
Approv e eligible
course enrollments
manages enrollments
manage courses
catalogue
Assign profiles and
priv ileges to the
users
Administer the
system
Backup database
Manage System
setting
Manage User
priv ileges
140 T h e R e s e a r c h B u l l e t i n o f J o r d a n A C M , V o l . I I ( I V ) P a g e |
purchasing them. These services can be software (SaaS – Software as a
Service), platforms for the development and operation of applications
(PaaS – Platform as a Service) or basic infrastructure, e.g. storage space
(IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service).
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