Based on an evaluation of the technologies used in the MLEs in HE Programme undertaken by Paul Browning.

Description of the purpose or functions of the product

DMU

Please see:

• Managed Learning Environment - Architecture
• MLE - Guiding Principles
• Generic User Specification for Managed Learning Environment

Writtle

The whole and only concept behind the creation of GIMIS is to seamlessly and near instantaneously extract "Live" data across any host system or platform, based on a set of user defined parameters, subject to authentication and authorisation.

St Andrews

All systems have a web front-end

• Swipe card based student enrolment.
• Non-swipe card based student enrolment (from any browser).
• Swipe card based lecture attendance recording.
• Module enrolment list analysis and reconciliation between Department view and Central view.
• Role-based module management facilities for students and staff.
• Online Assignment tracking (OATS)
• Tutorial attendance system.

UEA

The appendix to the evaluation report contains a list of the functional areas of the prototype. Is there another document to which we can refer?

Sunderland

The functions are that all users whether they are students, administrators or academics. When fully operational, the MLE will recognise a user, know why they are accessing the system and which part of the system they have access to.

Ravensbourne

• Purpose: awareness of the latest developments of global and international concerted efforts to produce specifications for interoperability such as the IMS, EduPerson and LiPerson, TISR focused on an immediate solution whilst such specifications consolidate and manufacturers of both instructional and administrative software for the educational sector implement them.
• Functions: The whole issue about TISR is integration. TISR works as a "meta-system capable of integrating different software applications that could also work across different platforms and offer the capability of integrating any other arbitrary system resulting from new additional data sources."
• The Product: two deliverables and one by-product: The application "Diet-TISR"; The Student Object - SO Model.
• The by-product: the MIS design as the strategic context for the application of Diet-TISR API through the SO Model.

Requirements hardware

DMU

• Deployment machine: Linux Server with 2 x Pentium 3 1 GHz processors; 2 Gb RAM, 34 Gb Hard Disk
• Development machine: Windows 2000 Workstation with Pentium 3 800 Mhz processor; 512 Mb RAM; 24 Gb Hard disk. N.B. The system works works fine on this, at least with a small number of concurrent users. The development and deployment environment currently occupies about 300 Mb.

Writtle

The GIMIS architecture does not "require" any specific hardware. It is designed to run on almost any platform/OS combination. It works well on any of the following and by implication, the hardware that they support/require: Win32 (9x to XP), Unix (almost any flavour), Linux, Solaris, Mac OS

St Andrews

INSIDE integration server and INSIDE development server (Intel/Linux), PCs, Macs, etc. USB swipe card readers.

UEA

In general, MARTINI requires a Web server, an application server, and an authentication server. MARTINI's demonstrator is now running on a PC under the Windows 2000 server operating system. The hardware required is simply a P3 processor with 512M memory. The necessity for any hardware upgrade required for deployment of MARTINI system has yet to be determined. There is no specific hardware that the MARTINI system must have in order to work properly.

Sunderland

Zope is platform independent, however we host the service on a Sun E450 server, Solaris 8.

Ravensbourne

We have run TISR on the following: 1 GHz P3, 384 Mb RAM, Win2k; 667 MHz PPC, 1 Gb RAM, Mac OS X; AMD Althlon 1 Ghz, 384 Mb RAM, Win2K Suggested Minimum requirement: P3 1 Ghz / PPC 667 Mhz 256 Mb RAM 100 Mbit Ethernet 40 Gb Hard disk Linux Windows NT/2K/XP -tested and supported Mac OSX - limited testing Solaris (on Sun hardware)

Requirements software server-side

DMU

Java 1.3 or higher; uPortal version 2; Postgres database management system.

Writtle

Web Server, ColdFusion Server 5+, Database Connection Drivers (ODBC etc.), MySQL 4.01+

St Andrews

mySQL, Access, Ingres, Oracle, SQL, SITS, Apache, Tomcat, Java Server Pages, Java Servlets

UEA

Web Server: Java Virtual Machine (Run Time Environment 1.4.1) Web Objects 5.0L: LDAP directory / Active directory server. Since MARTINI system is developed in pure Java code under the WebObjects development environment, it is able to run on different platforms. In relation to the compatibility between WebObjects and the OS, the designers of WebObjects state that it is compatible with Mac OS, Windows 2000, Solaris and UNIX system. Thus, in order to run MARTINI system, any machine/server needs one of the afore-mentioned OSs installed.

Sunderland

Zope version 2.6, CMF 1.3, Plone branch 1.0, LDAP directory.

Ravensbourne

Apart from the data sources to connect to it needs an LDAP server with TISR schemas (we are using Netscape Directory Server 4.16 switched to iPlanet for Demonstrator), Castor, JDOM, Servlet engine (we are using Resin) , EJB Host (we are using Resin), TISR.war, TISR.jar

Requirements software client-side

With the exception of Ravensbourne which optionally uses SVG (scalable vector graphics) for aesthetic reasons only they will all run on any reasonably up to date browser such asIE 4+, Opera 5+ , NS 6.2+, Konqueror (Linux) et al which supports HTTP 1.0 or above and HTML 3.2 or above

Accessibility

DMU

The interface has been designed according to usability standards and good practice, including provision for users with disabilities. See Deliverable D2.2 (Section 3) and Deliverable D2.1 (Section 4.3). The first version of the interface was evaluated by external consultants. Subsequent versions have taken account of these reports.

Writtle

Through the adoption of the Section 508 standard, the GIMIS interface is built with the aim of providing equal access to users of all capabilities. The design is also optimised for external users who may be on slow connections; to this end, the design produces results that are as compact as possible.

St Andrews

As a result of Government and University initiatives and SENDA (Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001) investigations into accessibility issues are underway. Although current web applications and pages are not at present adapted, we are aware of the need to do so. The findings of these investigations are presented in: C.Boldyreff "Determination and Evaluation of Web Accessibility", Eleventh IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WETICE'02) June 10 - 12, 2002, IEEE Computer Society.

UEA

MARTINI explicitly addresses accessibility. Variant of interface using HTML and CSS designed and checked to be Bobby-compliant. (The MARTINI software has meet the requirement of Bobby AA Approval in both GUI and TEXT-based interface).

Sunderland

W3C AA compliant. With the aim that regardless of IT equipment, geographical location, special needs or browser preference information can be accessed in a way that best suits required needs. Northumbria Sight Service also evaluated the site for usability / accessibility.

Ravensbourne

Output is all XML. Administrators can produce style sheets with XSLT to meet needs. Sample style sheets produce XHTML output.