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Trial of The Learning Federation content distribution and

1. lt Of Click on the Search button Note that the Quicksearch field is case sensitive This means using a capital and lower case letter to find the learning object The Search Results page Search Results gee A Search Help Quicksearch Search Please note that searches are case sensitive Add ta Lesson killSspeeding SSpeeding Mew Lesson E Search Results Give me a brake published SE eS eo Investigate braking efficiency of cars and trucks by testing stopping distances under See controlled conditions Check effects of vehicle type road surface type water and ice Tems and Conditions tread thickness Set initial driving speeds and controlled variables then apply brakes and compare stopping distances Judge distances fram target markers Answer About BELTS questions about antilock braking systems and actual speed limits Copyright 2002 education 3u tinged and Curriculum Corporation All Rights Reserwed Learning Area Science Strand Science Physical sciences Werston 2 0 Size 52 kilobytes Wiew Summary Details Download Speed and distance published A sequence of two interactive learning scenarios about the mechanics of motion Control simulated vehicles ta explore relationships between braking stopping distances friction 1 kdeasure stopping distances and reaction times 2 Judge distances from target markers These activities are reinforced with options ta look up fu
2. le rning schools online curriculum content initiative National Catholic Education Commission TRIAL OF THE LE GRNING FEDERATION CONTENT DISTRIBUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BASIC E LEARNING TOOL SET BELTS Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission DATE FEBRUARY 2004 DOCUMENT DELIVERY_IMPLEMENTATION BELTS _REPORT DOC Commercial in Confidence Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Disclaimer The material contained in this National report of trials conducted in the National Catholic Education Commission is for general information purposes only Any use of the material is at your own risk To the extent permitted by law neither Curriculum Corporation nor education au limited will be liable for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any party relying upon this National report of trials conducted in the National Catholic Education Commission Acknowledgements This report is the result of a joint project funded by The Le rning Federation and conducted in 15 schools within the National Catholic Education Commission Reports summarising the trials conducted in schools were prepared by the following officers e Mr Michael Haigh Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese e Ms Angela Forgan Ms Ann Thornton and Mr Paul Barry Melbourne Archdiocese e Ms Fran Murray Darwin Diocese e Dr Kathryn Moyl
3. 06 04 04 63 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Caching Another important consideration to include in the trial was how effectively learning objects could be cached especially when it was noticed that some objects were up to nearly 4MB in size Caching will not only impact on the download time but also on the cost to schools If objects can be cached on the school network then the download time should be considerably quicker except for the first user of the object Schools using ISPs will only be paying for the first download of the object not for subsequent use lt was very evident when trialling learning objects in both secondary and primary classrooms that students were engaged when using the learning objects Once the object was completed they immediately played it again and again as many as four or five times to see what all the potential outcomes were Even where the object took 30 seconds or more to download this was not a deterrent It became vital to know even if a caching device could not cache the objects that the testing should investigate when an object was viewed several times over whether caching occurred in the browser of the computer used If a school had to pay download costs for every single download of a learning object x the number of students in a class x the number of times it was viewed by each student then the cost would be significant and this woul
4. 10665 91497 2905 Io 1020s T70 LIG TCP MEM ALT 200 655 GET hbtp belts co catholicveduveu contents 262 Contents LV16s0 11 00 loan tm_015 release css styles css NONE text css LOGS 5 91 4 9 91 3 6 LOe20 64 8116 TCP MEM ATT A200 1 36u iGRT hetpe belts egq catholi c edu au content 262 7 Content LbV1630 7 13 001 gan tm_015_release TLF_Logo jpg NONE image jpeg LUG SSI14YS 326 AAT NO 20d TS 6 TCP PLE 200 I 723 19 GET hGbtps belts cG cathols 4du au content 2677 Contenry LV 1630711 001 Gan tm_015_release loader dcr NONE application x director LUGS 5915062626 LI BO 2 Ow Pow 6 TCP MEMS Het 200 3 Ose GEE hGtps belts cg catrholiec 6du au content 2672 Content LV1630 11_ 001 gan tm_015_release dswmedia images preloader_next jpg NONE image jpeg 10685915028360 C921 103204178 116 TCR HIT 200 2103053 GET hitp pelts cg cathol ic cdusau content 202 C0ntent LVI C307 15 001 Gan tm_015_release house dcr NONE application x director LOGS S915 353 7 02 L050 20 20 1257 6ai16 TCP FIE 200 3140 GET hEtpi7 bSelis co Garholicvedusdu convents 2627 Contents LVLosv 1s 00l gan tm_015_ release dswmedia images interface_white jpg NONE image jpeg Detailed Access log for swf objects Wind Power LO_04 and LO_05 Request for Learning Object 4 First time called 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 40 21 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 LO_0
5. DOs Oe bee 225 257 Nov 2003s 4 53 eG FELLO TOEN hetpry belts veo cavholacvedu au contenu exchangey 767 3 0 Content 1v49 4 T 0 05 20030228 7L0 05_ gleswi HITP 1 0 200 14635 TCP Miso ck LRoL PARENT MISSO LOG POe 391250 lt 25 7 Nov7 20032 425333 FLOU TOET http belts3 cg catholic du au ontent s exchanges 76 3 0 Content LV49 2 LO_04 20030228 L0_04 swf HTTP 1 0 200 52847 TCP_HIT NONE VON 8 Oe ZOOS Ss 2S NOV 2003s ees 44 a OO Mere hetp belts3 co catholic edusau contents xchange 6 3 0 7 Contents lV49 Z LO 04 7 200302267 LO A rt swi ATL P 10 200 3942 TCP MEM AIT NONE LO gh O gk So S750 25 Nov 200s 14s Sawa LOO MOGET http 7 belts3 co catholiecsedu au content exchange 7 6 3 0 Content LV49 2 0 047200302287 LO 04 61 swt ATTP 1 0 20013955 TCP HIT sNONE IO POWs 9 2503S 2S Novy200 3214453245 1100 EET http belts3 cgq catholre 4du au content exchange 76 3 0 Content 1lLV49 Z LO 04 200302287L0 04 test swi HTIP 1 lt 0 20029033 TCP AITsNONE UOC Oe lL BO 7S Oa 2S iNOVy 2 00Ss 14253256 FL LOO CET http 7 belts3 cg cakbhol te edi au contene exchange 1 6 3 0 ContrentyLV49 ALO CUD 20030276 EO 05 sw HTTP 0 200 52004 TOPHIT NONE VOC NO 139 250 25 Novs 20031 soo 06 tL 100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV49 4 T40_05 20030228 L0_05_rt swf HTTP 1 0 200 4159 TCP_MEM _HIT NONE POSTO 3 250 257 Nov 72003 ela o4 06
6. i mim m B Ho of 1 91 M 103 70 28 41 2 a 31 64 fae 74 11 6 38 78 01 A 4 76 1 66 4 22 Subtotal for File Types Above 132 2 24 H Interpret Results The results from this test indicate that 35 of the content contained on the belts web server can be cached when viewing learning objects Closer analysis of the log files shows that the majority of flash learning objects were not cached as can be seen below by the TCP_NC_MISS 200 tag 06 04 04 69 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 90 10 160 9 10 TCP_NC_ MISS 200 746 GET http belts ceo melb catholic edu au content exchange 204 2 0 Content LV1013 sc_0 1_gantm_20 js script js DEFAULT PARENT proxy ceo melb catholic edu au application x javascript Interestingly a small number of the flash learning objects have been tagged with a TCP_HIT 304 indicating that they were served from cache as seen below 10 160 9 10 TCP_HIT 304 29 GET http belts ceo melb catholic edu au content exchange 46 2 0 Content LV489 LO_03 20030228 LO_03 swf DIRECT This would account for the fact that some of the flash learning objects would need to be returned from cache as 85 26 per cent of the files downloaded were swf files x shockwave flash and would need to be accounted in the 35 of the cached content Conclusion This investigation has proven that approximately 35 of the content on the belts web
7. e That jurisdictions through the ECC give consideration to providing training for technical administrators in how to install maintain and troubleshoot within BELTS e That small widespread trials of the BELTS installation disk developed by officers in the Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education Office are conducted to establish whether the installation disk could be used nationally as an easy installation method 5 2 3 Time needed for setting up supporting and maintaining BELTS At this stage the time needed for setting up maintaining and supporting BELTS cannot be predicted in an easy and straightforward manner During the course of both the Melbourne and Canberra Goulburn trials frustrations and time delays were experienced with the set up Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 22 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission of BELTS There were several reasons for this including the fact that BELTS itself was still under development The reports of both these trials provide insights into the nature of these frustrations as well as the predicted times for setting up and using BELTS see Appendices One and Two Theoretically the installation of BELTS once stable and complete should be simple and rapid Should the installation not proceed smoothly however the time taken to resolve the problems will depend on the nature of the problem and the availability of sui
8. 13 How many other users were accessing the Internet at the same time approx 14 Was this on the Curriculum or Admin side of the network if applicable 15 Was the documentation you received helpful Explain 16 Was the level of technical support sufficient Explain 17 What other issues or problems did you encounter 06 04 04 83 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 10 4 APPENDIX TWO D Computer and bandwidth configurations used in the Melbourne trial 06 04 04 84 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Configuration of PCs used in Belts Trial Computer Loading pey ISDN Ce 3 mins i incall not St Mark s 128K Dingley ISDN computer 1 333Mhz secs Win 98 computer 2 500Mhz Win 98 S ae 1 3Ghz ee v 6 0 em secs se 98 Pentium Ill 800 nll halal v 6 0 baml secs computer 4 Mhz Win 98 Pentium IV 2 256 MB IE v 6 0 48 secs computer 5 Ghz Win 98 Footscra Celeron 500 30 secs computert Celeron 500 30 secs 2 computer 3 Mac 30 secs i OSX 9 2 2 128MB IEv 5 1 ae 30 secs after several LO loaded computer 5 then gave an error message saying Mac 233Mhz Out of OSX 9 0 4 96MB IE v 5 2 Memory 06 04 04 85 computers 3 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Heidelberg ADSL Ibook 500Mhz 4 secs laptop Power G3 OSX v10 128MB
9. via the Basic E Learning Tool Set BELTS The Basic E Learning Tool Set BELTS is an open source enterprise java solution that has been designed to support the presentation and management of learning objects to students BELTS has not been designed as a fully featured learning management system BELTS was designed so that it would be a component in a larger infrastructure framework 3 5 National Catholic Education Commission The National Catholic Education Commission is a national system of Catholic schools As a national jurisdiction it provides a context within which collaborative national efforts such as BELTS can be trialed It is against the abovementioned background of the identified technical requirements to implement BELTS that the trials were conducted 13 The following information about The Le rning Federation has been drawn from The Le rning Federation 2003b and The Le rning Federation 2002c 14 The term jurisdiction is the collective term used to refer to government and non government school systems and sectors Open source software uses software source code that is open unrestricted and available by downloading it from the Internet The Le rning Federation has identified a number of advantages to this form of licensing including widespread use and feedback on functionality reuse of code by other projects and integration with other tool sets The BELTS application has been made available at sourceforge http so
10. 250 K Information about LATIS is available from http www latis net au Ibid Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 16 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission All trials of the learning objects using the CD ROMs had to be conducted on stand alone computers either in teachers homes or using stand alone legacy machines as the LATIS workstations do not have individual CD ROM players installed At the time of the trial the CD ROMs had not been LATIS certified and therefore could not be played on the LATIS workstations through their associated CD ROM towers Teachers in the four participating schools were provided with e aCD ROM with a selection of learning objects literacy for students at risk and maths and mumeracy and links to the required plugins for downloading from the Internet e brief handwritten instructions outlining how to access the learning objects e two questionnaires to be completed by teachers trialing the CDs e asummary of the technical requirements for accessing BELTS Teachers completed the questionnaires and returned them to the Darwin Catholic Education Office 4 4 Support made available to the trial schools Teachers in the Melbourne and Canberra Goulburn Archdioceses were provided with a small amount of face to face inservice on how to use BELTS for constructing lessons No training was provided to the Northern Territory teac
11. BELTS and myinternet A difference emerged however in relation to the payment of download cosis The myinternet server is housed within the Catholic Education Office Melbourne virtual private network VPN The myinternet trial schools did not pay for download costs regardless of the number of times they use the TLF learning objects because they were accessing the content from within the VPN However those schools accessing content via BELTS which was not located within the VPN were charged download costs based on the frequency of use of the learning objects The location of the learning object repository within or outside of the VPN will impact on the cost of delivery and use of objects at the school level Hence total cost of ownership should include the cost of accessing managing and downloading the learning objects 2 7 1 4 CD ROMs Pros e Access to learning objects does not depend on access to the Internet e Use and reuse of the learning objects does not involve download costs or bandwidth e Access to learning objects should be rapid e Management practices are not required to handle naming for multiple users and their lessons unless the school is using a LAN e Managing different versions of CDs will be necessary as new learning objects are released or when old learning objects are updated e As the pool of learning objects grows it is likely that several CDs will be required or alternatively DVDs will be needed for sto
12. Education Commission The schools with the higher level bandwidth 256 1 5MB ADSL experienced virtually instant delivery of the learning objects almost regardless of the power of the computer being used Even where slower computers eg Celeron with 64 MB Ram were used students were still able to view the objects immediately and within the 10 second timeline required It became clear from visiting the schools with the standard bandwidth that the downloading of the learning objects took considerably longer than for those with the higher level bandwidth even with a similar computer configuration While 30 seconds seemed a long time students were content to wait for the object to appear once they knew it would eventually arrive on the desktop It was evident that once students had seen the object Indigestion they were quite untroubled by the time delay as they wanted to continue reloading and interacting with it Where the school was unable to install an ADSL connection and had ISDN instead even with Pentium 4s the download time was at least 60 seconds and became impossible with slightly less powerful machines Further analysis is required in schools with low level bandwidth connections to ensure that delivery in a reasonable time frame is possible myinternet At each school visited except Avila College and on all computers tested the identical learning object Indigestion was selected using both the Belts server an
13. IEv 5 2 computer 2 Power G3 OSX v10 128MB IEv 5 2 St Vincent de Paul 256k 1 5MB Strathmore ADSL ee 4 MB bide v 6 0 Secs computert computert ee XP computer 2 Win 98 2nd load edition computer 3 Laptop load Win 98 2nd edit Power PC G4 256 MB mn v6 0 Secs Pentium 2 64 MB IE v 6 0 Did not ee a 700Mhz Laptop 128 MB IE v 6 0 25SeCS commuters wmabandeat EYES 0S C es es ee ee ee computer 1 06 04 04 86 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission es Avila R 1 5MB College ADSL Mt Waverley computer 1 Win 95 SES apr computer 2 Win XP computer lab Celeron 400 64MB V5 5 secs A e a a AA St Paul s College 1024K Altona DAR Celeron 10 secs computer 1 Pentium 100 T ME Celeron 48MB IE v 5 5 10 secs a eee eS 25 computers Win ME e o aaa a school epee s oO school myclasses portal was used to view LO in each school No time differences noticed between Belts or myinternet 06 04 04 87 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 11 APPENDIX THREE Accessing learning objects in remote Catholic schools in the Northern Territory Report of CD trial 06 04 04 88 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission ACCESSING LEARNING OBJECTS IN REMOTE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY REPORT OF CD TRIAL Pur
14. LOO GET http belts3 cg catholi1c 4du au contents exchanges 7 6 3 0 Content LV49 4 L0_05 20030228 L0O_05_gl swf HTTP 1 0 200 14844 TCP_HIT NONE Ok AON 138 s229 a Po NOVA 20034 1454236 eh 00 EE http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV49 2 LO_04 20030228 L0_04_rt swf HTTP 1 0 304 223 TCP_IMS_HIT NONE LOp MO gh Se c223 25 Nov 2003s At a4e76 1100 GEL http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV49 2 L0_04 20030228 L0_04_gl swf HTTP 1 0 304 223 TCP_IMS_HIT NONE LOCUS e223 S POS Novy 200314454220 100 GET hetpty belts3 Cg Gatho lic eduwauy Convent exchenge 76 3 0 Content 1 49 27 10 0 4720030228 L0 204 test swt HTTP 120 304 223 TCP IMS AIT NONE 06 04 04 48 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Summary of Access for dcr object Finders Keepers 1 LVG65 914975 oul 135 WO ZOwI oe Io TCP MISS E200 T215 GET http belts cg catholic edu au lesson mh_fk2 view 1 html FIRST_UP_PARENT proxy smwms cg catholic edu au text html LO68591497 698 0 10 20 10 78 116 TCP MEM HIT 200 1776 GET hEtp lt belts co caLtholieedu auy convent 262 Content 1V16s0 17 _ 00 1 dan tm_015 release index html NONE text html LO6S59149 7 793 A 0220 1 8e LEO TCP MEM HET 200 63e GET http 7 belts cq catholte edu au content 262 Content LV1L630 11 001 Gan tm_015 release js script js NONE application x javascript
15. any of the year levels that they were designed for All schools have industry standard CAT 5E cabling with managed switches DLINK DS 3226S N controlling their traffic The Local Area Networks all operate at 100Meg except where the PC card is a 10Meg The switches are auto sensing and can handle a range of different Network Interface Cards without impacting on port performance Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Network ADSL lli m connected Satellite i iint a Connected Schools Admin LAN 10 20 x x CEO Network TransACT Connected Schools VDSL Modem 3 Admin LAN Gateway Server 10 10 x x cale He Acgne Border Manager Firewall Each Linux Gateway server carries out a range of functions These include a firewall to the Internet proxy services including 1 Gigabyte of Cache a secure tunnel across the WAN process monitoring simple mail transport local dhcp services and local Domain Name Services DNS The Local Area Networks at each site are effectively peer to peer networks without any LAN level authentication WAN and Internet access is authenticated against the CGCEO s 06 04 04 35 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission myinternet services All WAN traffic is in the first instance routed through the local proxy All Internet Traffic is drawn through the CGCEO s central servers School Profile Cootamundra Sacred Heart Central School ADSL connection
16. aprototype for an enterprise system architecture for provision of learning to the education systems and sectors to assist with developing their own architectures 3 a framework for an open source learning management system allowing the initial solution to continue being extended for the benefit of education systems and sectors and 4 asystem that assists education systems and sectors and schools to identify their requirements for learning management systems Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 1 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e Further research is required into the total cost of ownership of the respective distribution models e Active engagement with the collaborative nature of open source software communities was not obvious in these trials Such engagement could enable both schools and jurisdictions to make further gains from using this software particularly in relation to ongoing technical skill development and support and with further local enhancements of BELTS Awareness raising and explicitly stated protocols about how jurisdictions and individuals can participate and contribute to BELTS developments are required 6 The trials highlighted the importance for schools and jurisdictions deploying BELTS to have administration and management strategies in place for updating learning objects and for identification and reuse by teachers of the sequences of l
17. au fitted and Curriculum Corporation All Rights Resenred Lesson Instructions Teachers notes are displayed when teachers access a lesson Lesson instructions are displayed when student and teacher access a lesson Use them to tell student howto use the lesson This page has a number of fields used to enter and store information about the lesson that is being prepared Ca Pressey in 06 04 04 108 el Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission EDIT A LESSON The first part of the Edit Lesson page is used to e allow lesson login to be used e assemble teacher notes about the lesson e provide instructions for the lesson OF Click on the Enable Login box so that it is ticked By ticking the box this allows a lesson login to be used rathe rather than a user login A Lesson password must be specified to complete the lesson login process o8 Type a password into the Lesson Password field Make it something that will be easy to remember ans First part of the Edit Lesson page Teacher s Hotes re Ei nh Teachers notes are displayed when teacher access a lesson Lesson Instructions Lesson instructions are displayed when students and teachers access a lesson Use them to tell students how to use the lesson o Inthe Teacher Notes field type in a description of the lesson For example This lesson investigates the braking e
18. computers in classrooms Factors which seem to influence the ability to cache include e the nature of the caching software e the size of caching capability e the nature of the files to be cached e how the files are tagged 38 See The Le rning Federation 2002a Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 19 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 5 1 6 The fluidity of BELTS development During the trial different iterations of BELTS and associated patches were released BELTS developed from version 1 0 through to version 1 1 3 during the course of the trial In addition when the trial commenced BELTS did not have the replication functionality required to underpin the distributed replicated model identified for trialing in the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese While this ongoing development of BELTS was necessary for The Le rning Federation both to iteratively learn from the trials of BELTS and to meet its timelines the outcomes from the trials have to be viewed in the light of the changing nature of BELTS over the trial period This changing status of BELTS also makes it difficult to determine whether issues raised during the course of the trials were substantive or iterative in nature 5 1 7 Upgrades to required software During the course of the trial Macromedia upgraded its Flash plugins however in Microsoft XP Flash 6 would not install over Flash 5 5 see A
19. delivery of objects to schools will mainly occur from diocesan offices At the diocesan level two alternative models for deployment are emerging each with its own advantages Where the repository is located at a diocesan level and the objects are then delivered to schools across a WAN the capacity for sharing of good practice lessons is opened up The protocols for clearly identifying these lessons are in the process of being determined What has been highlighted so far is the necessity for naming lessons so that they are easily discoverable not only by the use of clearly identified names but also in terms succinctly described content meta metadata Associated with this is the need to provide adequate professional development so that the good practice lessons do not become like a series of blackline masters but rather exemplar lessons that teachers can adapt to their own classrooms through the process of co creation Employing a BELTS box at the school level reduces the ease of sharing good practice but is compensated for by much faster access by busy classrooms providing the problems associated with caching are resolved At least this is what seems to be emerging but the full Melbourne trial contrasted with results for Canberra Goulburn will supply better data on this question Interestingly a different type of sharing is emerging Science objects are being shared between Science classes and English classes for example Fur
20. developed that will automatically check whether the client s computer is configured correctly to access and use learning objects e That the CD ROMs developed for use in remote schools include an installation tutorial and a print instruction manual on how to use the CD ROM and learning objects e A Frequently asked questions or Helpful hints to troubleshooting BELTS page be maintained over time on the BELTS site http belts sourceforge net 2 5 Expertise e lt was found that relatively low expertise in open source software and Linux was needed for an auto install of BELTS when the installation ran smoothly e However when installations of BELTS did not run smoothly troubleshooting was complex as it required considerable analysis of the range of software tools interacting with each other http www thelearningfederation edu au and http belts sourceforge net The Le rning Federation has begun developing such a diagnostic tool as a result of this trial These charts should not include jumps to several URLs to check configuration requirements Work on this recommendation has already been commenced by The Le rning Federation Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 9 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e This troubleshooting also required high level technical expertise in open source software particularly Linux
21. edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV49 2 LO_04 20030228 L0_04 swt HITP 1 0 200 52837 TOP MISO FIROL UP PARENT LO OVS S2 a 25 7 Nov 2003c14240 33 41 1700 TOEF http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV49 27 O 0472003802280 71L0 04 rt swk HITP 1e0 200 3932 ECP UML Sot LR ot PARENT Di Ss On AMO LESS 223 25 Nev7 2003 1 4240534 414700 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV49 2 LO_04 20030228 L0_04_gl swf HTTP 1 0 200 13945 TCP MiLSo tf Lhe UP PARENT LOGIC GSS A238 Ze Novw ZO03scIAzeA0e sr aLLOO GEE http dbelts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 7 6 3 0 Content LV49 2 10 04 20030228 L0_ 04 test swi ATTP 1 0 200 29023 TCP MISS FIROS T PARENTI MIOS TOs POG d onee NO ZOU a A eS EELO MOET heeps7 oelESs cg catholice edi auycontent exchange 6 3 0 C0ntent LVYA9 2 LO_04 20030228 L0_04 swf HTTP 1 0 304 223 TCP_IMS_HIT NONE 06 04 04 47 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission NO MOUS 8 2223 2 S Nov 200334253203 L100 GET http belts3 cg catholic du au content xchang e 6 3 0 Content LV49 AT ILO 057200302267 E005 swt AITP l 0 200 52695 TCE MLooth RST UP PARENT HOw Oe 36 6723 A etNov 20037 14253445 S100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV49 A TO 05 720030228 1L0 05 rts swt ATTP 1 0 200 4150 TCP MiSs F TRS UP PARENT
22. implementation of the Basic E Learning Tool Set BELTS Data for this report was gathered through in school trials conducted between August and November 2003 The trials were conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission in 15 Catholic schools in two Archdioceses and one Diocese located in two states and one territory Contextually each of the Archdioceses and the Diocese are different and different models of deploying BELTS and different distribution models were trialed across these locations The Le rning Federation provided advice and technical support to the regionally based officers located in three Catholic Education Commission offices These officers supported the schools involved in the trials and prepared reports of the outcomes from their component of the overall project These case studies form the basis of this report and each contributes a different perspective to the outcomes from the trials These three case study reports are included in full in Appendices One Two and Three 3 2 Purpose of the trial The key purpose of the trial was to assist The Le rning Federation stakeholders understand the delivery requirements of The Le rning Federation content to schools The trials were designed to focus on the following issues e What level of technical support staff at school and system level is needed e What sort of training at school and system level is required of this staff e What is the length of time needed for
23. machines with low levels of memory hard drive and processing power The outcomes from the speeds of download trials achieved through the Melbourne trial are recorded on pp 85 86 It should be noted however that while some of the times documented 43 See The Le rning Federation 2002b Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 23 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission were more than 30 seconds the report of the Melbourne trial indicates that as the students seemed to enjoy using the learning objects and if they knew to expect the learning objects they seemed happy enough to sit and wait for their arrival even when the learning objects took more than 30 seconds to download A broader question to ask however is is the waiting for downloads of learning objects a prudent use of classroom time An associated issue that arose in relation to the download times was the question of caching lt became apparent that the nature of students use of the learning objects included playing and replaying the objects If the objects are cached then the replay of the objects can occur almost immediately If the objects do not cache and the school is not within a VPN then a risk for the school is that downloads could rapidly become expensive Recommendations e That further testing and analysis of caching requirements of learning objects is undertaken e That optim
24. only gave students directions on how to access the learning objects It was quickly evident that once the students viewed it Indigestion they were totally engaged and replayed the object several times over After finishing that one they were keen to be involved in trialling more for us This occurred in both the primary and secondary classes The majority of primary classrooms we visited had 3 5 computers per room so we trialled the learning objects on whatever number of computers the software installed were able to run the objects Sometimes this may have been 5 computers simultaneously sometimes it eventuated that only one or two computers were powerful enough to view the objects With the secondary classes we were viewing them in a computer laboratory with around 25 computers accessing the object at any one time Again we tried to conduct the trial under realistic conditions of how these teachers would use the objects in the future myinternet portal All Victorian Catholic primary schools use the myinternet portal As such it was seen by the CEOM as an important part of the trial to ensure that the learning objects were able to be accessed and viewed via this application Software Understandably the role of plugs in was critical in the successful viewing of any learning object While it was apparent moving around primary schools that in MacIntosh environments this software was part of the standard suite of software installed
25. sectors Through the use of open source software and licences BELTS has provided intelligence through practical example about the sorts of standards and functionality required in an online Aims for the development of BELTS are summarised on p11 of this report Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 28 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission learning environment that is appropriate for use in schools As such it can be of benefit to the Australian school community BELTS has been built to be modular and scaleable To date jurisdictions and schools have tended to focus on the technical practicalities of getting BELTS installed and functioning As a community once the schooling sector becomes familiar with BELTS and moves beyond these immediate practicalities strategies for engaging with the collaborative culture underpinning open source software developments could be considered Improvements to the extent of the functionality provided by BELTS could be a focus for future national collaborative developments 5 3 4 Provide a system that assists education systems and sectors and schools to identify their requirements for learning management systems Most off the shelf or commercial learning management systems have been developed for use in the higher education sector and vendors are now marketing these solutions to the school sector It has been demonstrated
26. specifications All users work in the same online Management of the licences and learning environment monitoring of the contract to ensure that the goods and services being purchased are being delivered must be undertaken by the customer Technical expertise is the responsibility Jurisdictions pay both for the ASP s of the ASP online learning environment and BELTS CD ROM DVD Access to learning objects is not Management of different versions of dependent upon access to the Internet CD s will be required as new learning objects are released or where old learning objects are updated Use and reuse of the learning objects As the pool of learning objects grows does not involve bandwidth or costs of its likely that several CDs will be downloads required or alternatively DVDs will have to be used for storage yet it is not known how many remote schools have access to DVD players Learning objects should be able to be Plugins have to be installed on any accessed rapidly computer without access to the Internet Management practices are not required Sharing lessons between teachers to handle naming for multiple users and can only occur via a LAN through their lessons unless the school is using sharing the same computer or via a a LAN hardcopy As a result of the trials judgements of where to locate a BELTS server remain questions for individual jurisdictions to answer Philosophical questions such as the place of local school man
27. to meet a basic hardware configuration Please contact Angela Forgan at the CEO on 9267 0425 if you have any questions or problems about these requirements If you have more than one type of operating system or configuration available in your school it would be most appreciated if more than one could be used for the trial of the learning objects Operating System Windows Macintosh 98 NT 2000 or XP Mac OS X v10 1 5 Processor Pentium II or higher Power PC G3 or higher Memory 64 MB RAM minimum 128 MB RAM Browsers Internet Explorer Version 6 0 Netscape Navigator Version 7 Plug Ins Required Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 5 Adobe SVG Viewer Macromedia Flash Player Version 6 Macromedia Shockwave Player Version 8 5 Java for Windows QuickTime Player Version 5 06 04 04 7 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 10 2 APPENDIX TWO B Teacher questionaire The following questionaire was distributed by the Melbourne Archdiocese to the schools participating in the trial 06 04 04 78 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission BELTS Teacher Questionnaire In order to conduct an effective comparison between users and schools accessing the BELTS server at the CEO Melbourne we need to gather information about factors that may affect the accessibility of Belts These factors will then enable us to make assessments about basic requ
28. was limited to 10 ten User vs Time Test Test Object Compound Shapes Small Shapes http belts ceo melb catholic edu au resource exchange 150 1 0 view html Results V MaxDur mm 16 V AveDur V MinDur 8 00 01 00 00 01 05 00 01 10 00 01 15 00 01 20 00 01 25 00 01 30 00 01 35 00 01 40 00 01 45 00 01 50 00 01 55 00 02 00 Time HH MM SS C Avg Size Avg Speed Users Errors kBytes sec o gt w a ws O Eu i 10 0 Users Above there are 2 graphs containing detailed information about the specified object during the test run The default charts show the maximum duration and number of users plotted against time This provides an instant picture of how the maximum duration is impacted by the number of users 06 04 04 71 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Transaction Sequence Test HTTP Transaction Sequence WEB SERVER APPLICATION MARIE REQUEST RESPONSE CONTENT WEB PERFORM ANCE VIRTUAL USER Test Object Compound Shapes Small Shapes htto belts ceo melb catholic edu au resource exchange 150 1 0 view html Results Time Repeats Min Avg Max Min Dur Avg Dur Max Dur Avg Bytes Users Errors TTFB TTFB TTFB b s pee le 00 26 89 00 28 83 00 30 77 00 27 05 00 29 00 00 30 7140 1 Note that the format for the recorded performance statistics durations is MM SS HS where MM is minutes SS
29. which were conducted to monitor developments and emerging outcomes In addition in the Melbourne and Canberra Goulburn trials observations were conducted and notes maintained by the education officers in these Archdioceses The definition of a centralised distribution is adopted from The Le rning Federation definition provided earlier ie the server is located centrally within the system or sector downloading the objects Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 14 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 4 3 Settings for the trials A total of 15 schools in two Archdioceses and one Diocese participated in the trial Wherever possible the online trials were conducted under authentic conditions with teachers using the learning objects in the classroom with students The CD ROMs however were trialed by teachers only Central support was provided on request by officers from The Le rning Federation to officers located in the respective regional Catholic Education Commission offices The regionally based Catholic Education officers provided support and expertise to teachers in the schools 4 3 1 Learning objects Different learning objects were used in the three locations e Finders Keepers a literacy learning object was used in the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese and the Darwin Diocese e Indigestion a science learning object was u
30. 0 200 3942 TCP_MEM_HIT NONE Get the LO_04 _rt swf from the local memory cache 10 10 139 250 25 Nov 2003 14 53 44 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 LO_04 20030228 LO_04_gl swf HTTP 1 0 200 13955 TCP_HIT NONE Get the LO_04 _gl swf from the local disk cache 10 10 139 250 25 Nov 2003 14 53 45 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 L0_04 20030228 LO_O4_test swf HTTP 1 0 200 29033 TCP_HIT NONE Get the LO 04 _test swf from the local disk cache Request for Learning Object 5 from new machine ip 10 10 139 250 10 10 139 250 25 Nov 2003 14 53 56 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV494 LO_05 20030228 LO_05 swf HTTP 1 0 200 52904 TCP_HIT NONE Get the LO_05 swf from the local disk cache 10 10 139 250 25 Nov 2003 14 54 06 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV494 LO_05 20030228 LO_05_rt swf HTTP 1 0 200 4159 TCP_MEM_HIT NONE Get the LO_05_rt swf from the local memory cache 10 10 139 250 25 Nov 2003 14 54 06 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV494 L0_05 20030228 LO_O05_gl swf HTTP 1 0 200 14844 TCP_HIT NONE Get the LO_05_gl swf from the local disk cache Request for Learning Object 4 from original machine 10 10 138 223 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 54 28 1100 GET http belts3 c
31. 20 178 116 TCP_HIT 200 31401 GET http belts cg catholic edu au content 262 Content LV1630 1i_001_gantm_015_ release dswmedia images interface_white jpg NONE image jpeg Get the interface_white jpg from the local disk cache 06 04 04 53 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Belts Bootstrap Procedures Login in as lt bootstrap gt pwd lt bootstrap gt or what you have changed it to Load the core data from quick install cd or copy down using winscp exe if you do not have it locally Bootstrap Data footstrap Data Ex ort Import file C Belts core data xml Browse successfully imported bootstrap Data If the data will not load then stop the belts service and restart it known bug oc rootwesz1igqui login s root Sent username root root 10 20 176 1 s password Last login Tue Oct 26 16 04 35 2003 from coceo OO1l79 inacg net root wes zigu root Servic zelta stop BELTS CHD usr local beltg 1 1 2 bin heltea Stopping belts atopped helts ronte weszla root service belts start BELTS CMD fusry localfbelts 1 1 2 bin belt ee eee root Import the test data with the users in it 06 04 04 54 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Bootstrap Data Bootstrap Data Export Logout Import file C Belts test data xml Browse Import Logout and login as
32. 4 20030228 LO_04 swf HTTP 1 0 200 52837 TCP_MISS FIRST_UP_PARENT Get the LO_04 swf from the source not available from the proxy or its parent upstream proxy 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 40 33 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 LO_04 20030228 LO_04_rt swf HTTP 1 0 200 3932 TCP_MISS FIRST_PARENT_MISS 06 04 04 49 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Get the LO_04RT swf from the source not available from the proxy or its parent upstream proxy 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 40 34 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 LO_04 20030228 LO _04 _ gl swf HTTP 1 0 200 13945 TCP_MISS FIRST_UP_PARENT Get the LO_04_gl swf from the source not available from the proxy or its parent upstream proxy 10 10 138 223 P25 Non 2003 14240537 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 LO_04 20030228 LO_04_test swf HTTP 1 0 200 29023 TCP_MISS FIRST_PARENT_MISS Get the LO_04_test swf from the source not available from the proxy or its parent upstream proxy LO 04 Second time called 10 T0 138 223 257 Nov 2003 1452 51 41100 TGET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 L0_04 20030228 LO _04 swf HTTP 1 0 304 223 TCP IMS ALT NONE Get the LO_04 swf from the browsers cache Request for Learn
33. 5 Description of all schools used in the trial 14 APPEND SIA seian O E EOE 98 Bandwidth and IT configurations for all schools involved in the trial 19 APPENDDICSEVEN cinara a aE a 103 BELTS teacher user manual developed by the Melbourne Archdiocese for the trial Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 lil 06 04 04 1 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In August 2003 the National Catholic Education Commission and The Le rning Federation trial of distribution models for The Le rning Federation learning objects commenced The trials were conducted in 15 Catholic schools within the following three regions e Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese e Melbourne Archdiocese e Darwin Diocese The key purpose of the trial was to assist The Le rning Federation stakeholders understand delivery requirements of TLF content to schools The following four models of distribution of The Le rning Federation learning objects were trialed e A distributed delivery model was used in the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese with BELTS Basic E Learning Tool Set installed on the Catholic Education Office server located in Canberra and then replicated on four individual schools servers located in New South Wales e Two centralised delivery models were trialed concurrently in the Melbourne Archdiocese Schools accessed learning objects o using BELTS via a server loc
34. 8 Nov Following the satisfactory operation of BELTS3 in Tumut a deployment of the BELTS v1 1 2 application within a local gateway at West Wyalong was achieved BELTS4 The install was carried using a self install cd developed within the CGCEO The service was given an internal name of belts smwms acgnet and needed to operate on port 2020 as port 8080 was already being used by the proxy service on the gateway The success of this deployment led to successful installations within Temora BELTS5 and Cootamundra BELTS6 These were identified as belts stannes acgnet and belts shcoota acgnet West Wyalong Satellite 220k down BELTSREPL Belts v1 1 0 Modem 33k up VDSL Mode Gateway Server 10M 1M 1Gb Cache BELTS4 Canberra v1 1 2 Goulburn WAN Cootamundra VDSL Modem 512k 128k oo a Gateway Server VDSL Modem 1Gb Cache 512k 128k BELTS6 VDSL Modem 512k 128k Gateway Server 1Gb Cache BELTS5 BELTS3 v1 1 2 Gateway Server Belts v1 1 0 1Gb Cache Temora Learning objects are drawn from LEX by BELTSREPL These are then published manually They are then pulled by each of the servers located in Cootamundra Tumut Temora and West Wyalong Automation of the process has not been tested at this point Recent objects released on 28 November 2003 took approximately 3 and a half minu
35. Add a CInelude protocol e g https It s a drag Add Student Instructions O speed htm Add Student Instructions Repeat the above steps to add another file to the lesson When more than one file is listed in the Lesson Content Details the Up amp Down buttons can be used to move contents to a different order in the list It is also possible to add URLs or web site addresses to the Lesson Content Details For example a teacher could have a number of web sites which provide useful online resources or information or activities for students These URLs can be uploaded and be used as part of the lesson Open another copy of Internet Explorer or Netscape Type in the address of the web site you wish to include in the lesson ear Iers n Highlight the whole address by clicking and dragging your mouse in the Address line Press CTRL C on your keyboard to copy the web address 5344 Return to your Belts Edit Lesson page el 06 04 04 113 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission anny UA a eare Icar m el OF Click in the Add URL field o Press CTRL V on your keyboard to paste the web address into this field OF Click on the _Add button to include the URL in the Lesson Content Details Lesson Content Details Actions It s a drag Add Student Instructions _Delete 0 speed htm Llp Add Studen
36. E WAN connection ADSL 512k 128k External URL Belts6 cg catholic edu au Internal URL Belts shcoota acgnet Mot Approximate cost 3300 Storage Hard Disk 80Gb IDE WAN connection ADSL 512k 128k 06 04 04 43 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Issues Expertise The two Technical Officers from the CGCEO are in their early 20s and have significant Linux expertise Mark also has significant scripting expertise CEOBELTS took half a day to build as a Linux box with the CGCEO standard gateway image It took several days to iron out operational issues to get the belts service to run on the linux server The final step involved the sending of the jboss services xml file to TLF for adjustment Following the return of this a connection was able to be achieved and DLOs retrieved from LEX BELTSREPL was built using version 1 1 0 of the software and a lower end workstation The service would not come up until there was 512Mb of RAM on board BELTS3 was built on the local subnet using the same hardware and software version configuration The jboss services xml file was configured according to the documentation as a downstream server and was able to connect to BELTSREPL to retrieve DLOs see code fragment The process took approximately 4 hours to build each server to WAN bootable status A further 2 hours was required to install BELTS and associated services and have these all activated This req
37. FUS UDO FACS Se E E N N N 66 Other Learning ODJECE NE EA 66 SENP MOA ear a NE E N N ae 66 CONCLUSIONS seno a aE identi aE N 66 SON E a N E cada aes amen eesee 66 CaCI ezaii a EA E A E a thine Sonatte cee 66 FUE dD S ana A A T Geduadeactoke 67 SENE OAC rasa a E AA 67 DOW MIOAG COST anaa E A E E E O tena date 67 BELTS SERVER TES GING Airne S 70 06 04 04 61 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Aims The trial conducted by the Catholic Education Office Melbourne CEOM was to understand the technical configurations needed on a school network for staff and students to download and view learning objects from The Le rning Federation TLF server in a reasonable time frame Two delivery methods were trialled by the CEOM The central distribution model for the Belts server was one method This method is where the learning objects are downloaded from the Exchange and stored on the Belts server at CEOM Other Catholic dioceses around Australia accessed the learning objects from this server Teachers and or students were also able to login to the server and view the learning objects in their school as needed The second method was using an alternative ASP or third party provider As myinternet was already an ASP for a number of Catholic dioceses across Australia including the four Catholic dioceses in Victoria it was determined that the myinternet delivery provided a sensible alternative to Belt
38. LTS box as well as having boxes located at their own premises 06 04 04 93 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Distribution chain for Catholic schools that do not have collaborative arrangements with systems or a pre existing arrangement with an ASP TLF quality assured content NEW Objects Melbourne CEO MS pacragmg repository Acquired content State CEC repository eg NSW Diocesan repository 1 eg Armidale Diocesan repository 2 BELTs LORAX compliant object epository in school Delivered over WAN to schools LORAX Compliant repository BELTS in BELTS in schools schools Object repositories in schools 06 04 04 94 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 13 APPENDIX FIVE Description of all schools used in the trial 06 04 04 95 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Schools Location School context Sacred Heart Central Cootamundra 162 primary amp 122 secondary students School Medium size rural school located on the southwest slopes in NSW Origins dating back to the primary school that started in the 1870s It has had several transformations over the 20 Century St Anne s Central School Temora 176 primary amp 65 secondary students A small school on the edge of the Riverina catering for students from K to year 10 The s
39. LTS to other BELTS would streamline the distributed model 2 2 1 Recommendations e That learning object metadata clearly specifies the version of the plugin software required for optimum performance e That the BELTS interface indicates the version number of the BELTS release e That the ECC consider recommending that BELTS is enhanced to allow single entry of student data for sequences of learning to enable sharing across schools and across a jurisdiction e That examples of the sorts of protocols for naming and identifying sequences of learning that could be used in schools are developed e That the ECC consider recommending that BELTS is enhanced to automate the download of learning objects from the Exchange into BELTS and from BELTS to other BELTS servers 2 30 Technical e Both distributed and central delivery models using BELTS worked well with small server loads e There was equivalence in the time taken to deliver the learning objects to the desktop using either an ASP or BELTS e The provision of caching facilities emerged as central to the efficient use and reuse of learning objects in the classroom e BELTS was trialed with some success on servers and computers using hardware and operating system specifications below those identified by The Le rning Federation but the specified plugins were a key to achieving successful use of the learning objects within BELTS e Upgrades and releases of software eg Macromedia a
40. Set BELTS across the Central Schools in the Western Region of the Archdiocese Purpose The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Catholic Education Office CGCEO has participated in a trial of the BELTS application for the deployment of Digital Learning Objects DLOs from The Learning Federation TLF The key purpose of this project is to assist in TLF evaluation of stakeholders understanding of content creation and implementation of the delivery of this content to schools How does an object from the exchange get to a school and what happens when it gets there Is a BELTS server better placed at individual school level or is an ASP regional delivery model better The primary area of interest is a trial of BELTS implementation It will be framed to focus on the issues raised by different implementation models Issues such as e What level of technical support staff at school system level is needed e What sort of training at school system level is required of this staff e What time needs to be spent in setting up Supporting and maintaining BELTS e What are the issues in installing the box onto a network e What are the expectations for download times bandwidth What are the implications of the actual download time e How do the DLOs behave when delivered to schools i e are there any DLO implementation issues As well there are wider issues such as e What are the expected required professional development needs at a sch
41. That the question of how will BELTS be integrated with a learning management system and what are the additional costs management and professional development this brings be considered by the Exchange Consultative Committee in 2004 Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 29 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e That a total cost of ownership framework is developed to allow comparisons between BELTS and other proprietary learning management systems 5 2 10 Is a BELTS server better placed at individual school level or is an ASP or regional delivery model better Clear and irrefutable justification for a preference of one distribution model over another did not emerge from this trial 5 2 10 1 Central models The trial in the Melbourne Archdiocese found little difference in the speed or quality of the delivery of learning objects accessed using BELTS and myinternet A difference emerged however in relation to the payment of download cosis The myinternet server is housed within the Catholic Education Office Melbourne virtual private network VPN The myinternet trial schools did not pay for download costs regardless of the number of times they use the TLF learning objects because they were accessing the content from within the VPN However those schools accessing content via BELTS which was not located within the VPN were charged download costs based o
42. a fields to the sml file due to the security access required when using the myinternet portal and changing the port number These steps took approximately an hour using the instructions provided by TLF As a result of the release of the upgrade 1 1 1 the CEOM upgraded the Belts server One of our technicians had a working knowledge of Linux while our high level technician was unfamiliar with Linux After soending several days trying to follow the documentation provided on the TLF web site we found we had to rely on the TLF to upgrade the server and to troubleshoot technical problems Even for a Linux technician reading the instructions for the first time for upgrading of the server it was not a straightforward process For those without Linux technical knowledge it could seem a complicated procedure Having worked as a Network Administrator in a secondary school can confidently say that this is not a task that could be undertaken easily by many school administrators Once the upgrade occurred it was then necessary to download all the objects from the Exchange again However there were technical problems encountered with this process as well which the TLF investigated and then rectified In comparison using myinternet means that they provide the expertise and undertake the related work involved in setting up the myinternet servers for delivery of the learning objects or downloading the objects from the Exchange Other Learning Object
43. ably competent Linux Technical Support 06 04 04 45 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Learning Objects operation on workstations Software Local Software setup Flash 6 and Shockwave 8 5 Allow 1 day per school XP specific issues Shockwave will not install automatically Flash 6 will not install over Flash5 5 Solutions Shockwave Download full shockwave installer for Netscape but works for IE Locate this on a server at the school and use it to install across all PC platforms 98 ME 2K XP Each install requires a registration select the under 13 option and you do not have to complete all of the registration details Flash 6 Download the Flash uninstaller Execute this for all XP machines and then install Flash 6 from Macromedia This process takes about 5 minutes per machine once everything has been setup ie downloaded from Macromedia and installed on a central server A lesson that involves the execution of Flash 6 Shockwave and other objects with sound was created This was then used as a test to verify that the software was working This process takes about 10 minutes per machine but guarantees operation with most objects A suitable set identified by TLF would be appreciated 06 04 04 46 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Hardware Operating System Issues Many of the DLOs have Windows 2000 as a minim
44. administration cccccccsessseeeeeeesseeeseessseeeseeeenseesseoenes 3 2 3 TECHNICAL carar a atone 4 2 4 SUpport and Sen help arsina a a A 4 2 5 EXPEHISE aana a E a a E wat aa crtna wade ce unt veteues 5 2 6 CONUS aaar E tae iathadaeds 6 2 7 Costs and benefits of distribution MOdeIS ccseeeseeesseeeseesseeeeeeeeees 6 2 8 CONCUSSION aana E E ETRA E 8 3 BACKGROUND rimni aaa aa 9 3 1 SCOPE OFN TEDON arinn a TN 9 3 2 PUNDOSE ofthe tials oroc i E a aea eaa 9 3 3 Data CONCCUON ocana a a a e a a a 10 3 4 The Le rning Federation Aiste taaa eaa aaae aa ai aea 10 3 5 National Catholic Education Commission ssseeeeeeeesseeeeeeennseeesees 10 3 6 Basic E Learning Tool Set BELTS ccscssesseeeeeeessseeeeeeesseeeeseenseeesens 11 3 7 Teacher and student computer software requirements scseeeeesees 12 3 8 Learning ODICCl SIZE ocio ia a aasa aaa a raaa 13 4 DESCRIPTION OF THE TRIALG cccccssssssseeceecccccsnnsseeeeeccceennseeeeecececonnssseeeeeeeeceaaaes 14 4 1 Models used to trial BELTS socie aa aaa 14 4 2 Method of data Collection cccccesseecceeseeecennseeseesneeeesseeeeenseeseonseessonas 14 4 3 SEHINGS FOF UNE THAIS aria a a esac eeeencase 15 4 4 Support made available to the trial schools ccccceesseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 17 5 OUTCOMES FROM THE TRIALG cccccsssssssseeeeeeeecceenssneeeeeecoesnseeeeeeseooesnseeeees 18 5 1 Complexity of the tria
45. agement in the deployment of software and the costs and benefits of different models of deployment will have to weighed up at the jurisdictional and or school level Issues to consider could include for example Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 2 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e the level of expertise available to manage multiple BELTS servers at the local level versus managing a single server centrally e managing BELTS in house versus paying an ASP to handle all the management and maintenance required and e the degree to which BELTS meets the online learning environment requirements of a jurisdiction for the short term future 5 3 National level While this jurisdictional trial did not deliberately test the key national drivers of BELTS some findings have become apparent concerning the four overall aims originally identified for developing BELTS These are discussed briefly below 5 3 1 Provide early delivery of learning objects to education systems and sectors Through this National Catholic Education Commission trial it is clear that BELTS does provide a national delivery mechanism for accessing learning objects and structuring them into lessons or sequences of learning Through using BELTS teachers and students are able to gain experiences that will help them become more effective users of learning objects and the learning mana
46. ange is The Le rning Federation s repository for housing learning objects nationally 19 See Section 2 4 5 of The Le rning Federation 2002c 2 See Section 2 5 1 of The Le rning Federation 20020 is See The Le rning Federation 2003b Ibid Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 11 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 3 6 2 1 2 Distributed model The distributed model involves multiple BELTS systems deployed along a distribution chain down to the school level Learning objects are pulled from the Exchange to the central education system or sector BELTS repository and then distributed to the school BELTS repository Learning objects ie content are delivered via a local area network to classrooms 3 6 3 Installation of BELTS The Le rning Federation has provided systems and sectors with initial support for the installation of BELTS however The Le rning Federation has indicated that it is the jurisdictions responsibility to develop suitable ongoing local approaches for the distribution support and maintenance of BELTS in schools 3 6 4 BELTS server configuration requirements The Le rning Federation recommends the following requirements for the BELTS server 3 6 4 1 Server hardware specification minimum e 1x Pentium 4 1 5 GHz or greater e 1 GB memory e 18 GB hard drive storage or greater 3 6 4 2 Server system softwar
47. ated in the office of the Catholic Education Commission Melbourne and o using the online learning environment provided by the Application Service Provider ASP myinternet Ltd e A distributed delivery of the learning objects was undertaken with four remote schools in the Northern Territory using CD ROMs A rich set of findings has been identified from the trials This report outlines these findings While this report focuses primarily on the outcomes from the BELTS trials the findings are also relevant to those schools and jurisdictions that are accessing The Le rning Federation learning objects without using BELTS Key findings that emerged from the trials included the following e Of the four models trialed no distribution model emerged as more preferable than any other but rather the mode of distribution was dependent upon the jurisdiction and school infrastructure and expertise Three central considerations impinging on decisions about the preferred distribution model are bandwidth and cost of downloads caching capabilities at the school level and server load e Jurisdictions and school administrations required access to technical expertise while teachers needed user support The nature of the support depended on the issue and ranged from help desk support to asynchronous email and self help documentation BELTS has been developed by TLF to provide early delivery of learning objects to education systems and sectors 2
48. atholic Education Commission 5 OUTCOMES FROM THE TRIALS The trials of BELTS were established using an holistic approach with each individual trial contributing a different perspective to the overall project The trials achieved several outcomes and raised a variety of issues in relation to the deployment of BELTS In this section observations are made about the complexity of the environments in which the trials were conducted and then the outcomes achieved through the trials are addressed according to the identified purposes of the trials Recommendations where appropriate follow each subsection 5 1 Complexity of the trial environments Reporting on the outcomes from these online trials is complex due to the trials being conducted in live environments in which there were many factors that potentially could contribute to the success or failure of a learning object being delivered to the desktop using BELTS Environmental factors impinging on these trials included e the range and variety of hardware and software configurations pre existing in schools e whether the computers were appropriately configured at both back and front ends according to The Le rning Federation specifications prior to the commencement of the trial e the size of the server and the number of users accessing it concurrently e the bandwidth available to schools e caching capabilities e the fluidity of the development of the BELTS software and associated docu
49. ava for Windows 3 8 Learning object size The Le rning Federation has identified the following specification for the download speed of its learning objects A user is able to interact with the object within 10 seconds of the initial request on a 64 kbps connection where for calculation purposes interaction time assumes a single user on a 64 kbps connection 30 See The Le rning Federation 2002b Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 13 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 4 DESCRIPTION OF THE TRIALS Four models for distribution of the learning objects were trialed in classrooms within the following regions of the National Catholic Education Commission e Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese e Melbourne Archdiocese e Darwin Diocese 4 1 Models used to trial BELTS The trials focused on issues raised by using the following four distribution or delivery models e Distributed model A distributed delivery model was used in the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese with BELTS installed on the Catholic Education Office server located in Canberra and then replicated onto four individual schools servers each located in New South Wales Configuration details of the servers used can be found on pages 42 44 All servers used Linux operating systems e Centralised model in education office A centralised delivery model was used in Melbourne Archdiocese with
50. but this was not the case for PCs These software applications are not seen as standard in primary schools and needed to be installed on the machines prior to testing even if they are freely available on the Internet In each case the primary schools visited had requested their technician to install at least Shockwave and Flash Player before our visit occurred We endeavoured to make as few changes as possible to the schools networks so that it was a realistic sample of schools However if we could not readily check the configuration of a particular computer we did not include it in the sample Training Two teachers from both secondary schools attended a half day training session at the CEOM so that teachers had the opportunity to understand the concept of a learning object and create an online lesson in Belts with the learning object included This object then formed the basis of their trial Back at their school teachers were able to login to the server to add additional lessons or enable their students to login with a lesson ID to interact with the lesson created and view the learning object included Because all Catholic primary schools in Victoria have used the myinternet portal for the last 5 years and the schools chosen were familiar with learning objects and creating lessons with them no training was needed for these teachers We gave them a login to the Belts server and they viewed the object after searching the Resources
51. ces These reports are located in Appendices One Two and Three 5 2 1 Technical support staff required at school and system levels Both the Canberra Goulburn and Melbourne trials indicated that to install BELTS required open source technical expertise Both Catholic Education Offices employ technicians with Open source software and in particular Linux expertise Both offices reported that when installation ran in a straightforward manner there were no insurmountable problems However when troubleshooting was required a very high level of open source expertise was required and for this both offices relied upon The Le rning Federation In addition both trials reported that the technical documentation available was not easy to understand on the first reading It was reported however that the technical documentation made more sense once an installation had been completed Implications on a broader scale suggest then that technical expertise that includes open source software expertise and the ability to problem solve outside off the shelf packages is an emerging skill required in school education jurisdictions and in schools While this skill is available within several jurisdictions and was available in this trial it is not currently widespread across Australia It is unclear from this trial whether the level of technical expertise required to install and maintain BELTS initially will remain high or whether it will reduce once we pass thr
52. chool has its foundations in 1881 with the first building opened in 1900 There have been several additions since then McAuley Catholic Central Tumut 234 primary amp 138 secondary students Pence Small to medium central school located on the southwest slopes of the Snowy Mountains St Mary s War Memorial West Wyalong 103 primary amp 20 secondary students Benge Small Rural school located on the central western slopes in NSW Origins in the late 1800s with the current buildings dating to the early to mid 1900s 06 04 04 96 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Melbourne S St Mary s Werribee South A very small semi rural school with 52 students near Port Philip bay St Marks Dingley Opened in 1974 in a southern residential suburb It has 386 students community It has 175 students Small school with 158 students in the north east of Melbourne St Vincent de Paul Strathmore 12km north of the city with 435 students Avila College Mt Waverley Girls secondary college in the eastern suburbs with 1053 students St Paul s College Altona North Boys secondary college along the western side of the bay with 713 students Northern Territory Ltyentye Apurte Santa Teresa Indigenous community school 80kms east of Alice Springs average student enrolment of 135 students Co educational Pre school to Year 10 equivalent Our Lady of the Sacred Port Keats Large Indigenous communit
53. cted with the National Catholic Education Commission It is essential that the caching issue be carefully and clearly determined Schools using ISPs could experience a significant increase in download costs when classes view objects of several megabytes over a number of lessons in a week if caching at the school site is not possible Future upgrades If technical support is needed for each subsequent upgrade then the central model for distribution to schools could be a preferred model This approach would mean that the services and associated costs of a Linux technician would be required centrally by education offices within each diocese to manage and administer a Belts server for delivery of objects to their schools or myinternet can continue to be used Consideration could be given to further work being undertaken to support simplifying and automating the software upgrade process and associated documentation for those not using myinternet and to the training of administrators in upgrading the software Server Load CEOM have found that further investigation is required if more than 10 schools outside the myinternet arrangements are using a central server at any one time Further investigation of the hardware and software configuration of the Belts server to determine if initial response times can be improved from the average of 28 seconds that was recorded during these tests could provide some useful intelligence Download costs The o
54. d BELTS Software Release to Education Systems and Ssectors TLF operational paper 5 Curriculum Corporation and education au Itd The Le rning Federation 2003c Technical Specification for Content Development Curriculum Corporation and education au Itd The Le rning Federation 2003d The Exchange Progress Report to TLF ECC Curriculum Corporation and education au Itd The Le rning Federation 2003e TLF Specifications for Viewing Content Curriculum Corporation and education au Itd The Le rning Federation 2002a Basic E Learning Tool Set Deployment Strategy Curriculum Corporation and education au Itd The Le rning Federation 200b2 Learning Object Size TLF operational paper 3 Curriculum Corporation and education au Itd The Le rning Federation 2002c Request for Proposal Basic E Learning Tool Set Curriculum Corporation and education au Itd Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 32 06 04 04 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 9 APPENDIX ONE Report on the trial of Basic E Learning Tool Set across the Central Schools in the Western Region Canberra Goulburn Mr Michael Haigh Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese 06 04 04 33 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE Technical Report on the trial of the Basic e Learning Tool
55. d the myinternet portal as the delivery mechanism In every case there was no time difference noted between the two delivery methods therefore it would seem that viewability nor download time is affected by the delivery mechanism Training Understandably students in all schools except Avila were more comfortable using the myinternet portal than they were using Belts as this system has been used in Catholic schools since 1999 Since there appeared to be no difference between the two methods in terms of download time it would seem logical for these schools to continue using myinternet for the future delivery of learning objects This naturally minimises the professional development training of staff and the associated costs likely to be incurred when the objects are available for release to schools While a half day training session was conducted for the teachers from Avila and St Paul s using the Belts server longer training may be required for teachers who have a lower level of ICT competency Caching Using a sophisticated caching device called a CacheFlow our testing on site at the CEOM concluded that caching does not happen with all learning objects Paul Barry s report BELTS server tesing which follows indicates that from the check of the log files over the test period that a percentage of the flash files are actually cached Internet Explorer was used as the browser software in all schools and at the CEOM As can be
56. d then have to be multiplied by the number of classes doing this in the school Over a period of a year this would mean a huge increase in download costs Results Our findings on the use of the Belts regional model and the myinternet portal to view learning objects are based on the following survey indicators e Performance Measures e Maintenance Measures Performance Measures Bandwidth All Victorian Catholic primary schools were upgraded with a minimum standard bandwidth of 64 256K ADSL in May 2003 ADSL asymmetric digital subscriber line permits a large part of the bandwidth to be used for download to the user eg up to 1 5MB bps and uses only a small part to send upload requests from the user up to 256K bps Several schools were unable to receive data via ADSL while some other schools chose to have a higher level of bandwidth All of these variables were included in the trial so that an idea of the role and size of bandwidth could be seen e St Mary s Werribee South 64K ISDN e St Marks Dingley 128K ISDN e St Monica s Footscray 64K 256K ADSL e St Pius X Heidelberg West 64K 256K ADSL e St Vincent de Paul Strathmore 256 1 5 MB ADSL e St Paul s College Altona North 1024 DAR e Avila College Mt Waverley 256 1 5 MB ADSL Details of the exact specifications of each computer tested in each of the seven schools is outlined in Appendix 2D 06 04 04 64 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic
57. ded with e aCDROM with the learning objects and links to the required plugins e acouple of handwritten instructions to access the learning objects e two questionnaires to be completed by teachers trialing the CDs and e asummary of the technical requirements for accessing BELTS Teachers selected were those with IT responsibility in the school eg the ICT teacher In one case a classroom support teacher Teachers completed the questionnaires and returned them to the Catholic Education Office A teleconference with some of the teachers participating in the trial was held Description of use of the CD ROMS Planning Two teachers indicated that they had planned to use the CD ROMs in their computer classes 8 This refers to the planning teachers do in preparation for teaching a class Here it includes familiarisation with the CD use as well as the content of the learning objects 06 04 04 90 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Implementation No teachers trialled the use of the CD ROMs in the classroom Evaluation Teachers found the setup of the CD ROM frustrating Once those teachers were able to access the learning objects they indicated that the learning objects looked interesting Issues arising The trial was a frustrating experience for all the teachers involved Two teachers were able to download the learning objects but getting there was frustrating Given the set up
58. e It should be noted that Microsoft has indicated it will cease providing support for Windows 98 as of 16 January 2004 Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 18 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e Processors and memory Trials were conducted on computers with low levels of processing power and memory through to computers exceeding the specifications identified by The Le rning Federation e Browsers and plugins Again a range of browsers and plugins were used as part of the trials However not all computers had the specified browsers installed prior to the trialing of BELTS and learning objects 5 1 2 Configuring computers appropriately Regardless of the model used for deploying BELTS the servers and computers in schools require appropriate configuration consistent with The Le rning Federation specifications to be interoperable both with the Exchange and with the requirements of the respective local or wide area networks While a range of different configurations was trialed including some outside The Le rning Federation specifications the extent to which the below specification configurations of the trial computers affected the outcomes achieved through the trials is not clear 5 1 3 Size of server lt has emerged that the size of the server and the number of concurrent users accessing it are important considerations in order to handle the appl
59. e For the troubleshooting external help via phone calls emails and access to information via websites was necessary e Accessing learning objects via CD ROM was problematic and demonstrated that a simpler menu structure with the required plugins already included was required 2 5 1 Recommendations e That a pool of national expertise in installing maintaining and troubleshooting issues arising from the use of BELTS is established online and individuals within the pool of experts are accessible via email and listservs e That jurisdictions through the ECC consider providing nationally consistent training at regular intervals between 2004 and 2006 for technical administrators and help desk support in how to install maintain and troubleshoot within BELTS e That small widespread trials of the BELTS installation disk developed by officers in the Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education Office are conducted to establish whether the installation disk could be widely used nationally as an easy installation method e That the ECC consider developing CD ROMs or possibly DVDs with a simple menu structure the required plugins and a help tutorial for use in remote schools 2 6 Culture e The underpinning philosophy and culture of collaborative open source developments and their potential for providing support to projects such as BELTS does not seem to have been broadly understood to date e BELTS tends to be seen more as a product rather than a
60. e configuration Operating system Microsoft Windows 2000 Server or Linux Red Hat Distribution v 8 0 Database PostgreSQL 7 2 Professional other JDBC compliant db products can be used but will not be tested by the TLF Application Server EJB Container JBOSS 3 2 Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 0 or Netscape Navigator 6 2 3 7 Teacher and student computer software requirements The Le rning Federation learning objects have been designed to view within learning management systems LMS and web browsers They have been developed and tested according to the software requirements listed below 3 7 1 Browser software and operating systems e Netscape Navigator 6 2 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 0 on Microsoft Windows 2000 e Netscape Navigator 6 2 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 2 on Apple OS X Ibid 24 The Le rning Federation 2002a See The Le rning Federation 2003b 28 See The Le rning Federation 2002a Ibid See The Le rning Federation 2002a and The Learning Federation 2003e See The Le rning Federation 2003b Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 12 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 3 2 Browser plugins e SVG Adobe SVG Viewer Plug in e QuickTime QuickTime 5 Player e PDF Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 e Flash Mx Macromedia Flash Player 6 e Shockwave Macromedia Shockwave Player 8 5 e Java applets J
61. e documentation provided by officers in the e National Catholic Education Commission office e Archdiocese of Canberra Goulburn e Archdiocese of Melbourne e Diocese of Darwin e existing documentation about BELTS generated by The Le rning Federation e school and Catholic Education Commission office site visits and observations e weekly teleconferences conducted throughout the course of the project and e discussions with members of the ISD team at The Le rning Federation who managed the development of BELTS 3 4 The Le rning Federation The Le rning Federation is an initiative of state and federal governments of Australia and New Zealand The Le rning Federation aims to procure high quality researched and evaluated online curriculum content for delivery to system gateways in Australia including Australian states and territories and New Zealand The initiative is being achieved through a collaborative coordinated program reducing potential duplication and increasing cost efficiencies while stimulating the market and private investment in development The Le rning Federation has adopted a design methodology for creating online content in the form of learning objects chunks of material that can be used and reused for a variety of educational purposes Between 2001 and 2006 The Le rning Federation is developing the online curriculum content which is being housed in a central repository the Exchange and is delivered to jurisdictions
62. e especially across a WAN Michael Haigh 3 Nov 03 06 04 04 58 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 10 APPENDIX TWO Report on The Le rning Federation trial Melbourne Ms Angela Forgan Ms Ann Thornton and Mr Paul Barry Melbourne Archdiocese 06 04 04 59 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission The Le rning Federation Trial Report Melbourne Archdiocese By Angela Forgan amp Ann Thornton BELTS Server Testing Report by Paul Barry 06 04 04 60 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission CONTENTS AIN bo nee CCE eee A ee Me Sree Mee N TRON ene OO een oe Men eee ee eevee oye MEN Ce mere eee 62 PROCEDURES UNDERTAKEN vissen eea aa aaa Ta eaaa Eaa Oa 62 MEIGS COONS riina a Ea e a a ia Na 62 Faal OD SCIS aeii ea e a aeaa NE 62 Data Colection a iea 63 MVINTSMMEE ponalar a ea a aae 63 SONIO ean ee ee eee 63 AAW a a tet vane tances E tiene akas erates Mae tna eos 63 G72 6 a aE eee eee nee ae eee eet eet nee ee E Oe eee Te AA eee reece ree et T 64 PES LS cama a r eee 64 Penormance MCASUNCS nman a datelinlad amauta tated annealed 64 AMO WIGUA a aia E E halite dea sol gisaw es hse tub dae de ettel dilate dana aunee lease bine 64 MyM ONO aena naan a E jabtadouonennavwmeuenaranenenne 65 TAMNO erni a a E N 65 CAG IMG mnri a T N 65 Maintenance MoasUreS orriren na ana a EOS 65 SONO asa a NA 65
63. e focus of the pilot is to gauge the professional development requirements of teachers so that they will be able to make best use of the resources available to them Information gathered during the pilot will help shape professional development sessions based on the ways in which the objects are used teacher feedback technical support issues and so on An extra focus for this second stage is to measure the impact of the program on school servers thereby providing vital information for future directions The training material for teachers is designed to provide an introduction to lesson preparation in Belts and a basic understanding of the concept and uses of classes 1 Login and getting started 2 Create a Lesson 3 Edita lesson 06 04 04 105 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission LOGIN AND GETTING STARTED Your login has been created for a teacher user and consists of a username and password As a teacher user you are able to find resources prepare lessons and manage classes There are several other types of users system administrator content manager and student Each one has different access rights with different functions and information available on screen any Besides user logins there are lesson logins A lesson login requires a lesson id and a password These will be explained in more detail later Ie or At the computer start Internet Explorer or Net
64. e on behalf of the Le rning Federation e Mr Adrian Brown National Catholic Education Commission The collation of these respective trial reports into one consolidated report was undertaken by Dr Kathryn Moyle on behalf of The Le rning Federation The Le rning Federation and the National Catholic Education Commission acknowledge the contributions of the several officers who provided support for the trials within the Melbourne and Canberra Goulburn Archdioceses and within the Darwin Diocese The trials however would not have been possible without the contributions made by all the teachers and students who trialed BELTS and the learning objects in their classrooms and passed on their experiences for inclusion in this report It is through their work that the findings from the trials can benefit all stakeholders in the work of The Le rning Federation The Le rning Federation and the National Catholic Education Commission thank them for their commitment honesty and enthusiasm Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 i 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Contents 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY tivii tee ie eile ceat score rtie hee aeiee ais icaeae 1 2 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS cccccsssssseeeeeeeeccesssnseeeeeeeeceennnseeeeeeeeoeeannes 3 2 1 TEACHING and learning sosszsccssackvctieanccsccincecsaetcceceteicoiseslnesdasecuwagvaescsasseesseieetess 3 2 2 Management and
65. earning they create save and hold on servers 7 It became clear that plugins are central to the ease of use and appropriate functioning of the learning objects It is not Known how many upgrades to plugins or to operating systems will occur during the lifetime of the content but there are implications for both The Le rning Federation and schools concerning plugins and software upgrades e Backwards compatibility is required with upgrades and new software to ensure that all learning objects can be accessed and used e Ongoing liaison with the major vendors by The Le rning Federation will be required to promote backward compatibility 8 Schools require management strategies to ensure that before students use computers to access the learning objects the computers are set up with the appropriate configuration of software including plugins to ensure access and ease of use of the learning objects Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 2 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 2 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In this summary of the findings emerging from the trial the outcomes are presented in seven categories teaching and learning management and administration technical support and self help expertise culture and costs and benefits of different distribution models Recommendations for each category have been included for the Exchange Consultative Committee
66. eastern suburbs o Paul s College Altona North boys secondary college along the western side of the ay Trial Objects In each school the same learning object Indigestion was viewed so that a direct time comparison could be achieved between the two delivery methods Indigestion is approximately 760K a small size compared to some of the later developed objects It was thought that by restricting the testing size this would optimise the bandwidth required This object was also chosen as one that would engage students attention even if there was a time delay in its arrival on the computer screen 06 04 04 62 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Data Collection Data from the trial schools was intended to be collected via two questionnaires from the teacher using the Teacher Questionnaire Appendix 2B as well as technical information using the Technical Questionnaire Appendix 2C In addition observations during visits to each school where the objects were viewed by teachers and or students After the first visit to a primary school we found it was easier to combine the surveys and complete them ourselves as the teachers were busy in the classroom assisting students Generally the classroom teachers were unfamiliar with the technical specifications so we undertook the checking of each computer used in the trial by watching and recording the download time While we
67. eriod The total number of virtual users running at the end of the sample period The number of errors that were generated during the sample period by either the selected business case web page or URL User Capacity Test The User Capacity report determines the capacity of your web site based on the selected test results and configurable performance thresholds Test Object Test case involving the downloading and playing of the learning object from the home page of the Belts server Alien Life Form and the associated pages htto belts ceo melb catholic edu au resource exchange 29 2 0 view html 06 04 04 13 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Estimated Capacity 10 users Duration Threshold 6 seconds Compliance Threshold 100 4 Number of Pages ho 0 0 2 2 4 4 6 Maximum Duration seconds Thresholds satisfied Users lt 10 gt Thresholds exceeded Number of Pages vs Duration bar chart The bar chart illustrates the performance of the business case by displaying the number of web pages in each time range when the test was running with a certain number of users In the above example the blue bar on the left indicates that 2 pages in the business case had a maximum duration in the 0 2 second range when 10 users were running the business case Interpret Results The User vs Time Test indicates that the duration of the object l
68. es down then all schools out e Objects need to be cached at the local school level Issues for distributed BELTS Servers For e Lessons and objects available on the Local Network e Lesson naming only critical on LAN e Caching not as critical as the Server is deploying the objects locally e Ifthe server goes down then only the local school is out e The Linux server can handle multiple functions including BELTS cache firewall Against e Need management practices to handle distribution of objects e Need many servers and related management of dependent systems e Upgrades need to be applied to each server Lesson management is an issue Ideally an individual lesson should be able to be exported without the object and re imported as a single lesson on another box Teachers may wish to clone a part of a lesson and add other pieces to it This is only possible by completely recreating the lesson pieces that are wanted Remote areas like the Northern Territory would benefit from a standalone BELTS system with simple object and lesson imports from a CD or floppy The details relating to a learning object need to be more detailed A list of the files used swf dcr etc the required plug ins and caching considerations need to be available All in all the BELTS system is a very effective mechanism for the deployment of Learning Objects However it must be noted that Linux expertise is needed to setup and configure the servers to operat
69. ex html NONE text html 1068591497 793 4 10 20 178 116 TCP_MEM_HIT 200 838 GET http belts cg catholic edu au content 262 Content LV1630 1li_001_qantm_015 release js script js NONE application x javascript 1068591497 905 16 10 20 178 116 TCP_MEM_HIT 200 655 GET http belts cg catholic edu au content 262 Content LV1630 1i_001_gantm_015 release css styles css NONE text css 1068591497 913 6 10 20 178 116 TCP_MEM_HIT 200 1361 GET http belts cg catholic edu au content 262 Content LV1630 1l1i_001_qantm_015_release TL F_Logo jpg NONE image jpeg 06 04 04 52 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Request for Finders Keepers loader dcr 1068591498 826 447 10 20 178 116 TCP_HIT 200 172318 GET http belts cg catholic edu au content 262 Content LV1630 1i_001_qantm_015_release lo ader dcr NONE application x director Get the loader dcr from the local disk cache 1068591506 628 19 10 20 178 116 TCP MEM HIT 200 3916 GET https belts co catholic edu au y contents 2627 Content LV1630 11 001 qantm_015 release ds wmedia images preloader_next jpg NONE image jpeg Get the preloader_next jpg from the local memory cache 1068591508 860 1921 10 20 178 116 TCP_HIT 200 2163053 GET http belts cg catholic edu au content 262 Content LV1630 1i_001_qantm_015_release ho use dcr NONE application x director Get the house dcr from the local disk cache 1068591533701 1050 10
70. fficiency of cars and trucks by testing stopping distances under controlled conditions Factors include vehicle type road surface type weather conditions and tyre tread This information is visible only to be the teacher who creates the lesson and to other teachers who are able to share the lesson It can be used as a reminder reference point for the teacher 01 Inthe Lesson Instructions field type in an outline of the lesson Prior to completing this lesson students should read Chapter 9 of their text book This lesson looks at the factors affecting braking After completing this lesson students need to complete the 9Speeding worksheet in Lesson Content eare Icra m 06 04 04 109 el Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission This information is displayed to the student prior to them accessing the content inside the lesson OF Click on the save button You must do this before proceeding to the next steps in creating a lesson otherwise your work will be lost The second part of the Edit Lesson page is used to I e Add other online resources using web page addresses e Second part of the Edit Lesson page Lesson Contents qs Add Lesson Contents j Search Resource k Browse Resource Upload file Browse Add R Add URL Add e Select the digital content that will be used in the lesson e Add any of the teacher s own files eg a work
71. g catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 L0_04 20030228 LO_04_ rt swf HTTP 1 0 304 223 TCP_IMS_HIT NONE Get the LO 04 _rt swf from the browsers cache 06 04 04 31 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 54 28 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 L0_04 20030228 LO_04_gl swf HTTP 1 0 304 223 TCP_IMS_HIT NONE Get the LO_04 _gl swf from the browsers cache 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 54 28 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 LO_04 20030228 LO_04_test swf HTTP 1 0 304 223 TCP_IMS_HIT NONE Get the LO 04 _test swf from the browsers cache Access Log for dcr object Finders Keepers 1 The first requests are for the lesson page mh_fk2 view I html and the object s index html page which is followed by the java script script js and the cascading style sheet styles css andf the TLF logo The lesson page is retrieved from squid disk cache with all the others retrieved from memory cache Then the object is requested loader dcr 1068591497 571 735 10 20 178 116 TCP_MISS 200 1815 GET http belts cg catholic edu au lesson mh_fk2 view 1 html FIRST_UP_PARENT proxy smwms cg catholic edu au text html 1068591497 698 O 10 20 178 116 TCP_MEM_HIT 200 1776 GET http belts cg catholic edu au content 262 Content LV1630 1li_001_qantm_015_release in d
72. gement systems that are used to manipulate and contextualise them 5 3 2 Provide a prototype for an enterprise system architecture to provide learning to the education systems and sectors to assist with developing their own architectures BELTS has provided jurisdictions with a working prototype of a simple learning management system Given that teachers in most jurisdictions are only now moving towards incorporating online learning into their classroom activities the development of a simple working prototype is timely As teachers have become familiar with the use of BELTS they have then started to identify further functionality they would like to see Examples of requested additional functionality include e import and export functions e areminder to save information e an ability to interface with other learning management systems and other learning objects e the ability to tell which version of BELTS a server has installed on it e thumbnails of learning objects e the ability to transfer lessons seamlessly and automatically from one version of BELTS to another e the ability for teachers to view and share lessons across schools Additional enhancements could form the basis of further open source collaborative work should this been seen as valuable by jurisdictions 5 3 3 Provide a framework for an open source learning management system allowing the initial solution to continue to be extended for the benefit of education systems and
73. he trial were substantive or transient Neither the Canberra Goulburn or Melbourne Archdioceses specifically recorded ongoing problems with installing BELTS onto a network Recommendation e That the issues arising from installing a BELTS box onto a network including an analysis of server loads are revisited and tested once this iteration of BELTS is completed and signed off 5 2 5 What are the expectations for download times bandwidth What are the implications of the actual download time The Le rning Federation has already established the expectation concerning download speeds of learning objects A user is able to interact with the object within 10 seconds of the initial request on a 64kbps connection where for calculation purposes interaction time assumes a single user on a 64kbps connection The download speeds of learning objects varied across schools within and across the respective trials It is difficult to isolate the causes for the speed or lack of it given the number of variables that could affect the downloading learning objects although available bandwidth ability to cache available hard drive space memory number of concurrent users and compatibility of software and plugins all seem to impact on whether learning objects download satisfactorily It would appear from the outcomes of the Melbourne trial that where there was ample bandwidth the learning objects could be downloaded almost instantaneously even on
74. hers trialing the CD ROMs In the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese training was run at Cootamundra at the commencement of the trial Teachers in all participating schools were taught how to use BELTS to access learning objects and were encouraged to construct sequences of learning In the Melbourne Archdiocese two teachers from both participating secondary schools attended a half day training session at the Catholic Education Office This training session provided teachers with the opportunity to understand the concept of a learning object and to learn how to create an online sequence of learning in BELTS using learning objects No training was provided to the primary teachers participating in the Melbourne trial It was decided that as all Catholic primary schools in Victoria had used the myinternet portal for the last five years training was unnecessary All teachers in the Melbourne Archdiocese were provided with support documentation on how to use BELTS in the classroom A copy of this booklet is included in Appendix Seven Teachers in the Northern Territory were provided with brief handwritten instructions on how to install the learning objects This booklet was developed from the Department of Education and Training Vic E Learning team booklet 2003 BELTS training scenarios for teachers Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 17 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National C
75. ication requirements for the deployment of BELTS At a central jurisdictional level The Le rning Federation has specified e 1x Pentium 4 1 5 GHz or greater e 1GBmemory e 18GB hard drive storage or greater Further useful information would be provided by server impact tests according to the model of deploying BELTS and by developing specifications for the size of server required in a distributed replicated environment 5 1 4 Bandwidth available to schools The reports in the Appendices show that the trials were conducted using a range bandwidths from 64kB through to 1 5MB As outlined earlier The Le rning Federation has specified the range of acceptable download time for a learning object While it would appear that available bandwidth does affect the speed of downloading learning objects it is difficult to ascertain with certainty the degree and extent of the effect given the number of interrelating factors that affect the delivery of the learning objects to the desktop 5 1 5 Caching capabilities The capacity for servers to cache learning objects emerged as an important issue during the course of the trials The reports from the Canberra Goulburn Appendix One and Melbourne Archdioceses Appendix Two both address this issue The ability to cache appears to depend on several factors but it was not possible to ascertain from this trial the extent to which caching influences the ability of BELTS to deliver learning objects to
76. icipated in the trial The teachers selected were those with IT responsibility in the school eg the ICT teacher In one case a classroom support teacher participated Of the four schools one was a primary school one a secondary school and two were primary and secondary on one campus Secondary schools in this context generally cater for students up to 15 years of age with some VET programs for a few older students Most Catholic schools within the Darwin Diocese are part of the Northern Territory government Learning and Technology in Schools LATIS network Part of LATIS includes the LATIS Software Bank All software titles to be played on LATIS workstations in schools must be certified before they are installed A list of approved software is kept of all products that have been submitted for certification and are available on the LATIS website If schools want to use software on LATIS workstations that is not included on the software list it is the school s responsibility to submit the software for certification The wet season ie tropical summer is between 1 November and 30 April 33 Remote schools in the NT are those schools located in small Indigenous communities with variable access to major centres such as Darwin and Alice Springs eg between one and five hours travel by unsealed road depending on the season and limited to small plane access The student population of the schools in this study ranges between 60 and
77. ictions are encouraged to develop portfolios or case studies of good practice by teachers using BELTS and for these to shared nationally e That questions concerning the technical skills teachers require to make effective use of BELTS and the skills teachers require to integrate learning objects into their teaching and learning are revisited by the Exchange Consultative Committee later in 2004 5 2 9 How will BELTS be integrated with a learning management system and what are the additional costs management and professional development this brings None of the trials directly addressed this question Costs associated with the purchase of commercial learning management systems depend on the package put together by the vendor which could include the software product itself the licence agreements and the training and help desk or support services provided by the vendor The development of BELTS has come at a time when jurisdictions are reconsidering the amounts of funding allocated to the purchase of off the shelf software As such BELTS may represent a suitable widespread software environment for use in schools over the next three to five years as jurisdictions determine their future software priorities It is expected that the Exchange Consultative Committee will be considering a range of issues related to learning management systems during 2004 and the above question could be included within these future considerations Recommendations e
78. ine from this trial however the likely future extent of technical expertise required once BELTS is bedded down Several installations have been completed and the installation of the software is becoming more akin to other off the shelf products 5 1 9 Varying levels of ICT literacy among teachers Teachers selected to participate in all three trials had already developed ICT literacy skills became apparent through the trials though that teacher professional development in the technical and pedagogical use of BELTS and learning objects is central to gaining the most value from both BELTS and the learning objects 40 It 5 1 10 Summary and recommendations lt can be seen from the range of variables that impinged on the conditions of the trials that the trial environments were complex As such isolating causes and effects from the apparent findings of the trials has been problematic Identifying the variables impinging on the trials however has been an important first step and should be used to inform any follow up work Should future work To aid in the installation process of BELTS officers in the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese have developed a CD ROM installation disk Here ICT literacy refers to familiarity with the computer and online environments and the ability to use software programs for their own purposes Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 20 06 04 04 Report of tria
79. ing Object 5 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 53 03 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV494 L0_05 20030228 LO_05 swf HTTP 1 0 200 52895 TCP Miss FIRST _UP_ PARENT Get the LO_05 swf from the source not available from the proxy or its parent upstream proxy 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 53 15 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV494 LO_05 20030228 LO_05_rt swf HTTP 1 0 200 4150 TCP_MISS FIRST_UP_PARENT Get the LO_05_rt swf from the source not available from the proxy or its parent upstream proxy 10 10 138 223 25 Nov 2003 14 53 16 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV494 LO_05 20030228 LO _05_gl swf HTTP 1 0 200 14835 TCP_MISS FIRST_PARENT_MISS Get the LO_05_gl swf from the source not available from the proxy or its parent upstream proxy Request for Learning Object 4 from new machine ip 10 10 139 250 10 10 139 250 25 Nov 2003 14 53 33 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 LO_04 20030228 LO_04 swf HTTP 1 0 200 52847 TCP_HIT NONE 06 04 04 50 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Get the LO_04 swf from the local cache 10 10 139 250 Zo NOV 2003214253244 1100 GET http belts3 cg catholic edu au content exchange 76 3 0 Content LV492 LO_04 20030228 LO_04_ rt swf HTTP 1
80. ion Search Repository Browse Repository Search Resources Change Passwort i Logout Privacy Terms and Conditions About BELTS Copyright 2002 2003 education au linifed and Curriculum Corporation All Rights Reserved E U7H _ Browse Resources Search Help Upload Content Use the search to find resources view resources and their details and publish unpublish delete or download resources Quicksearch Learning Area English Lote Sci Year Level You can select multiple learning areas and year levels by holding down the conto key or 2gple key and clicking on the items Published state is Any gt Results per page 100 gt Browse Resources Search Help Upload Content You searched on Learning Area Mathematics SOSE English LOTE Science Publish Unpublish Select Search Results Alien life form Not published the Learning Federation approved Help the alien Zorpac to find out about plant life on Earth Choose different combinations of leaves seeds and roots to design a plant that is best adapted to surviving in a particular environment Optimise the plant design to suit survival in specific environments mangroves cool rainforest mountain slopes arid land Check results get feedback on matching the plant features to suit the environment Learning Area Science Strand Science gt Biological science Topic Plants Roots Plants Leaves Seeds Stems Plants Adaptati
81. ion systems access for the purpose of trialling and testing learning objects A Learning Object is defined by The Le rning Federation as one or more files designed to be used as a standalone learning experience a chunk of material which might consist of audio graphic text animation or some relevant mix of these components that will make sense to the learner by itself Learning objects can of course be used as components of learning sequences or treatments of topics or as elements of units of study Teachers can construct their own sequences as they wish making their own decisions about what will work for their students as a whole group as small groups or as individual learners in their own contexts So what does eLearning mean E learning is defined as learning with the aid of information and communications technology tools These may include the Internet intranets computer based technology or interactive television They may also include the use of e technology to support traditional methods of learning for example using electronic whiteboards or video conferencing E learning is relatively new It can be customised to the need of the individual and has the flexibility to allow studying at a pace time and location that best suits the student It gives the potential to provide widespread access to high quality relevant training and education The use of Belts is being piloted in a number of schools Th
82. irements schools will need when accessing learning objects from the Belts server 1 Before your school could begin using learning objects on the Belts server what steps did you take to set up the Belts lessons for your classes and students 2 How long did this take 3 Would you be prepared to do this for each class or lesson you wanted to use the Learning Objects for 4 What was the time of the day 5 How long did it take to set up the lesson 6 What problems did you encounter if any 7 What documentation did you use 8 How helpful did you find it 9 How many seconds did it take to see the learning object appear on screen for the first user 10 Is this an acceptable time to wait 06 04 04 19 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 11 How many seconds did it take for the SAME learning object appear on screen for the next group of users 12 Is this a MORE acceptable time to wait 13 If this means that you as the teacher has to view the learning objects sometime prior to using them in class is this reasonable in order to use them effectively as learning tools 14 Was there anything else that you required needed in order to use the learning object 06 04 04 80 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 10 3 APPENDIX TWO C Technical Questionnaire The following technical questionaire was distributed by the Melbourne A
83. is in seconds and HS is in hundredths of a second Ti This column contains the time the values in the row were ime sampled Repeats The cumulative number of times the business case web pages or URLs were repeated Each virtual user is assigned a business case to execute over and over again and this number tells how many times each business case web page and URL was repeated Min TTFB The minimum time to first byte during the time period Avg TTFB The average time to first byte or the time it took for the web server to first respond to the HTTP requests Max TTFB The longest time the web server took to respond to the HTTP mmm CUESt during the time period 06 04 04 72 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission The minimum time it took for the virtual user to receive all of the business case web page or URL back from the web server This is the fastest a user would have viewed the results Avg Dur The average duration it took for the virtual user to receive all of the business case web page or URL back from the web server The maximum time it took for the virtual user to receive all of the business case web page or URL back from the web server This is the slowest a user would have viewed the results The average data rate bytes sec achieved by each virtual user The total data transferred between Web Performance TrainerTM and the server during the sample p
84. l environments ccccccceeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnes 18 5 2 Addressing the purposes Of the trial cccccccssssseeeeceeesseeeeeeeesseeseeenneees 21 5 3 NAUION AU IOV CN ecdicse ict oncdvbstavcuesdeonsdeeidusevats eaa aaae aa aeaa aaaea aa 28 6 CONCLUSION as cscnceeesccsneacadecuceadeencaseseetvcunssnasticaadeeaessleavnideusdeuteuntaduuudBuccuachacaveutesneadudins 30 7 REFLECTIONS iiia A a A A E 31 8 REFERENCE G rnini te cence osniseewenccundenesee heuevenduavcedieusncendsececseracens 32 9 APPENDIX ONE nocia aaa aaa a a a aa a a 33 Report on the trial of Basic E Learning Tool Set across the Central Schools in the Western Region Canberra Goulburn 10 APPENDIX TWO suomismnon non a a 59 Report on The Le rning Federation trial Melbourne 10 1 APPENDIX TWO Aicina aa aac aia a A cats 76 10 2 APPENDIX TWO Bowie csisceccsccrnds aaia aaa aA 78 10 3 APPENDIX TWO Go uirinn a a a a a R 81 10 4 APPENDIX TWO Di uriena aaa aa a aa a a a a 84 11 APPENDIX THREE inon a A E 88 Computer and bandwidth configurations used in the Melbourne trial 12 APPENDIX FOUR suriri eet eats Rees 92 National Catholic Education Commission BELTS deployment and distribution chain Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 13 APPENDIX FIVE iiiiccccuiieieciactecivwveccaivetaacesstiaa ve inane eae sl enivaeecuvawareaave atone ance 9
85. le to act upon immediately and information that will require action in the longer term Three key findings emerging from the trials were that e no distribution model is more preferable than any other per se but the selection of a model of distribution depends on the requirements of the local conditions e schools and jurisdictions require provision of support through access to technical expertise synchronously and asynchronously via email and websites and through tailored online self help documentation and e further research is required into the total cost of ownership of the respective distribution models Three key or central considerations were identified through the trials as impinging on decisions about which deployment model a jurisdiction may wish to adopt The considerations identified were e bandwidth and costs of downloads e caching capabilities e server loads Associated with the technical requirements for successfully deploying BELTS the trials highlighted the importance for schools and jurisdictions having in place administration and management strategies both for updating the available suite of learning objects and for easy identification and reuse by teachers of the sequences of learning they create save and hold on servers lt has become clear that plugins are central to the ease of use and appropriate functioning of the learning objects A series of recommendations have emerged from this project Decisions abou
86. ls conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission be undertaken some of it should be planned and performed under test conditions where the software used is stable and the variables are controlled and altered according to planned processes so that specific cause and effect outcomes can be ascertained It is therefore recommended that should further trials be considered e tests of identified variables are undertaken within controlled environments in which the software remains unchanged during the course of the tests in order to isolate and document troubleshooting requirements for identified problems e simple one page client end and server end configuration charts are developed for use in schools and jurisdictions to ensure that the computers used to access learning objects are appropriately configured prior to attempting to use the learning objects and e software is developed that will automatically check whether the client computer is configured correctly to access and use learning objects 5 2 Addressing the purposes of the trial Subsection 6 2 outlines some tentative findings arising from the trials at both jurisdictional and national levels Discussion is constructed around each of the questions identified as part of the purposes for the trials see Section 4 2 Detailed information about the respective outcomes of the trials can be found in the reports provided by each of the Catholic Education Offi
87. mentation during the trial e software upgrades that occurred during the trial eg plugins but were outside of the direct control of The Le rning Federation e varying levels of technical expertise in the Catholic Education Offices and in schools e varying levels of ICT literacy among teachers While the trials had identified purposes it has not been possible to determine the extent of influence each individual factor has had on the delivery of learning objects to the desktop As such the following notes are provided to outline potential environmental issues but no judgement is made here as to whether the issues identified influenced the outcomes achieved through these trials 5 1 1 Hardware and software configurations pre existing in schools The computer configurations outlined in the reports included in the Appendices show clearly that there is a range and variety of hardware and software configurations in use in the trial schools Not all of these configurations match the requirements specified by The Le rning Federation for the successful delivery of learning objects The following examples are provided as illustration e Operating systems Computers used in classrooms were employing a variety of operating systems ranging from Windows 95 through to XP and Macintosh However not all the operating systems used in the trial schools are supported by The Le rning Federation specifications See The Learning Federation 2003
88. n the frequency of use of the learning objects The location of the learning object repository within or outside of the VPN will impact on the cost of delivery and use of objects at the school level Hence total cost of ownership should include the cost of accessing managing and downloading the learning objects 5 2 10 2 Distributed model Once the replication function was added to BELTS the delivery of learning objects using a distributed model was found to be acceptable by those within the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese 5 2 11 Pros and cons The following table identifies the pros and cons identified for using a central server or a distributed server an ASP or CD ROMs ee Centralised BELTS There is only one place into which Management practices are required to server objects have to be loaded handle naming for lessons and users Only one server is required to manage There is the potential for server all aspects of the distribution process performance degradation under loads eg over 20 schools Lessons can be easily shared with If the server goes down then all other users on the network schools are out Professional development can be Objects can be cached at the local delivered off the central box school level Distributed BELTS Lessons and objects are available on Management practices are required to servers the LAN handle the download and distribution of objects at both central and local levels Technical support can be cen
89. nagement e using simple tools e managing the Curriculum Organiser e creating managing and running lessons 3 6 2 Deployment of BELTS BELTS has been built as a single system with multiple functional modules that comprise the total functionality It is intended that BELTS can be easily deployed on a range of different platforms and the technical support information regarding the deployment of BELTS is provided in a format that is easy to use by a moderately skilled technical team 3 6 2 1 Models of deployment BELTS has been distributed to education systems and sectors It has been designed to support both centralised and distributed models for content delivery 3 6 2 1 1 Central model The central model involves a single BELTS system servicing a number of schools which access content over a wide area network The central education system or sector BELTS system is hosted in an application hosting environment At this level in terms of functionality there is no distinction made between education systems and sectors nor between the ASPs and ISPs provided at a centralised level to manage the discovery and distribution of content from the Exchange repository to a central BELTS repository The centralised deployment model requires interfaces between the Exchange and BELTS that allow the discovery and transfer of content 1 The following section has been extracted from Section 2 2 of The Le rning Federation 2002c 18 The Exch
90. nance of software for example are included in the online environment and are packaged into a single cost e tis the responsibility of the ASP to resolve issues as they arise according to the contract and the agreed specifications e All users work in the same online learning environment e Technical expertise is the responsibility of the ASP e Ifthe ASP s servers go down then all schools go out e Using the online learning environment provided through the ASP requires professional development in addition to that for using BELTS e Specific management practices are required to handle naming for lessons and users It should be noted that the goods and services included in a contract with an ASP depends on the negotiations between the customer and the vendor and could therefore vary between jurisdictions depending on the contract Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 7 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e Managing the licences and monitoring the contract to ensure that the goods and services purchased are delivered must be undertaken by the customer e Jurisdictions pay both for the ASP s online learning environment and for BELTS through their contribution to The Le rning Federation Delivery models The trial in the Melbourne Archdiocese found little difference in the speed or quality of the delivery of learning objects accessed using
91. ncluded in this lesson For example a teacher could have worksheets or student activity sheets saved on the school computer or network These files can be uploaded and be used as part of the lesson ans OF Click on the Browse button to locate file to upload to the lesson fe Note that this is using the Browse button not the Browse Resources link a The File Upload window appears iag speed htm ESE My Documents Mu Computer File name Z Miu Network F Files of type fai Files Cancel A A new window opens which shows the file and folders for this computer or network This enables finding of the file which is to be uploaded This example finds a student worksheet called Speed htm OF Click on the button Ca Krreseyn 06 04 04 112 el Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission The Edit Lesson page is redisplayed again Lesson Contents Add Lesson Contents Search Resource GBrowse Resource Upload file Gspeed htm Browse Add Add URL Add Cineclude protocol e g http It s a drag Add Student Instructions Delete Lo Click on the _Add button to include the file in the Lesson Content Details anes Ie The Edit Lesson page is redisplayed with the file listed Lesson Contents Add Lesson Contents Search Resource Browse Resource Upload file Browse Add Add URL
92. nd Microsoft during the course of the trials raised concerns over backward compatibility ie compatibility with earlier versions of software in particular with browser plugin software 2 3 1 Recommendations e That further analysis of caching requirements of learning objects is undertaken e That server loads are further analysed e That The Le rning Federation undertakes ongoing liaison with the major vendors to promote backward compatibility of software 2 4 Support and self help e Support for schools through the provision of external technical advice and self help documentation appropriate to all those using BELTS ie technical teacher jurisdiction support emerged as important tools for the successful use of BELTS 3 Small loads refers to less than 20 schools or less than 100 users Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 4 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e During the course of the trials The Le rning Federation developed technical documentation and teacher and student support materials on BELTS More needs to be done to ensure users know that this documentation is available on The Le rning Federation and sourceforge websites e Users expressed frustration when reading the BELTS technical support documentation for the first time However they found that subsequent readings were easier e Different forms of support are needed for users who
93. nd housed publicly on the BELTS site http belts sourceforge net e That jurisdictions through the ECC give consideration to the provision of training for technical administrators in how to install maintain and troubleshoot within BELTS e That small widespread trials of the BELTS installation disk developed by officers in the Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education Office are conducted to establish whether the installation disk could be widely used nationally as an easy installation method 5 2 8 What technical skills do teachers need to make effectiveuse of BELTS What skills and learning and teaching strategies do teachers need to integrate the learning objects into the curriculum None of the trials directly addressed the skills profile a teacher requires to use BELTS effectively nor addressed teaching and learning issues using learning objects as part of the curriculum Given the relative simplicity of BELTS and the short amounts of time provided in the trials to the training of teachers in how to use BELTS it would appear that basic ICT literacy skills are required plus an openness to learn a new software packages The trials found that once teachers were proficient at using BELTS they then started looking for additional functionality to amplify its use Critical issues about how to integrate learning objects into the curriculum are however likely to emerge as BELTS becomes more extensively used Recommendations e That jurisd
94. nd resources view their details and fetch them from the repository Note Results displayed will only include those objects uploaded before your last update Quicksearch Learning Area Change Password L Oo 9 oO ut Year Level Privacy Terms and Conditions E You can select multiple learning areas and year levels by holding down the contol key or agole key and clicking on the items ou Results per page 100 z Copyright 2002 2003 per pag 100 education au limifed and Curriculum Corporation All Rights Reserved And then lt Download All Results gt to get the objects displayed on the page Search Results Administration Browse Repository Search Help You searched on Learning Area Mathematics SOSE English LOTE Science Boars Ruacurias Download Download All Results Browse Resources Select Search Results Content Distribution including BELTS the Leaming Federation approved i Log out Overview of The Le rning Federation technical infrastructure for content procurement and distribution Includes a Privacy description of the Basic E Learning Toolset Terms and Conditions Learning Area Science Technology Strand Technology gt Information Systems Technology process Topic Technology Computer sciences User Level 10 11 12 13 WVersion 6 0 Size 674kKb About BELTS Copyright 2002 2003 EE TE Pa Per Day sky night sky includes spoken instructions the Learning Federation a
95. nditions About BELTS When the items are returned Check those that are wanted and select Download The objects will be placed in a queue and will arrive at some future time dependant on bandwidth Following arrival of the objects the need to be published inorder that teachers may see them This is achieved by Search Resources across all areas again looking for those that have not been published as shown below Search Resources Pepe n Browse Resources Search Help Upload Content Search Reoosita y o P Use the search to find resources view resources and their details and publish Browse Repository unpublish delete or download resources Search Resources Quicksearch Learning Area amli LOTE Logout Year Level 0 e Privacy 1 Terms and Conditions z You can select multiple learning areas and year levels by holding down the conio key Cor annie key and clicking on the items Gopyriaht 2 2002 2002 Published state is Not Published education au linie and Curriculum Corporation All Rights Reserved About BELTS Select each item to be published and click Publish Again note that selecting 100 items gives a better chance of hitting all objects at once There are some significant management issues here for a deployment of 50 plus schools each with their own local BeLTS server An auto pull 06 04 04 40 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission and p
96. ning costs as part of the rollout and upgrade of the software to schools As indicated above the teachers in the Northern Territory were not provided with any training and with scant documentation They would have benefited from an installation tutorial and associated hardcopy documentation on how to use the CD ROM and the learning objects Given the foregoing comments about the nature of the technical expertise required for administrators to install and maintain BELTS consideration could be given to a national strategy for increasing the technical skill levels of relevant officers within all government and non government jurisdictions One strategy to achieve this could be the provision of training sessions using both synchronous and asynchronous learning tools accompanied with an annual face to face meeting In the first instance sessions could be conducted between 2004 and 2006 Recommendations e That small focused trials of the BELTS technical documentation and of the teachers and students handbooks see http belts sourceforge net teacher index html are undertaken e That publicity and awareness raising about the location of the BELTS handbooks and technical documentation is conducted with jurisdictions to support their professional development of teachers using BELTS e That consolidation of all relevant BELTS documentation and support documents is undertaken and housed publicly on the BELTS site http belts sourceforge net
97. nse time to requests when under a user load of ten can be improved from the average of 28 seconds that was recorded during these tests Objective 4 Impact on bandwidth if other dioceses eg Sale were to host a regional server with ADSL Whilst no specific testing was done for this objective it is estimated that in Victoria the only Diocese office that could not effectively host a regional belts server would be the Sale office Ballarat Office utilises a 512 Kops symmetrical LMDS link and the Bendigo diocese office utilises a 1 5 256 Kbps asymmetrical ADSL link Both of these services are estimated to effective serve a Belts web server to their regions and take bandwidth load away from the CEO Head office The Sale diocese office utilises a 256 64 Kbps asymmetrical ADSL link which is not estimated to effective serve a Belts web server to the region The lower data rate of 64Kbps outbound would severely limit the rate of data served especially under user load 06 04 04 19 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 10 1 APPENDIX TWO A Technical requirements The following specifications were identified by the Melbourne Archdiocese and provided to the schools participating in the trial 06 04 04 76 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Technical Requirements In order to trial the Belts delivery in your school the PCs to be used need
98. ntye Apurte Operating Browser amp system version Computer 1 Windows adl II 63 Sa Internet Explorer 6 Professional LATIS 2000 Computer 2 Windows Intel 515 568 Kb Internet Explorer IDL Protessional Pentium a Broadcom Net X 2000 ACPU 2 66GHZ Treme gigabit ethernet Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School rd Operating system Processor E Browser amp version Computer 1 Windows 2000 Home computer Bathurst Island Murrupurtiyanuwu and St Francis Xavier School Computers in both schools on Bathurst Island use Dell computers The trial was conducted on one standalone computer Operating system Processor Browser amp version amp version art 1 Microsoft Intel Pentium Il T Explorer 6 Windows XP 06 04 04 102 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 15 APPENDIX SEVEN BELTS teacher user manual developed by the Melbourne Archdiocese for the trial 06 04 04 103 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission GTA Ie fA BELTS Basic eLearning Tool Set ear Icra el 06 04 04 104 el Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission anaes Ie a earem An Introduction to Belts What is Belts Belts Basic elearning Tool Set is software that has been developed by the Le rning Federation to enable educat
99. oading time rose from approx 10 seconds to 28 seconds as the user load increased from 1 to 10 ina2 minute period The Transaction Sequence Test results from this test indicate the server begins serving content back to the end user in an average of 28 seconds when 10 users are accessing the site with a bandwidth of 256 Kbps The average duration was only 2 seconds longer measured at 30 seconds indicating that the bottleneck seems to be at the server responding to the initial request Once the packet transfer began occurring the transaction time was relatively short The User Capacity Test results show that the majority of pages will be served over a 12 second threshold seconds when 10 users are accessing the site with a bandwidth of 256 Kbps Conclusion This investigation highlights the fact that the server s response is impacted by a user load of ten and this needs to be factored to a scale of 40 to answer the objective of this investigation The testing also highlights the fact that the performance of the server especially in regard to the time taken to respond to the initial response should be examined with the objective of improving the response time 06 04 04 74 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Recommendations It is recommended that the developers of the site are asked to investigate the hardware and software configuration of the belts server to determine if the initial respo
100. of students e identifying strategies for using unique lesson IDs e identifying strategies within BELTS for sharing lessons between teachers e asking critical and philosophical questions about online learning The importance of establishing national support mechanisms for technical officers has been mentioned earlier This point is reiterated here as the quality of the online learning experience for both teachers and students can be coloured by the reliability and functionality of the software being used Recommendations e That small focused trials of the BELTS technical documentation and of the teachers and students handbooks see hitp belts sourceforge net teacher index html are undertaken Work has already commenced on this task It should be noted that professional development is a jurisdictional responsibility however it can be undertaken in a nationally consistent fashion Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 24 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e That jurisdictions share case studies of examples of good practice using BELTS e That publicity and awareness raising about the location of the BELTS handbooks and technical documentation is conducted with jurisdictions to support their professional development of teachers using BELTS e That consolidation of all relevant BELTS documentation and support documents is undertaken a
101. of the CDROM the degree of technical literacy required of those in each remote location was too high The menu structure on the CD ROM was difficult to access The plugins launch to the Internet which defeats the purpose of putting the learning objects onto CD 06 04 04 91 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 12 APPENDIX FOUR National Catholic Education Commission BELTS deployment and distribution chain Mr Adrian Brown National Catholic Education Commission 06 04 04 92 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission National Catholic Education Commission BELTS deployment and distribution chain There are a number of models for the distribution of TLF content to Catholic schools across Australia In those states where collaborative arrangements with systems have been negotiated the content will be delivered via the respect system repository Where existing arrangements with an ASP for example myinternet are in place content will be delivered via this service To enable the delivery of TLF learning objects to all other Catholic Schools in Australia a repository has been set up for the National Catholic Education Commission in the Melbourne Catholic Education Office that connects with the TLF Exchange From here objects are replicated to repositories in each of the State and Territories While each Commission will replicate the Catholic rep
102. of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e Only one server manages all aspects of the distribution process e Lessons can be shared easily with other users on the network e Professional development can be delivered from the central box e Management practices are required to handle naming for lessons and users e There is the potential for server performance to degrade under loads eg more than 20 schools e If the central server goes down then all schools are affected e Objects need to be cached at the local school level to improve learning object performance 2 7 1 2 Distributed BELTS servers Pros e Lessons and objects are available on the Local Area Network LAN e Lesson naming is critical only on the LAN e Caching is less critical than the server for deploying the objects locally e lf the server goes down only the local school goes out e The server can handle multiple functions including BELTS eg caching firewall e Management practices are required to handle the download and distribution of objects at both the central and local levels e Many servers are required e Each of the dependent systems requires its own management e Upgrades need to be applied to each server 2 7 1 3 ASP Pros e All management responsibility for the regular downloads of learning objects from the Exchange and distribution to local sites is delegated to the ASP e Costs of downloads upgrades and mainte
103. on Biology Estuaries Mountains Deserts Biodiversity Reproduction Habitats Ecology Rain Experiments User Level 3 4 Version 2 0 Size 1 01Mb View Summary Details Download Caving Not published the Leaning Federation approved Help Frog to explore a limestone cave Identify glow worms bats and rock features such as stalactites Take photos then match up pictures with their labels Learning Area Science Strand Science gt Biological science Earth and space Topic Animals Ecology Land forms Rocks Geology Groundwater UserLevel 0 1 2 Version 2 0 Size 265Kb View Summary Details Download Select the items and click publish Summary It is not clear from this trial whether it is better for a System to have a centralised or distributed model It may be more appropriate to have both with those schools on higher bandwidth links using the central BELTS repository and those at more remote locations having a local server 06 04 04 57 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Issues for a centralised BELTS Server For e Only one place to have to get the objects loaded into e Only one server needed to manage all aspects e Lessons easily shared with other users on the network e PD can be delivered off the central box Against e Need management practices to handle naming for lessons and users e Potential for server performance degradation under load 40 schools e lf the server go
104. ool system level e What technical skills do teachers need to make use of BELTS effectively What skills and learning teaching strategies do teachers need to integrate the DLOs into the curriculum e How will BELTS be integrated with a Learning Management System and what are the additional costs management and professional development this brings 06 04 04 34 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission The study will attempt to describe the costs and benefits of and issues associated with the methods trialled It will provide a report to TLF regarding the outcomes of the trial for the benefit of all stakeholders Background The CGCEO has been in the process of constructing a Wide Area Network ACGNet connecting all of its schools across the ACT and South Eastern NSW The WAN involves central servers located at Dickson and Manuka in Canberra with Gateway Servers in each school The Central and Gateway Servers are all Linux based servers Red Hat 7 4 and handle all the traffic out of the schools and into the central management area The fact that BELTS can be deployed as a Linux service encouraged the CGCEO to participate in the project Four NSW Central Schools were selected and agreed to participate in the trial All of the schools had been connected to ACGNet were familiar with use of the network and students ranging from Kindergarten to Year 10 This would allow the potential use of DLOs and
105. ository in Melbourne delivery of objects to schools will mainly occur from diocesan offices At the diocesan level two alternative models for deployment are emerging each with its own advantages 1 Where the repository is located at a diocesan level with the objects delivered to schools across a WAN the capacity for sharing of good practice lessons is opened up The protocols for clearly identifying these lessons are in the process of being determined What has been highlighted so far is the necessity for naming conventions for these lessons so that they are easily discoverable not only by the use of clearly identified names but also in by succinctly described content meta metadata Associated with this is the need to provide adequate professional development so that the good practice lessons do not become like a series of blackline masters but rather exemplar lessons which teachers can adapt to their own classrooms through co creation 2 Employing a BELTS box in schools which replicates the diocesan repository reduces the sharing good practice across schools but is compensated for by much faster access in busy classrooms providing the problems associated with caching are resolved Interestingly however a different kind of sharing is emerging Science objects are being shared between Science classes and English classes for example Furthermore we are now looking at a hybrid model where clusters of schools share a BE
106. ough the learnings essential to the initial start up phase Ongoing monitoring of the required technical skills during 2004 and 2005 will be needed to determine whether the installation maintenance and troubleshooting of BELTS remain tasks requiring high levels of technical expertise Most of the teachers trialing the CD ROMs in the Darwin Diocese experienced difficulties with accessing the learning objects Given that those who will use CD ROMs have to be completely self contained the technical demands of installing and using the CD ROM must be minimal A tutorial and or hardcopy documentation to support them with information on how to install and use the CD ROM would have eased their difficulties Recommendations e That the range of trials of BELTS being undertaken across jurisdictions is monitored by the Exchange Consultative Committee ECC to ascertain whether subsequent installations of BELTS attract the same levels of difficulty reported through this trial These charts should include all the required information and should not ask the user to jump to URLs to check for further information 42 It should be noted that work on this task has already commenced Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 2 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e That a national pool of people with expertise in installing maintaining and troubleshooting issues arising from the
107. pose The purpose of this part of the project was to gather data to assist The Le rning Federation to evaluate distributed delivery of learning objects through the use of CD ROMs Model of delivery CD ROMs Background There are schools located in remote regions of Australia for whom reliable access to the Internet remains illusive The Le rning Federation is committed to facilitating access to learning objects by all students irrespective of their physical location While access to the Internet is not universal for all students the provision of learning objects on CD ROMs may provide an interim arrangement for these students Context of the trials Four remote schools in the Diocese of Darwin in the Northern Territory were selected by the Coordinator of Curriculum and Indigenous Education in the Catholic Education Office in the Northern Territory to participate in this part of the project Five teachers from these four schools participated in the trial Description of the schools All schools are identified as remote 47 One was a Primary school one was a Secondary school and two were primary secondary on one campus Secondary schools in this context generally cater for students up to 15 years of age with some VET program for a few older students Description of the IT facilities Catholic schools in the Northern Territory have access to the LATIS server These computers do not have CD ROM drives provided in the hardware Ins
108. ppendix One While the consequences of this plugin upgrade could be seen as idiosyncratic it highlighted two broader points e Where upgrades generate unexpected incompatibility issues time consuming troubleshooting responses can result and these can be replicated across geographical and jurisdictional boundaries e The Le rning Federation is currently scheduled to develop learning objects up to 2006 It is not possible to foresee the type of upgrades to operating systems browsers and plugins that may occur over that time Such uncertainty in the development environment makes the creation of learning objects and other software a complex and problematic task 5 1 8 Varying levels of technical expertise Both the Canberra Goulburn and Melbourne Catholic Education Offices have experienced technical expertise available Using open source software solutions such as those underpinning BELTS was seen as a newly emerging IT competence In the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese the open source operating system Linux was already being deployed and so there was some familiarity with the nature of open source environments their functionality requirements and their associated documentation Given the fluidity of the trial environment coupled with installing and trialing new software the technical demands of the trial were high compared to the usual off the shelf technical expertise required for installing established software lt is difficult to determ
109. pproved Curriculum Corporation Ue neers Help Gecko to identify objects in the sky View movements in a daytime sky and night sky southern hemisphere Then create your own night sky scene using objects supplied e g moon clouds planets Learning Area Science Strand Science gt Earth and space Topic Stars Moon Sun Meteors Planets Astronomy UserLevel 0 1 2 Version 6 0 Size 1 34Mb Design a park The Learning Federation approved The object will then be placed in a queue 06 04 04 56 Appendendix Downloading Administration Search Repository Browse Repository Search Resources Browse Resources Change Password Logout Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission A Added 56 learning objects to the download queue Total download time is dependent on the size and number of learning objects being downloaded When the download is complete the learning object will be available in your local repository Available learning objects are viewable as resources by selecting Browse Resources Resources are not available for use until they have been published The objects are now available as resources but need to be published Search Resources Administration Search Repository Change Password f Logout Privacy Terms and Conditions About BELTS Copyright 2002 2003 education au limifeg and Curriculum Corporation All Rights Reserved Search Results Administrat
110. principal Mr Wayne Smith Project contact Ms Diana Duff Email Diana duff shcoota cg catholic edu au St Anne s Central School Principal Mr Terry Kennedy Project contact Ms Debbie Roxburgh Email debbie roxburgh stannes cg catholic edu au McAuley Catholic Central School Principal Mr David Casey Project contact Ms Joanne Dougherty Email joanne dougherty mcauley cg catholic edu au St Mary s War Memorial School Principal Ms Patricia Manglesdorf Email maley smwms cg catholic edu au And Ms Peg Seaman Email peg seaman smwms cg catholic edu au Manuka Catholic Education Office DSSL connection Project leader Michael Haigh 1OM 1M Email michael haigh ceo cangoul catholic edu au Technical Officers Mark Fritz Ashley Haigh Education Services Staff Christine Masters Thea van Os 06 04 04 36 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission H T l aD Ge i P Piney school rs washar Secondary ocho 7 12 ARCHDIOCESE OF CANBERRA AND GOULBURN LOCATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES SCHOOLS 06 04 04 37 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Methodology Phase 1 2 Sept 2003 28 Nov Initially BELTS was only available in a non replicating mode A separate server was configured to run BELTS v1 0 and made available across ACGNet The server was identified as CEOBELTS belts cg catholic edu au and wa
111. puters that already had the required software installed Sometimes five computers were used simultaneously sometimes only one or two computers were configured to handle the learning objects In the secondary classes students viewed the learning objects in a computer laboratory with between 20 and 25 computers accessing the object at any one time Northern Territory Remote schools within this Diocese have unreliable electricity telecommunications and Internet access due to the weather conditions in their geographical locations Tropical conditions such as heavy rain and lightning strikes are common in the Darwin Diocese particularly during the wet season Furthermore due to their geographical location some remote schools cannot be physically reached during the wet period which means that the provision of technical assistance to them can be compromised Consequently for these remote schools provision of learning objects via the Internet cannot be guaranteed and in these cases CD ROMs or DVDs may provide a more robust delivery platform As such the Northern Territory component of the BELTS trial focused on using CD ROMs for the deployment of learning objects Four remote Northern Territory schools in the Diocese of Darwin were selected by the Coordinator of Curriculum and Indigenous Education in the Catholic Education Office in the Northern Territory to participate in this part of the project Five teachers from these four schools part
112. r within postgress It then installs BELTS and creates the BELTS service Manual configuration is required to change the operation port to 2020 rather than 8080 as this is used by the server for the Squid proxy service This is documented in the BELTS Installation guide pg 10 The auto install process takes about 20 minutes including the change to the jboss service xml files 2 different files in 2 different locations but the same name After the successful install BELTS needs to be bootstrapped to be loaded with core data and base users This takes about 5 minutes as long as the files core data xml and test data xml are available on the local file system Copies were placed on the auto install CD Following a successful import of the bootstrap data DLOs can be obtained from the upstream BELTS server This process takes about 10 minutes to setup with a period of something like 15 minutes for the actual DLOs to be queued and loaded locally This is obviously bandwidth dependant as well as number of DLO dependant as well Knowledge of the BELTS processes is required not any other particular ICT competence An already operational Linux Red Hat server can be made BELTS operational within an hour and depending on the number of objects to be downloaded may be teacher ready within a couple of hours Should the installation not proceed smoothly the time taken to resolve the problems will be dependant on the nature of the problem and the availability of suit
113. rage but it is not known how many remote schools have access to DVD players e Plugins must be installed on computers without access to the Internet e Sharing lessons between teachers can occur only via a LAN through sharing the Same computer or by hardcopy 2 2 Recommendations e The questions of how will BELTS be integrated with a learning management system and what are the additional costs management and professional development this brings be analysed using a total cost of ownership approach and the results considered by ECC later in 2004 e Ongoing monitoring of total cost of ownership for delivery solutions across jurisdictions will be communicated through ECC during 2004 2006 2 8 Conclusion The choice of the most appropriate distribution model for delivering The Le rning Federation content to schools depends on infrastructure on the deployment of technical expertise and on available support such as documentation This decision requires a review of the total cost of ownership for the preferred model and the outcome may be a combination of models to meet the specific local requirements of schools and jurisdictions Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 8 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 3 BACKGROUND 3 1 Scope of the report This report summarises the outcomes from the Trial of The Le rning Federation content distribution and
114. raged the Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education Office to participate in the project Four New South Wales Central Schools each with students ranging from Kindergarten to Year 10 were selected and agreed to participate in the trial All of the schools had been connected to ACGNet and were familiar with use of the network Two schools had an ADSL connection one school had a satellite connection and the fourth school began with a satellite connection and during the trial in October 2003 changed to ADSL Bandwidth varied with three schools having a download speed of 512kB and one school having a download speed of 220kB Three schools had an upload of 128kB and one school had a 33kB upload speed This trial focused on establishing a distributed method of deploying BELTS and identifying the issues and requirements for such a distribution model The complete report of this trial is available in Appendix One The trial report focuses on the server requirements in order to undertake a replication of BELTS onto school based servers Melbourne The Melbourne Archdiocese covers schools in the Melbourne greater metropolitan area and includes Geelong Two centralised models of deployment of BELTS were trialed concurrently in this Archdiocese As myinternet Ltd is the ASP for a number of Catholic dioceses across Australia including the four Catholic dioceses in Victoria an ASP model of distribution was Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education a
115. rchdiocese to the schools participating in the trial 06 04 04 81 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission BELTS Technical Questionnaire In order to conduct an effective comparison between users and schools accessing the BELTS server at the CEO Melbourne we need to know some basic data about your school s LAN and the configuration of computers used in the trial These factors will then enable us to make assessments about basic technical requirements schools will need when accessing learning objects from the Belts server 1 Before your school could begin trialing the learning objects on the Belts server what steps did you have to take to set up the computers 2 How long did this take 3 What was the configuration of the PCs used speed RAM virtual memory Complete the table over the page 4 What other software did you need installed to view the learning objects Flash etc 5 What time or support help did you need for this 6 What is the speed of your LAN 7 What type of bandwidth connects the school to the internet ISDN ADSL etc 06 04 04 82 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 8 What is the bandwidth speed of your internet connection 9 What type of Proxy Server Caching device is in the school if any 10 Which Learning Objects were downloaded 11 What was the time of the day 12 How long did it take
116. receive learning objects on CD ROM and do not have access to the Internet e A diagnostic tool that can automatically quiz the user s computer to check whether it is configured correctly to access and use the learning objects was identified as a useful development that could emerge as a result of the trials 2 4 1 Recommendations e That simple one page self contained client and server configuration charts are developed to ensure that the computers used to access learning objects are appropriately configured prior to use of the learning objects e That the range of BELTS trials being undertaken across jurisdictions are monitored by the ECC to e document learning achieved through the repetitions of installation and upgrading processes and e ascertain whether subsequent installations of BELTS attract the same or lower levels of difficulty and therefore expertise e That small focused trials of the BELTS technical documentation and of the teachers and students handbooks see http belts sourceforge net teacher index html are undertaken e That publicity and awareness raising about the location of the BELTS handbooks and technical documentation is conducted with jurisdictions to support their professional development of teachers using BELTS e That all relevant BELTS documentation and support documents are consolidated and housed publicly on the BELTS site http belts sourceforge net e That software is
117. rther information and answer questions about driving Learning Area Science Strand Science Physical sciences Wersion 2 0 Size 14 7 kilobytes Wiew Summary Details Download It s a drag published Investigate braking efficiency of cars and trucks by testing stopping distances under controlled conditions Check effects of vehicle type road surface type water and ice tread thickness Set initial driving speeds and controlled variables then apply brakes and compare stopping distances Answer questions about friction tyres and driver fatigue Learning Area Science Strand Science Physical sciences Wersion 2 0 Size 64 kilobytes Wiew Summary Details Download A number of learning objects should appear on the screen OF Scroll down until you find It s a drag o Click on the tick box next to It s a drag O Check the correct lesson name is showing under the Quicksearch field OF Click on the Add to Lesson button The Edit Lesson page is redisplayed 06 04 04 111 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Lesson Contents Add Lesson Contents Search Resource Browse Resource Upload file Browse Adad Add URL Adad Clnclude protocol e g http Lesson Content Details It s a drag Delenie Add Student Instructions The learning object It s a drag is now listed in the Lesson Content Details lt is possible to upload files that could be i
118. s Schools chosen had a variety of types and sizes of bandwidth into the school and participating teachers had some knowledge of learning objects and or using technology Procedures undertaken Trial Schools The delivery of the learning objects in the trial was tested initially in five schools three primary and two secondary using both delivery portals the TLF Belts server and the myinternet learning management system After several of the early visits we suspected the size of the bandwidth had a direct effect on the speed of delivery and consequently included two additional schools with low bandwidths While minimum technical specifications had been outlined by the TLF for software it was evident from our school visits that there was a variety of computer speeds configurations and standard software applications across schools It is important to keep this in mind as schools have very limited funds to acquire additional hardware and or software to meet the TLF minimum specifications e St Mary s Werribee South a very small semi rural school near Port Philip bay e St Marks Dingley opened in 1974 in a southern residential suburb e St Monica s Footscray old established school with a diverse multicultural community e St Pius X Heidelberg West small school in the north east of Melbourne e St Vincent de Paul Strathmore only 12km north of the city e Avila College Mt Waverley girls secondary college in the
119. s The myinternet portal is designed in such a way that it provides access to other learning objects from around the world not just those supplied by the TLF However the Belts server does not appear to provide a mechanism to access these other objects Server Load The report by Paul also includes data on gauging the load when a central model is used for delivery and indicated that the delivery time at a single school increased from 10 seconds to 28 seconds when a simulation of 10 schools downloaded objects on a bandwidth of 256Kbps Conclusions Software As the software is such a crucial part of the successful delivery of objects to schools successful installation of the software is important To support schools and sectors undertaking their own installations understand the Canberra Goulburn diocese has developed a wizard which tests the computer and assists in the installation of the required software The further development of this wizard would be a worthwhile step in assisting teachers in schools to work with objects and to reduce the costs of employing technicians to install essential software Caching Most schools would use a simpler and cheaper caching device eg Microbits Pizza Cache Microsoft Proxy or Novell Border Manage than the CacheFlow used by the CEOM Nevertheless it is important to determine whether these devices are able to cache this type of content 06 04 04 66 Appendendix Report of trials condu
120. s an open source process for which ongoing development and refinement are activities to which the jurisdictions can actively contribute e Engagement with the collaborative nature of open source software communities was not obvious at the school level in the trials Such engagement would increase the benefit from using this software for both schools and jurisdictions particularly in relation to ongoing technical skill development and support and with further local enhancements of BELTS 2 6 1 Recommendation e That awareness raising activities and explicitly stated protocols about how jurisdictions and individuals can participate and contribute to BELTS developments are developed 2 Costs and benefits of distribution models No conclusive evidence emerged to indicate that one distribution model was better than any other Rather pros and cons were identified for each of the different models trialed 2 7 1 The pros and cons 2 7 1 1 Centralised BELTS server Pros e There is only one place to access the learning objects This alleviates potential confusion and issues that may occur when new versions of the learning objects are released from the Exchange The following information has been derived from the Canberra Goulburn report prepared by Mr Michael Haig For more information about the pros and cons of different models see Appendix One Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 6 06 04 04 Report
121. s deployed at Manuka Training was run at Cootamundra and all schools were encouraged to explore and construct lessons CEO Network Satellite Satellite Connected Schools CEOBELTS Belts v 1 0 VDSL Mode Gateway Server 1Gb Cache Canberra Goulburn WAN ADSL Connected Schools VDSL Modem Gateway Serv er 1Gb Cache Phase 2 20 Sept to 28 Nov Following the release of the replication capable version of BELTS v1 1 0 two separate servers were setup One server BELTSREPL beltsrepl cg catholic edu au was configured as the Central Server to collect objects from the Learning Exchange and make them available for deployment The second server BELTS3 belts3 cg catholic edu au was configured as the downstream server obtaining DLOs from beltsrepl Initially this was setup in a test environment at Manuka to verify connectivity Following satisfactory testing BELTS3 was moved to Tumut and the remaining DLOs were downloaded The server was given an internally name of belts mcauley acgnet to make it easily identified within the C CEO WAN Lessons were now able to be constructed locally CEO Network BELTS3 Belts v1 1 0 BELTSREPL Belts v1 1 0 DSL Modem 512k 128k Canberra ma a Goulburn WAN Gateway Server VDSL Modem 1Gb Cache 10M 1M 06 04 04 38 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Phase 3 18 Oct to 2
122. scape In the address line type in the Belts address a htto belts ceo melb catholic edu au You should see the home page for the Belts web site Log on to BELTS To login to a lesson please enter E in front of the lesson id as your uzemame 6 9 lleszonid ag EANN Username or Lesson ID ateacher Password THE le rning Privacy Terms and Conditions About BELTS Copyright 2002 education ae ear Icra e Type in your username and password in the relevant boxes Then click on the Login button This will take you to the Belts main page It provides all the menu options or buttons that a teacher has access to on the site Other users will see slightly different menu choices el 06 04 04 106 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission The main page le rning Terms and Conditions About BELTS Copyright 2002 education au tintited and Curriculum Corporation All Rights Reserved button Of Click on the eE V7___ Create Lesson There are no lessons assigned to classes Unassigned Lessons ogin There are no unassigned lessons Terms and Conditions About BELTS Copyright 2002 education au limited and Curriculum Corporation All Rights Reserved e This lists the lessons that the particular teacher owns e talso lists lessons that other teachers have shared with
123. schools accessing a BELTS server located in the Melbourne office of the Catholic Education Commission The server had 34 MB of hard drive and used a Windows 2000 operating system e Centralised ASP model using a service provider A centralised delivery model using an ASP myinternet Ltd learning management system was also used in the Melbourne Archdiocese e CD ROM delivery A distributed delivery of the learning objects through the use of CD ROMs was undertaken by teachers in four remote schools in the Northern Territory A diagram of the distribution chain is included in Appendix Four 4 2 Method of data collection A multi faceted ethnographic approach underpinned the data collection strategies used in the trials Two questionnaires one seeking reactions from teachers and one addressing technical issues were prepared to focus the data collection for each of the models trialed These questionnaires are included in Appendices Two B and Two C The questionnaires were utilised differently in each location e Inthe Melbourne Archdiocese the questionnaires were completed by officers from the Catholic Education Office Melbourne e Inthe Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese the trial questions informed the basis for the development of that Archdiocese s report e Inthe Darwin Diocese the questionnaires were completed by the teachers trialing the CD ROMs During the course of the project The Le rning Federation hosted weekly teleconferences
124. sed in the Melbourne Archdiocese Other learning objects were investigated by teachers and students during the course of the trials but the above learning objects were used as the focus for the respective trials 4 3 2 Location bandwidth and IT configurations The settings in which the learning objects were accessed using BELTS differed between the three trial locations The following section provides a summary of the nature of the trial location the extent of the bandwidth available and IT configurations in which the trials were conducted Details of the schools enrolments their location telecommunication connections and IT facilities are included in Appendices Five and Six Canberra Goulburn The Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese straddles the Australian Capital Territory and part of New South Wales The Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education Office is located in Canberra The Archdiocese is about the size of Tasmania The Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education Office has been in the process of constructing a Wide Area Network ACGNet connecting all of its schools across the ACT and south eastern New South Wales The WAN involves central servers located at Dickson and Manuka in Canberra with gateway servers in each school The central and gateway servers are all Linux based servers Red Hat 7 4 and they handle all the traffic out of the schools and into the central management area The fact that BELTS can be deployed as a Linux service encou
125. seen by the report from Paul Internet Explorer did cache the learning objects for a particular session Once a student downloaded the learning object it was cached while that student replayed it over and over However once the browser was closed at the end of the session caching no longer occurred This means that download costs are incurred the first time in a class that each student downloads an object but not if they keeping replaying the same object Of course if a new object is downloaded this will incur further cost Maintenance Measures Software For primary schools this may create an additional cost if they are to view learning objects as it could take a technician several hours to download the software to the network and subsequently install it on every machine in the school However at both secondary schools all the required software was already installed across the network probably due to the nature 06 04 04 65 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission of the type and range of software used across the curriculum in a secondary setting It is anticipated that this would be the case for all secondary schools Future upgrades lf a central model were to be used a high level technician would be required to set up the central Belts server at the central location The tasks undertaken by the technician at the set up stage of this trial included setting up an IP address adding extr
126. server can be cached which will save non CEVN IS schools some of the download costs associated with using this resource site and improve end user performance at all schools Recommendations It is recommended that the developers of the site are asked to investigate why a small percentage of the flash objects returned from this site were cached as opposed to the majority of sites that were not PB has sent this question to some contacts he has in this field and will supply any responses gathered to Angela Forgan Objectives 2 amp 3 Virtual testing of the Server Impact if 40 non myinternet schools are all downloading learning objects Estimated impact on our bandwidth if 40 schools are downloading objects Test Equipment Web Performance trainer software Demo version 10 user limit 1 Belts web server 1 Desktop workstation used run Web Performance trainer software and browse to and navigate the test site http belts ceo melb catholic edu au 06 04 04 70 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Test Caveats The testing software could not be configured to work with the proxy authentication at SINA The testing was therefore done connecting to the Belts server directly on the CEO Head Office LAN The simulated bandwidth was kept at 256 Kbps to simulate a typical primary school connection The testing software was run in Demo mode so the maximum number of simulated users
127. setting up Supporting and maintaining BELTS e What are the issues in installing the box onto a network e What are the expectations for download times and bandwidth e What are the implications of the actual download time e How do the learning objects behave when delivered to schools ie are there any implementation issues with the learning objects e What are the expected and required professional development needs at a school and system level e What technical skills do teachers need to make effective use of BELTS e What skills and learning and teaching strategies do teachers need to integrate the learning objects into the curriculum e How will BELTS be integrated with a learning management system and what are the additional costs management and professional development this brings The trials were also to attempt describing the costs and benefits of the issues associated with the models of deployment used Outcomes of the trial are intended to benefit all stakeholders and The Le rning Federation 1 This outline of the purposes of the trial is extracted from the Submission on behalf of the National Catholic Education Commission 2003 for Funding Support to Trial the Implementation of the Basic E Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 9 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 3 3 Data collection Data for this report was generated through
128. sheets Scroll further down the Edit Lesson page J CInclude protocol e g http Lesson Content Details There are no items assigned to this lesson OF Click on the Search Resource link This will display the Search Resources page which allows you to find the learning objects available to your school The Search Resources page C3 s n Search Resources Browse Resources Search Help p l Lise the search to find resources view resources and their details and add resources to lessons Quicksearch Please note that searches on resource names and descriptions are case sensitive Learning Area Mathematics Change Password LAr El SOSE Ee English Year Level 0 a Privacy 1 Terms and Conditions 2 About BELTS You can select multiple learning areas and year levels by holding down the conio key Cor aoole key and clicking on the items Copyright 2002 education au Date R f Hintifed and Curriculum Corporation ale ange t All Rights Reserved Dates should be entered in the format DEOM MEY YY Results per page 20 Search 06 04 04 110 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission This page allows you to search for learning objects across a range of criteria o8 inthe Quicksearch field type in braking Co iS N cf ba z C3 Q s J E
129. stem will not be able to Tans and Conditions search for or list learning objects This should only be done while the system is inactive Change Passw Logout About BELTS Use Browse the XML Cache to view the information currently stored in your XML cache Select the belts provider You will need to have a provider configured in the jboss service xml configuration file with an appropriate provider username and password lt BELTS Provider gt lt mbean code au edu educationau belts management provider ProviderService name belts service Provider name belts gt lt depends gt belts service ContentStore lt depends gt lt depends gt belts service HttpClientPool lt depends gt lt attribute name JndiName gt belts content provider belts lt attribute gt lt attribute name ProviderClass gt au edu educationau belts content BeltsProvider lt attribute gt lt attribute name Configuration gt lt CDATA lt belts id belts url http provider domain provide username user_name password passwora gt gt 06 04 04 55 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission lt attribute gt lt mbean gt Learning Object Providers Administration l l p dat ep rovider belts Search the Repository to get a list of the available objects Search Repository P E Browse Repository Search Help e 7E 4 Searc fepository e R eeii ethic Use the search to fi
130. t Explorer 5 2 Power G3 laptop Computer 2 OSXv10 Imac 700 Mhz 128Mb Internet Explorer 5 2 Power G3 St Vincent de Paul Bandwidth 256K 1 5Mg ADSL Operating Processor Browser amp system version Computer 1 Pentium IV 128Mb Internet Explorer 6 Computer 2 Win 98 2 edition 128Mb Internet Explorer 6 Computer 3 Win 98 2 edition 128Mb Internet Explorer 6 laptop Computer 4 OSXv10 Power PC G4 256Mg Internet Explorer 6 Computer 5 Win 98 2 edition Pentium Il 64Mb Internet Explorer 6 Computer 6 Win 98 2 edition 700 Mhz laptop 128Mb Internet Explorer 6 Melbourne Archdiocese Secondary schools Avila College Mt Waverley Bandwidth 256K 1 5Mg ADSL Operating Processor Browser amp system version Computer 1 Celeron 400 64Mb Internet Explorer 5 5 Computer 2 512Mb Internet Explorer 6 Computer lab Celeron 400 64Mb Internet Explorer 5 5 25 computers St Paul s College Altona Bandwidth 1024 DAR Operating Processor Browser amp system version Computer 1 Win ME Celeron 60Mb Internet Explorer 5 5 Pentium 100 Computer 2 48Mb Internet Explorer 5 5 Computer lab 48Mb Internet Explorer 5 5 25 computers 06 04 04 101 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Northern Territory The following computers were used to trial the learning objects from the CD ROM The telecommunications to these schools is poor hence the CD ROM trial Ltye
131. t Instructions _Delete http iee phys virginia edufeducatioanfoutreachathgradesalfcompoundmachineST htm Add Student Instructions _Delete e Now that all the content has been added or included in the lesson it is possible to add instructions abou the lesson for students Of Click on the Add Student Instructions link The Edit Lesson Item page is displayed Belts gt Lessons gt Edit Lesson gt Edit Lesson item Lesson Id kill9speeding Resource Name fit s a drag Instructions Cancel Save ee _ Eats ESE a Ei E O ee D F D i 0 e 5 7 f y if fi 5 F i This has an input field for writing instructions about the learning object titled It s a drag For example In your groups view the learning object and consider this question What factors influence braking distance Using the learning object design a series of scientific investigations to gather data to support your hypothesis To assist your recording of data use the table attached to this lesson in the file called speed htm Alternatively design your own table or construct a spreadsheet Provide graphing respresentations to support your hypothesis of Click an save button The Edit Lesson page is redisplayed It shows the instructions for this lesson under the learning objected in the Lesson Content Details area 06 04 04 114 carti el Appendendix Repor
132. t a reasonable response times are experienced at the school site 06 04 04 67 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Belts Server Testing By Paul Barry Objective 1 Evidence that it is not possible to cache learning objects using Cacheflow Test Equipment 1 Cacheflow Client Accelerator 611 Device 1 Belts web server 1 Desktop workstation used to manage the Cacheflow 611 and 1 Laptop computer used to browse to and navigate the test site http belts ceo melb catholic edu au Test Scenario 1 5 learning objects were randomly selected and played through 2 The Cacheflow log files were cleared 3 The same 5 learning objects were again selected and played again 4 The Cacheflow log files were gathered and examined to determine how much of the content was returned from cache Results Proxy Cache Performance Details This section shows detailed performance of the proxy server cache Proxy Cache Performance Details Detailed status From the Intern From the Cache Percent of Total Hits 06 04 04 68 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Proxy Cache Performance Summary me fom e o 6f 3556 23576K 134 100 00 2 29 H Most Downloaded File Types and Sizes 2 000 000 1 800 000 1 600 000 1 400 000 1 200 000 1 000 000 800 000 600 000 400 000 200 000 4 0
133. t how to respond to these recommendations are in the hands of the respective jurisdictions and will be discussed at Exchange Consultative Committee meetings in 2004 These meetings will be events not to be missed Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 30 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 7 REFLECTIONS by Mr Adrian Brown National Catholic Education Commission With the publication of BELTS v 1 1 3 repository replication has been enabled allowing the distribution of The Le rning Federation objects over a more widely dispersed field and as a consequence more extensive testing of these objects in real classrooms together with experimentation with using BELTS as a learning management system These experiences will help both teachers and students to become more effective users of learning objects and the learning management systems that are used to manipulate and contextualise them While BELTS is designed as a basic e learning tool set and it does not have the advanced features of some of the commercial learning management systems eg tracking of student progress its simplicity has the advantage of familiarisation with the newly evolving digital pedagogy Furthermore when the time comes for making purchases those purchases will be much more informed While the New South Wales Catholic Education Commission will replicate the Catholic repository in Melbourne
134. t of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Lesson Content Details Actions It s a drag In your groups view the learning object and consider this question What factors influence braking distance Using the learning object design a series of scientific investigations to gather data ta suppor your hypothesis To assist your recording of data Use the table attached to this lesson in the file called speed htm Alternatively Delete _Down design your own table or construct a spreadsheet Provide graphing respresentations ta suppor your hypothesis Edit O speed htm Disllene _Up Add Student Instructions Down http nee phys virginia edusveducationsoutreach othgradesalfcompoundmachinesT htrm Add Student Instructions _Delete _Up As stated on page 3 there are 2 different ways to login and view a learning object A Using the Lesson ID and password as outlined on page 5 of these instructions OR B Assigning a class to the lesson Below are the instructions for assigning a class to the lesson as A has already been covered on page 5 06 04 04 115
135. tably competent Linux technical support As BELTS is a new and emerging piece of Australian developed software there is a need to develop a critical mass of technicians skilled in how to manage and troubleshoot within it However as more and more people become familiar with its set up and operations and as learning about the software itself takes place it could be predicted that over time the time required to set up Support and maintain BELTS will decrease Recommendations e That small widespread trials of the BELTS installation disk developed by officers in the Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education Office are conducted to establish whether the installation disk could be widely used nationally as an easy installation method e That a Frequently asked questions or Helpful hints to troubleshooting BELTS page be maintained over time on the BELTS sourceforge site e That a national pool of online experts in installing maintaining and troubleshooting issues arising from the use of BELTS is established and maintained 5 2 4 What are the issues in installing the box onto a network These trials indicate that the initial issues with installing a BELTS box onto a network were related to the fluidity of the development of both BELTS and the associated technical documentation and the newness of the product and the consequent need for technicians to learn it Hence it is difficult to determine whether the issues identified during t
136. tead CD ROM towers are used The CD ROMs were trialed by four teachers in three schools on stand alone PCs and at one school the CD ROM was trialled on both the LATIS server and on a stand alone PC The following computers were used to trial the learning objects from the CD ROM Remote schools in the NT are those schools located in small Indigenous communities with variable access to major centres such as Darwin and Alice Springs eg between one and five hours travel by unsealed road variable with seasons limited to small plane travel The schools in this study range from those with a student population of between 60 and 250 06 04 04 89 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Ltyentye Apurte Computer 1 Windows Pentium II 63 OMB Internet Explorer LATIS Professional 2000 Computer 2 Windows Intel R 515 568 Kb Internet Explorer IDL Professional 2000 Pentium R Broadcom Net X 4CPU 2 66GHZ Treme gigabit ethernet Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School Computer 1 Windows 2000 N A Home computer Bathurst Island Computers in both schools on Bathurst Island use Dell computers rd Operating system Processor RM Browser amp version Computer 1 Microsoft Windows Intel Pentium II 128MB Internet Explorer 6 XP Method of data collection Information was collected through the use of two teacher questionnaires and through a teleconference Schools were provi
137. tes to be pulled from Manuka to Cootamundra over the 512k ADSL link The same process took 9 minutes over the satellite link to West Wyalong The collection of the objects from LEX took approximately 10 minutes across the internet The collection process is not seamless The following steps were required Login as a manager Select Administration gt Retrieve objects from a learning object provider Select belts or exchange if a downstream server select belts if main replication server select exchange Wait for collection of xml content from provider Select Search Repository Search for all content not already collected Highlight all Learning Areas set the page for 100 objects as the default of 20 may mean multiple pages 06 04 04 39 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Search Repository m a an Browse Repository Search Help lse the search to find resources view their details and fetch them fram the repository Hote Results displayed will only include those objects uploaded before your last update Quicksearch Learning Area Sites a Lo m m ut LOTE zl oe Privacy Year Level 0 E 1 2 ou can select multiple learning areas and year levels by holding down the corki key Cor Copyright amp 20027 7003 aoole key and clicking on the items edueation ay lintriteg and Curriculum Corporation Results per page ai All Rights Resenred Terms and Co
138. the test manager 1 Log onto BELTS To login to a lesson please enter in front of the lesson id as your username e g l lessonid Username or Lesson ID test manager 1 F assiuord a ae Select Administration and then Retrieve updates Administration Tasks namn raien Retrieve updates from a learning object provider Regenerate XML Cache Browse the XML Cache P irti This page provides access to a number of simple utilities that will help you keep your belts system running smoothly Browse Repository Saari Recouroes Use Retrieve updates from a learning object provider to update your local repository with the latest learning object information from upstream providers This will perform a complete resynchronization of the upstream data not just the A Srowse Resources normal incremental synchronization After retrieving the latest information you can then download the new resources by searching or browsing the repository and selecting the new resources to download Use Regenerate XML Cache to force your server to clear and regenerate the XML caches used by the BELTS system The XML cache contains learning object metadata curriculum organiser applicability and other learning object details that are used by the learning object search and browse features Use this either to fix problems in your cache or to recalculate Privacy curriculum organiser information after it has been changed Warning while this is running your sy
139. ther critical difference between using the myinternet portal and the Belts server is in relation to download costs As myinternet is housed at the server farm inside our virtual private network myinternet schools do not pay any additional costs to download the learning objects regardless of the number of times they use the TLF learning objects However for any non myinternet schools they will be paying download costs to their ISP based on the frequency of use of the learning objects There are directions needed for schools if they are to make the most of the TLF learning objects These are 1 Advice to schools on the computer configurations required for each type of bandwidth 2 Advice about the need for the plug ins to be installed across the network 3 Advice about the likely impact on download costs and how these can be minimised when using learning objects To further improve the delivery of learning objects to schools the following is proposed 1 Further research into the caching of learning objects so that advice can be provided to schools in order to minimise download costs 2 Jurisdictions will have to decided whether a central model or a distributed model will be used for the delivery of learning objects Further research is undertaken to simplify the BELTS upgrade processes Technical training is developed and made available to jurisdictions on BELTS server management 5 Further research on server loads is undertaken to ensure tha
140. thermore we are now looking at a hybrid model in which clusters of schools share a BELTS box and have boxes located at their own premises Despite the excitement generated by the objects themselves students have found the BELTS lesson sequence pages a little bland To remedy this a small inter diocesan group has experimented with generating an improved interface for the sequence pages Basically this involves creating a sequence in BELTS capturing the address of the resulting lesson feeding this as a query string into a specially constructed page on the commission WAN that uses the objXMLHTTP object to enable re editing the addition of background colours different fonts the inclusion of graphics etc While this process worked well with earlier versions of BELTS a re coding in the latest version of BELTS means that a more generic coding of the Commission display page will be needed Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 31 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 8 REFERENCES Department of Education amp Training Victoria 2003 BELTS Training Scenarios for Teachers National Catholic Education Commission 2003 Funding Support to Trial the Implementation of the Basic E learning Tool Set The Le rning Federation 2003a Basic E Learning Tool Set BELTS Documentation http belts sourceforge net The Le rning Federation 2003b First Science Content an
141. this teacher e This teacher has no lessons currently 06 04 04 107 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission CREATE A LESSON Of Click on the Create Lesson link The Create Lesson page will be displayed denotes a required field Lesson ID A lesson ID cannot be edited after the lesson has been created An ID must begin with a letter and may contain letters numbers and the and _ characters Lesson Name E Cancel Save In order to create a lesson it must be given a unique Lesson ID and a Lesson name This must be done before the lesson contents can be prepared FTA e Once a lesson has been created with a lesson ID the Lesson ID can be used at the login page to access the lesson rather than a username fe cs a OF Type in a unique identifier for the Lesson ID OF Type in a meaningful title for the Lesson name OF Click on mel Save button The Edit Lesson page will be displayed Edit Lesson Lessons View Lesson Users denotes a required field Lesson ID killfspeeding Lesson Name SSpeeding I Enable Login Lesson Password Classes cS Search Resources Change Passvrord ep hag Ree Logout A password may contain the characters a to z Ato Z 0 to 9 me F 7 C orj and must be atleast S characters long Privacy Teacher s Notes Terms and Conditions About BELTS Copyright 2002 educafonw
142. through this particular trial that BELTS has the capacity to enable teachers to identify their requirements for learning management systems As indicated earlier as teachers and others begin to use BELTS they start to identify additional functionality that they would like to see While it may be that these requests for additional functionality can be included in requests to vendors these requirements can also be identified as open source projects for the future development of BELTS through the pooling of expertise nationally Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 29 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 6 CONCLUSION This suite of trials of BELTS has provided insights at national regional and school levels into the uses that can be made of BELTS the potential enhancements of BELTS and the potential deployment models of BELTS One of the intentions of the trials was to assist The Le rning Federation to evaluate stakeholders understandings of the delivery of online content to schools To this end this project has generated a large amount of both formal and informal data The project was established both to respond iteratively to findings and to document key outcomes generated through these trials for lengthier consideration As a result of the trials The Le rning Federation and the National Catholic Education Commission have gained information that they have been ab
143. to consider for future development of BELTS and for other collaborations over implementation issues 2 1 Teaching and learning e It took between a half and a full day of professional development for teachers to learn how to use BELTS and to create a sequence of learning or a lesson that incorporated learning objects e Teachers indicated that they liked BELTS and the learning objects trialed and could see the potential for their further use in their teaching and learning e Once teachers were able to use BELTS they tended to look for further functionality such as the ability to e re skin the look and feel of BELTS according to the age levels of their students e vary the font sizes e incorporate learning objects from other sources e incorporate school logos and other branding information about the school and e easily share and compare with others sequences of learning 2 1 1 Recommendations e That jurisdictions are encouraged to develop portfolios of case studies showing good practice by teachers and students using BELTS and that these are shared nationally e That the ECC consider recommending that BELTS is further developed to provide additional functionality that allows users to e re skin the look and feel of BELTS according to the age levels of their students e vary the font sizes e incorporate learning objects from other sources e incorporate school logos and other branding information abo
144. tralised A centralised technical support may and deployed more efficiently not be responsive to localised requirements Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 26 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Lesson naming is only critical on the Duplication of the management of each of the dependent systems is required Caching is not as critical for deploying Many servers are required the objects locally If the server goes down the only the Management strategies to handle local school is out multiple servers and dependent systems are required The server can handle multiple Upgrades need to be applied to each functions including BELTS eg caching server firewall All management responsibility for the If the ASP s server goes down then all regular downloads of learning objects schools go out from the Exchange and distribution to local sites is delegated to ASP Costs of downloads upgrades and Using the online learning environment maintenance of software for example provided through the ASP requires are included in the online environment professional development in addition and are packaged into a single cost to that required to learn how to use the BELTS It is the responsibility of the ASP to Specific management practices are resolve issues as they arise according required to handle naming for lessons to the contract and the agreed and users
145. u limited 2002 15 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission trialed using myinternet Ltd A second distribution was also trialed using BELTS located on a central server located in the Melbourne Catholic Education Office Officers at The Le rning Federation configured the server used to deploy learning objects from the Melbourne Catholic Education Office Schools were chosen to trial BELTS by officers in the Catholic Education Office Melbourne A cross section of schools was chosen in order to trial a variety of types and sizes of configurations and bandwidth into schools The bandwidth varied from schools with 64 kB up to 1 5 MB in bandwidth and one school had 1024 kB DAR Participating teachers had some knowledge of learning objects and or of using technology All the Melbourne trial schools except Avila College are part of the Catholic Education Victorian Network CEVN using the ASP myinternet Avila College has a private arrangement with a local ISP and is charged on a per MB of download At each trial school and on all computers tested the same learning object Indigestion was selected using both the BELTS server and the myinternet Ltd portal as the delivery mechanism except at Avila College where only the BELTS server was trialed The primary classrooms in which the trials were conducted had between three and five computers in each room The learning objects were trialed on the com
146. ublish function built into the jboss services xml would be appreciated by deployments such as the CGCEO This should be configurable on the downstream servers but not available from the exchange Server Specifications Server general name CEOBELTS Linux Red Hat 7 3 Belts version V1 0 External URL Belts cg catholic edu au Internal URL Belts ceo acgnet Approximate cost 3300 CPU Pentium 4 2 4 Ghz Memory 512MB ECC DDR RAM Storage Hard Disk 80Gb IDE NIC 100MHz WAN connection ADSL 10M 1M Server general name BELTSREPL Linux Red Hat 7 3 Belts version V1 1 0 External URL Beltsrepl cg catholic edu au Internal URL Beltsrepl ceo acgnet IBM Approximate cost 2300 CPU Pentium 4 1 6 Ghz Memory 512MB SD RAM Storage Hard Disk 36Gb IDE 06 04 04 41 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission WAN connection ADSL 10M 1M Belts version V1 1 0 Belts3 cg catholic edu au External URL Internal URL Belts mcauley acgnet Ce a Netvista IC Belts version External URL Belts4 cg catholic edu au Internal URL Belts smwms acgnet Supplier Approximate cost 3300 Storage Hard Disk 80Gb IDE 06 04 04 42 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission WAN connection Satellite Modem 250k 33k Belts version External URL Belts5 cg catholic edu au Internal URL Belts stannes acgnet Supplier Approximate cost Storage Hard Disk 80Gb ID
147. uired the skills of a person very familiar with Linux system administration and scripting The relocation of BELTS3 from the local subnet to the Tumut subnet was relatively simple requiring a change of ip address for the server The location of the up line proxy was also needed These are minor Domain Name Service issues that would need addressing for any similar server relocation Jboss services xml code fragment lt BELTS Provider gt lt mbean code au edu educationau belts management provider ProviderService name belts service Provider name belts gt s lt depends gt belts service ContentStore lt depends gt lt depends gt belts service HttpClient Pool lt depends gt lt attribute name JndiName gt sbelts content provider belts lt attribute gt lt attribute name ProviderClass gt au edu educationau belts content BeltsProvider lt attributes lt attribute name Configuration gt lt CDATA lt belts id belts url http provider domain provide username user name password password gt gt lt attribute gt lt mbean gt 06 04 04 44 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Configuration of the Gateway servers was assisted by the creation of an auto install disk The disk is mounted within the Linux server and the installation script is run This script installs Postgress and Java starts the postgress service creates the belts use
148. um operating system requirement The CGCEO has Windows 98 Second Edition as a current minimum specification out of necessity The lowest level machine that was successfully used was a Pentium 1 with 64Mb of RAM and Internet Explorer 5 5 Smaller objects load and execute quite well but larger objects such as Finders Keepers will load but do not operate in a satisfactory manner The preferred machine across all 4 sites was a Pentium 4 with 256Mb RAM and XP Pro and IE 6 Finders Keepers runs extremely well on such a machine Cache All objects cached within the CGCEO Proxy Servers built on the above Dell servers These have SQUID as the proxy and have 1Gbyte allocated as the store The object could take up to a minute to load the first time but subsequent access on separate machines using the same proxy occurred within 10 seconds Below are extracts from var log squid access log swf cache hits and all hits for the call of the objects Finders Keepers A quick guide for interpretation TCP_MISS FIRST_ PARENT MISS Miss by both local proxy and its parent TCP_MISS FIRST_UP_PARENT Miss by local proxy hit by parent TCP_HIT NONE Hit by local proxy from disk cache TCP_MEM_HIT NONE Hit by local proxy from memory cache smaller objects TCP_IMS_HIT NONE Client Browser IF_ MODIFIED SINCE http directive cache hit Summary of Access log for swf object Wind Power TO MOG LSB 223 I 25 Novy 2003214340321 ALLO GET http belts3 cg catholic
149. um server and client side computer and bandwidth configurations are documented and circulated to jurisdictions 5 2 6 How do the learning objects behave when delivered to schools ie are there any learning objects implementation issues Where computers were configured according to specifications identified by The Le rning Federation there did not appear to be any major problems with their performance The importance of ensuring that the computers are installed with the correct browser and plugins however did emerge as an important management and implementation issue pertinent to both online and CD ROM deployments of the learning objects Recommendation That software is developed that automatically checks whether the computer is configured correctly to access and use learning objects 5 2 7 Expected and required professional development needs at school and system levels The trial reports demonstrate that only a small amount of teacher professional development was required to enable teachers to use BELTS at a functional level for constructing lessons that incorporate learning objects Addressing more complex pedagogical issues however will require longer and more detailed professional development Issues emerging from the trials that would require more detailed professional development included the following e identifying the protocols for clearly identifying the lessons created in BELTS e identifying strategies for managing classes
150. urceforge net projects belts a major portal for the open source community See The Le rning Federation 2003d 16 See Section 2 2 of The Le rning Federation 2002c Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 10 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 3 6 Basic E Learning Tool Set BELTS 3 6 1 Key business drivers for the development of BELTS The Le rning Federation identified the following key business drivers for BELTS BELTS has been designed to provide 1 early delivery of learning objects to education systems and sectors 2 a prototype for an enterprise system architecture for provision of learning to the education systems and sectors to assist with developing their own architectures 3 a framework for an open source learning management system allowing the initial solution to continue being extended for the benefit of education systems and sectors and 4 asystem that assists education systems and sectors and schools to identify their requirements for learning management systems BELTS has been designed to interface with the Exchange and learning management systems in the classroom It has been designed to support both centralised and decentralised models for delivery of learning objects and to enable users to perform the key functions of e searching and downloading learning objects from the Exchange e administering system user and content ma
151. use of BELTS is established and maintained online and is accessible via emails and listservs e That the Exchange Consultative Committee gives consideration to training help desk officers within jurisdictions in troubleshooting strategies to support the use of BELTS e That the CD ROMs developed for use in remote schools include an installation tutorial and associated hardcopy documentation on how to use the CD ROM and the learning objects e That software is developed that will automatically check whether the computer is configured correctly to access and use learning objects available via CD ROM 5 2 2 Training required by technical support staff at school and system levels Between a half and a full day s training in how to use BELTS was provided for the Canberra Goulburn teachers and for the secondary teachers in the Melbourne trial It appears from these trials that this level of training was sufficient for teachers to be able to commence using BELTS for accessing learning objects and constructing lessons The more the system was used the more proficient the teachers became in using BELTS Teachers trialing the use of learning objects within myinternet had already been trained in how to use this system and were able to use it to access the learning objects It should be noted however that the costs of training to use myinternet were not included in the purchasing of myinternet The Catholic Education Office in Melbourne covered the trai
152. ut the school and e easily share and compare with others sequences of learning 2 2 Management and administration e To ensure ease of use of the software it is essential to prepare servers and computers according to the specifications identified by The Le rning Federation prior to the use of BELTS and learning objects For instance appropriate editions of plugins and browsers were shown to be central to the successful use of BELTS and learning objects Although outside the gamut of the trial during the classroom observations of the use of BELTS and learning objects it became apparent that due to the importance of sound in learning objects that the use of headphones or other sound management strategies would be required when more than a few students were using the learning objects at any one time Version 1 0 Curriculum Corporation and education au limited 2002 3 06 04 04 Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission e Both teachers and technical administrators identified that functionality in BELTS should be enhanced to allow single entry of student data for sequences of learning to enable sharing across schools and across a jurisdiction e To enable collaboration and sharing of content within and between schools using BELTS protocols should be established for naming or identification of sequences of learning e Automating the download of learning objects from the Exchange into BELTS and from BE
153. y school 250 kms south Heart School Wadeye west of Darwin average student enrolment of 275 students potential student enrolment of 600 Co educational Pre school to Senior Secondary Murrupurtiyanuwu Bathurst Island Indigenous community school 80km north of Nguiu Darwin average student enrolment of 190 students Co educational Pre school to Year Seven Xavier Community Bathurst Island Indigenous community school 80km north of Education Centre Nguiu Darwin average student enrolment of 56 students Co educational Secondary 06 04 04 97 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission 14 APPENDIX SIX Bandwidth and IT configurations for all schools involved in the trial 06 04 04 98 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese Sacred Heart Central School Cootamundra Bandwidth ADSL connection512k 128k Operating Processor Browser amp system version St Anne s Central School Temora Bandwidth Until October 18 2003 Satellite Connection 220k 47k From 19 October 2003 ADSL connection 512k 128k Operating Processor Browser amp T version McAuley Catholic Central School Tumut Bandwidth ADSL Connection 512k 128k Operating Processor Browser amp aa version St Mary s War Memorial School West Wyalong Bandwidth Satellite Connection 220k 33k Operating Processor Browser amp s
154. ystem version Ee a a E o 06 04 04 99 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Melbourne Archdiocese Primary schools St Mary s Werribee Bandwidth 64K ISDN Operating Processor Browser amp system version Computer 1 Windows 98 Pentium III 256Mb Internet Explorer 5 2 Computer 2 Windows 98 64Mb Internet Explorer 5 2 St Mark s Dingley Bandwidth 128K ISDN Operating Processor Browser amp system version Computer 1 Windows 98 Celeron 64 Mb Internet Explorer 6 333Mhz Computer 2 Windows 98 Celeron 128Mb Internet Explorer 6 500Mhz Computer 3 Windows 98 Celeron 1 3 128Mb Internet Explorer 6 Ghz Computer 4 Windows 98 Pentium III 800 128Mb Internet Explorer 6 Mhz Computer 5 Windows 98 Pentium IV 2 256Mb Internet Explorer 6 Ghz St Monica s Footscray Bandwidth 64 256K ADSL Operating Processor Browser amp system version Computer 1 Windows 98 Celeron 192Mb Internet Explorer 6 500Mhz Computer 2 Windows 98 Celeron 192Mb Internet Explorer 6 500Mhz Computer 3 OSX 9 2 2 128Mb Internet Explorer 5 1 C Computer 4 OSX 9 2 2 Ma 128Mb Internet Explorer 5 1 Computer 5 OSX9 0 4 Mac 233 Mhz 96Mb Internet Explorer 5 2 St PiusX Heidelberg Bandwidth 64 256K ADSL 06 04 04 100 Appendendix Report of trials conducted with the National Catholic Education Commission Operating Processor Browser amp system version Computer 1 OSXv10 iBook 500 Mhz Interne

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