A SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE TO INTEGRATE MOBILE ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Abstract
Mobile Learning (M-Learning) is an approach to E-Learning that utilizes mobile devices. Learning Management System (LMS) should enable M-Learning. Unfortunately, M-Learning is not the same at each educational institution. Assessment is one of the learning activities that can be achieved electronically and via mobile device. Mobile assessment relies on services that are not part of the LMS. Integrating different external systems and services to be virtually part of LMS is one of integration challenges. This paper presents a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to integrate mobile assessment in LMS. Proposed Architecture consists of two layers: Interface layer, and Service layer. Interface layer interacts with instructors and learners via portals, and with external organization services via Web services. Service layer contains core system services and has three sub layers: Ø Orchestration, Ø Application Services, and Ø Agents layer. Orchestration layer is the layer that holds business logic required by system processes. Application Services layer contains set of stateless services that are capable of performing certain tasks. Agents’ layer presents the suggested required software agents to serve the overall system. Suggested agents are Analyzer and Tracker. Analyzer is required to analyze students assessments to detect learning deficiencies. Tracker agent tracks students to remind with missing assessments. SOA facilitated integration of software agents within LMS, and implementation of new processes to support learning.
Keywords
Learning Management System, Service Oriented Architecture, Software Agent, Mobile Learning, And Mobile Assessment.
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