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Resource
Center
This proposed area is a resource environment featuring important
information like, i.e., Training Best Practices and other packaged
information. Other proposed feature functionality features
an area for submission of pre-school assignments and completed surveys.
This feature will be supported by a mail-list function that allows
individuals to tie into the “Faculty” email directory
and upload forms/surveys to pre-assigned individuals. Further,
to increase the atmosphere of a “physical University”
we recommend a “Student Directory” with email addresses
of all currently registered participants. The “Student
Directory” would be searchable by name and by course enrollment
list.
Communications Center
This area would include detailed instructions as to the purpose,
function and operation of all communication systems; chat rooms,
threaded bulletin boards/forums, email. Included within the Communication
Center would be a comprehensive schedule of “Chat” sessions
(searchable by course and date) with admission parameters (limiting
number of simultaneous chatters and prerequisites). A directory
of all threaded forums (alphabetical by instructor and course name/title),
and an events calendar of all future “events” of interest
to the student population are also included. Also included
within in this environment would be a link to the “Faculty”
and “Student” email directory. This is the area that supports
inter and intra university communication. This area would
be built in a IMLÔ environment that would allow for total
content control within an approved style template.
Faculty Directory
This is a searchable directory of all Faculty members including
all pertinent contact information and brief biographical information
(including a picture). Supported searches include name, course,
area of expertise, and “list all” functions.
Digital Registrar
This is perhaps the most difficult functionality to address.
First and foremost are our concerns about security. A perplexing
question exists: “How can we determine that Registrant
“X” is truly “X” and not “Y”?
Security should be carefully considered in the design of any "digital
registrar" system. There are three major security protocols
that can be employed as a means of protecting information (personal
data, transcript data, etc.)
1. CCA (Controlled Client Access)
This is the most basic form of protecting information. CCA
simply requires
a username/password pair before the information is displayed.
Information protected in this way is only as secure as the username
and
password. Security is lost if a password is guessed or shared.
CCA is a feature of the web server delivering the information and
does not
impose any special requirements upon the web browser. The
transfer
of the information is not protected in any way.
2. CCA on Secure-HTTP (Secure Socket Layer)
The next level of security involves CCA with transport security.
This is
achieved by placing the content on a web server that supports the
SSL
protocol which encrypts the information during transfer. This
prevents
the information from being intercepted during its journey from web
server
to web browser. Like CCA, the browser requirements are minimal.
The
web server does require a digital certificate issued by a "trusted"
Certificate Authority (CA) such as Verisign.
3. Identity Verification
A higher level of security can be achieved by requiring a digital
ID
certificate of the web browser as authorization to view a document.
The digital ID uniquely identifies the user in cyberspace much as
a
driver's license or passport uniquely identifies the person in the
physical world.
Because of the sensitive nature of transcript and Continuing Education
(CE) information we recommend that option two be considered minimally
acceptable and that option three be considered optimal. In order
to trust the validity of a user's certificate, one must be able
to trust the authorities from which that certificate was issued.
To reduce the possibility of forgery as well as to centralize certificate
administration, AJRA, on your behalf, should be the issuing authority
by employing commercial certificate server software as a component
of the E-Learning Architecture.
With digital ID authorization in place,
the process
works as follows:
A user requests a document or access marked as requiring a certain
digital
ID. The web server requests a digital ID and the browser responds
with its
unique ID. The page is encrypted and delivered only if the web
server is
able to verify the user's identity using a certificate server.
This authorization scheme protects against unauthorized access, Internet
eavesdroppers, as well as imposters. Unlike the other two schemes,
this
one does require the newest generation of web browsers in order for
the
certificate negotiation to take place. It also requires that
any user
who is to be allowed access to protected content has been issued a
certificate from the appropriate certificate server.
Because of the sensitive nature of transcript and Continuing Education
(CE) information we recommend that option two be considered minimally
acceptable and that option three be considered optimal.
Having settled upon a security/authorization system, we may now explore
the feature functionality of the “Digital Registrar” system.
We envision a data base system that contains all educational transcript
information of all potential participants (the system is expandable
to include 1000’s of participants). Records would only be accessible
to authorized “key” holders, thus insuring data integrity
(as above). The student record would identify those courses that the
student has taken, grade, date, etc.. Another table in the database
would contain all currently available courses in their respective
areas of concentration. Queries may then be performed showing
which courses a student should yet take to complete a certification
requirement. Therefore, any student would: a) know what s/he has taken,
b) know what each potential course requires, c) measure relevance
of course based upon individual needs, and d) see when said course(s)
are available for participation. Please remember that within
proposed system virtually all courses are available all the time.
Furthermore, once any participant successfully completes a line of
study then his/her record is automatically amended to reflect said
change. University Administrators would be able to monitor educational
performance and certifications by student, agency, area or at the
course level (how many and whom have taken “X”). This
system is also constructed within the IMLÔ environment and is
comprised of modular database tables that are relational in nature.
All content is capable of being managed and updated remotely.
Library
This proposed area identifies and links to pertinent references and
resources available throughout the web world. This section is
a document built within a frame environment that links to outside
resources while staying within the ELA frame set. In other words,
a viewer could visit “X” destination but never leaves the
ELA environment, the university navigation system is always present
allowing students to conveniently return to any destination within
the ELA system.
ELA Classroom Environment
These environments are the centerpieces of the system. Classrooms
will be arranged by department, as required. The proposed system is
a IMLÔ constructed suite of areas that all share common features
including:
Similar theme and graphic treatment
Identical navigational paradigms (once you’ve participated in
one course you’ll know how to comfortably participate within
any)
·All classrooms will have a threaded bulletin board system
where students ask instructors specific questions, students communicate
with students, Interactive elements (audio, video, chat) are available
on an as need basis.
All content is remotely manageable
Testing is online, including randomization and weighting.
The classroom environment also supports
the following features:
Capability to import text from existing programs and formats (word
processor, PowerPoint, CD ROMS. . . literally any digital
format)
Use your own images or any of thousands available in numerous image
libraries.
Options for different page layouts including multiple choice, true
or false, or fill in the blank formats.
Use hypertext to: question answers, pop-up
text, run other programs, play media, or link to any Internet page
or e-mail.
Create powerful tests with randomized
questions.
Place text and hypertext on top of images, perfect for identifying
parts of an image, chart or graph.
Automatically track and log student progress.
Easily export performance data to almost any database for future
manipulation.
Contact
our office for Additional Information.
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