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During the past years, Tek

Tank has become an

organization fully capable of

offering a vast array of e-

learning based services.

This document presents Tek

Tank, its products andmethodology, and its

infrastructure.

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Introducing Tek Tank

Within the premises of the University of Bologna we have built an organization capable to

offer e-learning - based educational solutions, from the planning stage, to final evaluation, passing

from the realization and the management of the necessary multimedia contents.

Tek Tank is located at the headquarters of the Degree in Internet Economics

(www.ei.unibo.it), at the Forli Branch of the University of Bologna, where the available

technological infrastructure is well suited to provide full fledged e-learning services. E-Learning Lab

has also a site in Bologna (in Strada Maggiore, 45), where the research, planning and monitoring

stages of projects take place.

As an organization, Tek Tank is divided into three interconnected areas planning and

evaluation, technologies and multimedia content development. It has about ten collaborators,

coordinated by Prof. Lucio Picci.

Our activities

Planning of educational projects and research

Tek Tank is actively involved in researching innovative and integrated solutions for e-

learning initiatives in higher and lifelong education. It plans and executes educational projects

according to a reliable methodology, typically implying a mix of traditional an on-line solutions.

Solutions include individual learning and self evaluation, but more typically, thanks to an

appropriate use of technologies directed by well-established pedagogical theories, maximize thestudents active role thanks to online communication and leading to collaborative learning efforts.

E-Learning Lab also manages an observatory, monitoring technological and methodological

innovations in the e-learning market, both at the national or international level.

Solutions for e-learningmanagement

Our Integrated e-Learning Management System (IeLMS) is composed of three functional blocks:

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- An e-learning course management platform, to manage and offer the e-Learning contents via the

Internet

- A Mailing List manager, for everyday communication needs

- A back-end management system, for collecting and managing data related to courses and users

The system is built using open-source applications, namely ATutor/ACollab and Johanna, most of

which have been co-authored by e-Learning Lab. All applications are designed to run on any server

system, as they are based on standard Open Source products such as Apache+PHP, Tomcat,

mySQL and Postfix.

Apache

PHP

PostfixmySQL

ATutor

Mailing*

Tomcat

Johanna

Apache

PHP

PostfixmySQL

ATutor

Mailing*

Tomcat

Johanna

IeLMS simplified architecture diagram

Application interfaces are Web-based, and their layout can be customised matching the look of

any specific Web site or content management system.

An ATutor e-Learning platform

snapshot of a typical e-course

page.

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Multimedia contents

Each educational task is best served by the most suitable media. E-Learning Lab produces audio,

video, multimedia contents and Web-based simulations, and integrates them within a Web-based

platform that guarantees a high level of accessibility and of usability.

Learning Object

Our multimedia contents conforms to

international standards (SCORM and IMS)

and follow the learning object approach,

so as to maximize reusability andmodularity. A priority in their production is

the compliance to the Web standards of

the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

An example from a learning object

Audio-Video productions

As part of the learning object development, we manage the production of audio-video material,

and its provision via video streaming on our Web farm.

Digital cameras, a Mojo hardware

accelerator, a DV camcorder, the Avid

Xpress Pro software, and suitable video

streaming servers such as the Darwin

Streaming Server, allow E-Learning Lab to

produce audio-video content, that may

include synchronized text multimedia

according to the SMIL standard.

The audio-video laboratory

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2005 CideSD. Cide is an inter-university Center for Econometrics ( www.cide.info). E-learning

Lab is providing a series of services and it is managing an e-learning initiative aimed at Italian Ph.D

students attending econometric courses.

2005 Alma Two. Within the project, E-Learning Lab is in charge to coordinate an observatoryfor the technology development and the economic impact of e-Learning solutions. The project is

co-financed by the regional government of Emilia-Romagna

2004 Uniadrion Virtual University (www.uniadrion.net), the Adriatic inter-university

initiative. E-Learning Lab is responsible of the Work-Group 5 of the project, promoting e-learning

solutions among the network and facilitating the exchange of experiences and best practice in e-

learning among the partners. The project is co-financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2004 ATutor. E-Learning has been contributing to the development of ATutor

(http://www.atutor.ca), an open source Learning Management System Open Source made at

University of Toronto.

2003 API Project. E-Learning Lab contributed to the project providing software and standard

compliant e-learning solutions for universities. The project was carried out by the Forls and

Cesena Branch of the University of Bologna, with the collaboration of the Centro Residenziale

Universitario of Bertinoro.

2001 E-Learning Lab has been providing collaborative and educational services to the

Degree in Internet Economics (www.ei.unibo.it) of the University of Bologna. The main

instrument produced and used is the open source software Johanna.

E-Learning Lab has been developing several Web sites characterized by simplicity, usability and

accessibility, and compliance to World Wide Web Consortium recommendations.

Contacts

Tek TankUniversity of Bologna - Forli Branch

Via Pratella 6, Forl, Italy

Tel: +39 051 2092629, Fax: +39 051 2092664

Webpage: http://tektank.it