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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