New York University
Computer
Science Department
Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Session 3:
Virtual Classrooms for Online Education – Specifications
Course Title: XML for Java Developers Course
Number: g22.3033-002
Instructor: Jean-Claude Franchitti Session: 3
Table of
Contents
I. Full
Storyboard Illustrating the Use of the Integrated Virtual Environment
I.1. Step 1:
LearningSpace Course Catalog Review
I.2. Step 2:
Course Schedule Review
I.3. Step 3:
Getting Familiar with LearningSpace
I.4. Step 4:
Home Page and Virtual Chat Room Creation
I.5. Step 5:
Attending an Integrated Multimedia Presentation
I.6. Step 6:
Asking Questions in the Virtual Classroom
I.7. Step 7:
Attending "Live" Office Hours
I.8. Step 8:
Using the Virtual Classroom Homework Support Framework
I.9. Step 9:
Attendance Monitoring
II. Storyboard Detailing the Subset of Capabilities Included in the
Sample Demonstration Software
II.1. Demonstration
Step 1: Integrated multimedia presentation
II.2. Demonstration
Step 2: Partial demonstration of deferred chat capabilities
II.3. Demonstration
Step 3: Demonstration of "live" virtual office hours
III. Illustration
of the Full and Demonstration Storyboards Steps
IV. Support
System Implementation
IV.1. Complete
Support System Architecture
IV.2. Implementation
of Sample Demonstration Software for the Virtual "Offline" Chat Room
Environment
V. Software Requirements
V.1. Third Party Software
Checklist
V.1.1. ThePalace Viewer
V.1.2. ThePalace User Software
V.1.3. ThePalace Server Software
V.1.4. ThePalace Presents
V.1.5. ThePalace Presents
Moderator
V.2. Custom Software Checklist
V.2.1. Palace Client Plug-in
V.2.2. Palace Server Plug-in
V.2.3. Custom XML Course Homework Support Software
V.3. Software Requirements per Type of User
V.3.1. Students' Software
Requirements
V.3.2. Professor's Software
Requirements
V.3.3. TA's Software Requirements
V.3.4. LearningSpace
Administrator's Software Requirements
V.3.5. Virtual Environment
Administrator's Software Requirements
VI. Course Collateral for the
"XML for Java Developers" Online Pilot Course
I. Full Storyboard Illustrating the Use of the Integrated Virtual
Environment
This storyboard details the intended use of the
virtual "offline" chat room environment in the scope of the XML for
Java Developers class. For illustration purposes, an online student by the name
of "Joe" will peruse the framework.
I.1.Step 1:
LearningSpace Course Catalog Review
Joe accesses the LearningSpace course catalog to
review the online classes currently offered. Joe selects the "XML for Java
Developers" course taught by Jean-Claude Franchetti.
I.2. Step 2:
Course Schedule Review
Jean-Claude has developed a complete course schedule
within the LearningSpace environment. Joe reviews the schedule to understand
which material will be covered online as the course progresses.
I.3. Step 3:
Getting Familiar with LearningSpace
Joe enters the MediaCenter and accesses Help
available within LearningSpace to familiarize himself with the hybrid
LearningSpace/virtual classroom environment. No course material is available as
the online class has not yet started. Joe understands at this point that all
course collateral (i.e., presentations, documents, images/animations, and
digitized video/audio files) will be
available from the LearningSpace MediaCenter. Joe will also be able to
access traditional LearningSpace views to access entries by title, writer,
keyword, and type. Additionally, Joe is able to follow a "live link"
to an external "welcome" page, The "welcome" page details
course conventions, "live" office hours, policies on assignment
submission dates, and any other information important for Joe to know before
proceeding. The welcome page has an embedded Virtual classroom viewer applet, and
includes links to download multimedia browser's plugins or helper applications
that may be required to present the course material in an integrated fashion.
Multimedia elements supported include GIFs, MIDI files, WAV files, MPEG, and
AVI files. "Live" office hours are listed as online events that will
be moderated by Jean-Claude in his virtual office. "Live" media
elements, such as streaming audio, video, interactive, and multimedia controls
are supported as part of course material presentations, or "live"
office hours. The course home page provides instructions to install software
capable of generating and serving live media such as Microsoft's NetShow,
Progressive Networks' Real Audio, and Active X multimedia controls.
As Joe enters the welcome page, he is prompted to enter
his name/id. Once Joe enters that information, an "avatar" (i.e., an
icon representing Joe) is created and dropped in the virtual classroom. Joe can
navigate through various rooms to become familiar with the virtual classroom
environment. No virtual professor or students are present in the virtual
classroom as the online class has not yet started.
I.4. Step 4:
Home Page and Virtual Chat Room Creation
Joe uses the LearningSpace profiling capabilities to
create his own webpage. He is also given the ability to create a virtual online
or offline chat room for himself and include it as an applet on his web page.
Joe will be able to use the environment to socialize with other students or
anybody else aware of the location of the page he just created on the web.
I.5. Step 5:
Attending an Integrated Multimedia Presentation
The online course has now officially started. Joe
enters the MediaCenter again, and finds various multimedia components relating
to the XML topics listed for that week in the schedule. Joe follows the
"live link" to the external "welcome" page, and enters the
virtual classroom to access the online material available for that week. By
default, Joe will access the material available for the current week, but he
will also be able to backtrack to material previously covered. New material may
be added on a daily basis. Joe can click on different links listed on a
blackboard within the virtual classroom. The links list various integrated
multimedia presentations that Joe can attend at that time. Links are available
for course material presentations, homework specifications, homework solutions,
and Q&As. As he selects a given
collateral, Joe is taken through an integrated multimedia presentation within the
virtual classroom viewer. The presentation includes synchronized slide shows,
audio/video, and images/animations. Material presentation may include a
simulated dialog between the virtual professor, and the virtual students who
are present in the classroom.
I.6. Step 6:
Asking Questions in the Virtual Classroom
As Joe views the integrated presentations within the
virtual classroom, he may ask questions, which will be answered by the
professor on a deferred basis. The questions and related answers will be added
as part of Q&A links on the virtual classroom blackboard. Joe will be able
to review the answers to his questions as part of a later session. Jean-Claude
will integrate students’ questions received within the past few days and post
answers as a Q&A link in the virtual classroom.
I.7. Step 7:
Attending "Live" Office Hours
Joe wishes to attend "live" office hours.
At a given time each week, Jean-Claude will monitor an online event within a
virtual conference room where all students can come and ask questions. Students
can be invited on the stage to ask their questions. A list of questions may be
preloaded within the conference room and answered prior to the interactive
discussion between Jean-Claude and his students. A log of the interactive
session is kept and made available as a Q&A for the given week in the
virtual classroom. As Jean-Claude answers questions, he can lead the students
through a slide show, and use audio/video and images/animations to support his
answers. Note that the traditional LearningSpace threaded bulletin board may also
be used to support offline discussions. The LearningSpace CourseRoom may
optionally be integrated with the virtual offline chat room capability so that
Q&As resulting from the use of the LearningSpace environment will show in
the virtual classroom. Similarly Q&As initiated in the virtual environment
may optionally be reflected within the LearningSpace CourseRoom.
I.8. Step 8:
Using the Virtual Classroom Homework Support Framework
The integrated virtual environment supports the
presentation (i.e., explanations) of homework, projects, and quiz material in
much the same way as a regular course material presentation. Quizzes will be
administered via the LearningSpace environment. The virtual classroom framework
uses a server-side XML processing engine to parse through the integrated presentation scripts that are
being fed into the virtual classroom support engine. The same server-side XML
processing engine will be available for students to test their XML Web
development homework and projects. Students will learn how to develop client
and server-side XML web sites, and will make use of various XML markup
languages as part of the process. As a result, the XML for Web developer class
will greatly benefit from the new existing framework, as it will be used not only
to support the coursework presentation but also to facilitate the testing of
students' homework solutions in a working XML environment.
I.9. Step 9:
Attendance Monitoring
To monitor students' attendance and progress,
Jean-Claude uses a combination of LearningSpace's assessment manager, and the
monitoring capabilities provided by the virtual environment. Jean-Claude also
uses the overall LearningSpace administration capabilities to plan the course
implementation, prepare the course, start and deliver the course, and
close/archive the course. The course preparation, and delivery portion make
extensive use of the virtual classroom environment.
II. Storyboard Detailing the Subset of Capabilities
Included in the Sample Demonstration Software
The simplified storyboard set forth in this section
illustrates a scaled down demonstration of the virtual "offline" chat
room environment in the scope of the XML for Java Developers class. For
illustration purposes, an online student by the name of "Joe" peruses
the framework. To simplify the demonstration and focus on the proposed online
education framework enhancements, we skip the steps that Joe would normally go
through to access the virtual environment via the LearningSpace portal.
II.1.
Demonstration Step 1: Integrated multimedia presentation
Joe enters the class "welcome" page via
Internet Explorer. The virtual classroom viewer applet is embedded on the
welcome page. As Joe accesses the welcome page, he sees his avatar enter the
virtual classroom. The virtual classroom blackboard features hot spots
identifying the online material available for that week.
Joe starts ThePalace's client software and clicks on
a link listed on the board located within the virtual classroom. This link is
attached to a multimedia presentation that Joe can attend at this time. As Joe
double clicks on the blackboard link, he is taken through an integrated
multimedia presentation within the virtual classroom viewer. The presentation
includes a synchronized slide show with an audio track and a video presentation
related to the XML topic of the week (i.e., "Document Type
Definitions"). To interrelate the various multimedia components of the
presentation, a simulated dialog between the virtual professor and his virtual
students is taking place concurrently in the virtual classroom.
II.2.
Demonstration Step 2: Partial demonstration of deferred chat capability
As Joe views the integrated presentation within the
virtual classroom, he asks questions that show up as speech bubbles coming out
of his avatar. In the production environment, these questions would be answered
by the professor on a deferred basis, and added as part of Q&A links on the
virtual classroom blackboard. Joe would then be able to review the answers to
his questions as part of a later session. This deferred chat capability is not
fully illustrated as part of out simple demonstration.
II.3.
Demonstration Step 3: Demonstration of "live" virtual office hours
Joe wishes to attend "live" office hours.
The professor moderates his office hours in a
virtual conference room where other students can join as well. Joe is
invited on the stage to ask his questions. A log of the session is kept. As the
professor answers Joe's questions, he leads Joe through a slideshow to support
his answers.
III.
Illustration of the Full and Demonstration Storyboards Steps
The following diagram illustrates the steps
described in the full system storyboard (i.e., section I), and the sample
demonstration scenario (i.e., section II).
IV. Support
System Implementation
The virtual environment system is implemented as a
set of plug-ins for ThePalace User and Server software. We chose that
particular two-dimensional environment for its overall performance, and
quality. The client plug-in was designed specifically to support an
"offline" classroom environment that integrates various course
multimedia components residing either in the Virtual Environment Server or the
LearningSpace server (or both). The
client plug-in also support Q&A capabilities that enable students to ask
questions while attending a particular offline session. Students can then view
the instructor's replies as part of a later Q&A review after the instructor
has had a chance to post replies to the last batch of student's questions. The
client plug-in installed on each student workstation collects the questions and
sends them to a Palace Server plug-in, which is also designed specifically for
the Integrated Virtual Classroom environment. The server plug-in packages all
questions and sends them via email to the instructor and TA. Once the
instructor and TA have organized their replies to all questions, they email
them to the Palace Server plug-in. The server plug-in packages these answers as
a XML/SMIL Q&A that gets posted as a link on the virtual classroom's
blackboard. The online chat capabilities of ThePalace provide full support for
the instructor "live" office
hours. The project testing environment is a separate XML server environment
targeted initially to the XML courses. Finally, the system uses monitoring
capabilities provided as part of ThePalace user software, PalacePresents, and
ThePalace server.
In the next subsections, we detail the support
system architecture, summarize the features of the Integrated Virtual
Environment, and explain how the demonstration software is currently
implemented.
IV.1. Complete
Support System Architecture
The diagram below illustrates the overall support
system architecture. The demonstration scenario uses the Virtual Environment
Administration's Palace Server, the Student environment, and a combined
environment for the Professor and TA. All software components demonstrated are
running on the same machine for the demonstration.
IV.2. Key
features of the Integrated Virtual environment
The Integrated Virtual Environment provides an
integrated view of all the multimedia components provided to support offline
sessions in the virtual classroom. The online support material is integrated in
LearningSpace, and replicated in the Virtual Environment. This makes it
possible to keep using LearningSpace's MediaCenter to access individual
multimedia components.
The Integrated Virtual Environment provides new
offline/online semi-interactive web chat features. As a future extension of the
proposed environment, the LearningSpace's collaborative learning features
(i.e., its multithreaded bulletin board) could be integrated with the new
semi-interactive web chat features via a Palace server plug-in.
The Integrated Virtual Environment uses the XML SMIL
markup language to specify the integrated multimedia scripts that support the
various sessions, Q&As, and homework related material. The text collateral
may also be specified using an XML markup language to support improved search
capabilities, and a faster retrieval capability. XML Search capabilities
require an XML search engine, which allows searching for data matching specific
markups, and pointing to exact topics via XML Linking Language pointers.
Another benefit of using XML to specify the actual collateral content is the
associated support for multiple style sheets allowing presentation of the same
material to various output devices (e.g., audio/voice instead of text).
The Integrated Virtual Environment provides novel
support for XML assignments and projects giving students the ability to test
their projects using an XML infrastructure provided by the instructor. Access
to the homework support environment is enabled via a separate server, and via
an external link added to the LearningSpace MediaCenter. The testing
environment will be specific to the XML pilot courses, but the concept could
easily be extended to support other online courses. LearningSpace does not
currently provide a project testing capability.
The Integrated Virtual Environment monitors
students' presence in the virtual classroom, their use of the offline/online
chat capability, and the project testing framework. These new monitoring
capabilities complement the ones provided as part of LearningSpace.
IV.3 Implementation of Sample Demonstration Software
for the Virtual "Offline" Chat Room Environment
The demo software uses The Palace's viewer, client,
server, and PalacePresents Moderator. The Palace's viewer and client software
products are used by Joe, while
ThePalace's server and PalacePresents Moderator products are used to
support the online XML class in the demonstration. By skipping the interface to
LearningSpace, the demonstration scenario bypasses the need for an
administrator. The demonstration scenario illustrates the professor's
"live" office hours, and the related role of the TA as a moderator.
The demonstration scenario uses a simplified interface to the Virtual
Environment administration framework, and uses a Palace Client custom plug-in to
emulate classroom avatars. These avatars are used to present XML multimedia
course material in an integrated fashion. The course material presentation
agenda is encoded in XML/SMIL and converted on the fly to drive the Palace
Client virtual classroom interface. The demonstration scenario uses a
simplified XML server to generate the XML course scripts.
To support Step 1 of the demonstration, a Palace
User Software plug-in was developed to monitor Joe's requests for viewing class
material within the virtual classroom. When Joe clicks the link corresponding
to the XML DTD online presentation, The Palace User Software plug-in loads in
an XML document that details the synchronization of various multimedia
components. The XML document is parsed on the server and an XSL style sheet is
used to generate a stream of corresponding lptscrae commands that are fed into
ThePalace's server. Lptscrae is a proprietary scripting language used to
control ThePalace's server. A client plug-in control stream is also generated from
the original XML document, and sent to the client plug-in to drive the virtual
classroom presentation on the students' machines.
To support Step 2 of the demonstration, Joe uses the
virtual chat capabilities provided by ThePalace's User Software. As the
ThePalace's User Software allows logging of the chat sessions, the content of
the sessions can easily be translated into an email sent to the professor. Once
the professor responds to Joe's questions, an XML Q&A document is generated, and a corresponding Q&A
"link" is then posted on the virtual classroom blackboard. To
simplify the initial presentation, the professor's deferred reply, and Q&A
generation is not demonstrated. The corresponding software will be implemented
within the ThePalace's client plug-in, which is currently used to support Step
1 of the demonstration scenario.
To support Step 3, PalacePresents Moderator
capabilities are used to gather statistics related to the system's interaction
with Joe.
An alternative to using ThePalace's software could
be provided by Netscape's Community System, and Microsoft's Commercial Internet
System. These later solutions would be much more costly, and would not provide
measurable benefits. This is especially true since GIFs, MIDI files, WAV files,
MPEG, AVI files, Microsoft's Netshow videos, Progressive Networks' RealAudio
audio files, and Shockwave movies are already supported by ThePalace's software
for multimedia presentations. Also, assuming a maximum of 8 concurrent students
in the virtual classroom, ThePalace's base server software is be free of
charge. The eight concurrent students limitation seems acceptable, as students
are not usually reviewing a session at the same time, and the size of an online
class is usually limited to a few teens of students. Using a two-dimensional
tool such as ThePalace leads to reasonable demands on network resources, and
limited content development. Most of the network overhead is introduced by
avatars, movement, and graphical messaging, as well as multiple downloads of the
initial graphics which each new user must have to view the different virtual
rooms. ThePalace's software currently utilizes caching on both the server and
client to minimize the load on network resources. Administration features also
allow you to keep the size of the cache files manageable.
As a result, we suggest extension to ThePalace
software to support the proposed virtual classroom capabilities. Clearly, a
more powerful alternative would be to use 3D VRML-based environments such as
the ones provided by Integrated Data Systems' V-Realm 3D Media Server, Black
Sun's CyberHub, and Worlds Inc.'s Active WordServer. However, current versions
of specialized VRML servers come bundled with a significant amount of overhead,
and their prices are currently very high. Similarly, we could think of
implementing "live" office hours in a 3D environment or using
streaming audio/video capabilities. Again, these approaches would require
costly hardware, and would introduce a significant overhead.
V. Software
Requirements
V.1. Third
Party Software Checklist
V.1.1.
ThePalace Viewer
Systems' requirements
for The Palace Viewer are as follows:
Minimum recommended system
·
Pentium
Processor
·
16
MB RAM
·
Windows
95
·
28.8
modem
Disk Space
The Palace Viewer requires 0.5 MB of disk space
after download.
Browser
You need Internet Explorer 4.0.1, or Netscape 4.0.5
or better.
V.1.2.
ThePalace User Software
Systems' requirements for The Palace User Software
are as follows:
Windows
·
486+
processor
·
Windows
95/98/NT
·
16Mb
of RAM
·
16bit
High color
·
800x600+
support
·
28.8kbps
connection to the Internet
·
Mouse
Macintosh
·
System
7.4+
·
16Mb
of RAM
·
28.8kpbs
connection to the Internet
·
Thousands
of Colors
·
800x600+
support
·
Mouse
V.1.3.
ThePalace Server Software
Systems' requirements for The Palace Server software
are as follows:
Windows
·
Pentium
processor
·
Windows
95/98/NT
·
32MB
RAM and 30 MB of disk space
·
64
MB RAM and 60 MB of disk space are recommended for installations handling over
100 Palace users and a high volume of Internet service traffic.
·
16bit
High color
·
800x600+
support
·
28.8kbps
(or greater) connection to the Internet
·
Bandwidth
requirements range from 2.5 to 4.2 kbps per simultaneously connected users. Example: a T1 line can support between
350 and 600 users dependent upon the exchange of multimedia components.
·
Front
ends may be installed across multiple physical servers
·
Mouse
Macintosh
·
System
7.4+
·
16Mb
of RAM
·
28.8kpbs
connection to the Internet
·
Thousands
of Colors
·
800x600+
support
·
Mouse
UNIX
The UNIX Palace Server runs on the following UNIX
platforms:
·
Alpha
processor running Digital Unix v4.0A or later.
·
Intel
processor running Linux kernel 2.0.36 or later.
·
SPARC
processor running Solaris 2.5.1 or later.
·
Recommended
RAM and disk space is a minimum of 64 megs of RAM on your UNIX server and 2
gigs or more of drive space total. The server itself can run in as few as 12
megs of free RAM and 20 megs of drive space. The server doesn't take up that
much drive space, but some additional space will be required for property file
growth and server logs.
V.1.4. ThePalace Presents
The following are the specific requirements for The
Palace Presents, a feature of ThePalace Server:
·
Requires
the 32-bit Palace for Windows, version 3.0 or better; Mac 1.6 or InstantPalace
1.5.
·
Requires
a 486 PC or better with at least 8 MB of RAM; the Windows NT version 4.0 or
newer or the Windows 95 operating system; and, a 256-color display.
·
A
minimum screen resolution of 800x600 is required.
·
Requires
Palace Server Operator access to The Palace hosting the event.
V.1.5. ThePalace Presents Moderator
Systems' requirements for The Palace Presents
Moderator are as follows:
·
A
Pentium or higher processor or equivalent
·
Windows
95/98/NT 4.0 or higher operating system
·
The
latest ThePalace User Software 3.4.2 for Windows
·
The
Palace Server
V.2. Custom
Software Checklist
The custom software implemented for the Virtual
Classroom Environment includes a custom plug-in for the Palace User software ,
and a custom plug-in for the Palace server software. The special support
provided by these two plug-ins is described in section IV. The special homework
support framework provided for the pilot XML courses requires a custom XML
server provided by the instructor.
V.2.1. Custom
Palace User Software Plug-in
The custom Palace User software plug-in requires 0.5
MB of additional disk space on the machines running ThePalace User software
(i.e., the students', professor's, and TA's machines).
V.2.2. Custom
Palace Server Plug-in
The custom Palace server plug-in requires 0.5 MB of
additional disk space on the machine running ThePalace Server software (i.e.,
the Virtual Environment Administration server).
V.2.3. Custom
XML Homework Support Software
The custom XML homework support software requires 50
MB of additional disk space on the machine running ThePalace Server software
(i.e., the Virtual Environment Administration server).
V.3. Software
Requirements per Type User
This subsection provides a software and capabilities
checklist for the different users of the Virtual Classroom Environment. The
disk space and machine requirements for ThePalace software and plug-ins was
specified in the last two sections of this chapter.
V.3.1. Students' Software
Requirements
·
Browser
(IE, Netscape, AOL 4.0)
·
ThePalace
Viewer
·
ThePalace
User Software with custom plug-in
·
Audio/Video
support (i.e., plugins, RealAudio/NetShow/Shockwave software)
·
Email/FTP
·
Disk
space requirements for copies of XML course collateral will be no more than 1
MB for each session. Students should not keep local copies of collateral as the
material will be updated very frequently.
V.3.2. Professor's Software
Requirements
·
Browser
(IE, Netscape, AOL 4.0)
·
ThePalace
Viewer
·
ThePalace
User Software with custom plug-in
·
ThePalace
Presents Moderator
·
Audio/Video
support (i.e., plugins, RealAudio/NetShow/Shockwave software)
·
Email/FTP
·
XML
course development support software (editor, parser, etc.)
·
Disk
space required for XML special software is approximately 5 MB
·
Disk
space required to develop XML material is approximately 20 MB
V.3.3. TA's Software
Requirements
·
Same
as professor's
V.3.4. LearningSpace
Administrator's Software Requirements
·
LearningSpace
Server
·
Web
Server
·
Database
Server
·
Email
Server / FTP
·
Disk
space required for XML course material is approximately 150 MB
V.3.5. Virtual Environment
Administrator's Software Requirements
·
ThePalace
Server (either NT, Windows, or Unix)
·
Custom
Palace Server plug-in
·
Web
Server
·
Database
Server
·
Email
Server / FTP
·
XML
custom homework support software
·
Disk
space required for XML course material is approximately 200 MB
VI. Course collateral for "XML for Java
Programmers" online pilot course
The "XML for Java Developer" course will
inherit some of the material put together for G22_3033_002. Material for both
of these classes is currently available on the web at http://www.nyu.edu/classes/jcf/g22.3033-002.
In general, the online class material will includes the following multimedia
components.
(a) Offline
chat presentations. During these presentations, a virtual professor will
address virtual students in the virtual classroom via on screen callouts or
using a digitized voice. The virtual professor initiates the presentation of
various multimedia components (i.e., see items (b), (c), and (d) below) to
support full continuity in the material presentation, and relieve students from
having to locate the various components on their own.
(b)
Synchronized PowerPoint slide shows/audio tracks covering weekly topics.
(c)
Synchronized images/audio tracks covering homework specs explanations, homework
solutions, and describing the use of certain software tools (i.e., XML editors,
XML parsers, etc.).
(d) Videos
covering live presentations, and case studies.
(e) Applets to
support interactive presentations, quizzes, and examinations.
(e) Quizzes,
examinations, and other online handouts.
(f) XML
support software & tools database (e.g., XML editors, XML parsers).
(g) XML project support server (i.e., server-side XML, and relevant XML applications)