Xpert
05-22-2011, 12:38 AM
ELT-MCGID: An E-learning Tool for
Minimizing Communication Gap and Interaction Delay
The following are the core requirements of this project.
Distinguished Features
Following features might have been supported by other chat applications but they are not present as a whole
in a single application. These features make our methodology very specific and beneficial to an EL university.
Separate Lists of Class Participants and Questioners
Our methodology provides two types of lists named List-A and List-B. List-A shows participants of the VC
i.e. list of online students and List-B displays only those students who want to ask a question. List-B is
developed in chronological order i.e. the first student who wants to ask a question, is given a place on the top
of the list and the second student is listed under the previous student and so on. Advantage of List-B is that the
teacher is not disturbed by the students who want to ask a question. They are just listed in the List-B and then
teacher allows them to ask a question as per list order. This feature is not provided by other applications.
Raising and Dropping Hand
This feature is used by a student enquiring teacher to grant permission for asking a question.
When a student raises hand his/her name is appended to List-B and when a student drops hand his name is
excluded from List-B.
Controlling and Coordination Mechanism
This mechanism is for teacher to control the VC. In the start, all of the students can just listen or see (text
chat) ongoing conversation between teacher and student. None of the students can use white board, text chat
controls or speak. In order to use white board or ask a question using text or audio chat, a student requires
permission from teacher. In order to allow a student ask a question, teacher selects a student from List-B and
then clicks the ‘Allow’ button. When the teacher clicks the ‘Allow’ button, all components on the student
interface become enable and now a student can ask a question either by audio or text chat mode. Similarly,
teacher has the privileges to block or remove a student. A blocked student means that he has been forcefully
blocked by the teacher to ask a question. These are very important features to control and help in the smooth
running of VC. This mechanism is provided only by the ‘Dimdim’; one of the application.
White Board
Provision of a white board is very important feature for VC. Our methodology provides this feature to share
such things which can not be typed or got in a verbal communication. For example, some complex
mathematical notations symbols can be easily drawn and communicated using the white board which may be
difficult in other ways.
Unlimited Users
Other software applications impose restriction on the maximum number of people in a group. For example,
MSN messenger allows 20, Yahoo messenger allows 50 and Skype allows 20 to 200 persons to join a group.
In case of our application there is no limit on maximum number of students to join the VC.
Draft List of Requirements for
Software Projects (Fall 2010)
9/29/2010 2
Explicit Registration Not Required
To use other chat applications, one has to create an account, but in case of our methodology a student
automatically gets registered at the time of his enrollment in the university. For example, in VUP, a student of
BSCS is issued ‘BS1001233’ as a registration number at the time of admission. This ID will also be used to
get login into our application. Our methodology authenticates the user by interacting with the university
database. Therefore, a separate registration is not required for our application.
Security
Only a university student who has been issued a registration number can use or ELT-MCGID. So, our
methodology is very secure comparatively to other chat applications where any person can create an ID to use
the application.
Display of Teacher Name
When we do text chat via MSN or Yahoo messenger, it is very difficult to distinguish between teacher and
student. To eliminate this problem, our methodology displays the word ‘teacher’ as a prefix of the teacher’s
reply as well as teacher’s name is displayed the menu bar of the window of each student and his name is also
highlighted in list of class participants. This feature removes ambiguity to identify the teacher.
Reusability
Our methodology provides an interface to integrate it with the university database. This feature has made our
methodology a reusable component. It enables our system to validate students’ identity, populate teacher and
students’ ‘Virtual Class Rooms’ by connecting with the university database.
Student Interface
Using this interface a student can attend the VC. Initially all components of this interface are disabled and a
student can not send text message, draw any thing on the whiteboard or speak. He can just watch or listen to
conversation being conducted between teacher and students. This interface is very similar the teacher’s
interface. Difference between teacher interface and student interface is that in place of pane to control VC on
teacher interface, there is an option to raise and drop hand on student interface. Raising hand is a signal that
the student wants to ask a question. This option is provided by a ‘check box’ control. When first time it is
selected by a student, its state changed to selected and name of the student is appended to the list of
‘Questioners’. When it is clicked second time, the state of this check box changes to unselected and now the
student is excluded from the list of questioners.
Configuration Interface
It provides a mechanism to integrate our system with the university database. This interface provides six text
fields and one button. Six text fields are for various purposes which are as follows: ‘User Name’ and
‘Password’ text fields require ID and password of university’s database that is going to be integrated with our
system. Database URL text field requires URL (uniform resource locator) of the database. Database URL is
an address of the physical location of the university database. DB driver text field demands database driver
which is used to connect with university database. In next two text fields, labeled as ‘User Authentication
Query’ and ‘Course Selection Query’, administrator writes queries which are embedded in our system to fetch
data from university database for authentication of student/teacher who wants to join the VC and to fetch
registered courses of the student/teacher. ‘Save’ button saves all the provided information and now our system
is integrated with the university database.
Minimizing Communication Gap and Interaction Delay
The following are the core requirements of this project.
Distinguished Features
Following features might have been supported by other chat applications but they are not present as a whole
in a single application. These features make our methodology very specific and beneficial to an EL university.
Separate Lists of Class Participants and Questioners
Our methodology provides two types of lists named List-A and List-B. List-A shows participants of the VC
i.e. list of online students and List-B displays only those students who want to ask a question. List-B is
developed in chronological order i.e. the first student who wants to ask a question, is given a place on the top
of the list and the second student is listed under the previous student and so on. Advantage of List-B is that the
teacher is not disturbed by the students who want to ask a question. They are just listed in the List-B and then
teacher allows them to ask a question as per list order. This feature is not provided by other applications.
Raising and Dropping Hand
This feature is used by a student enquiring teacher to grant permission for asking a question.
When a student raises hand his/her name is appended to List-B and when a student drops hand his name is
excluded from List-B.
Controlling and Coordination Mechanism
This mechanism is for teacher to control the VC. In the start, all of the students can just listen or see (text
chat) ongoing conversation between teacher and student. None of the students can use white board, text chat
controls or speak. In order to use white board or ask a question using text or audio chat, a student requires
permission from teacher. In order to allow a student ask a question, teacher selects a student from List-B and
then clicks the ‘Allow’ button. When the teacher clicks the ‘Allow’ button, all components on the student
interface become enable and now a student can ask a question either by audio or text chat mode. Similarly,
teacher has the privileges to block or remove a student. A blocked student means that he has been forcefully
blocked by the teacher to ask a question. These are very important features to control and help in the smooth
running of VC. This mechanism is provided only by the ‘Dimdim’; one of the application.
White Board
Provision of a white board is very important feature for VC. Our methodology provides this feature to share
such things which can not be typed or got in a verbal communication. For example, some complex
mathematical notations symbols can be easily drawn and communicated using the white board which may be
difficult in other ways.
Unlimited Users
Other software applications impose restriction on the maximum number of people in a group. For example,
MSN messenger allows 20, Yahoo messenger allows 50 and Skype allows 20 to 200 persons to join a group.
In case of our application there is no limit on maximum number of students to join the VC.
Draft List of Requirements for
Software Projects (Fall 2010)
9/29/2010 2
Explicit Registration Not Required
To use other chat applications, one has to create an account, but in case of our methodology a student
automatically gets registered at the time of his enrollment in the university. For example, in VUP, a student of
BSCS is issued ‘BS1001233’ as a registration number at the time of admission. This ID will also be used to
get login into our application. Our methodology authenticates the user by interacting with the university
database. Therefore, a separate registration is not required for our application.
Security
Only a university student who has been issued a registration number can use or ELT-MCGID. So, our
methodology is very secure comparatively to other chat applications where any person can create an ID to use
the application.
Display of Teacher Name
When we do text chat via MSN or Yahoo messenger, it is very difficult to distinguish between teacher and
student. To eliminate this problem, our methodology displays the word ‘teacher’ as a prefix of the teacher’s
reply as well as teacher’s name is displayed the menu bar of the window of each student and his name is also
highlighted in list of class participants. This feature removes ambiguity to identify the teacher.
Reusability
Our methodology provides an interface to integrate it with the university database. This feature has made our
methodology a reusable component. It enables our system to validate students’ identity, populate teacher and
students’ ‘Virtual Class Rooms’ by connecting with the university database.
Student Interface
Using this interface a student can attend the VC. Initially all components of this interface are disabled and a
student can not send text message, draw any thing on the whiteboard or speak. He can just watch or listen to
conversation being conducted between teacher and students. This interface is very similar the teacher’s
interface. Difference between teacher interface and student interface is that in place of pane to control VC on
teacher interface, there is an option to raise and drop hand on student interface. Raising hand is a signal that
the student wants to ask a question. This option is provided by a ‘check box’ control. When first time it is
selected by a student, its state changed to selected and name of the student is appended to the list of
‘Questioners’. When it is clicked second time, the state of this check box changes to unselected and now the
student is excluded from the list of questioners.
Configuration Interface
It provides a mechanism to integrate our system with the university database. This interface provides six text
fields and one button. Six text fields are for various purposes which are as follows: ‘User Name’ and
‘Password’ text fields require ID and password of university’s database that is going to be integrated with our
system. Database URL text field requires URL (uniform resource locator) of the database. Database URL is
an address of the physical location of the university database. DB driver text field demands database driver
which is used to connect with university database. In next two text fields, labeled as ‘User Authentication
Query’ and ‘Course Selection Query’, administrator writes queries which are embedded in our system to fetch
data from university database for authentication of student/teacher who wants to join the VC and to fetch
registered courses of the student/teacher. ‘Save’ button saves all the provided information and now our system
is integrated with the university database.