Integration Between eLearning platforms and Information Systems: a New Generation of Tools for Virtual Communities
Molinari, Andrea (2022-10-31)
Väitöskirja
Molinari, Andrea
31.10.2022
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT
Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis
School of Business and Management
School of Engineering Science, Tietotekniikka
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-863-8
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-863-8
Tiivistelmä
This research focuses on re-designing the architecture of a Learning Management System (LMS) to facilitate and increase its usage inside an information system and achieve a more profound and better integration. LMSs offer many valuable services in various educational contexts. However, most of these services are typically inefficiently used because they are primarily redundant within other functionalities of an LMS or with services provided by other information systems. Services such as file sharing, forums, blogs, polling, voting, videoconferencing are often available within LMSs, but modern organizations also have access to these services via other systems. This thesis shows that with a deep re-design of the software architecture, LMSs can have broader application opportunities than only the educational setting and can be competitive compared to similar services provided in other formats.
This thesis has followed two main research lines formulated as questions: a) how to intervene in an LMS’s architecture and functionalities to create a more generalized, collaborative environment not only devoted to the educational setting; b) how to facilitate the integration of LMSs into corporate information systems, while avoiding duplication of services for end-users and improving their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). A central issue of this thesis has been identifying what these duplication and integration problems are based on. We observe that a central problem is found in the core architectural concepts of an LMS, the foundational metaphor underlying these platforms: LMS’s intimate structure is based on concepts such as “class”, “course”, “student”, and “teacher”. These concepts relate strictly to education, thus preventing LMSs from being used in a conceptually native way outside these contexts. Indeed, these concepts are unsuitable for collaborative settings, such as a meeting, a research group, a recreational community, a conference, a community of evaluators, a secretariat, a labor union association, etc. We cannot manage a research group the same way as a “class”, or assign the head of the research group to the role of a “teacher”. We should consider a research group as a community that uses digital services to support its activities, i.e., a virtual community. In this vein, this dissertation aims to demonstrate how a re-design of an LMS architecture around this thinking can potentially solve and improve the possibilities for an LMS to become central within modern information systems. Here the envisioned re-design places the concept of “virtual community” at the center of the architecture of the platform, replacing current concepts like "class" or "course". This novel approach represents a radical change to the internal architecture of an LMS, from the design of classes used in the code, to the persistence layer, to the services provided to the end-user. We could even talk about a new category of software platforms, i.e., a “Virtual Community Management System” or simply “Community Management Systems”, not to be confused with social media platforms. These systems provide their users with different services oriented toward education, communication, collaboration, multimedia management, videoconferencing, file sharing, project management, support to decision processes, time management, lifelong learning services etc.
This thesis presents insights into the internal architectural changes of an LMS, the consequent new services developed, and how these changes can facilitate the integration of the new design for an LMS inside the information system stack of an organization. As a real-world test of the envisioned changes and as a partial validation for the applicability of the notions presented, artifacts created in the form of (primary) services within a software platform named “Online Communities” and the transformation of the platform to a virtual community are presented. The platform has been (re)designed according to the paradigmatic shift presented in this thesis. We also consider this re-design process successful because public and private organizations have adopted the platform. The platform has also enabled numerous fundraising activities, generating a spin-off company for the commercialization of the platform. The role of the author in this design process has initially been that of a designer, software architect, and partially software developer. During the process, due to the possible implications of the practical activities undertaken and the number of experiences collected, our role has become that of an external researcher looking at the phenomenon from the outside, and action researcher looking at the artifact creation from the inside.
This thesis has followed two main research lines formulated as questions: a) how to intervene in an LMS’s architecture and functionalities to create a more generalized, collaborative environment not only devoted to the educational setting; b) how to facilitate the integration of LMSs into corporate information systems, while avoiding duplication of services for end-users and improving their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). A central issue of this thesis has been identifying what these duplication and integration problems are based on. We observe that a central problem is found in the core architectural concepts of an LMS, the foundational metaphor underlying these platforms: LMS’s intimate structure is based on concepts such as “class”, “course”, “student”, and “teacher”. These concepts relate strictly to education, thus preventing LMSs from being used in a conceptually native way outside these contexts. Indeed, these concepts are unsuitable for collaborative settings, such as a meeting, a research group, a recreational community, a conference, a community of evaluators, a secretariat, a labor union association, etc. We cannot manage a research group the same way as a “class”, or assign the head of the research group to the role of a “teacher”. We should consider a research group as a community that uses digital services to support its activities, i.e., a virtual community. In this vein, this dissertation aims to demonstrate how a re-design of an LMS architecture around this thinking can potentially solve and improve the possibilities for an LMS to become central within modern information systems. Here the envisioned re-design places the concept of “virtual community” at the center of the architecture of the platform, replacing current concepts like "class" or "course". This novel approach represents a radical change to the internal architecture of an LMS, from the design of classes used in the code, to the persistence layer, to the services provided to the end-user. We could even talk about a new category of software platforms, i.e., a “Virtual Community Management System” or simply “Community Management Systems”, not to be confused with social media platforms. These systems provide their users with different services oriented toward education, communication, collaboration, multimedia management, videoconferencing, file sharing, project management, support to decision processes, time management, lifelong learning services etc.
This thesis presents insights into the internal architectural changes of an LMS, the consequent new services developed, and how these changes can facilitate the integration of the new design for an LMS inside the information system stack of an organization. As a real-world test of the envisioned changes and as a partial validation for the applicability of the notions presented, artifacts created in the form of (primary) services within a software platform named “Online Communities” and the transformation of the platform to a virtual community are presented. The platform has been (re)designed according to the paradigmatic shift presented in this thesis. We also consider this re-design process successful because public and private organizations have adopted the platform. The platform has also enabled numerous fundraising activities, generating a spin-off company for the commercialization of the platform. The role of the author in this design process has initially been that of a designer, software architect, and partially software developer. During the process, due to the possible implications of the practical activities undertaken and the number of experiences collected, our role has become that of an external researcher looking at the phenomenon from the outside, and action researcher looking at the artifact creation from the inside.
Kokoelmat
- Väitöskirjat [1037]