DEFINING AND USING AN E-LEARNING PLATFORM IN THE NATIONAL
UNIVERSITY OF EAST TIMOR
Sara Moreira¹, Prof. Francisco Restivo¹, Prof. Francisco Dionísio²
Project developed at Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto
(¹DEI - FEUP e ² DM – ISTUTL,SQIG-Instituto de Telecomunicações))
1. Motivation
In this paper is presented an unusual scenario of
technology platforms adoption: Moodle at the
National University of East Timor (UNTL) [Mor09].
We intend to answer questions concerned with the
challenges that technology needs to face when
making the first steps in bringing IT to an
inhospitable environment, and the depth of the
impact of technology while promoting the digital
inclusion in East Timor.
2. Main Goals
Main goals of the project were
• To enhance UNTL’s capabilities through ICT by
providing the first information system there.
• To support the future of Portuguese Cooperation
project at UNTL by analysing the legacy
bureaucratic procedures and carrying them to the
digital era.
• To improve higher education in East Timor, by
making more contents available for the students
and promoting their contact with ICT
• To understand the issues that lead to the success
of a Project of this kind, while redefining
pedagogical and administrative workflows, and
its impact in users’ habits.
• To create a critical mass for future developments
in a broader scope.
3. Work Description
In order to illustrate the path leading to the above
main goals, we begin by focusing digital divide
realities and we define the potentiality of e-learning
tools in bringing education and knowledge to that
kind of places. We then describe the adoption project
itself, concerning informatics issues such as the
installation and configuration of Moodle, its
resources and the users training and support. In the
end, we discuss specific difficulties associated to the
project development and related with the definition
and use of such a system in this context.
3.1. Digital Divide Contexts
In the Digital Divide Network, the concept of digital
divide is defined as "the distance between those who
took advantage of the benefits of digital technology
and those people whose lives could be significantly
improved by them." This social gap among those who
have access to and use computers and the Internet
[Wil01] is not necessarily a problem from developing
countries – it is usually applies to the gap between
rural vs. urban areas, but it also may be related to
other issues such as gender.
It is often questioned what is the added value that
technology can bring to places where there is hunger,
poverty or other conflicts. In response, we present
case studies where technology is introduced to
support education, build an economy or simply bring
new channels of communication to those who were
previously isolated. There are many successful cases
in bringing technology to remote places while
creating development opportunities.
Focusing in East Timor, which is the first
independent country of this millennium and still
recovering from the violent events at the time of
independence, the reality is that people have little
contact to new technologies and computers.
Moreover, East Timor is one of the poorest countries
in Asia, lacking infra structures of all sorts, including
communication and digital infra structures [AF05].
3.2. E-Learning Platforms
Looking to the technology gap as an opportunity
rather than as a disadvantage, distance-learning tools
and learning management systems may play an
important role in these environments, being
simultaneously tools to improve the access to
education and a motivation to adopt digital
technologies.
Firstly, a key factor in the case of Timor-Leste -
specifically the UNTL - is the fact that Internet access
at this time is entirely inappropriate (in terms of
price, speed and quality of service - QoS). UNTL
does not have a geographically distributed structure.
Even if it did, the Internet connection without
minimum conditions, isolate that institution from the
outset.
Another interesting point is that there is no budget for
project implementation. Thus, the software must be
licensed with "Free" or "Open Source" official
(recognized by the Free Software Foundation or the
Open Source Initiative), preferably running on Linux
with an Apache server and a system of database
management MySQL database
This set of requirements leads to the selection of a
platform based on widespread technology, for
example PHP / MySQL, and a large user base to
support standardized learning objects. There is a
platform that stands out clearly not only in number of
sites and users and also shows a robust and
appropriate to the situation in question - the Moodle
platform. Although the investment for the
development of a course can be high, resources can
be reused, transferred and adapted. This can lead to
education and knowledge to those who would
otherwise not purchased, providing more content to
students and promoting contact them with ICT.
This tool serves not only from the technological point
of view, but also as a representation for training,
education, and administrative tasks.
3.3 Moodle at the National University of East
Timor
Moodle was adopted in order to support the future of
UNTL after completion of the Portuguese
Cooperation ten years project in that institution,
providing an useful and secure storage for interactive
information.
We present the definition of the problem to solve at
the National University of East Timor, and the
solution found in Moodle e-Learning platform.
The project began with a team of four people with the
following main tasks:
• Modelling of documents flow at the Portuguese
Cooperation Project (FUP) in UNTL.
• Administrative requirements analysis.
• Pre-Installing in an internal server and activating
Moodle at FUP.
Fig. 1 – Teachers data workflow at UNTL.
While adapting current workflow, Moodle was
structured with the equivalent courses organization:
Fig. 2 – Home Page of Moodle at UNTL.
The next goal was to promote the use of Moodle by
different kinds of users. We created a "Fast Moodle”
guideline of procedures for teachers and students, and
completed it with a period of training for them. Soon
the actual use of the platform started with a pilot
course on Operating Systems (OS) through Moodle.
Concerning education, we used Moodle as a tool to
support classes, where different types of educational
resources and content would be available each week
to carry out practical exercises related to OS. Moodle
also served as a channel of communication within
and outside the classroom, as students, highly
motivated by the increased contact with ICT, used it
for several educational activities (such as the
submission of assignments and discussion on related
subjects). Moodle was also used in more fun ways,
through chat and blogs.
Upon completion of the school year, we evaluated the
use of Moodle through a survey. 11 answers were
received from a total of 36 enquiries.
Most students found Moodle intuitive and agreed that
it improved the learning process. The students were
also confident about the usefulness and use of ICT at
all levels.
3.3. Future Perspectives
After evaluating the process involved on the project
development, and based in the problems arisen, it is
stated an essay about future perspectives for the
University, the country and similar places.
Besides all the difficulties faced, the Project has
created the opportunity to install an e-learning
solution at the UNTL, and has shown that there are
more things to be done, that will need people’s
involvement. Moodle has not yet become a
mandatory tool in the UNTL, but in the future that
situation may change.
The Project has shown that it is possible to go
forward, even though at a slow pace and it creates
expectations that may challenge others to adopt
and improve the project. A good engineering solution
may play an important role.
4. Conclusions
The use of e-Learning platforms enables better
organization for administrative and curricular
information, as well as allowing new channels for the
distribution of pedagogical and educational contents.
While the evaluation of the results much depends on
the expectations at the outset, through this project we
confirmed that UNTL students truly recognized the
advantages of the tool and adopted it for college
work. The availability of contents and the access to
electronic information is clearly important and the
number of education, evaluation and monitoring
projects is increasing, acting on contents assessment,
using platforms such as Moodle, for various subject
areas, such as in neighbouring Indonesia [HS05].
The adoption of Moodle (open source and free
software) in UNTL played an important role in the
dissemination of information within the organization.
Moreover projects of this kind are not necessarily
expensive. The biggest challenge is finding the
human resources required for the production and / or
reuse of meaningful and useful content. UNTL and
Timor-Leste must enhance the general infrastructure
of digital communication and Internet services which
can provide sustainable channels of interactivity.
Even at an international level, the potential is big for
the spread of digital literacy in this context.
In order to optimize the impact of ICT projects in
Timor-Leste, the country needs to recognize the
importance of telecommunications and Internet
development, focusing on creative solutions in the
ICT sector and training people who can drive new
implementations. Despite the delay that exists in
terms of services and infrastructure support for now
prove insufficient; the centralization of digital
learning and knowledge through such tools is an
engine of development.
In conclusion, not only we evidently expect future
development in UNTL, but we also expect to
reproduce and adapt the project in other institutions
responsible for the transmission of knowledge. The
result of this work is seen as positive and it provides
well framed guideline for the Timorese reality. As
mentioned, it should not be forgotten that the greatest
needs Timor-Leste faces in terms of ICT must be met
quickly to give way to leverage knowledge and
development.
5. References
[AF05] ABIDIN, Abdullah Zanol, FREITAS, João
Câncio, .tp / .tl Timor-Leste, Publicação Digital
Review of Asia-Pacific, 2005
[HS05] HASIBUAN, Z.A., SANTOSO, H.B., The
use of e-learning towards new learning paradigm:
case study student centered e-learning environment
at Faculty of Computer Science - University of
Indonesia, Fac. of Comput. Sci., Indonesia Univ.,
Depok, Indonesia, 2005
[Mor09] MOREIRA, S., Adopção de uma
Ferramenta de e-Learning na Universidade Nacional
de Timor-Leste: O Desafio da Tecnologia, O Impacto
da Mudança, Faculdade de Engenharia da
Universidade do Porto, 2009
[Wil01] WILLIAMS, K., What is the digital divide?,
working paper, University of Michigan, 2001
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