靜 宜 大 學

資訊管理學系碩士班

碩 士 論 文

網格環境下數位學習平台之設計與實作

Toward Design and Implementation of an e-Learning Platform in

Grid Environments

研 究 生：蔡全科

指導教授：蔡英德 博士

李冠憬 博士

中 華 民 國 九 十 五 年 六 月
 網格環境下數位學習平台之設計與實作
Toward Design and Implementation of an e-Learning Platform in

Grid Environments

研 究 生：蔡全科 Student: Chuan-Ko Tsai

指導教授：蔡英德 博士 Advisor: Dr. Yin-Te Tsai

李冠憬 博士 Dr. Kuan-Ching Li

靜 宜 大 學

資 訊 管 理 學 系

碩 士 論 文

A Thesis

Submitted to Department of Computer Science and Information Management

College of Computing and Informatics

Providence University

in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Master

in
Computer Science and Information Management

June 2006

Shalu, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China

中 華 民 國 九 十 五 年 六 月
 網格環境下數位學習平台之設計與實作

學生：蔡全科 指導教授：蔡英德

李冠憬

靜宜大學資訊管理學系碩士班

摘要

近幾年來，隨著資訊科技與網際網路的蓬勃發展，人們的生活方式已經被深

深地影響。在傳統的學習方式中，學習必須受限於時間與空間；數位學習是結合

資訊科技與教學的學習方法，透過這樣的學習方式學習者可以在任何時間以及任

何地點就可以學習。然而，在現今的數位學習系統中還有一些缺點仍須改進與解

決。在目前數位學習的研究裡，最主要的問題是如何使數位學習的系統在可延伸

(可擴充)、開放式、動態式、與異質性環境中，提供更好的學習環境。

網格技術是將分散在各地的電腦資源整合在一起，方便共同分享使用這些資

源，如計算資源、儲存資源、網路等等，減少資源的浪費。網格就像是一個不受

時間、地域範圍所限制的虛擬超級大電腦。

在本研究中，我們運用網格技術與數位學習作結合，並提出了一個基於網格

技術的數位學習架構來支援在分散式的環境中學習。在實驗部分，我們分別建置

了一些開放性原始碼、免費的數位學習平台(學習管理系統)在我們的網格環境

裡，並且實作了一個在網格環境中的數位學習平台雛形。應用網格的技術與概念

在數位學習上，將是未來在數位學習上的一個新思維、願景。

i
Toward Design and Implementation of an e-Learning Platform in

Grid Environments

Student: Chuan-Ko Tsai Advisor: Dr. Yin-Te Tsai

Dr. Kuan-Ching Li

Department of Computer Science and Information Management

Providence University

Abstract

In recent years, with the rapid development of information technology and Internet

have already deep influencing the life styles of people. In the traditional learning

methods, learning is restricted to time and place; E-Learning is the method that

combines information technology with education. Through the use of e-Learning,

learner can learn at any time and any place without the restriction of time and place.

However, current e-Learning systems present drawbacks need to be improved. The key

problem in present e-Learning researches is regarding to ways to support learning

systems in scalable, open, dynamic and heterogeneous environments.

Grid technology shares widespread computing power, storage capacities and

many other resources such as hardware, software and network bandwidth that can

reduce waste of idle resources. Grid computing platform is formed by interconnecting

computers distributed over geographically remote areas to act as a single, virtual

supercomputer.

In this thesis, we combine grid technology with e-Learning, present an e-Learning

ii
architecture based on grid technology to support learning in distributed environments.

In our experiment, a prototype of e-Learning platform using grid environment is

proposed, built up using a number of open source e-Learning software (Learning

Management System, LMS) in a heterogeneous environment. In the future, using grid

technology on e-Learning might be a new scenario.

iii
 Acknowledgement

I sincerely thank for my advisor Dr. Yin-Te Tsai. In my postgraduate life, he has taught

me a lot of things not only the research but also in my life. Without his constant

support and guidance throughout the duration of the research, this work would not

have been possible.

I would like to express sincere appreciation for the other advisor Dr. Kuan-Ching

Li for his guidance and support throughout the thesis research. During study of the

thesis, he gave me many valuable suggestions. This thesis could not be completed

without his invaluable advice. I also thank Dr. Shyong-Jian Shyu. The thesis could not

be more perfect without his conscientious comments on the oral examination of the

thesis.

I also thank for my classmates and junior classmates who accompany me in my

postgraduate life. When I suffered discouragement, they gave me much help.

Especially Keng-Hao, Chun-Lin, Hsin-Yu, Kuo-Feng, Chih-Chiang, Kuo-Yuan,

You-Chi, Chang-Kuang, Jen-Sen, Ming-Hui, Fan-Yu, Jui-Yi, San-Yuan, Po-Jui, you

gave me many happy memories. I also thank for my junior classmates who are

Algorithm Lab’s (SY 230’s) SAs, thank for your help about lab’s affairs. Special thank

to my CSIM 95 junior classmates who are SY 226a and SY 226b SAs, you gave me so

much concern and so many happy memories. I will remember you forever

I also thank my dear parents for their infinite patience and continuous support. I

could not get the master’s degree without your spiritual support and fosterage. Thank

You, I love you.

Also, I thank God for giving me the chance to be with so many classmates and

friends, who have accompanied me through the joy and pains in the study.

iv
 Contents
Chinese Abstract ..............................................................................................................i

English Abstract ..............................................................................................................ii

Acknowledgement ..........................................................................................................iv

List of Tables..................................................................................................................vii

List of Figures...............................................................................................................viii

Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................1

1.1 Overview ......................................................................................................2
1.2 Motivation....................................................................................................2
1.3 Contribution ................................................................................................3
1.4 Organization ................................................................................................4

Chapter 2 Background..................................................................................................5
2.1 E-Learning Systems ....................................................................................6
2.2 Grid Computing ..........................................................................................8
2.2.1 The Concept of Grid Computing...................................................8
2.2.2 The Grid Architecture ....................................................................9
2.2.3 Web Services .................................................................................. 11
2.2.4 The Open Grid Services Architecture .........................................13
2.3 Learning Grid Projects & Researches ....................................................15

Chapter 3 Proposed e-Learning Grid Architecture .................................................19

3.1 Grid Middleware Layer............................................................................19
3.1.1 Security Services ...........................................................................20
3.1.2 Resource Management..................................................................22
3.1.3 Information Services.....................................................................22
3.1.4 Data Management .........................................................................23
3.2 Content Layer............................................................................................24
3.3 Learning Grid Portal ................................................................................25

Chapter 4 Prototyping The e-Learning Platform.....................................................26

4.1 Execution Flow of A Learning Platform in Grid....................................26
v
 4.2 E-learning Platform Prototype ................................................................27
4.2.1 Learning Grid Portal ....................................................................28
4.2.2 System Implementation ................................................................30

Chapter 5 Conclusion and Future Work...................................................................35

Reference........................................................................................................................37

Vita..................................................................................................................................42

vi
 List of Tables

Table 2-1. A Number of Projects And Researches About Learning Grid.................16

Table 4-1. Software Configuration of Grid-Nodes .....................................................27

vii
 List of Figures

Figure 2-1. Generic View of Learning Management Systems.....................................7

Figure 2-2. Generic View of Grid Environment. ..........................................................9
Figure 2-3. The Grid Architecture............................................................................... 11
Figure 2-4. Web Services Architecture. .......................................................................12
Figure 2-5. OGSA Platform Architecture. ..................................................................15
Figure 3-1. An e-Learning Grid Architecture.............................................................20
Figure 4-1. Execution Flow of A Learner Utilizing The E-Learning Platform........27
Figure 4-2. Prototype of Learning Grid. .....................................................................28
Figure 4-3. Learning Grid Portal Screenshot-1..........................................................30
Figure 4-4. Learning Grid Portal Screenshot-2..........................................................31
Figure 4-5. Learning Grid Portal Screenshot-3..........................................................31
Figure 4-6. ILIAS Learning Management System Screenshot. ................................32
Figure 4-7. Claroline Learning Management System Screenshot. ...........................33
Figure 4-8. Dokeos Learning Management System Screenshot................................34

viii
 Chapter 1 Introduction

Grid technology was originally conceived to provide support for applications

belonging to scientific domains. However, the grid is currently embarked on a

maturation process derived from the definition of the Open Grid Services Architecture

(OGSA) [17] which could allow the expansion of grid technology within new domains

such as business and education. At present, education and collaboration are emerging

as very important application fields of grid technologies. The use of grid technologies

may enable access to large amounts of heterogeneous resources that can be employed

for educational purposes. This new scenario is called e-Learning Grid or Learning Grid

[7][10][19][20][34].

In the first section of this chapter, we will discuss about the overview of

e-Learning. E-Learning is defined as using network technologies to create, foster,

deliver, and facilitate learning, anytime and anywhere. It enhances traditional face to

face room-based learning through the use of network technologies that employs

different modes of delivery and can provide thousands of learners in geographically

different locations, learning at different times, while allowing for inexpensive and

on-going updating of content. However, current e-Learning systems still have some

drawbacks need to be solved.

Next, we will discuss about the motivation of this thesis. In e-Learning research, it

is a crucial problem the support of learning in scalable, open, dynamic and

heterogeneous environments. By adopting grid technology, it can solve current

e-Learning systems problems.

Then, our contribution presents an e-Learning architecture based on grid

technology to support learning in distributed environments. A prototype of e-Learning

1
platform using gird environment is proposed, built up using a number of open source

e-Learning software in a heterogeneous environment. Finally is the introduction of

chapters of this thesis.

1.1 Overview

In recent years, with the rapid development in communication and network

technologies, e-Learning has been popularized and become one of the most popular

teaching methods in educational community. Along with the gradual improvements

found in network bandwidth and quality, real-time transmission of high-quality video

and audio has become possible and true reality. Because of these major transitions,

conventional methods of school education have also followed this trend.

E-Learning utilizes electronic devices to assist the education or training process,

taking advantage of the internet or any other communication channel to connect other

devices, to deliver information and knowledge. This model of learning has many

advantages with respect to traditional models: a better interaction between the learner

and the learning resources he uses, i.e., The learning is not passive; Learning can

happen anytime and anywhere, i.e., there are not boundaries tied to time and place; A

tutor, or learner himself, is able to monitor the progress and to customize the learning

experience basing on learner skills and preferences [10].

1.2 Motivation

Though, there are some drawbacks related to current learning solutions. First, they are

mainly focused on the content delivery, leaving in the background the collaborative

view. Second, current learning platforms only support a specific learning-domain and

2
are not able to support learning in different domains [10]. Third, many e-Learning

platforms and systems have been developed and commercialized. These are based on

client-server, peer-to-peer, and web service architecture, their limitations in scalability,

availability, and distribution of computing power as well as storage capabilities [34].

There are many e-Learning products existing in the market which are implemented

using different platforms that are not compatible with each others [32]. Along with

these drawbacks, we present an e-Learning architecture based on grid technology to

solve current e-Learning platform problems.

In e-Learning research, it is a crucial problem the support of learning in scalable,

open, dynamic and heterogeneous environments. The scenario is a large scale and

connected environment of Learning Management Systems, Learning Content

Management Systems and virtual classroom systems of different organizations.

Grid computing has emerged as an important new field, distinguished from

conventional distributed computing by its focus on large-scale resource sharing,

innovative applications and, in some cases, high-performance orientation [15]. Grid

technology address issues related to access provisioning coordinated resource sharing

and problem solving in dynamic, multi institutional virtual organization [16]. By

adopting grid technology, it is possible a wide-scale learning resource sharing in

heterogeneous and geographically distributed environments, the implementation of

learning organizations in which different actors (teachers, learners), sharing a common

target, are able to cooperate to obtain a result.

1.3 Contribution

In this research, for the problem of current e-Learning, that is, most e-Learning

environment architectures use single computers or servers as their structural

3
foundations. We propose an e-Learning architecture based on grid technology to

support learning in distributed environments. In a Learning Grid environment, learner

can learn in scalable, open, dynamic and heterogeneous environments.

Also, a prototype of e-Learning platform using grid environment is proposed,

built up using a number of open source e-Learning softwares (LMS) in a

heterogeneous environment.

1.4 Organization

The remaining of this thesis is organized as follows. In chapter 2, we discuss the

background of e-Learning systems, grid computing technologies, and some projects

and researches about Learning Grid. In chapter 3, we present e-Learning Grid

architecture. In chapter 4, a prototype of e-Learning platform using grid environment is

proposed. Finally, a brief conclusion and future work in chapter 5.

4
 Chapter 2 Background

Grid Technologies are rising as the next generation of Internet by defining a new

powerful computing paradigm. In this vision, a customer of the grid will be able to use

his or her private workplace (Workstation, PC, Clusters, etc.) to invoke any application

from a remote system, use the system best suited for executing that particular

application, access data securely and consistently from remote sites, use multiple

systems to solve large problems that exceed the capacity of any single system on the

grid.

Another interesting aspect of grid technologies is their support for resource

sharing and problem solving in dynamic, multi-institutional virtual organizations. The

sharing is not just the exchange of data or files but rather it is concrete access to

resources (e.g. computers, software, storage, network, etc.). This sharing capability

requires the definition and implementation of well-defined resource management

policies to specify what is accessible, by whom and under which conditions. A set of

individuals and/or institutions defined by such sharing rules form what is called a

Virtual Organization (VO). This sharing capability and support for VO implementation

has been one of the main key success factors of grid as an enabling technology for

e-science infrastructure.

Grid technologies provide users with a uniform way to access resources by means

of several kinds of devices. These technologies can support for both distance and

traditional learning activities by facilitating experimentation with and evaluation of

new emerging didactical models focused on experiential and collaborative learning

approaches in a contextualized, personalized and ubiquitous way.

In this chapter, we will introduce a number of backgrounds about e-Learning

5
systems, and grid computing. In grid computing section, we introduce the concept of

grid computing, the grid architecture, web services, and Open Grid Services

Architecture (OGSA). Then, a number of projects and researches about Learning Grid

are introduced.

2.1 E-Learning Systems

With the rapid growth of the Internet and digital technologies, the web has become a

powerful, global, interactive, dynamic, economic, and democratic medium of learning

and teaching at a distance [30]. E-Learning is the unifying term to describe the fields of

online learning, web-based training, and technology-delivered instruction. Rosenberg

[36] defines e-Learning have three fundamental criteria: a e-Learning is networked,

which makes it capable of instant updating, storage/retrieval, distribution and sharing

of instruction or information; It is delivered to the end-user via a computer using

standard Internet technology; It focuses on the broadest view of learning – learning

solutions that go beyond the traditional paradigms of training.

General e-Learning systems have four components: People, Authoring System,

Run-Time System, and Learning Management System (LMS), as shown in Figure 2-1

[34]. People in these systems are the learners and authors, while others may include

trainers and administrators. Authors (which may be teachers or instructional designers)

create content, which is stored under the control of a LMS, and typically in a database.

Existing content can be updated, and it can also be exchanged with other systems. A

LMS is managed under the control of an administrator, and it interacts, with a run-time

environment which is addressed by learners, who in turn may be coached by a trainer.

These components of an e-Learning system can be logically and physically distributed.

6
 People
Authors Learners

Content Learning
Creation
Authoring Run-Time
System System
Administrators

Import/Export Interaction

Learning Management System (LMS)

Content Storage & Management

Figure 2-1. Generic View of Learning Management Systems.

In order to make such a distribution feasible, standards such as IMS [27] and

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) [3] have been proposed, to

ensure plug-and-play compatibility. ADL (Advance Distributed Learning) plays an

important role for e-Learning and build SCORM to deploy learning contents on any

Learning Management System that conforms to SCORM standard. ADL integrates the

work of various standards and specifications such as IEEE LTSC’s LOM (Learning

Object Metadata), AICC CMI data model, IMS Content Packaging and many others

[24].SCORM provides interoperability between different learning systems by the

means of standardized packaging, sequencing and communication methods for

learning contents.

An e-Learning platform requires an LMS, to store and manage the teaching

content. It is a collection of e-Learning tools available through a shared administrative

interface. A Learning Management System can be thought as the platform in which

online courses or online components of courses are assembled and used from. Brandon

Hall Research [9] defines an LMS as: “Software that automates the administration of

7
training events. All Learning Management Systems (LMSs) manage the log-in of

registered users, manage course catalogs, record data from learners, and provide

reports to management.”

2.2 Grid Computing

In current incredibly complex world of computational power, very high speed machine

processing capabilities, complex data storage methods, next-generation

telecommunications, new generation operating systems and services, and extremely

advanced networking services capabilities, we are entering a new era of computing －

Grid Computing [28]. Grid computing has emerged as a framework for supporting

complex compilations over large data sets. In general, grids enable the efficient sharing

and management of computing resources for the purpose of performing large complex

tasks [12].

2.2.1 The Concept of Grid Computing

The grid computing paradigm essentially aggregates the view on existing hardware and

software resources. The term Grid is chosen as an analogy to a power grid that

provides consistent, pervasive, dependable, transparent access to electricity

irrespective of its source [6][16]. The concept of grid computing focuses on resource

sharing, which is not primarily file exchange but rather direct access to computers,

software, data, and other resources, as is required by a range of collaborative

problem-solving and resource-brokering strategies emerging in industry, science and

engineering. This sharing is, necessarily, highly controlled, with resource providers and

consumers defining clearly and carefully just what is shared, who is allowed to share,

and the conditions under which sharing occurs. A set of individuals and/or institutions

8
defined by such sharing rules form what we call a Virtual Organization (VO) [15]. All

theses virtual organizations share some commonality among them, including common

concerns and requirements, but many vary in size, scope, duration, sociology, and

structure. Also, a grid can be viewed as a seamless, integrated computational and

collaborative environment as shown in Figure 2-2. The users interact with the grid

resource broker to solve problems, which in turn performs resource discovery,

scheduling, and processing of application jobs on the distributed grid sources [5].

Figure 2-2. Generic View of Grid Environment.

2.2.2 The Grid Architecture

A new architecture model and technology was developed for the establishment,

management, and cross-organizational resource sharing within a virtual organization.

This new architecture, called grid architecture, identifies the basic components of a

grid system, defines the purpose and functions of such components and indicated how

each of these components interacts with one another. The main attention of the

architecture is on the interoperability among resource providers and users to establish

the sharing relationships. This interoperability means common protocols at each layer

of the architecture model, which leads to the definition of a grid protocol architecture

9
as shown in Figure 2-3 [15]. This protocol architecture defines common mechanisms,

interfaces, schema, and protocols at each layer, by which users and resources can

negotiate, establish, manage, and share resources. Figure 2-3 illustrates the component

layers of the architecture with specific capabilities at each layer. Each layer shares the

behavior of the component layers described in the next discussion.

The Grid Fabric layer contains the resources that are to be shared. This could

include computational power, data storage, sensors, and network resources. This

sharing is controlled by grid protocols but the resource could include local networks. In

this case, the local protocols take over at this point. The Grid system is just concerned

with access above this point.

The Connectivity layer contains the communication and authentication protocols

required for grid-specific network transactions. Communication protocols enable the

exchange of data between different Fabric layer resources. Authentication protocols

build on communication services to provide secure mechanisms for verifying the

identity of users and resources.

The Resource layer uses the communication and security protocols of the

Connectivity layer to control the secure negotiation, initiation, monitoring, control,

accounting, and payment of sharing operations on individual resources. Resource layer

protocols call Fabric layer functions to access and control local resources. Resource

layer protocols are concerned entirely with individual resources.

While the Resource layer is focused on interactions with a single resource, the

Collective layer contains protocols and services that are global in nature and capture

interactions across collections of resources. Collective components are designed that

they implement a wide variety of sharing behaviors without placing new requirements

on the fabric resources being shared such as: A directory service may allow users to

query for resources by name or by attributes such as type, availability, or load.

10
 The final layer in the grid architecture comprises the user applications.

Applications are constructed in terms of, and by calling upon, services defined at each

layer in the grid structure. At each layer, well-defined protocols provide access to some

useful service: resource management, data access, resource discovery, and so forth. At

each layer, protocols and services are used to perform desired actions.

Application

Internet Protocol Architecture

Grid Protocol Architecture

Collective Application

Resources

Transport
Collectivity
Internet

Fabric Link

Figure 2-3. The Grid Architecture.

2.2.3 Web Services

Web service is a technology that has built to provide various types of services over a

web. The main advantage of using a web service technology is cross platform

communication. Web services standard is defined within the W3C, that has the support

of large number of industries, and the components interact between in the service

processes that are based on XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI. The architecture of web

services standard is shown in Figure 2-4 [40].

Look at the Figure 2-4, we can infer that XML and related technologies (XML,

DTD, XML Schema) from the base technologies of the web services. Web services are

11
invoked and results are provided via messages that must be exchanged over some

communications medium, where a communication medium can be a low-level

networking services transport protocol (e.g., telecommunications protocol [TCP]),

and/or a high-level communication protocol (HTTP), and/or a combination of both.

Figure 2-4. Web Services Architecture.

The message format can be specified through the Simple Object Access Protocol

(SOAP) and its extensions, but this capability is not just limited to SOAP. The SOAP

specification provides the definition of the XML-based information that can be used

for exchanging structured and typed information between peers in a decentralized,

distributed environment. SOAP can carry on HTTP, FTP and SMTP. WSDL is a

XML-based language to describe a web service how to access them, to provide a

formal framework to describe services in terms of protocols servers, ports and

operations that can be invoked, the specification that provides a SOAP binding which

is the most natural technology to be used for implements a web services.

Interoperability across heterogeneous systems requires a mechanism to define the

12
precise structure and data types of the messages that has to be exchanged between a

message producer and a consumer. The Web Service Description Language (WSDL) is

another desirable choice to describe the message and exchange pattern.

The WSDL provides a model and an XML format for describing web services.

WSDL enables one to separate the description of the abstract functionality offered by a

service from concrete details of a service description.

Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) provides the registry

and search mechanism for web services. A UDDI is a directory of web services that

have XML files describes a business and the services it offers.

In grid environments, one critical point is on how to combine the different

heterogeneous resources. XML-based metadata is a popular problem solving, so it has

been widely used. The XML document can not only help manage facilities, but also

interchange between different databases. The interface based on web services can

integrate not only the web resources easily, but also make the occurrence much faster

to duplicate. The process of the duplicating becomes much easier, since it is based on

the open structure of web service [25].

Grid Computing is all about resource sharing by integrating services across

distributed, heterogeneous, dynamic virtual organizations formed from disparate

sources within a single institution and/or external organization. This integration cannot

be achieved without a global, open, extensible architecture agreed upon by the

participants of the virtual organization. The OGSA achieves these integration

requirements by providing an Open Service-Oriented model for establishing grid

computing architectures. We will discuss OGSA in next subsection.

2.2.4 The Open Grid Services Architecture

13
The Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) has been proposed as an enabling

infrastructure for systems and applications that require the integration and management

of service within distributed, heterogeneous, dynamic virtual organizations. More

simply, it is the architecture for building grid applications. This enabling infrastructure

defines the notion of a “Grid Service”, which is a web service that conforms to a

specific interface and behavior, as defined in a various specifications developed by the

Global Grid Forum (GGF) [21].

The OGSA is aligned with the service-oriented architecture as defined by the

W3C and utilizes a web service as its framework and message exchange architecture.

The basic approach the OGSA has taken is to integrate itself with the web services

architecture and define programming model using the emerging architecture. The Open

Grid Service Infrastructure (OGSI) uses WSDL as its service description mechanism

and web services infrastructure for the message exchange [28].

OGSA architecture is a layered architecture, as shown in Figure 2-5, with clear

separation of the functionalities at each layer. The three principal elements of OGSA

are the Open Grid Services Infrastructure, OGSA services, and OGSA schemas. OGSA

builds on web services, a standards-based, widely deployed distributed computing

paradigm that provides the basic mechanisms used to describe an invoke grid services.

OGSA services may be hosted in a variety of different environments and may

communicate via different protocols. Web services provide important machinery, but

current web service standards do not address important issues related to basic service

semantics: how services are created, how long they live, how to manage faults, and

how to manage long-lived stat, to name a few. These and other important service

behaviors must be standardized to enable service virtualization and service

interoperability. These issues are addressed by a core set of interfaces called the Open

Grid Services Infrastructure (OGSI). A web service that adheres to OGSI standards is

14
called a grid service. OGSI defines essential building blocks for distributed systems,

including standard interfaces and associated behaviors for describing and discovering

service attributes, creating service instances, managing service lifetime, managing

groups of services, and subscribing to and delivering notifications. The high level

applications and services use these lower layer core platform components and OGSI

that become part of a resource-sharing grid [16].

Figure 2-5. OGSA Platform Architecture.

2.3 Learning Grid Projects & Researches

In this section, we will list some projects and researches about Learning Grid, as
shown in Table 2-1.

15
Table 2-1. A Number of Projects And Researches About Learning Grid.

Project Name Description

Mobility has become a central aspect of life for European

citizens – in business, education, and leisure. Due to rapid
technological and societal changes, there has been an
astonishing growth of technologies and services for mobile
users. Large investments have been made in order to
provide the necessary infrastructures across Europe. In
2003 the number of Internet connected handsets or mobile
hosts equaled the number of fixed Internet connected.
Akogrimo [4]
Taking into account this evolution, Akogrimo – by
leveraging the large based of mobile users – is aiming to
radically advance the pervasiveness of grid computing
across Europe.
The Akogrimo e-Learning scenario will be embedded in
the frame of the e-Learning domain. The focus of in this
scenario will be to build a showcase for new ways of
learning that is made possible by the Akogrimo.

Gridcole is new tailorable collaborative learning system

that provides guidance to the participants of collaborative
learning scenarios defined by educators and enables the
use of tools requiring supercomputing capabilities or
GridCole [8]
specific hardware resources for the support of such
scenarios. Gridcole combines grid services technologies
and IMS-LD specification in order to address the
drawbacks of current tailorable collaborative learning
systems.

Diogene is an EC project aimed at the realization of a

distributed virtual organization for the provision of
learning services. It implements state of the art and
Diogene [18]
innovative features and, despite the fact that it is based on
web services technology, it provides a migration path
toward a grid environment.

16
 European Learning Grid Infrastructure is an EC FP6
Integrated Project (23 partners from 9 EU countries). It has
the ambitious goal to develop software technologies for
effective human learning. With the EleGI project it will
ELeGI - European
promote and support a learning paradigm shift. A new
Learning Grid
paradigm focused on knowledge construction using
Infrastructure [14]
experiential based and collaborative learning approaches in
a contextualized, personalized and ubiquitous way will
replace the current information transfer paradigm focused
on content and on the key authoritative figure of the
teacher who provides information.

The GRASP project aims at studying, designing,

developing and validating a new grid-based system
infrastructure for achieving innovative business interaction
models based on the pattern of Application Service
Provision and Virtual Organizations. To validate project
results in real business scenarios, the project includes a
test-bed on e-Learning.

The Project results in real business scenarios, by defining

GRASP [22] and running on e-Learning test beds. In e-Learning test
bed, students, learning institutions and computation centres
are the actors of this test bed that allows the student to
carry out simulations where he or she can learn by doing.
The process involves orchestration of different services
(simulation, graphical rendering) and provision of different
QoS on the basis of the learner’s request. The billing
system will be double: on the one side, the ASP will charge
an amount of money to the learning institution for the use
of its resources; On the other side, the learning institution
will perform its own billing on the student.

LAGrid has been developed as part of the Grid-based

Collaborative Platform for e-Learning project, which is
LAGrid – Distance
investigating the use of web services technologies to
learning Assessmet Grid
support collaborative learning in a grid environment, and
[31][39]
which aims to integrate the learning, software, and teacher

17
 resources from over forty autonomous organization,
distributed in location and network, in China Central Radio
& TV University (CRTVU). The platform so far seems to
be aimed more towards supporting teachers in working
collaboratively, but there is no reason why, in future, the
infrastructure and middleware cannot also be used to
support collaborative learning amongst students.

The SELF aims to identify the key enablers in a practical

SELF – Semantic
grid-based learning environment and implement them by
Grid-based E-Learning
integrating existing technological solutions. The proposed
Framework [1]
framework should provide a scaleable e-Learning
infrastructure with e-Learning specific application layers
that run on top of semantic grid-based support layers.

18
 Chapter 3 Proposed e-Learning Grid Architecture

In this chapter, we will introduce an e-Learning architecture based on grid technology

to support learning in distributed environments.

The architecture contains five layers from bottom to up, as shown in Figure 3-1

[38]. The infrastructure layer, at the lowest layer, supports basic networking

environment, including computing devices, networking and networking protocols etc.

Secondly, the basic service oriented architecture for implementing the basic web

services related protocols such as XML, UDDI/SOAP/WSDL etc. This layer provides

the elementary connectivity, interoperation, reliability and flexibility for the layers on

top of it. As next layer, the grid middleware layer is the core of the architecture where

the basic grid problems such as distribution, dynamic, open and cross-organization are

resolved. The content layer is on top of grid middleware layer to store all of learning

contents in our platform. At last, the learning grid portal supports single user sign on

the system. In next subsections, brief introduction of these layers will be discussed.

3.1 Grid Middleware Layer

This layer is a crucial layer to build a grid environment and should be on existing

OGSA compliant middleware such as Globus Toolkit 4 (GT4). The Globus project

provides open source software toolkit that can be used to build computational grids and

grid-based applications [37]. It allows sharing of computing power, databases, and

other resources securely across corporate, institutional and geographic boundaries

without sacrificing local autonomy. It implements services for Security Services,

Resource Management, Information Services and Data Management in the grid. The

19
main functions of them are listed below.

Figure 3-1. An e-Learning Grid Architecture.

3.1.1 Security Services

The Grid Security Infrastructure (GSI) provides methods for authentication of grid

users and secures communication. It is based on SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), PKI

(Public Key Infrastructure) and X.509 Certificate Architecture. The GSI provides

services, protocols and achieve the following aims for security:

z Single sign-on for using grid services through user certificates;

20
z Resource authentication through host certificates;

z Data encryption;

z Authorization;

z Delegation of authority and trust through proxies and certificate chain of trust for

certificate authorities.

Users gain access to resources by having their grid certificate subjects mapped to

an account on the remote machine by its system administrators. This also requires that

the CA that signed the user certificate be trusted by the remote system. Access

permissions have to be enforced in the traditional UNIX manner through restrictions

on the remote user account.

CAs (Certificate Authorities) are also a part of realizing the notion of VOs. A user

who has a certificate signed by the CA of the VO gains access to the resources

authenticated by the same CA. VOs can cooperate between them by recognizing each

others CAs so that users can access resources between collaborations. These

mechanisms are used in many grid testbeds. Depending on the structure of the testbed

and the tools used, the users may gain access automatically to the resources or may

have to contact the system administrators individually to ensure access.

Most services require mutual authentication before carrying out their functions.

This guarantees non-repudiability and data security on both sides. However, the current

state of GSI tools makes it more likely that some users may share the usage of a single

certificate to gain access to higher number of resources or that they may be mapped to

the same account on the remote machine. This may raise serious questions on the

authenticated users and the confidentiality of user data on the remote machine.

Production testbeds have policies in place to restrict this behavior but there is still

some way to go before these are restricted at the middleware level.

21
3.1.2 Resource Management

The grid resource manager is concerned with resource assignments as jobs are

submitted. It acts as an abstract interface to the heterogeneous resources of the grid.

The resource management component provides the facilities to allocate a job to a

particular resource, provide a means to track the status of the job while it is running

and it completion information, and provide the capability to cancel a job or otherwise

manage it.

Also, grid resource management involves the coordination of a number of

components, including resource registries, staging of executable files, discovery,

monitoring, allocation, and data access. The Globus toolkit includes a set of

components to help users have a standard set of interfaces for the coordination of the

above activities. Grid Resource Allocation and Management (GRAM) is used for

allocation of computational resources and for monitoring and control of computation

on those resources. GRAM provides a set of standard interfaces and components to

collectively manage a job task, and to provide resource information including job

status and resource configuration, and reports status for the course of the execution. A

client requests a job submission to the gatekeeper daemon on the remote host. The

gatekeeper daemon checks if the client is authorized. Once authentication is over, the

gatekeeper starts a job manager that initiates and monitors the job execution. Job

managers are created depending on the local scheduler on that system.

3.1.3 Information Services

The information services provide static and dynamic properties of the nodes that are

connected to the grid. Information services have to fulfill the following requirements: a

basis for configuration and adaptation in heterogeneous environments; Uniform and

22
flexible access to static and dynamic information; Scalable and efficient access to data;

Access to multiple information sources; Decentralized maintenance capabilities. The

Monitoring and Discovery Service (MDS) provides a uniform framework for

discovering and accessing configuration and status information such as compute server

configuration, network status, and the capabilities and policies of services. Within

MDS, schema defines classes that represent various properties of the system. MDS has

a three-tier structure at the bottom of which are Information Providers (IPs) that gather

data about resource properties and status and translate them into the format defined by

the object classes. The Grid Resource Information Services (GRIS) forms the second

tier and is a daemon that runs on a single resource. GRIS responds to queries about the

resource properties and updates its cache at intervals defined by the time-to-live by

querying the relevant IPs. At the topmost level, the Grid Information Index Service

(GIIS) indexes the resource information provided by other GRISs and GIISs that are

registered with it.

3.1.4 Data Management

The data management services provide standard means for helping to manage the Grid

computing environment. GridFTP is a standard extension to the normal FTP (File

Transfer Protocol) that works with the grid computing data requirements. This is a

high-performance, secure, reliable, data transfer protocol that is optimized for high

bandwidth across wide area networks. This is a standard that provides GSI security,

parallel transfer capabilities, and channel reusability.

Replica management service in grid middleware layer provides guarantee for

better quality of resource sharing, which implements functions of transparent data

transfer/copy, transparent copy selection in grid. The Replica Location Service (RLS)

23
maintains and provides access to mapping information from logical names regarding

data items to target names. These target names may represent physical locations of data

items, or an entry in the RLS may map to another level of logical naming for the data

item. The RLS is intended to be one of a set of services for providing data replication

management in grids.

3.2 Content Layer

This layer is on top of grid middleware layer to store all of contents in our platform

[42]. As above mentioned an e-Learning system needs a Learning Management System

to store and manage its teaching content. However, every LMS platform runs its own

learning materials, which cannot be exchanged with those of other LMSs. To deal with

this problem, the U.S. government launched the Advanced Distributed Learning

Initiative (ADL) [3] is unifying e-Learning specifications emerging from the

international standards organizations into a single specification referred to as the

Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). SCORM aims to establish a

mechanism for repeated use and sharing of courseware as a way to reduce the time and

cost of developing courseware and to make courseware reusable and acceptable to

different LMSs.

The SCORM standard is divided into 2 parts: the Content Aggregation Model

(CAM) and Run-time Environment (RTE). CAM-produced courseware is based on the

principles of reusability, interoperability, and shareability, and it includes three major

modules: content model, metadata, and content packaging. Courseware elements are

defined as content objects in the content model and must be properly arranged to make

a reusable course, also known as an SCO (Sharable Content Object). SCO elements,

such as html files, graphic files, and multimedia files, are known as “assets”. Metadata

24
files describe courseware information using XML. The description of courseware and

elements made by metadata enables further management of course resources. Content

packaging uses the Manifest XML files, denominated as imsmanifest.xml, to arrange

and package SCOs in a course framework.

Some LMSs will be used as Learning Grid nodes when implementing a complete

Learning Grid platform in which each node is provided with an interface for linkage

between the grid interface and the LMS.

Although an SCO meets the SCORM standards and can be run in every LMS, it

may still be inconvenient for sharing among multiple LMSs because of the lack of a

fast, safe, and secure mechanism. Each SCO Repository in the LMS is linked through

Globus middleware, and each and every LMS node can share SCOs with other LMSs.

Based on grid middleware Globus which is in the middle of the communication

between nodes is conducted via the Learning Grid Portal, which is the interface

between grid nodes.

3.3 Learning Grid Portal

Learning Gird Portal is the unified entry for all grid platform users. Users from

different organizations who logon it could share learning resources without knowing

where they come from. Moreover, the portal is responsible for assisting authenticated

users when operating within the grid environment.

25
Chapter 4 Prototyping The e-Learning Platform

4.1 Execution Flow of A Learning Platform in Grid

In this subsection, we want to describe the main execution flow of a learner utilizing

the proposed learning platform, as also briefly shown in Figure 4-1.

(1) A learner enter the grid portal, the grid portal have a user database which store user

information and access rights. When a user wants to enter the grid environment, the

system will checks the user’s login name and password against the values stored in

the database;

(2) If the login was successful, the system will show a list of all resources currently

available in the grid and the status and type of all resources in the grid. It then

requests from each computer (if each computer has it own LMS) some status

information (e.g., unused storage space, how many learning content);

(3) Furthermore, a broker is assigned which can handle requests to distribute

computation or data across other computers in the grid;

(4) For the distribution of data it uses the GridFTP to access the other computer’s

resource;

(5) For the resource have a high speed access performance, Replica Location Service

supports multiple locations for the same file throughout the grid.

26
 Figure 4-1. Execution Flow of A Learner Utilizing The E-Learning Platform.

4.2 E-learning Platform Prototype

In our Learning Grid platform, Globus Toolkit 4.0.1 [37] was installed on each site.

Three different versions of open source Learning Management Systems have been

installed in these sites in our grid platform: ILIAS is installed in site A, Claroline in

site B, while Dokeos in site C. For the overall grid environment, we use OGCE

Release 2 [33] in GridSphere [23] as our Grid Portal, as shown in Table 4-1. Figure 4-2

shows the e-Learning platform prototype.

Table 4-1. Software Configuration of Grid-Nodes

Domain Name Host Name O.S. Software

vein.cs.pu.edu.tw vein Fedora Core 1 GridSphere, OGCE Release 2

aldog.cs.pu.edu.tw aldog Fedora Core 3 Claroline

algoat.cs.pu.edu.tw algoat Fedora Core 3 Dokeos

alrabbit.cs.pu.edu.tw alrabbit Fedora Core 3 ILIAS

27
 Figure 4-2. Prototype of Learning Grid.

4.2.1 Learning Grid Portal

Portals provide access to grid technologies through sharable and reusable components

for web-based access to scientific, business-oriented and education-oriented

applications. Grid-enabled portal can deliver complex grid solutions to users wherever

they have access to a web browser running on the Internet without need to download or

install specialized software or worry about setting up networks, etc. Hence,

grid-enabled portal have been proven to be effective mechanisms for exposing

computing resources and distributed systems to general user communities without

forcing them to deal with the complexities of the underlying systems.

The portal doest not only provide services to the members within the grid, but

also acts as a Learning Grid platform for the other LMSs through the Internet. Those

organizations or individuals who have not joined the grid will be restricted to use some

28
of the accessible resources.

Our Learning Grid portal utilizes NMI’s (NSF Middleware Initiative) Open Grid

Computing Environment (OGCE), which is based on the Java portlet model. A portlet

is a component of the web server that owns a part of the portal display window. The

portlet has access to the user’s session state and different portlets can communicate

with each other through this mechanism. Also, we use GridSphere as the portal

container. GridSphere provides a portlet model for developers to develop third-party

portlet web applications.

The OGCE portal includes the following functions:

z Monitoring resources on the grid, such as the operational condition between each

node;

z Utilizing the grid portal site to submit task for operation in the grid;

z Using GridFTP to transmit data within the grid;

z Using the Proxy Manager to manage the CA in the Grid;

At the below, we will introduce some portlets of OGCE. One of the OGCE

standard portlets is used to fetch the user’s grid proxy certificate from the MyProxy

service and store it in the user’s session. Any other portlet which requires the user’s

proxy certificate in order to interact with a remote service on behalf of the user can

fetch the proxy from the session state.

The GPIR Browser Portlet enables a user to view information about the resources

in a grid, obtained from the GridPort Information Repository (GPIR) service. The Grid

Portal Information Repository (GPIR) includes both static and dynamic grid and

system data. The static data includes a resource’s institution and department, name,

system type, number of CPU’s, peak performance, memory, and disk space. Dynamic

data includes a resource’s status, load, and number of jobs running.

The Comprehensive File Management Portlet enables users to list file on remote

29
resources, upload and download files to and from remote resources, and transfer files

between remote resources. The portlet allows two side-by-side directory listings,

allowing a user to list files on both the source and destination hosts of the transfer.

4.2.2 System Implementation

The NSF Middleware Initiative’s (NMI’s) OGCE portal [33] provides access to Grid

technologies through sharable and reusable components. Also, the GridSphere portal

framework [23] provides an open-source portlet based web portal. With the

GridPortlets web application, users will upload their grid credentials and use them to

gain access to a variety of grid services. Figure 4-3, Figure 4-4 and Figure 4-5 displays

screenshots of the Learning Grid Portal site.

Figure 4-3. Learning Grid Portal Screenshot-1.

30
Figure 4-4. Learning Grid Portal Screenshot-2.

Figure 4-5. Learning Grid Portal Screenshot-3.

31
 ILIAS [26] is a powerful web-based Learning Management System that allows

users to create, edit and publish learning and teaching material in an integrated system

with their normal web browsers, as shown in Figure 4-6. Tools for cooperative working

and communication are included as well. ILIAS is available as open source software

under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Universities, educational institutions,

private and public companies, and every interested person may use the system free of

charge and contribute to its further development. ILIAS is the first free software LMS

that has reached SCORM 1.2 Conformance Level LMS-RTE3 and therefore guarantees

platform independent re-use of contents. Due to a modular and object oriented

software architecture; ILIAS allows easy customizing of the platform for specific

purposes.

Figure 4-6. ILIAS Learning Management System Screenshot.

32
 Claroline [11] is a free application based on PHP/MySQL allowing teachers or

education organizations to create and administrate courses through the web, as shown

in Figure 4-7. Developed from teachers to teachers, Claroline is built over sound

pedagogical principles allowing a large variety of pedagogical setup including

widening of traditional classroom and online collaborative learning.

Figure 4-7. Claroline Learning Management System Screenshot.

Dokeos [13] is an Open Source e-Learning and course management web

application translated in 34 languages and helping more than 1.000 organizations

worldwide to manage learning and collaboration activities, as shown in Figure 4-8.

33
 Figure 4-8. Dokeos Learning Management System Screenshot.

In our Learning Grid platform, we plan to place multimedia educational materials

with different contents in each site. For instance, site A could be used for English

teaching materials, site B for Chinese teaching related materials, while site C for

computer science related materials.

34
 Chapter 5 Conclusion and Future Work

In this thesis, we intend to combine e-Learning and Learning Management Systems

with grid technologies, which toward a new learning scenario, called e-Learning Grid

or Learning Grid. Besides, we have proposed architecture for e-Learning platform

based on grid technology to support learning in distributed environments. In a

Learning Grid environment, learner can learn in scalable, open, dynamic and

heterogeneous environments. At present, most e-Learning environment architectures

use single computers or servers as their structural foundations. The innovative

e-Learning architecture is presented, as it can solve current e-Learning platform

problems. To make resources in the Learning Grid platform available to users, we have

to setup a Grid Portal, which can monitor resources on the grid, use GridFTP to

transmit data within the grid, and use the Proxy Manager to manage the CA in the Grid.

Also, in our experiment, a prototype of e-Learning platform using grid technologies is

proposed, built up using a number of open source Learning Management System in a

heterogeneous environment.

Currently, collaboration support falls into broad classes of products: instant

messenger and other such tools from the major vendors such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and

Skype; Audio-videoconferencing systems such as the Access Grid [2]; Synchronous

shared applications for web conferencing. We can expect the capabilities of these

applications to be built as web services. In the future we hope that instant messengers

would be integrated as another portlet in our portal. We intend that this platform may

enable people to process interactions and opinion exchanges through video and audio

simultaneously, in situations such as training, teaching, conference and seminar, among

others. Also, we want to add a lot of LMSs in our Learning Grid environments, which

35
can share more and more resources (contents, materials, etc.).

36
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41
 Vita

Name of Author: Chuan-Ko Tsai

Date and Place of Birth: May 8, 1981, Yunlin, Taiwan, R.O.C.
E-mail: tck2427@gmail.com
Degree Awarded:
2006 M.S. (Computer Science and Information Management),
Providence University
2003 B.S. (Computer Science and Information Management),
Providence University

Involved Project:

2003-2004 Research Assistant, “Development of novel bioinformatics tools for

genomic exploration of SARS coronavirus and related viruses -

Development of a novel pattern discovery and visualization tool for

genome sequence annotation of SARS coronavirus and related

viruses(component project 1)”, Grant: NSC 92-3112-B-126-001.

Publication:

1. C.K. Tsai, Y.C. Tsao, C.Y. Chang, Y.T. Tsai, “A Study on Project Management

Based on Knowledge Management for Designers - A Case Study of Gallant

Industries Co., Ltd,” Proceeding of the 1st Conference on Information Management

and Project Management, Taoyuan, Taiwan, 23 April, 2005.

2. C.K. Tsai, Y.T. Tsai, K.C. Li, “The Construction of E-Learning Platform in Grid

Environment,” Proceeding of the 2006 on Digital Life Technologies – Building a

Safe, Secured and Sound (3S) Living Environment, Tainan, Taiwan, 1-2 June, 2006.

42
3. K.C. Li, C.K. Tsai, Y.T. Tsai, H.H Wang, “Toward Design of a E-Learning Platform

in Grid Environments,” Proceedings of the 2006 International Conference on Grid

Computing and Applications (GCA’06), Monte Carlo Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada,

USA., 26-29 June, 2006.

43