Virtual Campus Hub Frank Vercoulen Education and Student Service Center Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) 1
Virtual Campus Hub − Participants Institute Acronym Leading staff Søren Salomo Technical University of Denmark DTU Merete Badger Royal Institute of Technology, Torsten Fransson KTH Sweden Laura Farinetti Politecnico di Torino, Italy Polito Fulvio Corno Eindhoven University of Frank Vercoulen TU/e Technology, Netherlands
Context: Cross-border collaboration in education, research and innovation Examples in the energy field: • KIC InnoEnergy, a virtual organization of universities and SMEs • SEEIT: Strategic partnership for sustainable energy • Explore Energy: Gateway for life-long learning 24-10-2011 3
Context: Cross-border joint programs Example is Select MSc: • Network with many partners, incl. industry • Students change location in Y2 • Integrated project: Student groups with members from all locations • Optional courses at other locations through distance learning Other example: Post educational course on wind energy (WAsP) by DTU. 24-10-2011 4
Problem Universities have an increasing number of and increasingly diverse relations with the outside world, but ICT is still inward looking Barriers for access, collaboration and data exchange across institutions and companies Everybody has plenty of tools available, but using them across an institution’s border is cumbersome Labour-intensive workarounds offer far from perfect solutions Change in ICT strategy needed: From outsiders as ”aliens” toward varying levels of access, depending on what you know about someone. 24-10-2011 5
Virtual Campus Hub − Objectives Why? To boost integration of research, innovation and education in sustainable energy. How? Through delivery of a working concept for a Virtual Campus Hub ready to be implemented at partner universities, research organizations with links to industries, businesses, and innovation parks.
Virtual Campus Hub − Components 1. A technological concept for the virtual campus hub 2. A pilot platform to demonstrate how a virtual campus hub might work in practice 3. A set of documented best practices 4. An inventory of staff competence and experience in supporting international collaboration with ICT
What does a Virtual Campus Hub consist of? Virtual Campus Hub: • Functionalities • Infrastructure • Presentation in portal 24-10-2011 8
VCH functionalities: Collaboration environment and conference room Collaboration environment / conference room (TU/e) • Meeting room (videoconference / desktop conference) • Sharing and storing files • Presence info: who can be contacted? • Calendaring: when can meetings be planned? • (Organization of support) Infrastructure challenges in cross border collaboration: • Access collaboration applications of each other (e.g. Sharepoint, Lync) • Enable external group management across borders • Exchange presence info from different sources (Adobe Connect, MS Lync, Facebook, etc.) • Exchange calendar info 24-10-2011 9
Conference room processes and functionality Process Functionality Subfunction Organization and planning Calendar Announcement Registration Video lecture or conference Video Livestream On ‐ demand stream Download file Desktop sharing Interactivity Voice Chat / messaging Maximum number of users Presenter in control Attendee requirements Client Account Smartphone access Attendee invitation function After the lecture or Upload lectures / presentations conference Upload other course materials Access lectures / presentations Access other course materials General discussion Collaborate on assignments Not in realtime In realtime 24-10-2011 10
VCH functionalities: Access to learning materials Access to learning materials (KTH, DTU) • Interactive learning materials • Exercises Infrastructure challenges • Access to learning management systems of each other • ID-mapping needed when LMS is integrated with administrative systems • (possibly) Enable external group management • For participation in post educational courses and for coaching in regular courses by people from industry, access for company employees is needed 24-10-2011 11
Remote laboratory (KTH) The remote laboratory is operated and monitored on-distance for real-time experiments and collection of measurement data. The exercise is combined with on-line self-assessments and pre-tests, all 100% automatically corrected. No need for teachers to provide supervision or correction of exercises. Network Experimental Camera Setup WWW Control and monitoring of the experiment Exp. Control Web Server
Examination Tools (KTH) On-line examination tools for 100% automatic correction through LMS (KTH Bilda)
Post educational course on wind energy (DTU) Course materials and interaction through LMS (It’s Learning from external SP)
VCH functionalities: Virtual coffee house Virtual coffee house (TU/e, KTH) • Online meeting environment / social network for distributed population (cf. Select MSc program) • Members want to use their “work account”, not their “private account” Infrastructure challenges: • Enable federated authentication for social networks (cf. Google Apps pilot by Surfnet) 24-10-2011 15
Virtual coffee house for Select MSc Example of experiment with virtual coffee house for Select MSc 24-10-2011 16
VCH functionalities: Exchange of program data Exchange of program data (TU/e) • Course information • Scheduling information • Grades • News Infrastructure challenges • Design of an exchange and routing mechanism • ID-mapping for non-public data • Define exchange standards (functional and technical, e.g IMS) 24-10-2011 17
VCH functionalities: Virtual incubator Virtual incubator (PoliTo) • Enable close contacts between universities and industry • Stimulate entrepreneurship and “matching” Infrastructure challenges • Involve industry in research and education activities • Access for people in industry to VCH is needed 24-10-2011 18
Virtual Campus Hub Infrastructure Virtual Campus Hub Infrastructure: • Federated authentication • Group management • ID-mapping • Exchange of presence and calendaring info • Exchange of program data 24-10-2011 19
VCH Presentation: Coherent view in portal with reusable components Portal • Services from partners and external SPs must be presented as a coherent whole to the end user • Partners often involved in different partnerships, so components must also be used in other partnership portals and/or be embedded in the own home portal Presentation layer challenges • Setup portal based on general standard (in this case OpenSocial) • Services presented through (reusable) gadgets (cf. Surfconext portal) 24-10-2011 20
Challenges Géant infrastructure: • Enable federated authentication across borders EduGain, SurfFederatie, • Enable value-added services (VAS) across borders Group management WAYF, Swamid, IDEM ID-mapping Exchange of presence and calendaring info • Provide identities across borders via NRENs (IdP) Local institutions or • Connect applications to the national hub (SP) companies: • Enable applications for relevant VAS DTU, KTH, PoliTo, TU/e • Develop (simple) reusable gadgets for own VCH applications TU/e (but others may • Setup demo portal and incorporate (reusable) setup own portals as well) gadgets developed Local institutions with • Design of a exchange mechanism for program data Géant as hub? (e.g. course information, student results) 24-10-2011 21
Enabling cross border collaboration Possible architectures to realize cross border connections for VCH through NREN federations and eduGAIN 24-10-2011 22
Crossing institutional borders with data exchange (3TU experiment Student UT Student TUD Teacher UT Teacher TUD DLWO GUI DLWO GUI DLWO UT DLWO TUD 3TU Exchange DLWO ESB DLWO ESB Student TU/e Teacher TU/e Local systems Local systems DLWO GUI DLWO ESB DLWO TU/e Local systems Federative 3TU concept
3TU experiment • Pilot with exchange of course information • Local systems seen as “black box” • Communication between TUs based on standards • Scaling up via router / hub function Demo
Recommend
More recommend
