Developing for Learning Design
The aim of the Developing for Learning Design project was to develop the Coppercore and SLeD learning design software that had commenced under the JISC e-learning framework programme.
The approach was to:
- Carry out enhancement work to the SLeD player and CopperCore engine building on previous supported projects (SLiDE/SLeD/SLeD2). The focus was on performance issues, as speed of response and robustness were identified as the main issues in the SLiDE project
- Launch a student facing system at Liverpool Hope University. Evaluation of this fed in to the next stage
- Following on from Liverpool Hope deployment, a second stage enhancement was undertaken which addressed interface and usability issues
- Integration within the design for learning programme
Critical success factors are demonstrably improved performance of the SLeD system, improved satisfaction ratings and demonstration of at least three test case units of learning.
The intended output of the project was a more robust system that is usable by knowledgeable educators.
Both Coppercore and Sled have been upgraded during the project. The new version of Coppercore and Sled were released on sourceforge.
Extensive performance improvements were conducted, and then rigorous performance testing undertaken. The system ran very well with up to 100 simultaneous users over a nine hour period, with requests every 30 seconds. This represents a load that would be unlikely to occur in the real world, as users would be unlikely to spend 9 hours in the same session and make a request every 30 seconds, thus sessions would end and requests to the system would be shared. The test thus represents an extreme case, and the system gave response times of less than 5 seconds 95% of the time, which met the project aims.
The revised software has been run with two small cohorts of students at Liverpool Hope. The experience reported by that cohort was positive, and none of the technical problems experienced with previous versions of the software was noted. The software was also tested with a group of 20 students, with all these students simultaneously logged in and working through a run of a unit of learning, with no significant problems.
In addition an administrative interface was developed, which would make it easier for educators to set up and run units of learning. An easy-installer version incorporating CopperCore was also created.