Brihaspati
Brihaspati (Brihaspati-2) is a platform-independent highly scalable content delivery tool for web-based e-learning system It enables instructors to enhance on-campus learning by sharing course materials, having class discussions, and making assessments on the web. Brihaspati is developed by ETRG (Education Technology Research Group), IIT Kanpur, India.
Architecture
This content delivery system (Brihaspati-2) is implemented in java using Turbine, an open source framework, as secure web application. This conforms to the Model View Controller (MVC) paradigm which aims at separating content, presentation and business logic. There around 86 organizations /universities/institutions/schools are using Brihaspati for teaching and learning. http://home.iitk.ac.in/\~ynsingh/tool/pamphletsync.pdf
Functions (Instructor and Student)
Content publishing: Instructor can upload/publish content material in any format, he desires, directly to the course. He can also upload the material to content repository and than publish it in one or more courses simultaneously. Instructor has option to run a SCORM packager and package the developed content as SCORM package which can then be deployed in Brihaspati or any other LMS. This has been achieved by integrating Reload in Brihaspati Chat and Whiteboard: The users can communicate online. Of course, they have to be logged on at the same time for this. The instructor can make drawings using freehand as well as predefined graphic components along with the chatting. This makes live discussion over internet, more effective. Student management: The instructor can manage students’ details in his own course, including addition, deletion and modifications. Backup: The instructor can also take backup of the course material. In case of server crash, this can be restored with the help of administrator. Remote course: Instructor can sell/buy course contents to/from another institute using Brihaspati-2 LMS. Surveys: Admin can setup surveys to take feedback for the courses. It can be used to evaluate the instructors. The feedback can be seen by the instructor, which will help him improvement his instructions. Question Bank: Under Question Bank Repository, instructor can create module wise question bank of various types (true/false, short type and multiple type). Academic Evaluation: The instructor can conduct online test. Assignment can be submitted online and graded. The students can partition into group for various group activities for group base learning activities. There are many other functionalities available to both students and instructors e.g., search engine, news, glossary, mail, discussion board, marks view (upload for instructor), task manager, calendar - personal and course specific, personal area for keeping material, facility of sharing the uploaded material in personal area, course specific Wiki for collaborative content authoring by the instructors and students. http://www.brihaspatisolutions.co.in/products/brihaspati.html Now you learn, what more in future in Brihaspati? 1. SCORM (shareable content object reference model) based import/export, SCORM player implementation. 2. Extension to Multi-server architecture with business model for sharing the content among different Brihaspati installations. 3. Web service architecture to discover and use functionalities available over web. 4. Audio Chat, Multilingual Authoring Tool and improved GUI based on AJAX
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