wiki:FutureOfExe

Anchor(Top)? Navigation(children)? TableOfContents?

Ideas for the future of eXe after release 1.0

This is an area of the wiki that is dedicated to thinking about the future of eXe as an e-learning technology.

We must point out that the eXe project is currently not funded to implement these ideas, but hopefully if they are good enough and carry the support of a wider international community we will be able to proceed with working towards the realisation of next-generation e-learning technologies. We welcome thoughts, ideas and discussion about the future of eXe in the forum set up for this purpose.

The future of the eXe project is inspired by:

  • The ELF (e-Learning Framework)as a foundation for next generation e-learning techonologies;
  • The fact that Mozilla (a foundational technology in eXe) is more than a browser, it's an application framework that offers huge potential for the future of e-learning; See for example:
  • Why you can use Mozilla as a framework to build applications;
  • The Many Faces of Mozilla in the Linux Journal;
  • Take a look at Komodo, an integrated development environment (IDE) that was built using the Mozilla application framework.
  • Summary of Mozilla on wikipedia.

Why can't we use the Mozilla application's framework for the benefit of e-learning?

Top of Page

Providing use cases for the future of eXe

We have received a growing number of requests from the community to discuss the future of eXe. One way to do this is by documenting and discussing use cases. While we agree with the potential limitations imposed by use cases, they do nonetheless provide an basis for for talking online about the future of eXe. We have adapted the use case structure outlined in Wikipedia for this purpose.

We encourage the community to:

  • adapt, refine or improve existing use cases listed here (there is a Notes area in case you do not wish to modify elements of the use case);
  • submit new use cases documenting ideas for added functionality within the framework (use the headings for existing use cases as a starting point for your own contributions);
  • join in the discussion about the future of eXe in this forum.

Top of Page

Suggested structure for use cases

If you are keen to submit your own use case, we suggested the following structure:

  1. Use case title -- use a verb or noun to describe the functionality
  2. Iteration -- Start with Version 0.1 For minor revisions, change version number as follows: 0.1.1; 0.1.2 etc. For major revisions, change version number as follows: 0.2; 0.3 etc.
  3. Author, country and date
  4. Summary statement -- A short phrase or sentence that can be displayed in a spreadsheet cell, with additional columns for priority, date etc.
  5. Scenario summary -- A short story, usually written from the perspective of the user. Best to avoid technical concepts and predetermined technical solutions.
  6. Preconditions -- List the conditions that must be "true" for the use case.
  7. Triggers -- State the conditions that give rise to the use case.
  8. Basic course of events -- List the events or actions in sequence from the user perspective.
  9. Post conditions -- If appropriate, list the state of affairs after the course of events has been completed.
  10. Notes -- Create a heading for notes and comments to be added by the community.

Top of Page

List of use cases

  1. eXe as a personalised learning environment?
  1. eXe interfaced with Learning Object Repository?
  1. eXe, objective ontologies & workflow?
  1. eXe and folksonomies?
  1. eXe and the power of interoperable discussion forums?
  1. Competency definition framework?
  1. eXe and Topic Maps?
  1. Search and Replace tool? - for updating iDevices.

Top of Page

Draft proposals for eCDF 2006/2007

  1. Project 1 - eXe II: Building capability through eXe Knowledge Communities