Business
A non-profit organisation, CAMRI, were interested in setting up an Internet Islamic University (IIU). Based in the USA, their aim was to provide courses on Islamic teachings online. The degree programme they had compiled was affiliated with leading universities in the USA and Middle East, including Harvard University.
|
Challenge
The challenge was that even though the client had the idea, they did not have any educational experience in setting up a university. And the make up of an online university, was always going to be very different. Students would be in dispersed locations and using different types of computers and software.
|
Intelligence
A two-pronged approach was required. Firstly we had to define and agree with the client, the processes and materials required for actually running the university. Then we had to develop the application, and ensure that it could be installed and used by a variety of users in dispersed locations.
|
Solution
Based on the degree programme and courses, we defined the formats of the classes to be given, and the rules and regulations for these courses. This then allowed us to start developing the software.Three different modules were developed for running the university:
- Student Module, to allow students to attend classes.
- Teacher module, to allow teachers to conduct classes.
- Administrator module, to allow IIU to administrator the university.
In addition we also created a registration module, to students to apply and register for the courses, and pay for them online.The end product delivered a complete university online, which included the following functions:
- Live, real-time classrooms conducted with content enriched by voice
- Ability for teacher to address the whole class, or an individual student
- Admission Tests for automatically grouping students by ability
- Student assessments, using timed pop-quizzes and essay submission and evaluation with time-stamping
- Communities for forums and discussions
- Individual Students homepages, including their course details and calendar representing scheduled classes.
- Achieve section, with downloadable content
- Transaction system for accepting structured payments
- Automated emailing and announcements
- News administration for keeping participants up to date with events
- User profile and system information for support
The launch of this venture in early 2002 was very successful. We are now working on enhancing this product to be utilised for an online school. This will include extra functionality such as online scheduling of classes, and more powerful administrator and classroom tools.
|
