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Self Appraisal Report

6 DIGITAL LIBRARY & WEB-BASED MATERIAL

The digital library program of the University was initiated with the support from UGC under UPE-I program in the year 2003. The major infrastructure was set up by installing servers, terminals in the learning centre, storage servers, digital library software etc. to provide easy access to e-journals, e-books and various other e-resources to around 10,000 users of library of the University. Users from neighbouring institutes also received considerable support from this facility. As a result, the research output from the University showed a steep jump in this period. The on-line access of resources like e-journals could be made available from outside campus for the faculty members. The digital Library has a learning Resource Centre (LRC) and a reading room. The Learning Resource Centre was set-up with sixty nodes for Teachers, Students, Research Scholars and Academic Administrators for retrieving on-line journals/books and for browsing the other digital library contents. The Digital Library Management Software Dspace, developed by MIT, USA and Hewlett Packard is used to access the content of digital library. As these facilities became extremely useful as can be revealed from various user statistics; upgradation and removal of obsolescence was extremely necessary and with this objective, the program in UPE-II was framed. Objectives: The activities under the program were initiated with the following objectives: a) Development of infrastructure of digital library by installing new servers, networking equipment, software, automated circulation system using RFID gates etc. b) Research and Development on Library Management System Software. c) Web based content development for digital library for various undergraduate and post graduate courses. d) Development of middleware for easy access of the content of digital library through mobile phones, i-Pads and other hand held devices.

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Components of activity: There are five components under this program. The following table gives the details of the investigators and the personnel involved: Sl. No.

Programme Investigators Personnel recruited

1. Digital Library Dr. R. Bandyopadhyay Chief Librarian, Mr. M. Murmu Information Scientist, Mr. S. Pahari

Project Assistant Sri Ansuman Paira Sri Soumen Mondal Smt. Rumpa Pal Sri Tuhin Subhra Ghosh Junior System Administrator Sri Sumanta Karmakar

2. Library Management System Software Development

Dr. Udayan Bhattacharya Dr. Tarun Mondal

Project Fellow Sri Arup Nag Smt. Radharani Rit

3. Web Based Teaching materials (Engineering) for Undergraduate and Post Graduate Laboratory

Dr. Matangini Chattopadhyay Dr. Samar Bhattacharya Dr. Ranjan Parekh

Project Manager Angshumitra Ghosh Panchali Sen SRF - Rumela Basu Multimedia Technician Santanu Ray Selim Sekh Kunal Hossain Ranjita Mookherjee

4. Development of web-based undergraduate course

Dr. Nilanjana Gupta Dr. Gautam Gupta Dr. Tushar Jash

5. Mobile- enabled content delivery and dissemination

Dr. Samiran Chattopadhyay Smt. Munmun Das

JRF- Smt. Susmita Ghosh Chattopadhyay

6.1.2 Relevant Projects in Last 10 years including the Ongoing Projects Project Title Sponsoring

Agency Members Grant

Value (Rs. )

Duration

Design and Development of Web Based Teaching Material for

UGC (Scheme - University with Potential

Dr Matangini Chattopadhyay (PI), Prof. Samar Bhattacharya

50 lakh September 2012 – March 2014

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Project Title Sponsoring Agency

Members Grant Value (Rs. )

Duration

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Laboratory

for Excellence - Phase II)

(Co-PI), Dr Ranjan Parekh (Co-PI)

Multimodal Digital Distance Education for IT and Other Critical Technologies

Ministry of Communicatio

n & Information Technology

Prof. Samar Bhattacharya (PI)

Rs. 1.4985 crore

03 years (Ended in December, 2005)

Development of Quality Assurance Methodology for Instructional Materials in Digital Distance mode

Jadavpur University, under “University with Potential for Excellence(UPE)” Scheme

Mr. Arunasish Acharya

0.50 lakh June 2005 - March 2007

6.1.3 Relevant Publications in the last 5 years The following publications are co-authored by the Education Technologists at the School of Education Technology in the last five years:

Ranjan Parekh, "Principles of Multimedia", 2nd edition, McGraw Hill, September 2012 [ISBN: 1-25-900650-6]

Aditi Bal, Arunasish Acharya, “Biometric Authentication and Tracking system for online Examination System”, International conference on Recent Trends in Information Systems (ReTIS2011), Kolkata, December 21-23, 2011.

M. Ghosh, P. N. Basu, K. Datta and S. Bhattacharya, “A New Approach to Learning Style Evaluation”, 5th IEEE International Conference on e-Learning in Industrial Electronics (ICELIE 2011), Melbourne, Australia, November 7-10, 2011, accepted.

W. Zaman, P. N. Basu and K. Datta, “A framework to Incorporate Quality Aspects for e-Content in a Consortium Environment”, Annual International Conference on Education & e-Learning (Eel 2011) scheduled to be held at Singapore. November 7-8, 2011, accepted.

Soumadeep Chakraborty, Diptendu Dutta, Matangini Chattopadhyay, “E-Learning Content’s Template Design with Subjective Metadata”, Proceedings of the 10th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn2011), Beijing, China, October 18 - 21, 2011.

R. Parekh, N. Sharda, “Abstractions in Intelligent Multimedia Databases: Application of Layered Architecture and Visual Keywords for Intelligent Search”, in Li Yan, Zongmin Ma (Eds.), “Intelligent Multimedia Databases and Information

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Retrieval: Advancing Applications and Technologies” (IMDIR), chapter 12, pp. 195-220, IGI Global, September 2011 [ISBN: 978-1-6135-0126-9].

R. Parekh ,“Towards the Next Generation Multimedia Presentation”, Propagation : A Journal of Science Communication, NCSM, Indian Journal of Finance, Kolkata, January, 2011, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 23-37 [ISSN 0976-1012].

Sudipta Kr. Ghosal, Arnab Nath, Saswati Mukherjee and Arunasish Acharya, “An Efficient Approach of Watermarking to protect Multimedia Content”, UGC Sponsored National Conference on Image Processing (NCIMP2010), February 12 & 13, 2010, Gandhigram.

Sudipta Kr. Ghosal, Arnab Nath, Saswati Mukherjee and Arunasish Acharya, “A New Approach: Data Hiding and Security of Multimedia Content Using Steganography”, UGC Sponsored National Conference on Image Processing (NCIMP2010), February 12 & 13, 2010, Gandhigram.

P. N. Basu, Lopa Mondal, “Towards Development of Web Contents for Dual Display (Normal Web and Mobile) - A Tag Based Approach”, ICIT December 2009 (Communicated and accepted)

P. N. Basu, Lopa Mondal, “A Tag Based Approach of Web Content Authoring for Mobile Display”, Second National Conference on recent trends in Computer Engineering (RTCE-09). Sinhgad College of Engineering, Vadgoan, Pune 2009 (Communicated and accepted)

6.1.4 Facilities Available

The details of the resources are listed below:

Equipment Qty Place of Installation Purchased under program

Hardware Resources MB 418 ZP/A IMAC 24" desktops (with Intous Wacom Tablet & 1 TB Lacie Harddisk as peripheral devices)

7 Jupiter Building, J203, 1st Floor Lab

MHRD Special Fund

HP Server 7 Digital Library UPE-I HP Dessktops – 70 nos Learning Resource

Centre at Digital Library

UPE-I

Scanner - HP Scanjet Model GP4010

1 As above MHRD Special Fund

IMAC 21" MD093HN/A desktops

2 As above UPE-II

24 PORT 10/100/1000 Unmanaged Switch

1 As above UPE-II

External Hard Disk 1 TB 2 As above UPE-II HP LaserJet Pro 1108 Single Function Laser Printer

1 As above UPE-II

HP 4540 Laptops 2 used by Education UPE-II

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Equipment Qty Place of Installation Purchased under program

Technologists for project work

IPAD WIFI MD545HN/A 1 to be used for demo purposes

UPE-II

Software Resources Adobe CS6 Master Collection Software

2 Jupiter Building, J203, 1st Floor Lab

UPE-II

Adobe CS3 Master Collection Software

6 As above MHRD Special Fund

Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2013

1 As above TEQIP

6.1.5 Ongoing Work under UPE II – 2012-14

Activity wise details of the objectives and progresses

A. Digital Library

Objectives: To renovate the infrastructure of Digital Library. Progress till date: 1. New Servers for the Digital Library have been installed. 2. Installation of DSpace with an improved user interface in the new server is in progress. 3. RFID gates have been installed. 4. 50000 books have been tagged with RFID. 5. A booklet “Know Your Library” has been published and it is being circulated to all the users. 6. Awareness program in all the departments and schools have been arranged for increasing the usage of “Digital Library beyond Campus” and other e-resources like e-books and other e-contents. Further Work (2014-17): 1. Automation in the circulation process through RFID gates will be started shortly in the Central Library. 2. Nodes in the Learning Resource Centre will be upgraded. 3. Automation of the circulation process in other departmental libraries and the Salt Lake Campus Library will be taken up. 4. Awareness camp and seminar will be arranged on e-thesis, e-books and digital library contents.

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B. Library Management System Software Development Objectives: a. To study the existing FOSS based library software. (Viz. KOHA, NewGenLib, Evergreen etc)

b. To identify the relative strength and weakness of such software from technological point of view as well as from librarians point of view.

c. To identify a suitable FOSS based LMS which is able to meet the requirements of small libraries in W.B.

d. To modify/ rewrite the source code to incorporate the practices done in the libraries of our state.

e. To make the software compatible with Bengali language so that library database can be created in Bengali language as well as data retrieval, sorting, printing etc can be possible. Progress till date:

1. Study of existing Foss Based Software has been completed. 2. Strength and weekness of those software have been identified. 3. It is found that KOHA is the best software to meet our need. 4. Various modules of KOHA have been studied. 5. Customization of cataloguing module has been almost completed. 6. Necessary hardware have been procured and installed.

7. Initial version of the software has been completed. The name of the software is given “Konika’. 8. User manual in Bengali language has been completed. 9. A four day workshop on “Konika”: a Koha based Library Automation Software for Small Libraries was held during 27th Feb. to 2nd Mar. 2014. Twenty five library professionals from public libraries, school libraries and special libraries participated in the workshop. They have given valuable suggestions and feedback regarding the software.

Further Work (2014-17): 1. To complete the work on other modules. 2. Refinement of the software as per participants’ feedback. 3. Rectification and improvement of user manual. 4. Testing the usability of the software in larger user base i.e. more work-shop on the same. 5. To develop or customize software for larger systems 6. To create an open textbook on Digital Reference and FRBRisation of Tagore’s music.

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C. Web Based Teaching materials (Engineering) for Undergraduate and Post Graduate Laboratory

This section has been organized under the following sub-sections: a) Project Overview b) Functional Requirements c) Functional Design d) Detailed Architecture e) Project Methodology f) Project Planning g) Project Status Reporting h) Current Status of Deliverables i) Virtual Laboratory Module

Each of the subsections is further elaborated below.

a) Project Overview The project is a collaborative effort of the teachers of the University who provide the content, and the Education Technologists & Project Staff of the School of Education Technology, who transform the content provided by these teachers into web-based format. The teachers are being referred to as the Knowledge Resources for the project.

The application has been named as TRAILS, an acronym for Teaching Resources And Interactive Laboratory Simulations. The URL for the initial version under review is http://trails.jdvu.ac.in In the near future, the modules developed as part of this project will be integrated with the Digital Library repository of Jadavpur University, to provide 24X7 access of the content to the students of the University. Objectives The project has the following objectives:

i. To develop and disseminate the Web based Teaching materials (Engineering) for Undergraduate and Post Graduate Laboratory for the students of Engineering at large, in several phases

ii. Research in the area of Virtual Laboratory

Deliverables At the beginning of the project, the project deliverables for Phase I (2012-2014) was proposed to be as follows: Design and Development of web based instruction materials for the Engineering

Laboratories o Electrical Engineering Laboratory (8-10 Modules) o Basic Electronics Laboratory (2-4 Modules) o Workshop (2 Modules) o Electrical PG Laboratory(1 module)

Integration of these modules to Digital Library Development of methodology of virtual laboratory experiment - 1 Module

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Keeping in mind the objective that the students from maximum number of disciplines could be benefited, the head of the departments of the concerned engineering disciplines were consulted and the following modules were chosen under the various categories: Electrical Engineering Laboratory (8 Modules):

i. Calibration of Ammeter and Voltmeter ii. Characteristics of AC Series and Parallel Circuits

iii. Measurement of various resistances of an Electrical Machine iv. Power & Power factor characteristics of a Fluorescent Lamp v. Voltage & Power characteristics of a Ceiling Fan

vi. Coil connection & Ratings of Single Phase Transformer vii. Starting and Speed Control of a DC Shunt Motor

viii. Load Characteristics of 3-phase Induction Motor

Basic Electronics Laboratory (4 Modules): i. Frequency Response Characteristics of Transistorised R-C Coupled Amplifier

ii. Characteristics of Op Amp iii. V-I Characteristics of PN junction diode iv. Familiarization with logic gates and verification of their functionalities

Workshop (2 Modules):

i. Making a Tapered Threaded Pin ii. Making a ‘V’ Block

Project Life Cycle 19 Months (September 2012 - March 2014) Project Stakeholders and their Responsibilities Knowledge Resource Persons For each of the modules, a teacher from the corresponding engineering department had been chosen as the knowledge resource person Job Responsibilities:

Providing all necessary resources and guidelines for module Providing necessary help to the development team for proper implementation Demonstrating the module for real time capturing Quality Controlling and Testing the implemented modules

Education Technologists Education Technologists from School of Education Technology provided the overall guidance for the project. Job Responsibilities:

Transforming the materials provided by the resource persons into web based material presentation

Helping the Project Manager for proper implementation of the concepts in web based format

Reviewers Reviewers were assigned for reviewing the modules for improvement of quality of these modules

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Job Responsibilities: Review the modules developed for accuracy, relevance and adequacy of content Check the usability aspect of the modules, i.e. ease of navigation within the module

Project Managers Project Managers in the team coordinated with the different stakeholders and ensure the smooth completion of the project. Job responsibilities:

Coordination between resource persons and the technicians Implementation of necessary components Supervision of the day to day development work Maintaining proper documentation

Multimedia Technicians Multimedia Technicians prepared the 3D Models, and animations required for the project. Job responsibilities:

Generation of 3D operational Models of the experiments. Generation of Animated illustrations and web based lab contents using software like

Flash Programming using Action Script

Senior Research Fellow Senior Research Fellows were responsible for the research related activities of the project, such as

Research in the area of Web based implementation Design and Development of system board for Virtual Lab Design and Development of signal/power conversion for one laboratory Design and Integration of Web based UID to the system board for real time data

acquisition and control

Audio/Video Developers For recording the video lecture and lab demonstrations, the services of in-house video technicians of the School of Education Technology was used Job Responsibilities

Capturing/editing live lectures in video/audio format Capturing/editing live lab demonstrations in video/audio format

Engineering Laboratory Technicians of the University Laboratory Technicians provided help to the resource person (teacher) during physical lab demonstrations

Students Students will be the end users. So, feedback will be solicited from the students for improving the usability of the modules. Manpower Utilization The recruitment of project specific personnel was done in August 2012. Project work commenced in September 2012, with the joining of three multimedia technicians, 1 Senior

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Research Fellow (SRF) and 2 Project Managers. The team was further augmented, with two more multimedia technicians joining in October 2012 and July 2013, and another SRF in July 2013. The manpower used for the project is as follows: • Project Managers - 2 • Multimedia Technicians - 5 • Senior Research Fellow - 2 • Knowledge Resource Persons - 15 (part time) - one for each module • Education Technologist - 15 (part time) - one for each module • Technical Assistants - 15 (part-time) • In-house Audio/Video Technicians - 2 (part-time) A. Estimated Man-Months Project duration = 19 months Number of Resources = 2 (Project Managers) + 5 (Multimedia Technicians) + 2 (Senior Research Fellows) = 9 Estimated Man-Months = 9 X 19 = 171 Man-Months B. Actual Man-Months Resource Role Start Date End Date Man

Months Ms. Angshumitra Ghosh Project Manager 13/9/2012 31/3/2014 18.5 Ms. Panchali Gupta Project Manager 13/9/2012 31/3/2014 18.5 Mr. Santanu Ray Multimedia

Technician 12/9/2012 31/3/2014 18.5

Mr. Selim Sekh Multimedia Technician

12/9/2012 31/3/2014 18.5

Mr. Kunal Hussain Multimedia Technician

18/9/2012 31/3/2014 18.5

Ms. Ranjita Mookherjee Multimedia Technician

16/10/2012 31/3/2014 17.5

Mr. Amitava Chowdhury*

Multimedia Technician

26/7/2013 22/11/2013 4

Ms. Manidipa Saha Multimedia Technician

2/12/2013 31/3/2014 4

Ms. Rumela Basu Senior Research Fellow

28/9/2012 31/3/2014 18

Mr. Arnab Chowdhury Senior Research Fellow

30/7/2013 31/3/2014 8

Total Man-months = 144 Exclude Leave & other unforeseen idling (in Man-months) = 10 (approx)

Effective Man-months = 134 *Amitava Chowhury resigned from his post in November 2013, and the next candidate in the panel, Manidipa Saha, joined in December 2013.

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b) Functional Requirements Basic Requirements The project team derived at the following goals, based on the project objectives mentioned in the section above:

Enable students to comprehend laboratory experiments which they perform Provide students not having any access to proper laboratory infrastructure, to get

working knowledge of experiments through simulation Encourage open learning by providing easy access to information 24 X 7

It was thought that the following basic requirements needed to be taken care of: Students should be able to get a good theoretical background for the experiment

before going to the laboratory to perform the same Students should be able to understand the procedure for performing the experiment

through demonstrations as well as hands-on simulation Students shall increase their comprehension about the experiment through

Exploratory Learning Students shall be able to evaluate how far they have been successful in their learning

through a few common question and answers that will be presented to them As part of the simulation-based exploratory learning, students may vary the

different parameters and observe how the output changes The common errors will also be analyzed in the FAQ section

Existing Process Prior to the experiment, students are provided with a brief document stating the procedure for the experiment. They are also given a short lecture about the experiment by the teacher concerned. Students often do not possess enough theoretical background of the experiment and therefore, do not understand what the expected output from the experiment should be. Sometimes, they are even not able to differentiate erroneous data from correct ones, or comprehend how variations in different parameters affect the outcome of the experiment. The current manual process can be depicted by the following process diagram:

Future Process In order to disseminate the Web based Teaching materials, a web application is being developed, which provides the students with various modes of learning, such as

Textual content explaining theoretical concepts behind the experiments Video lectures elucidating the theoretical concepts and the procedure to perform the

experiments Video demonstration of laboratory experiments/workshop modules Animated demonstration or interactive simulations encouraging students to explore

and learn how to perform the experiments

Understand Experiment Procedure from Teacher or Laboratory Assistant

Perform Experiment

Prepare & Submit Report

Appear for VIVA for Evaluation

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Procedure Simulation Report FAQ

Graph Stepwise Procedure

Circuit Transformation Interactive

Lecture Theory

Module ‘X’

Guidelines for generation of reports after performing the experiment, including sample graphs plotted using data from the simulations

FAQ about each experiment providing additional analytical inputs

Note: The green boxes indicate the new processes. Prior to going to the laboratory, a student is expected to log in to the portal, go

through the theory, understand the experiment procedure and explore using the simulated environment by varying different parameters. Optionally, they can go through the FAQ to understand the common errors

After the experiment, the students will check the report generation procedure. The students will go through the experiment FAQ before appearing for the VIVA.

(The user will be presented with formative questions, similar to those frequently asked in the Experiment VIVA)

c) Functional Design The functional design can be depicted using the following diagram:

Gather Knowledge about Experiment from Portal

Perform Experiment

Prepare & Submit Report

Appear for VIVA for Evaluation

Check the Report Guidelines for the experiment from Portal

Check FAQ for the experiment on the Portal

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Theory

Lecture

Procedure

Stepwise Lab Demo

Simulation

Circuit Transformation

Interactive Simulation

Report

Graph

FAQ

Contains Prerequisites/ Points to Note and link to Lab Demo

Video demonstration of laboratory experiment/workshop module

Contains links to Circuit Transformation and Interactive Simulation

Schematic to Actual Circuit Transformation

Video lectures explaining the theoretical concepts and the procedure to perform the experiment

Guidelines for generating report after performing the experiment

Frequently Asked Questions pertaining to the experiment

Theoretical concept behind the experiment

Animated demonstration or interactive simulation encouraging students to explore and learn how to perform the experiment

Sample graph plotted using the simulation data

Note: All modules, except the Virtual Laboratory module consist of the above sections. User Navigation On clicking the application URL, one can navigate to the first screen of the application. On clicking the 'Enter' key on the initial screen, one can proceed to the home page of the application, which contains the main menu of the application. The user can navigate to any module from this home page. Normal Flow of Events The normal flow of events is as follows:

i. User navigates to the home page and chooses a subject of interest. ii. User is presented with a list of experiments for the subject.

iii. User selects any one experiment which he or she is interested to know about. iv. User is presented with several section tabs like Theory, Procedure, Demo, Interactive

Simulation, Report Generation, FAQ v. User selects any one option.

vi. Based on the section chosen, a web page is displayed showing the relevant data.

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Figure depicting the basic navigation through the application

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User 1

User 2

User 3

Internet

Trails Web Server

d) Architecture This application has been developed using the Java Struts 2 framework which implements the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture using Java Beans as model, JSP as view and Action classes as Controller. The users can access the application via the internet cloud as represented below:

This web application is a template based architecture where for each experiment, only the component objects and their display

formats need to be specified for different sections of the experiment (viz. Theory, Lecture, Procedure, Stepwise Lab Demo, Simulation, Report, FAQ). Valid components can be text, text file, image file, Hyperlink, Audio file, Flash movie, Video File, HTML files, or JavaScript files

e) Project Methodology Each experiment has been considered as a module which has been categorized under the broad heads, based on the engineering discipline to which the experiment belongs, i.e. three categories for the first phase (2012-2014) are:

Electrical Engineering Laboratory Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering Laboratory Workshop

As mentioned earlier, there were multiple modules to be developed for each engineering discipline. At the beginning, the requirements were analyzed and a common template designed and developed for the entire web application. Then, individual modules were designed and developed one by one. Parallel development of two or more modules was also done for effective utilization of the resources.

The various activities done for each module and the methodology used for development and implementation of these modules are detailed below. Activities for each module The following activities were done for each module:

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The Knowledge Resource for the module provided the inputs for the background theory, experimental procedure, report and FAQ

A lecture presentation was delivered by the Knowledge Resource which explained the theoretical concepts and procedure for the experiment

The experimental procedure was demonstrated in the laboratory by Technical Assistants and captured real-time.

The captured video was edited, and the audio was dubbed, as required. 3D Models for the instruments used for the experiment were created using 3D Max

software Design documents were created for each module, consisting of Stories, Scripts,

Storyboards and Media Catalogues. Flash presentations were developed for providing an understanding of the

following: o Instruments used in the experiment o Laboratory set up used for the experiment o Illustration of theoretical concepts where needed

Simulations for experiments were developed using Action Script programming in Flash, where users could interactively provide inputs and observe outputs, similar to that obtained while performing the actual experiment

Content for theory, lecture, procedure, simulation, report and FAQ pages were designed based on the inputs received.

Development Methodology The following methodology has been used for development:

After receiving inputs from the Knowledge Resource, individual components for the module viz. theory, lecture video, lab demo video, simulation, circuit transformation, graph, FAQ, etc. were designed

Based on the scripts and storyboards, a coarse development was done The individual components integrated using an HTML prototype first and

demonstrated to the Education Technologist and Knowledge Resource to check for usability, completeness and functional correctness

Based on the feedback received, improvements were done i.e. finer development of the modules was done

The modules were tested internally by the team members and integrated into the web application.

The integrated application was hosted on a local machine and integration testing done

As already mentioned, the main Web application has been developed using Java platform, making use of the following software:

Java 6.0 Apache Tomcat 5.5 Eclipse IDE

The following table summarizes the additional software used in the development process:

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Software Project Use Adobe Flash CS3 (Action Script 3)

i. For preparing multimedia presentations ii. For preparing animations and interactive simulations

Adobe Premiere CS3 For recording and editing of the lecture and laboratory demonstrations

Adobe Audition For recording and editing the audio to be used in the lab demonstration videos and presentations

Adobe Photoshop CS3 For creation of static images used the portal, as well as for creation of texture material for 3D Models

Adobe Illustrator CS3 For creation of vector images, for example, the schematic circuit diagrams

Autodesk 3D Studio MAX 13

For creation of the 3D Models of equipments For 3D animations later incorporated into flash presentations

Adobe Director 11 Creation of interactive demonstrations for the equipments used in the laboratory

Implementation Methodology To execute the web application the following environment is required at the server end:

Java 6.0 or later Apache Tomcat 5.5 or later OR any other Web Application Server

The following methodology is being used for implementation Once the development of a few modules are completed, a separate deployment of the

web application is being used for further testing and review of the different modules by Reviewers assigned for each module.

Once approved by the concerned Knowledge Resource and the Reviewer, the module will get integrated with the Digital Library, and service will be enhanced based on the feedback of the students

It has to be noted that a template driven approach has been used for development of the different modules for the following reasons:

For creating consistency between the modules For faster development

The common template consists of sections as mentioned in the Functional Architecture above.

f) Project Planning The Project Managers in consultation with the Principal Investigator prepared a Master Schedule based on the initial proposal, for covering the deliverables within the proposed timelines. Based on the progress of work, the timelines had to be revised a little as the project progressed. The details are mentioned in the section below.

Proposed vs Actual Schedule The proposed schedule developed in the initial stages of the project is shown below:

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ActivitySep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Framework Dev & UT of first 2 modules (EE)Integration Testing of First 2 modules (EE)Dev & UT of first 6 modules (EE)

Integration Testing of 6 modules (EE)Dev & UT of PG (EE) - 1 moduleIntegration Testing of PG (EE) - 1 moduleDev & UT of 2 modules (ETCE)Integration Testing of 2 modules (ETCE)

Dev & UT of 2 modules (Workshop)Integration Testing of 2 modules (Workshop)Virtual Lab Design & Dev

Integration Testing of Virtual Lab

20142012 2013

The actual development schedule is represented by the chart below:

ActivitySep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Framework Dev & UT of first 3 modules (EE)Integration Testing of First 3 modules (EE)Dev & UT of next 5 modules (EE) + Revision of first 3 modules

Integration Testing of 5 modules (EE)Dev & UT of PG (EE) - 1 module *Integration Testing of PG (EE) - 1 moduleDev & UT of 2 modules (ETCE) **Integration Testing of 2 modules (ETCE)

Dev & UT of 2 modules (Workshop) #Integration Testing of 2 modules (Workshop)Virtual Lab Design & Dev ##

Integration Testing of Virtual Lab

20142012 2013

Note: *Development of PG module for Electrical Engineering module has not been initiated due to resource constraints. ** Development of one of the Electronics modules started in November 2013 and all the rest from January 2014. Currently development and unit testing for all the four modules is going on in parallel # Development of workshop modules has just started, with very little inputs received from Knowledge Resources till date, and the two modules are not expected to be completed by end of March 2014.

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## Work on Virtual Lab started very late with the joining of the SRF in end July 2013. Research and Development has also not progressed much till date. Reasons for Deviation from Original Schedule Deviation from the original schedule is due to several reasons as follows:

Project work commenced in September 2012 instead of April 2012 Some team members joined the team much later than the project initiation phase.

This resulted in lesser number of productive man-months compared to that initially estimated

Work on Virtual Laboratory started much later due to late joining of SRF in the team The actual development turned out to more time-consuming than initially expected,

with Interactive Simulation and 3D Modeling for the modules being the most resource intensive activities

Knowledge Resources, being teachers at the University were busy with the academic schedule, and were unavailable for the activities of the projects when the semesters were in session

In certain cases, review after development resulted in major rework

g) Project Status Reporting The Project Managers monitored the day-to-day activities of the team members and reported the status to the Principal Investigator on a weekly basis, usually through a Weekly Status Report. Any issues faced were also communicated to the Principal Investigator, as part of this weekly report. Status Review Meetings with the Principal Investigator, Co-PI and other Education Technologists were held on a monthly basis, where the status and measures to resolve issues were discussed. Minutes of Meeting were also prepared for important meetings. The Principal Investigator shared the status of the project with the Digital Library Project Coordinator and other members of the UPE Phase-II Coordinating Group Committee.

h) Current Status of Deliverables Electrical Engineering Laboratory (8 Modules): Initial development for all the eight modules has been completed and the review for these modules is in progress. Exclusions: • FAQ for five of the eight modules pending • Laboratory demonstration for four modules have been reshot for improvement of quality, however these need to be finally edited before uploading to the website "Simulation" has been the most resource- intensive component of each module. The objective of simulation is as follows:

Understand how to connect circuit components in a real world scenario Explore and learn how to perform the experiment through interactivity in a simulated

environment.

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Sample screenshots from the simulation of each of the modules have been included here for reference. Module 1 : Calibration of Ammeter and Voltmeter

The objective of this experiment is to calibrate given measuring instruments (an ammeter and a voltmeter) with reference to standard measuring instruments provided. Here, the student is given an opportunity to prepare the experiment circuit, and take the instrument readings in a simulated environment.

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Module 2: Characteristics of AC Series and Parallel Circuits

The objective of this experiment is to study the characteristics of an alternating circuit consisting of a resistance (R), inductance (L) and capacitance (C), connected in series as well as in parallel. For the series circuit, the readings of the voltage drops across R, L and C are obtained under various conditions like: VL nearly equal to VC, Maximum value of line current, VL > VC and VL < VC For the parallel circuit, instrument readings are obtained under conditions such as: IL nearly equal to IC, Minimum value of line current, IL > IC and IL < IC Students are able to perform this experiment interactively in a simulated environment.

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Module 3: Measurement of various resistances of an Electrical Machine

The objective of the experiment is to measure various resistances of an Electrical Machine, such as:

The armature winding resistance (both with and without carbon brushes) The field winding resistance The insulation resistances of a DC machine by using

o Megger o Voltmeter of known internal resistance

As part of the simulation, the experimental procedure is illustrated in an animated manner.

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Module 4: Coil connection & ratings of single phase Transformer

The objective of the experiment is to explore and learn about the various connections of the Single Phase Transformer and performing various tests like

Coil Identification Tests: Continuity Test , Voltage Ratio Test, Polarity Test Various Connections: Parallel Connection with Correct and Incorrect Polarity, Series

Connection with AC and DC Supply Loading of a Step-Up Two Winding Transformer Connecting as an Autotransformer

All these tests can be performed interactively in a simulated environment

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Module 5: Power and Power Factor Characteristics of Fluorescent Lamp

The objective of the experiment is to obtain the power consumption and power factor of a fluorescent lamp operated at different voltages The experiment is performed using two fluorescent lamps

The first one with an inductive ballast and starter The second one with an electronic ballast

Here, the students are provided with an opportunity to perform the above experimentation in a simulated manner.

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Module 6: Load Characteristics of 3-phase Induction Motor

The objective of this experiment is to find out efficiency, power factor, speed and current of a 3-phase induction motor delivering loads In the above simulation, the experimental set up of the various circuit components are illustrated through an animation, with reference to the schematic view of the experiment circuit diagram

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Module 7: Starting and Speed Control of DC Motor

The objective of this experiment is to be acquainted with the DC Motor Starter and to study the armature and field control methods of Speed Control of DC Shunt Motor. As part of the simulation, the experimental procedure is illustrated in an animated manner.

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Module 8: Voltage & power characteristics of a ceiling fan

The objective of this experiment is to study the variation of power consumed by a fan with and without regulator for different supply voltages. The students are provided with a simulated environment to perform the above experimentation in an interactive manner.

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Basic Electronics Laboratory (4 Modules): Development is in progress for three modules. The first cut development for each of these modules is almost complete. For the fourth module, development is expected to start soon (in April 2014). Sample screenshots from the simulation component for each of the modules is given below:

Module 1 : Frequency Response Characteristics of Transistorised R-C Coupled Amplifier

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Module 2 : V-I Characteristics of P-N Junction Diodes

Module 3 : Familiarization with logic gates and their verification

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Workshop Modules (2 Modules): Development has been initiated for both modules i.e. i) Making a ‘V’ Block and ii) Making a Tapered Threaded Pin. 3D Modelling for the Lathe Machine and Shaping Machine, and animated illustrations of a few processes have been done. However, the development team has not received the required inputs from the Knowledge Resources. At this point of time, it may be said that these modules are not expected to be completed by March 2014. Module 1 : Making a 'V' Block As part of simulation, a summary of the operational steps is being presented, followed by a detailed page for each of the operational steps that are mentioned in the summary page.

The page for the first operation i.e., shaping the raw material to a 2" cube using the shaping machine is given below. From this page, the video illustrating the operation can be invoked. An animated illustration of the process may also be invoked. Although basically both the video and the animation illustrate the same concept, one may be more comprehendible or appealing to one user and the second may be more appealing to another user.

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Module 2 : Making a Tapered Threaded Pin The following screenshot depicts the summary page for 'Making a Tapered Threaded Pin'

The above screenshots give a fair idea of the effort that has been put in by the development team. Sample 3-D Models Electrical Engineering Laboratory

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Basic Electronics Laboratory

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Mechanical Workshop

j) Virtual Laboratory Module

Objective

To design a development board prototype that will help students to perform laboratory experiments from their own workstations i.e., from a remote location

To design and develop the prototype of the user interface in Web To develop the prototype of signal/power conversion unit for one laboratory

Proposed Design In the proposed design as shown in the following figure, the server end consists of a main server, a development board, a power conditioning unit and a relay box. The different instruments used in the experiment setup are to be connected to the virtual laboratory module through this relay box. Users can connect to the server via the internet.

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Figure depicting the proposed design layout

MAIN SERVER

User Database

U2

U3

BOARD -2

µC

EWS

Ethernet

USB

POWER

CONDITIONING UNIT

RELAY BOX

INSTRUMENT2 Flash

Memory

CONTROLLER

BOARD -3

µC

EWS

Ethernet

USB

POWER

CONDITIONING UNIT

RELAY BOX

INSTRUMENT3 Flash

Memory

CONTROLLER

U1

Internet

SERVER END CLIENT END

BOARD -1

µC

EWS

Ethernet

USB

POWER

CONDITIONING UNIT

RELAY BOX

INSTRUMENT1 Flash

Memory

CONTROLLER

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The Main Server will be used for authentication, monitoring and handling of the incoming remote user requests. The Controller Board is a customized board with some components like an Ethernet port, microcontroller, I/O ports, ADC/DAC, Audio-IN, Audio-Out, Video-In, Video-Out interfaces etc. The basic requirements are as follows:

Ethernet port (RJ-45, 10/100M): Used for allowing communication with clients using HTTP.

Have adequate RAM (256/512 MB) and ROM to support an embedded operating system, which will in turn allow an embedded Web server to run on it. The probable operating environment is WindowsCE.NET 6.0 (R3).

The Embedded Web Server, based on C language, will service the client requests and store the information received from client in shared memory location. Flash Memory will be required for the storage of information.

The basic controller program would be stored in EPROM. Hence, the board should have an EPROM.

The controller will check the shared memory at a regular interval. For this, the board should have a good number of Interrupts and Timers.

The controller will process the information stored in the shared memory, and communicate with the power-conditioning unit through I/O Bus based on this information. Thus, the board should have large number of I/O Pins for connecting with a large number of peripheral devices.

The board needs to have Hi-speed USB connectivity for interfacing a camera which will keep capturing the live video of the laboratory experiments and live-streaming it to the user.

The Flash Memory for storing the operating system should be adequate (4/8 GB). ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) will be required to convert the analog signal

coming from the various instruments to digital form. DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) will be required to convert the digital signals

coming from the controller to the I/O module to analog form. The board should have Real Time Clock for synchronizing the laboratory experiment

in real time. The board should have multiple numbers of PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)

channels for transmitting the data and videos over a single channel during chat sessions between multiple users.

The board should have Audio-IN, Audio-Out, Video-In, Video-Out interfaces. A user can communicate with the web server using mobile devices. For this, the

board should have wireless connectivity like Zigbee Module or any Wireless Module (optional, may be required in future).

For the ease of design, we have first introduced a prototype model as shown in the figure below. Instead of the instrument panel in the main design proposed, for the initial prototype,

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we have used a simplified circuit, consisting of two bulbs and two switches as shown here. Also, as of now, the main server and authentication functionality is not being tested. These will be implemented only after successful testing of the prototype model.

µC

EWS

Ethernet

USB

Flash Memory

B2

B1 S1

S2

U1

U2

U3

Internet

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Development Status Design for development of web controller board initiated User interface of the prototype including the web server component being developed

Overview The prototype being developed has a user interface through which user can input certain

parameters from a client machine to perform an experiment. Web server processes the inputs received and communicates with the client accordingly Controller also receives the signals from the I/O module and sends them back to the web

server to be displayed at the client Live video captured from the laboratory is also relayed back to the server

Details of the User Interface The user interface of the prototype developed mimics an electrical circuit which contains

two bulbs and two switches connected to a voltage source. The remote user can turn on any of the two switches (or both of them) and click on the

Submit button. For the switch which is turned on, the corresponding bulb will get lit up, based on the response from the server. If turned off again, the glow of the bulb will disappear.

The user can also get the live video streaming of the whole physical experiment virtually in his/her web browser.

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A user can give input through a Shockwave file (SWF) and view the corresponding output.

Sample User Input : Switch 2 on (Value s2 = 1 submitted to server)

Sample Generated Output: Bulb 2 glows

Pending Activities

Improvement in live video streaming for the experiment. Exploring the possibilities of directly transfer the video captured from the web

camera to the client web browser via embedded web server Checking the compatibility of the software with the hardware, once the development

board is available Improvement of web server programming.

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Future Work plan (2014-17)

It is envisaged that the same project team, consisting of two Project Managers, two Senior Research Fellow and five multimedia technicians, under the guidance of Education Technologists at the School of Education Technology, and Knowledge Resources selected from amongst the pool of knowledgeable teachers at Jadavpur University, would continue in the project for the period 2014-2017.

The team would work in following main areas: Taking forward the activities of existing phase by completing the work-in progress

modules, and creation of more new modules Enhancement of the application Development of new tools for enriching the Digital Library

However, detailed planning and design for the activities will be done, beginning April 2014. It should be noted that the emphasis in the initial couple of months will be to complete the pending activities of the current phase. Taking forward activities of 2012-2014 The activities started in the ongoing phase (August 2012 - March 2014) will be taken forward in the next phase. Some of these activities are listed below: i. Completion of development of the modules in progress, or yet to be initiated, i.e.,

Workshop module on Making 'V' Block Workshop module on Tapered Threaded Pin Electronics module on Characteristics of Op-Amp PG module for Electrical Engineering (yet to be decided)

The above modules are expected to be completed within the next two to three months, starting April 2014. Once development is completed, these will be sent for review.

ii. Newer version of the already developed modules incorporating additional/ improved content On obtaining feedback from Reviewers (Expert Reviewers, as well as Students), the feedback will be analyzed, and wherever feasible, the feedback will be implemented for improvement of quality. If similar feedback is received for multiple modules and/or from multiple sources, these will be considered during the design of new modules also. For example, there has been a consistent feedback received from several sources, for adding background audio for the circuit transformations, and other such animations. On the basis of feedback received so far, some of the expected revisions are: Addition of background audio for the Animations and Circuit Transformations Improvement of simulations, by adding help for users in the form of completion of a

particular step after several invalid attempts by user, for example, during making circuit connections,

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Redo the presentation for the instruments, equipments and components used in the laboratories for improvement of quality, especially the audio

An attempt will be made to get the work published in an application oriented journal.

iii Further research on the implementation of Virtual Lab module

The activities done for the implementation of Virtual Lab module have been detailed in the document. It has to be noted that, in spite of efforts put in towards research and design activities, the main objectives of the project has not yet been met.

Although the development of prototype board has been initiated, the activity is yet to be completed. Once the development board is available, The compatibility of the software developed will be tested. If compatible, the

software for the web server as well as the user interface will be enhanced further Prototype of signal/power conversion unit for one laboratory will be developed The whole set up i.e. the development board, integrated with the software and the

signal/power conversion unit for one module will be tested in the laboratory

On successful implementation of a prototype, it will open up a gamut of possibilities regarding the application of Virtual Laboratory

Application Enhancement i. Development of new modules (beyond the scope of the first phase)

New modules will be developed in consultation with the head of the departments of the respective engineering departments. Based on the feedback received from the work-product of the current phase, it is expected that more departments of the university may be brought under the purview of this project. The methodology for development is expected to remain the same, with inputs provided by Knowledge Resources being transformed into a presentable format by the project team at the School of Education Technology, under the guidance of the Education Technologists. Although a broad roadmap regarding the number of modules to be developed for the period 2014-2017 will be prepared soon, a more detailed planning and finalization of the exact modules to be developed would be done periodically, preferably on a yearly basis. Once the list of modules is identified, Knowledge Resources and Education Technologists would be assigned for that module, and the schedule for development would be prepared on the basis of the modules that need to be developed in a particular period.

Some of the modules that may be developed in the near future include: Workshop Practice module - Welding Workshop Practice module - Forging Workshop Practice module - Carpentry Workshop Practice module - Fitter Electrical Engineering module - Study of AC & DC Machines Electrical Engineering module - Study of Motor Control Elements

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Mechanical Engineering Laboratory – Boilers

However, as mentioned earlier, the actual modules will be finalized only after consultation with the respective head of the departments. Based on the productivity of the existing team, it is expected that eight to ten modules will be developed per year.

ii. Enhancement of features for the application, for example:

Enabling the application for hand-held devices through content adaptation Monitoring the usage of the application i.e. having log-in features for identifying the

users of the application, and their usage pattern An Evaluation component to keep track of a student’s progress A chat service or discussion board so that students can interact with knowledge resources

for clarification of doubts

As mentioned earlier, the detailed planning will be done later, on the basis of a more consolidated feedback from a wider audience. It is also possible that some of these features may not be implemented, while some other new features may be implemented.

Development of new tools New tools will be developed to enrich the Digital Library for the benefit of the students. Some of the tools planned to be developed are listed below.

i. Maintenance Tool for TRAILS web application A Web Content Management application will be designed and developed for easy modification of the contents of the TRAILS web application. At present, the development environment for the Web based material development program is such that the content management part of the web application is also handled by the developers. It is envisaged that in future, if more and more modules are developed for the Digital Library and hosted using the TRAILS application, the implementation of feedback from different reviewers in a timely manner, could become a difficult task for the developers. In such a scenario, this tool will enable web administrators or other designated persons to make changes to the content, without having detailed knowledge about the development platform. This would reduce the workload for the developers, who could then concentrate on development work, rather than making content related changes. The tool would take into account the following inputs of the existing TRAILS application (as mentioned in the architecture section above):

The template of the application is maintained using XMLs. There is one component XML for each experiment that includes all the component

objects used in the different sections of the experiment (viz. Theory, Lecture, Procedure, Stepwise Lab Demo, Simulation, Report, FAQ).

Valid components can be text, text file, image file, Hyperlink, Audio file, Flash movie, Video File, HTML files, or JavaScript files.

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The data is maintained with a particular hierarchical directory structure differentiating the common and module-specific data at the first level. Module specific data is further segregated with the folder names of the disciplines at the next level (i.e. Electrical or Electronics or Workshop), followed by identifiers for modules under each discipline and then component specific data under each module.

Using the above inputs, user interfaces will be designed to modify the application content. Details of this maintenance tool will be designed and developed in due course of the project. However, some sample design considerations are mentioned below: The discipline-wise list of modules will be displayed to the user of this maintenance

tool There will be a provision to select the component to be modified i.e. Theory,

Lecture, Procedure, Report, FAQ etc. Based on the module and component chosen, the content from the corresponding

section from the XML will be displayed to the user for modification. There will be fields present in the user interface corresponding to these sections to be modified.

After the content is modified and saved, the changes will be reflected in a copy of the original XML

For lecture and procedure pages there will be provision to modify the tree menu and associate new video with the menu

There will be option to preview the effect of the changes on a copy of the application If the changes appear to be correct, the 'Publish' option would mark the changes to

the made for the Test Server The process for transferring contents from the Test Server to the Live Server needs to

be streamlined.

ii. Content Creation Tool This tool will facilitate the creation and upload of new content to the Digital Library, so that online material for supporting students will be accessible to the students 24X7. The teachers at the university would be the primary users for this tool, and use it for creating online material for students. The content to be uploaded could be available with the teacher in different formats, for example, Power point presentations used as class lectures Relevant subject material in the form of PDFs Podcasts Lecture videos Demonstration videos etc. These will be collected together and placed in a proper directory structure. The tool to be developed will format the content as necessary, and place it at the appropriate location on the web server i.e. publish the content after necessary review and correction of content, as needed. A modification of this tool could be a template driven "quick experiment launching tool". Using the quick experiment launching tool, performing the following tasks should be possible: Uploading the contents related to the experiment in the proper directory structure on

the web server

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Entering information related to the experiment using properly designed user interfaces

iii. Creation of a Learner's Manual This tool will facilitate the creation of a learner's manual, alternatively referred to as Course Tracker, which will include the following functionalities: Different courses offered at the university under the different programs

(undergraduate, postgraduate, continuing education etc.) under different faculty (arts, science, engineering, inter-disciplinary)

Details of the syllabus along with the number of hours, objectives and outcomes of the courses

Guidance regarding the structure and sequence to be followed for covering the different topics related to the course

Pointers to Reference Books

User interfaces will be designed and developed for adding, deleting and modifying the content for the learner's manual.

iv. Development of a Self-assessment Question Bank A question bank will be created for use by the students of the university, for their self-assessment. Details of the application will be designed and developed in due course of the project. User interfaces will be designed for the creation of the question bank. The questions will be categorized on the basis of course, topic, type, objective and so on.

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D. Development of web-based undergraduate course

Objectives: Creation of a 3-credit on-line course on “Indian History & Culture” open to all, but with international students in mind at the undergraduate level. Progress till date:

The following syllabus structure has been finalised with a number of modules and units in tune with international norms. Indian History & Culture: An Introduction 25 classes of 1hr 15mns each. Equivalent to 3-credit undergraduate course Module I (4 classes) Images, sights and sounds: maps, geographical and historical From ‘ancient’ to ‘medieval’ India Changing nature of contact with Europe Module II (4 classes) India as nation: History of anti-colonial struggle, partition Constitution; linguistic state formation Module III (4 classes) Silent constituents of the Indian state: ‘tribes’/jan jati/adivasi The North East Module IV (4 classes) Documentary history : 70 – 2000 Module V (6 classes) The ‘open’ economy Movements for change Open sky, open market : cultures of consumption India’s future Wrap up and assessment sessions (3 classes)

Module developers/writers have been identified.

Further Work (2014-17) . 1. Creation of a platform which will accommodate audio-visual material, interactive lessons, virtual classrooms and examination protocols. 2. Integration of the 3-credit on-line course with Digital Library for access to students all over the world.

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E. Mobile- enabled content delivery and dissemination Problem statement and Objectives: Mobile content adaptation is a technology of effectively representing the contents originally built for the desktop PC on wireless mobile devices. Previous approaches for Web content adaptation are mostly device-dependent. Also, the content transformation to suit to a smaller device is done manually. As a result, the user has difficulty in selecting relevant information from a heavy volume of contents since the context information related to the content is not provided. The objective of this activity is to design such a decision engine targeting on providing an effective, device independent, server side content adaptation & layout based web page adaptation service to heterogeneous clients. Progress till date:

The system is divided into four main phases namely-

Device Detection Content Detection Template selection Content Adaptation

1. A mobile device user submits a request to the server. 2. Device detection from database of devices with specifications reading the http

header of the request. 3. Content Detection includes analyzing and parsing of the original html web

page. 4. Generating a generic XML file to store the parsed data in a proper and orderly

custom, leading to the Content Adaptation phase. \ 5. Appropriate template selection for detected mobile device. 6. Content Adaptation phase takes care of adaptation of contents and

presentation of adapted content by using templates/layouts for presenting the contents of original web page to the mobile device.

The application has been tested on Apple iPhone 4 Simulator, Android phone Simulator, Firefox OS simulator, real Android phone OS version 4.1 and real Windows phone 8. One such adapted page is shown here.

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Figure 1: Desktop Version Home page, menu

Figure 2: iPhone 4 Mobile Version, Home page

Figure3: iPhone 4 Mobile Version Menu Further Work (2014-17) . A prototype is ready but a lot of desired features are to be incorporated in the system. The real system is being implemented with educational web pages.