"Course Diary" - An Innovative E-Learning Scenario

WEB Based Learning (WBL) today is used in almost every university. Normally, WEB Based Learning is built and supported by means of a so-called Learning Management System (LMS). Learning Management Systems (LMS) are software systems to implement different e-learning scenarios in practice. In the last years, LMSs were successfully used to implement such conventional scenarios for using the Internet in university teaching such as downloading files, making announcements, discussion using an asynchronous forum, uploading files by students, etc. One of the most important aspects of the WEB learning in universities is a dialog - knowledge exchange between students and teachers.
In this paper, we present an innovative e-learning scenario where students learn particular topics, check their knowledge, and apply their theoretical knowledge for solving practical tasks. More specifically, we discuss a so-called "Course Diary" paradigm. The Course diary is a list of tasks that are supposed to be accomplished by students throughout the course. The definition of tasks may significantly vary, but generally, each task requires performing a particular action, for example, reading a document, watching a movie, answering a question, developing a practical assignment, etc. Teachers may assess and comment on particular tasks, thus, guiding the student through the educational curriculum.
The goal of this paper is to describe the "Course Diary" scenario; and present architecture, implementation and practical application of the LMS supporting the "Course Diary" scenario.
Keywords: WEB application, Learning Management System, Architecture