MediaMosa connector for Chamilo 2.0 platform

ROC Westerschelde in Terneuzen are very happy to be able to link MediaMosa to the new state-of -the-art open source e-learning and collaboration platform Chamilo 2.0. In this project we wil be working together with the Chamilo Association and Inuits.

The project management will be executed by Helix Learning, the e-learning company related to ROC Westerschelde. Helix Learning also act as the support service for ROC Westerschelde regarding e-learning and other use of digital systems that support learning.

In this project  the following targets have been set:

•  building the connector between MediaMosa and Chamilo 2.0
•  production of web lectures in the teaching team of Retail and using them through MediaMosa and Chamilo 2.0
•  strongly improve administration and use of streaming video within the team of Maintenanace Technician Instrumentation
• spreading facilities and experience to all other teaching teams of ROC Westerschelde
• making the MediaMosa connector available to the Chamilo Community.

In a cooperation with various parties ROC Westerschelde in Terneuzen  have realised the targets set for this project financially supported by Kennisnet and Surfnet. We  developed a connector for the opensource e-learning and collaboration platform Chamilo 2.0. This development improves the possibilities for students and teachers to use video in learning activities . At the same  time  it concretizes the idea of the Chamilo developers to make as many learning objects available as possible within Chamilo to Chamilo users, learning objects both from within the Chamilo repository and those from external repositories.

In the execution of this project ROC Westerschelde worked together with the following parties:

-          Inuits BVBA, Brasschaat Belgium

-          Departement Onderwijszaken  VUB, Brussels Belgium

-          Chamilo Association

-          Hogeschool Gent, Directie Onderwijs - Dienst Media & Leeromgeving

-          Helix Learning, Steunpunt Onderwijs & ICT ROC Westerschelde

-          Kennisnet Videoplatform

-          SURFnet

In his publication “Opening Pandora’s Box” Hans De Bisschop explains the motivation of the Chamilo developers to open up external repositories to Chamilo users in a very efficient way. The main target of this project , opening  MediaMosa repositories to Chamilo users, clearly supports the roadmap envisaged by the developers and the Chamilo Association.

Hans De Bisschop Chamilo is administrator and developer at the Erasmus University College Brussels (Belgium). He has been a member of the Chamilo 2 development team since early 2007. Using the motto: To infinity and beyond with Chamilo 2, he has been the driving force behind Chamilo 2 development and the overall architecture since early 2008. Hans is also the Software Coordinator within the Board of Directors of the Chamilo Association.

The Project Activities

June:

• Kick- off meeting  of the projects supported by the MediaMosa Stimuleringsregeling at SURFnet Utrecht;
• Introduction of the project to teachers of Process Engineering dept. and Retail dept. of ROC Westerschelde

July:

• First meeting with programmers of Inuits and VUB discussing the programming  regarding the production of the MediaMosa connector in Chamilo 2.0
• Meeting with Chamilo Association on project support
• Production of program requirements by Jens Vanderheyden, VUB
• Administrative arrangements with Inuits BVBA , VUB and Chamilo association

August:

• Inuits programmer Kristof Keppens: work on interface to add metadata to MediaMosa assets from the Chamilo MediaMosa connector. The code produced in this phase was committed to https://bitbucket.org/kkeppens/chamilo-ext-repo-mediamosa-metadata .
• Further development of Chamilo MediaMosa connector by Jens Vanderheyden, VUB:

o   Implementation of Chamilo connector code

o   Reworking the rights section

o   Adjustment to MediaMosa 2.x and the beta version of 3.x

o   Showing transcode status

o   Metadata

o   Privacy setting of videos

o   Uploading the complete code to the Chamilo stable repository

o   Production of the Chamilo MediaMosa Connector 1.1 Developer Documentation

o   Production of the Chamilo MediaMosa Connector User Guide for both platform administrators and other Chamilo users

September:

• Sessions with teaching staff of ROC Westerschelde assessing their needs and wishes regarding the use and administration of video fragments, inventory of video files.

As from July2011 ROC Westerschelde  also participated in the EXMO project Future in Mobility in which  3 ROCs work together in the field of distance learning through interactive video connections. The equipment for this project was installed by Cisco and Visions Connected. With this equipment it is possible to deliver teaching to more locations through a video connection and these classes are also recorded on a central server. Afterwards the teacher can download the recording and put the video recording on a learning platform. Obviously a streaming media server is absolutely necessary to manage all these activities. Together with Chamilo and the MediaMosa connector and a MediaMosa server these needs can be accommodated.

•  MediaMosa Poject Meeting Utrecht
• Meeting with Hogeschool Gent, Dienst Media & Leeromgeving on the implementation of the MediaMosa connector on the Chamilo instances of ROC Westerschelde and Helix Learning

October:

• Training of teaching staff of ROC Westerschelde on the use of the Visions Connected/Cisco hardware to deliver distance learning & teaching and the recording of video lectures.
• Implemention of the MediaMosa connector to the Chamilo instances of Helix Learning and ROC Westerschelde

November:

• Training of teaching staff of ROC Westerschelde on the use of the Visions Connected/Cisco hardware to deliver distance learning & teaching and the recording of video lectures.
• Connection of Helix Learning Chamilo platform to test environment of the Kennisnet MediaMosa server
• Presentation of the Chamilo MediaMosa Connector at the Chamilo User Group meeting at VUB in Brussels

December:

• Finetuning meeting with Jens Vanderheyden VUB to improve the Chamilo administrator’s facilities related to the MediaMosa connector.
• MediaMosa Community Day in Utrecht, presentation of the project results.

In addition to the development of the MediaMosa connector in the Chamilo 2.0 learning platform ROC Westerschelde in Terneuzen and VUB in Brussels have made arrangements to further development of user functionality of the Chamilo 2.0 platform.

This development will enable Chamilo users to directly embed MediaMosa movies in documents and learning paths in Chamilo 2.0. Until that time MediaMosa movies can be shown in courses through the streaming media functionality only. The development is purely development of Chamilo code but will surely affect the popularity of the MediaMosa connector developed in the current project.

The upgrade of the Chamilo code regarding the use of MediaMosa movies is planned for February 2012.