Article: An architecture for e-learning infrastructures on a national level: a case study of the Afghanistan Research and Education Network Journal: International Journal of Innovation and Learning (IJIL) 2018 Vol.23 No.1 pp.54 - 75 Abstract: National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) are for sharing resources among member organisations. NRENs play an important role in e-learning activities as they enable cross-organisational communication. Heterogeneous infrastructures used for e-learning are a challenge for system design, data integrity, and interoperability. This paper proposes an NREN e-learning reference architecture and affiliated NREN e-learning design patterns that consider communication, reliable access, a collaboration and interoperability between e-learning infrastructures. Research exists about different architectures including traditional e-learning systems, service-oriented cloud computing such as the service-oriented architecture (SOA) adaptations for education systems, e-learning systems and a service-oriented cloud computing architecture (SOCCA). However, no research has been carried out for NREN e-learning architectures. For deeper insight, we investigate in this paper an e-learning architecture based on the Afghanistan Research and Education Network (AfgREN). The reference e-learning architecture based on AfgREN provides guidance for the rapid development of different e-learning services and learning-analytical infrastructure for Afghanistan. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: An architecture for e-learning infrastructures on a national level: a case study of the Afghanistan Research and Education Network

Authors: Salim Saay; Alex Norta

Addresses: Department of Information Technology, Computer Science Faculty, Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan ' Large-Scale Systems Group, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia tee 15A, 12816, Tallinn, Estonia

Abstract: National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) are for sharing resources among member organisations. NRENs play an important role in e-learning activities as they enable cross-organisational communication. Heterogeneous infrastructures used for e-learning are a challenge for system design, data integrity, and interoperability. This paper proposes an NREN e-learning reference architecture and affiliated NREN e-learning design patterns that consider communication, reliable access, a collaboration and interoperability between e-learning infrastructures. Research exists about different architectures including traditional e-learning systems, service-oriented cloud computing such as the service-oriented architecture (SOA) adaptations for education systems, e-learning systems and a service-oriented cloud computing architecture (SOCCA). However, no research has been carried out for NREN e-learning architectures. For deeper insight, we investigate in this paper an e-learning architecture based on the Afghanistan Research and Education Network (AfgREN). The reference e-learning architecture based on AfgREN provides guidance for the rapid development of different e-learning services and learning-analytical infrastructure for Afghanistan.

Keywords: reference model; architecture pattern; NREN e-learning; standard; reference architecture; MDE; ATAM; learning analytics; e-governance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2018.088790

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2018 Vol.23 No.1, pp.54 - 75

Received: 01 Aug 2016
Accepted: 01 Mar 2017
Published online: 19 Dec 2017 *

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Title: An architecture for e-learning infrastructures on a national level: a case study of the Afghanistan Research and Education Network

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