Title: A domain-specific language for Virtual Classrooms

Authors: David Gañán; Ana-Elena Guerrero-Roldán; Josep Prieto-Blázquez; Jordi Conesa

Addresses: Estudis d'Informàtica i Multimedia, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Rambla del Poblenou, 156, 08018 Barcelona, Spain ' Estudis d'Informàtica i Multimedia, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Rambla del Poblenou, 156, 08018 Barcelona, Spain ' Estudis d'Informàtica i Multimedia, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Rambla del Poblenou, 156, 08018 Barcelona, Spain ' Estudis d'Informàtica i Multimedia, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Rambla del Poblenou, 156, 08018 Barcelona, Spain

Abstract: This paper proposes the creation of a model-driven development approach on top of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in order to automate the process of creating Virtual Classrooms. In particular, a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) has been defined for the creation of Virtual Classrooms reusing a specific ontology for Virtual Classrooms. The DSL has been validated in a real case study: the creation of Virtual Laboratories at the Open University of Catalonia. The validation has shown that the approach enhances the reusability of Virtual Classrooms for the upcoming courses and the DSL allows describing Virtual Classrooms graphically at a high abstraction level. In addition, classrooms can be easily modified and automatically exported to other learning systems like Moodle.

Keywords: domain ontologies; virtual classrooms; domain-specific languages; DSL; model-driven development; virtual learning environment; VLE; e-learning; electronic learning; online learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMSO.2014.065444

International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, 2014 Vol.9 No.4, pp.312 - 323

Received: 25 May 2013
Accepted: 17 Mar 2014
Published online: 24 Oct 2014 *

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