Development of a portable self-contained open-source system to conduct massive open online courses

The talk presents a software system developed to conduct massive open online courses. The system is easy to use, does not require specialized hardware, has support for assignment checking, video conferencing and screen sharing. The system is free and is available for use and modification under an open-source license.

The concept of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) popularized by startup companies such as Udacity and Coursera inspired universities to invest time and money to develop platforms to share class materials freely on the Internet on top of their existing Learning Management Systems (LMS). Free content serves as a promotional material for the university itself and for its private subscription-based courses. Such systems provide new streams of revenue and flexible ways for people to learn and study. In this talk, Dmitrii Toksaitov from the Software Engineering program at the American University of Central Asia will present an in-house open-source system to help conduct MOOC classes. The system is portable, self-contained, and can be operated by an instructor without help or support from the IT department. The system can not only store course materials and help to collect and grade student works but also stream and record instructor’s and students’ computer screens with audio and video from microphones and cameras. The system gives a teacher full control over the course from any Internet-connected location. The talk will show the system at work in a mock-up environment and demonstrate its portability aspects live to the audience.