Composing Learning Environments
with e-Textbook System
Yuta Taniguchi[0000−0003−3298−8124] , Tsubasa Minematsu, and
Atsushi Shimada[0000−0002−3635−9336]
Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
taniguchi.yuta.941@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp,
{minematsu,atsushi}@ait.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Abstract. The introduction of ICT technology into education has been
attracting attention, and various educational platforms and tools have
been developed. With the emergence of standards such as Learning Tools
Interoperability, it has become possible to call external tools from Learn-
ing Management Systems in a unified manner. However, it is still chal-
lenging to integrate the tools and use them as a seamless learning en-
vironment. For this reason, people tend to develop a monolithic tool
that integrates functions that meet individual needs. Repeatedly reim-
plementing similar functions leads to the mess of various learning log
formats and data dispersion across the tools, making it hard to realize
learning analytics across multiple learning support systems of different
educational institutions. In order to solve this problem, we propose the
concept of Compositional Learning Environments, with which we can
combine any tools to form a new and more complex one. This demon-
stration shows two practical examples of combinations of an e-textbook
tool with other types of learning support tools.
Keywords: Learning environment · Design framework · Learning Tools
Interoperability.
1 Introduction
Nowadays, learning environments are composed of several online systems, includ-
ing Learning Management Systems (LMSs) providing fundamental functions for
any classes, electronic textbook systems [2] widely used in lecture-style classes,
and programming environments used in programming exercise classes. In addi-
tion, in the past decade, Learning Analytics (LA) has been attracting attention.
LA has revealed the value of the educational data. Researchers have developed
a variety of learning support systems that can record activities and outcomes of
teachers and learners, as well as systems that provide feedback based on analysis
of those data.
Copyright © 2021 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative
Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
2 Taniguchi et al.
However, it is difficult for a single learning environment to cover the needs
of multiple class formats, such as face-to-face and online, as well as the different
needs of different subjects, teachers, and students. Therefore, there is a need
for a learning environment that one can flexibly configure according to their
requirements.
Making use of plugins is one way to customize LMSs. However, plugins have
the disadvantage of being closely dependent on a particular LMS, which means
the format of the recorded educational data also depends on the LMS, which
makes cross-platform analysis difficult from the viewpoint of LA. An alternative
approach currently available is to use Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI). LTI
is the standard developed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium, which defines
the conventions for calling and linking LTI-compliant Web applications (LTI
tools) as external tools from an LMS. LTI makes it possible to call the same
external tool from different LMSs in a unified manner and also makes it possible
to easily link relatively complex systems, even electronic textbook systems, with
LMSs. Although LTI has made it possible to link LMSs with external tools, as
far as the authors know, there is no definitive way to link external tools with
each other. Because each LTI tool is an independent Web application, it is still
difficult to use multiple external tools as a seamless learning environment.
In order to solve these problems, we propose the concept of Compositional
Learning Environments (CLE). CLE is a conceptual framework for combining
independent LTI tools to form a more complex LTI tool. With CLE, we aim to
promote the simplification and modularization of LTI tools, which would then
realize lower development costs and a shared data format of educational data
for the same functionality. This demonstration will present real examples of
CLE-based compound learning environments in which an e-textbook system is
combined with other systems.
2 Compositional Learning Environments
The core function of CLE as a concept is to create one new LTI tool from two
or more LTI tools. It realizes the integration of tools visually, functionally, or
both. The aim of the CLE is twofold. The first is modularity. In the past, many
learning support systems were designed as monolithic systems. CLE allows us to
design the learning environment as a combination of reusable modules, and each
module can be used as an independent learning tool. The second is to control the
diversity of data formats. In order to achieve cross-class and cross-institutional
LA, it is important that the format of the data used is uniform. Using the same
module (LTI tool) for a particular function, such as reading textbooks, we can
ensure that the common data format is used for recording the same learning
activity.
We developed an implementation called CLE Tool for the proof of concept.
CLE Tool can realize visual combinations of LTI tools, which display given tools
inside itself in a specified layout. The CLE Tool itself is also an LTI tool, and
Composing Learning Environments with e-Textbook System 3
Fig. 1. Using the e-textbook system BookRoll (left) in combination with a program-
ming learning support system WEVL (right).
thus, by using CLE tools in a nested manner, complex layouts can be realized
in a controlled manner.
2.1 Example with Programming Learning Support System
As the first practical example, we present a configuration example for online
classes of a programming exercise course. Figure 1 shows the actual screen,
where two LTI tools are combined; the left side is the programming learning
support environment called WEVL developed by the authors, which is used in
programming exercise; the right side is an e-textbook system called BookRoll [1],
which is used to display lecture slides.
In addition, the CLE tool provides a real-time chat as one of its features. By
posting a message via the text box shown at the bottom of the figure, students
can provide feedback to the teacher in real-time. Since the simplicity of a system
is vital for online classes to avoid confusion, making it easy to switch between
the two is a significant advantage.
2.2 Example with Learning Dashboard System
Here we present another combination of the e-textbook system and learning
dashboard system [3]. The learning dashboard system was developed to aggre-
gate and analyze the learning logs collected on BookRoll in real-time. It pro-
4 Taniguchi et al.
Fig. 2. Using the e-textbook system BookRoll (right) in combination with a learning
dashboard system (left).
vides valuable feedback to teachers and students for improving learning during
lectures. In class, the dashboard system is displayed beside BookRoll, as shown
in Fig. 2.
Teachers and students take actions for improvement using the information
displayed in the learning dashboard during the lecture. For effective learning im-
provement, the use of the learning dashboard should not interfere with teaching
and learning as much as possible. One of the findings of the previous study [3]
is that the simultaneous use of multiple independent tools is a burden to users.
This could be due to the need to switch between different tools on one screen,
and hence we introduced CLE for the simpler user interface.
3 Conclusion
In this paper, we proposed the concept of Compositional Learning Environ-
ments (CLE) and presented two examples of the actual configurations combining
an e-textbook system with other types of learning support systems. The CLE
concept provides a design philosophy for learning environments in which simple
tools are combined to create a more complex tool. By using CLE, the learn-
ing environment can be easily, flexibly configured to meet various class needs.
Therefore, we believe that simplifying compound learning environments based
on the CLE concept would make it easy to use e-textbook systems with different
systems.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP21K17863.
Composing Learning Environments with e-Textbook System 5
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